Fairies generally look like a tiny human about eighteen inches tall.  Of course, they can change their size and shape at will.  Animals can see fairies but mortals can only see them when the fairies will it, unless one possesses a stone with a hole in it which has been drilled naturally by a babbling brook. 

Fairies live all over the world except in some places where they have been driven out by wood nymphs and dryads.  They stay in wooded areas where they generally live underground in barrows or hollow mounds.  It is best if mortals do not disturb them especially during a full moon. The fairy community is ruled by a queen and a king but the queen is the more powerful of the two.  There are fairy armies which guard the community from intruders such as pixies, goblins and others who would drive them out of their homes.  They dress in clothes made of very fragile woven spider silk so they cannot be touched by mortals should a mortal be lucky enough to see one.  They are vegetarians and eat honey, fruit, cheese, vegetables and bird eggs.  Fairies gather their food from farms and gardens but repay their benefactors by guiding bees to flowers, pushing seedlings to the surface and shooing bugs from the vegetables.

Fairies are generally intolerant of human foibles and dispense punishment as they see fit, sometimes with baldness or loss of teeth in the case of infidelity. For less serious offenses they may hide a much needed article. Trying to steal a fairy’s gold is a futile effort as it vanishes the minute it is touched by mortal hands. 

Fairies, like mortals, are good and bad depending on their moods. Usually happy, joyful creatures they just wish to be undisturbed by humans and left to pursue their own lives.