The Return of Oberon

The dictionary describes fairies as an imaginary being in human form . Obviously, whoever wrote this has never seen one. I first saw a fairy many years ago when I was looking for fireflies at the bottom of my garden. It was Autumn and it was getting dark. I was out with my butterfly net. I had seen fireflies before, but tonight they were flying all over the garden and high into a hawthorn tree. I tried a few times and missed, but as one settled down, I trapped it in my net. I bent down to look and what I saw surprised me: it was a tiny human figure with wings. I had caught a fairy. It was a beautiful thing; it wore a sort of gown of silver, and she had upon her head a silver crown. I had hit the jackpot, but as I started to think about what I should do with it, many more fairies buzzed around my head and I could hear their little voices calling, Please let our queen go. I just lifted the net off the ground I don t know why and off she flew, but only as far as my head. She smiled and said, Thank you; my name is Titania. As she flew away, I was surrounded by fairies who shot balls of light at me, laughing as they did so. I will never forget it. Fairies are not real? I think you will find they are.