Though I will remember the spring of 2020 as the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, my young sons will long recall it as the magical spring they learned of the daoine sidhe. This is not a new disease but a very old story stretching all the way back to Ireland. Pronounced “down she,” this term refers to “the little people” who live in the woods, making their hidden homes in the small plants growing beside our neighborhood creek.
The daoine sidhe are small and quick, able to disappear without a trace despite the best efforts of a young boy to sneak up on them. But my sons have been able to write questions in the smooth dirt beside the creek bed and, the next day, the daoine sidhe have left answers scrawled on the backs of large leaves and flat pieces of bark.
What do you eat?
Nuts and berries.
Do you have pets?
Bumblebees.
Do you like Christmas?
Yes, especially the presents.
My boys have also left gifts of soft feathers and bright leaves and, the next day, have found smooth stones stacked in a small tower and a pile of red berries, although I prohibited them from eating the offering from the daoine sidhe.
Generally speaking, my sons do consider me to be a reliable source of information. So, after tucking them in their bunk beds at night, I have been duly questioned about the little people, particularly in regards to the peculiar nature of their existence. My late friend, the writer Brian Doyle, had told me that the daoine sidhe were once the size of young boys and had lived among the rest of us, but they had retreated into the woods because of the cruelty and callousness of people—the tall people who did not treat the fragile plants and tender animals of the forests and fields with utmost respect and kindness.
I conceded that other theories (often propagated on the internet) contends that the daoine sidhe are “legends” and “fables” and “myths.” But my sons already knew that tall people have a tendency to dismiss signs and wonders.
I am aware that certain tall people accuse me of filling the minds of my impressionable young boys with nonsense and silliness and outright falsehoods. To which I would offer several points to ponder:
First, the idea of the daoine sidhe brings joy to my children. And how is that such a bad thing, particularly in this time of change and anxiety?
Second, if these young boys learn to respect and value the woods and creeks as homes for other creatures, might they be more likely to grow up to respect and value the natural world?
Finally, COVID-19 has revealed that certain tall people believe that other people are expendable in light of certain things, like the economy. If my children learn to slow down and wonder about hidden things, might they be more likely to have compassion for the kinds of people who are often overlooked in our society?
Perhaps you are wondering, do my sons really believe that the daoine sidhe are real? These boys do not seek to explain or to advance arguments of any kind. They simply treat the little people as their friends. So, perhaps a question for all of us: what is really real?
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