The fairies often take a terrible revenge if they are ever slighted
or offended. A whole family once came under their ban because a fairy
woman had been refused admittance into the house. The eldest boy lost
his sight for some time, and though he recovered the use of his eyes
yet they always had a strange expression, as if he saw some terrible
object in the distance that scared him. And at last the neighbours grew
afraid of the family, for they brought ill-luck wherever they went, and
nothing prospered that they touched.
There were six children, all wizened little creatures with withered
old faces and thin crooked fingers. Every one knew they were fairy
changelings, and the smith wanted to put them on the anvil, and the
wise women said they should be passed through the fire; but destiny
settled the future for them, for one after another they all pined
away and died, and the ban of the fairies was never lifted from the
ill-fated house till the whole family lay in the grave.