Fairies love berries ... or so I've heard. I sat out this small basket of berries thinking I could attract a few of the elusive little ones near to me. I placed it in this secluded spot and then sat down quietly where I could watch.

Slowly, as I sat there, my ears began to open to bird song all around me. Robins, chickadees, cardinals, sparrows and finches all hurrying from one place to another rebuilding nests and gathering food for hungry just hatched eggs and all the while proclaiming territory and commenting on the weather.

And warm it was too. The earth was damp under me and smelled like old leaves and winter well passed with an overtone of green growing things yet to come. Mosquitoes were there too and on the look out for a snack, which, today, was me. I couldn't remember what was so important that my shoulders would be so tense and my back so rigid on this bird chirping, berry ripe day.

The sound and warmth and smell of the day made me doze for a while ... laid down like a wild thing there in the moist moss with just a warm breeze as a cover. And when I awoke with twigs in my hair and dirt smudged everywhere ... I knew they had been there. I could feel the magic ... I could sense the companionship of the other world always around us but not accessible to the waking world. So I concluded on that day that fairies do indeed love berries, or any offering of trust, and will dance in our dreams if we let them.