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It was a toad in princely garb who delivered Vasilisa's message to the simpletons.
…knowing that Sagacia would have an answer. Maybe not the correct answer. But an answer nonetheless.
Sagacia didn’t hesitate. “It’s in a country far away, across the seven seas,” she replied with an air of authority that suggested further details were merely tedious.
Being a full head taller than Simplia, it was easy for her to peer over her friend’s shoulder for a closer look at the elegant handwriting and the thin, crinkly paper.
“Wow,” said Simplia. “That’s far. I wonder who wrote it and what it’s about.”
“That’s none of our business,” said Sagacia briskly. “We can’t make a habit of opening other people’s letters.”
“I know!” Simplia’s tone was a bit defensive. “I was just wondering. And as long as I’m already wondering one thing I guess it would be efficient for me to wonder something else. I wonder where Vasilisa went. Without telling us goodbye.”
At that very moment, as if by magic, a toad appeared on a tree stump beside the path. It’s clothing and regal bearing bespoke royalty. Without a word, he opened his mouth, croaked out a postcard, and hopped away.
The card was addressed to the two simpletons. And it was from none other than Vasilisa herself. Eagerly, Simplia and Sagacia read:
Dear friends — Had to leave in a hurry. Will be home as soon as quest is accomplished. Gate hinge needs butter, cat’s probably hungry, and I’m expecting some mail. Would you two please keep an eye on things? xoxoxo — Vasilisa
“‘Keep an eye on things.'” Sagacia mused. “She really sort of not only gave us permission but actually almost outright asked us if we would please…”
“…look at the mail while she’s gone,” Simplia agreed.
In a trice, they had liberated the letter from it’s envelope, and this is what they read:
Dear Vasilisa the Wise —
I’m confused. Why is the genre in which you figure so prominently called Fairy Tale? I don’t think I’ve encountered one story with you in it that has actual fairies. Apparently it’s not just a Russian thing, either. I’ve read and listened to “fairy tales” from all over the world, and what I notice is that fairies are vastly outnumbered by witches, ogres, genies, trolls, giants, elves, mermaids, dragons, wizards, crones and geezers with magical gifts, and talking animals. Who cornered the market on all these stories and branded them Fairy Tales?
–Curious in Caracas
p.s. How big are fairies, anyway? I mean, could you swat one? Like Tinkerbell. Who I know is made up and not real. Not that you’d want to. Just asking.
The two simpletons scratched their heads for a befuddled moment, and then simultaneously they cried, “The Fairy Tale Lobby!”
They decided to thumbtack the letter onto the message board outside the Fairy Tale Lobby and see if any of their magical friends might help enlighten both Curious in Caracas and themselves.
Simplia was on a roll that day. She just couldn’t stop wondering.
“I wonder if our magical friends are still hanging out.”
Sagacia replied, “We’ll see. While we’re there, let’s find some butter for that gate.”
Fairy Tale Lobby 
Have you ever been on your way somewhere, walking through the woods or even driving down the highway, and suddenly realized you’d been moving on “autopilot” for a while without being conscious of your surroundings? Of course you have, but have you ever thought to go back and deliberately *look* at the territory you’ve just moved through? Ah, but I wouldn’t recommend that, for that momentary quality of not-really-being-there hides the passages through to another realm — the realm of Faerie, the realm where fairies dwell; where nixies and pixies dart about their business and trolls stand guard beneath the bridges; where piglets build houses, wolves masquerade as grandmothers, and sisters knit sweaters out of nettles to save their swan-turned brothers; where magic is all too real and all too likely to be more dangerous than helpful in the end … in short, the realm where Faerie tales happen every day. Even as the word “faerie” changed over time to “fairy”, so did the name of the realm, and lost its capital in the process. And that, Oh Teller of Tales, is why “fairy tales” often have no fairies in them.
(And, yes, day late, thaler short, but without ‘net access from home one does what one can when one can … [shrug])
(Crossposted from the Storytellers Facebook Page)
I found this on p. 25 in “The Wedding Dress: Meditations on Word and Life” by Fanny Howe (my 2nd cousin, but I’ve never met her):
“Now how did fairy tales come to be called fairy tales, since they often have nothing to do with fairies? One thought is that fairies themselves whispered these stories into kitchens and beds around the world. The pantheistic, the pagan, the petrifying truths conveyed in fairy tales do have something resonant of a world that recently included paradise.”
