The Truth About Fairies

Do you believe in fairies? Well, I not only believe in them, I am dealing with one! I spend a good deal of time on the internet, researching how to deter the damage this particular pixie has been doing to my onion beds.

According to the Peter Pan Principle, I should deny her existence, as a fairy's very survival depends on my conviction. Clapping and believing in something brings it back to life, in children's theater, but what about the world outside of the theater? Why do we operate on stark reality out here, but in that dark, rehearsed place, need so badly for our belief to be needed?

This is what occurred to me as I acquainted myself with the story of the Cottingley cousins today.

 Ages 16 and 10, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths did something, back in 1917, that I could see my own or many other kids doing: They used technology to make things they've imagined seem real. As soon as their famous photos were publicized, people were begging to know, "ARE THEY FAKE?"

Oh people, you make me so sad sometimes. I mean, look at this!

That is a paper doll, obvs. 

These poor girls had to spend their young adulthoods, playing coy with answers, so as to be neither hoaxing hoaxers, nor Tinker-Bell Slayers.

It's hard to believe anyone would spend a second wondering if those lovely painted pieces of cardboard were tiny, winged, garden-dwelling ladies, when there's so much actual reality here to relish: Artistry, technology, whimsy, and a secret childish place inside of each of us that wants to know more about the story of girls who photographed fantasy. Once a closer look was taken, I believe most scrutineers chuckled a little and figured there was no harm in not calling young girls liars.

"For the true explanation of these fairy photographs what is wanted is not a knowledge of occult phenomena but a knowledge of children." Truth (1921)

See?! Even a magazine called TRUTH couldn't say what is staring everyone in the face. Because you can't prove that something doesn't exist. Try it sometime, if you've got a lot of time to waste. Tell someone that a dream they hold dear is all cardboard and watercolors. No matter the veracity, a larger truth presents itself, which is that you are a pooper of parties, to be excluded from the future fun times. And don't these girls seem fun?

As Elsie eventually conceded, "They are photographs of figments of my imagination." That is exactly what I love about them. A young imagination is too rarely documented in its authentic state. To see it brings hope to this skeptical observer; not that "fake" things are "real," but that in every one of our heads there is a new world, unseen by others, until we find ways to express it.

 Gentle, creative and weird; when I look at the Cottingley girls' work, I see magical creatures in whom I am compelled to believe, and I'm not talking about the fairies.