Faeries

"Don't go into the woods after nightfall." my grandfather warned me when I was eight.

"But Papa, I want to see the glowing lights."

"The glowing lights is what lures people in, terrible creatures come out at night. Have you ever heard about the faeries young one?”

“Yes Papa, mother told me all about them. They grant wishes and have wings.” I answered

“No child, you are mixing faeries with magic users, yes faeries have wings, but they do not grant wishes.”

“Then what do they do?”

“You will see that the woods in the morning is covered in bones. If someone wanders into the woods after nightfall the faeries eat them.”

“But faeries are tiny.”

“Aye, that doesn’t stop them though, they have wicked sharp teeth and claws, a swarm of them can strip meat from the bones of an ox in less than a minute.”

“How many is a swarm?” 

“Five or six, every now and again one will come into the farm, usually kills two or three cows before I can get to them.”

“I thought that was the wolves that always killed the cows.” 

“No, it’s actually the wolves that protect us from them.”