I don’t know about Tinkerbell, but Hungarian fairies (tündérek) can be many sizes. Most of them are tall and pretty, much like the elves in the Lord of the Rings; they live in castles, flirt with mortals, and are ruled by a queen called Tündér Ilona. Then again, every once in a while, they show up in a tiny form, traveling in a carriage drawn by white mice. But those are not that common around here. They look like people, except more beautiful, and when they pee in the river, you can wash gold from the mud. Kid you not.
Fairy pee. That’s something I never thought to wonder about before. But I’m wondering about it now.
Furiously clapping my hands and calling out: “I believe in faeries” makes it hard to write, so I will stop and give my tuppence worth. First of all let me introduce myself as Sebastian MacManus Bartholomew. I am from a wealthy Dutch-German family, I am a world-renowned poet, writer, artist, raconteur and time traveler. I am related to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (distantly) and was a close friend of the designer Tiffany. I now reside in St Croix. I have met the wee folk. Only once, but I have met them. I also did some field work for WB Yeats and knew on first name basis some of his ‘informants’. I also later helped Kathrine Briggs but in more of a supportive role, and in the past acted as a liaise with other protectors in other countries. The time-travel helps a lot.
Some more well known protectors of the Other Realms coined the phrase Fairy Tales when they referred not to the wee folk, but to the realms, or peoples, they brought to mind. To explain. Let’s face it, humans have a small capacity for learning – look at all the wars, conflicts and grief humans have inflicted on one another ever since two sticks could be rubbed together. Many, many years ago, we all lived together. And by ‘we’ I mean witches, ogres, genies, trolls, giants, elves, mermaids, dragons, wizards, crones, “geezers with magical gifts”, and talking animals. But the human species did not understand these beings and so began to destroy them. The wee folk, and I include elves in this, have some interesting powers and were reaching a deliquium and when that bastard St. George slew the last living dragon: the wee folk had to do something. Using their magikal powers in an effort to save themselves, they created a new realm for the Other Folk to live in. This protected them from humans and overcame the dilemma. Witches were left in our world and some paid the price in the 1600’s along with a few innocent, if balmy, men and women. It was the job of witches to alert the Others when a time came, if one ever did, that humans had evolved enough to accept them all. Once in a while the wee folk, trolls and giants reentered our realm. When they did it usually caused a bit of a stir as humans were not able to grasp these ‘creatures’. This is still the case when the other beings from outer space visit. So stories came about to explain these events. These stories are so important to everyone that we early Victorians and some of our predecessors collected these “tales” and added them to other histories to gain acceptance in this world.
We understood that the human race could not grasp the levels of understanding needed to fully comprehend the entire world, underworld, the above world, and all the inhabitants that exist. To try and make the average human fully understand the complexities of cultures of these very different folk is a folly. Humans would disbelieve at best. They would more likely try to destroy, as their history has shown, what they do not understand. Knowing the frailty of the human mind, the early pioneers (I was a late comer to this), as a small society of believers and protectors, took it upon themselves to call these true stories ‘Faerie Tales’. The word ‘faerie’ comes from the Elven word ‘Fear’ and was a joke amongst the Others reflecting humans’ fear of them. The idea was to capture the essence, the message, the overall importance of these people and at the same time protect them with a short-hand title humans could grasp and maybe one day understand.
I hope that this answers your question, Curious in Caracus. By the way, a beautiful place I have frequented a few times over the years. In fact I took Tiff once, but the water did not agree with him.
(Thank you Simon for allowing me the use of your account.)
Sebastian — Many, many thanks for the history lesson!
Simon — Next time you attend a conference or festival, please do invite your friend along. We would love to meet him. (Is that etymology of “faerie” something I might actually run across should I peruse an OED, or is it something that came to you on the ether?)
–Megan (for Simplia, who is busy scratching her head right now trying to unravel Sebastian’s stunningly sophisticated syntax.)
Yeah, Sebastian only pops in to visit once or twice a year. I did not realize he had posted this – he left very early this morning. He is an amazing gentleman, whom I am honoured to know. I will be going to the NSN Conference this year for the first time, but I think Sebastian said he will be in Sumeria meeting up with Sin-liqi-unninni. He is trying to get in touch with Endiku about some possible back story that is missing and hopes that Sin-liqi-unninni might be able to give him some clues. I will ask Sebastian about the etymology when I next see him. By the way, he also paints. He did a piece inspired by Clara Driscoll who worked for Louis Comfort Tiffany, Sebastian’s friend, a few years ago. You can find it here: http://www.openfields.org/Eggs2010/bartholomew1.htm
Peace,
Simon
Is this the same Clara Driscoll we in Texas know as the Saviour of the Alamo? She was actually quite a gal, a world traveler and a writer and more, though I’d not heard of the Tiffany connection.