The windfairies, and other tales

In Short

This collection of original fairy tales weaves traditional folklore motifs—mysterious elemental spirits, magical artifacts, self-sacrificing natural forces, and cunning tricksters—into morally nuanced fables. Across its varied stories, characters encounter windfairies on revolving mill sails, greedy gnomes hiding beneath kitchen floorboards, wandering musical sorcerers who steal voices, and clouds that give up the open sky to nourish dying trees. The book endures because its magic is grounded in real emotional dilemmas: keeping promises when tested by power, choosing love over vanity, and enduring the quiet, everyday consequences of single selfish decisions.

The Story

The book presents a series of imaginative, morally grounded fairy tales, beginning with the story of young Lucilla. Raised by her father in an isolated seaside windmill, Lucilla encounters the grey, feather-light windfairies dancing on the mill's revolving sails at midnight. Enticed by their airborne grace, she begs them to teach her to dance, promising faithfully never to reveal who taught her. Years later, Lucilla's peerless dancing makes her the marvel of the land and wins her a noble sailor husband. However, her talent catches the jealous eye of the Queen, who demands to learn the secret. Lucilla tries to shield her vow by claiming she merely copied the motion of the windmill, but when the awkward Queen fails to match Lucilla’s grace at a royal ball, she accuses Lucilla of deception and condemns her to the scaffold. Only Lucilla's steadfast refusal to break her oath, even with her head on the execution block, moves the windfairies to stir a violent gale that safely brings her husband’s ship to shore to rescue her.

Subsequent tales explore similar tests of devotion, greed, and integrity. In a poignant fable of selfless love, a skybound cloud falls in love with a rare, drooping desert tree that has been potted and isolated inside an enclosed royal garden. Despite the west wind's warnings that descending means perishing in the dark earth without ever returning to the sky, the cloud joyfully sheds its form as rain to nourish the roots of its beloved tree.

Another narrative traces the tribulations of a young potter and his devoted wife. When an insidious gipsy man steals a magic brown bowl and tricks the wife into drinking from it, she loses her appreciation for her humble, loving husband and drives him away. Only through the sacrifice of a dying gipsy woman—who leaves behind her child and a wet clay cup that restores clarity—does the potter's wife realize her folly. She spends years making amends, weaving coded messages into household mats until her lost husband finally recognizes her work and returns.

Elsewhere, village singers deal with a mysterious dwarf who plays enchanting instruments on a mule's back but steals the voice of a talented youth named Othmar. Othmar's friend Hulda undertakes a grueling quest, seeking counsel from sheep-doctors, schoolmasters, and a simple fool to track down a magical snake that ultimately restores her friend's voice. In another tale, a greedy ploughman strikes a bargain with a female gnome living in a rat-hole beneath his floor. The gnome promises immense agricultural wealth on the condition that she receives the finest portion of every meal and good that enters the house, leading the husband into a web of deceit that threatens his wife's prized hair. Through every narrative, the plots move steadily from initial temptation or enchantment to a clear moral reckoning.

How It Unfolds

The midnight dance on the sails Lucilla meets the grey windfairies at her seaside mill and pledges absolute silence in exchange for learning their light, effortless dance.

The Queen's jealous fury After Lucilla marries and becomes famous for her grace, the Queen demands private lessons; when the Queen still dances awkwardly at the court ball, she orders Lucilla to be beheaded for trickery.

Faithfulness on the scaffold As the executioner's block awaits, Lucilla refuses the offered bag of gold and maintains her secret, prompting the windfairies to send a roaring gale that drives her husband's ship to her rescue.

The cloud's ultimate sacrifice A lonely cloud travels hundreds of miles across the sky to find a dying desert tree kept in a locked garden, willingly sacrificing its freedom in the air to sink into the dark earth as rain for the tree's roots.

The potter's lost contentment A cunning gipsy trickster manipulates a potter's wife into doubting her simple happiness, causing her to drive her husband away until a tragic encounter with a dying woman opens her eyes to her error.

