Search - The Fairies

Remember that scene in "Willy Wonka" when Charlie is looking at the Wonka factory and the creepy knife-grinder guy comes up and says, "Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen, we daren't go a-hunting for fear of little men"? Well, that's the opening line of this poem that has been illustrated by that master of fantasy art, Michael Hague.

The poem is about the naughty things fairies do, like kidnap children and put thorns in the beds of men who try to capture them. These are not the beautiful female beings we associate with "fairy," but imps and sprites and pixies, all pretty bad creatures.

The drawings are beautiful and offset the almost macabre feeling of the poem wonderfully. Hague does a nice job drawing the wizened faces of the fairies and the illustrations are full of detail, color, and texture.

A very pretty book about a rather disturbing subject!