The quest for a stolen voice When a wandering dwarf sorcerer strikes the singer Othmar dumb, his companion Hulda journeys across distant towns, consulting wise men, priests, and an idiot to secure the strange snake needed to break the spell.

The gnome in the rat-hole A poor ploughman invites a demanding gnome into his cottage to gain double crops, only to find himself trapped by a compact that requires him to surrender the very best of his household goods.

The People

• Lucilla: The lonely daughter of a seaside miller. She wants to dance with the ethereal grace of the windfairies, but her loyalty is tested when the Queen threatens her life; her unwavering commitment to her promise ultimately saves her from the executioner.
• The Queen: A proud, competitive monarch who considers herself the finest dancer in the land. She wants to master Lucilla's secret steps to impress the King, but her natural awkwardness and bitter vanity drive her to condemn Lucilla when she cannot match her beauty.
• The Cloud: A gentle, sky-dwelling entity. It wants nothing more than to comfort and sustain a rare desert tree, voluntarily giving up its eternal life in the heavens to seep into the dark soil around the tree's roots.
• The Potter's Wife: A content woman living in a tiny village whose peace is shattered by a manipulative gipsy. She loses her judgment through dark magic, but through grief and long labor on her loom, she earns back her humility and her husband's love.
• Hulda: A courageous, persistent village girl. She wants to restore the stolen voice of her singing friend Othmar, enduring swollen feet, mockery, and long journeys to acquire the creature that can undo the sorcerer's curse.
• The Ploughman: An impoverished worker driven by a desire for easy wealth. He takes an exacting gnome as a lodger, but his greed soon forces him into uncomfortable domestic deceptions.

In Its Own Voice

“Try me,” cried Lucilla again, “I will never tell. Indeed I will not,” and she looked entreatingly from one to another of the elves.

Lucilla begs the windfairies to trust her with their secret grace, binding herself to a promise she refuses to break even under threat of death.

“Then that will be what I long for,” cried the cloud. “For then I can lie in the dark where no one may see me, but I shall be close to my tree, and I can touch its roots and feed them...”

The cloud accepts the wind's stern warning, choosing a lifetime hidden in the cold earth over floating free in the sky so it can nourish the drooping plant it loves.

“Whatever comes into the house, you must always give the best of it to me.”

The strange gnome outlines the strict terms of her lodging beneath the floorboards, demanding the first portion of every meal in exchange for farm prosperity.

What It's Really About

At their heart, these stories examine the true weight of human commitments and the hidden costs of desire. Magic is never a free gift or a simple shortcut; it operates on strict moral laws where every privilege demands an equal measure of integrity or self-sacrifice. The tales repeatedly contrast quiet, steadfast devotion with loud, possessive vanity. Characters who seek to hoard beauty, status, or wealth—like the insecure Queen or the bargaining ploughman—find that their greed breeds bitterness and deception. Conversely, characters like Lucilla and the cloud demonstrate that true love and honor require a willingness to suffer silently without betraying one's trust. The book argues that true fulfillment lies in unselfish service and keeping faith when tested.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate classic nineteenth-century fairy tales in the vein of Hans Christian Andersen or George MacDonald will find much to admire here. The narratives possess a calm, measured pacing and a clear-eyed moral clarity that avoids modern sentimentality. Rather than relying on simple happy endings achieved by luck, the stories emphasize character, endurance, and practical ethical choices.

The prose is straightforward yet atmospheric, marked by evocative imagery—such as windfairies sweeping across sea-facing mill sails, gold-threaded linen, and glowing magical snakes. It does not shy away from the darker realities of traditional folklore: characters face execution scaffolds, severe cold, illness, and the agonizing pain of swollen, bloodied feet during long quests. A modern reader must accept the storybook logic of sudden curses, archetypal village roles, and traditional gender expectations common to Victorian children's literature. Yet for those who enjoy quietly powerful fables where selflessness triumphs over vanity, this collection remains a rewarding, deeply atmospheric read.