Meet some of the fairies…

Captain Sinkler has been sailing the seven seas for hundreds of years. Sadly, his last ship was sunk by a large ice cube while crossing a pint of blackcurrant cordial, but he always finds some kind of ship to captain and a different ocean to explore.

height: 11.5cm

Captain Sinkler is a tall elegant chap always on the look out for something or other. He gets around in paper boats that are made in the fairy shipyard. Depending on conditions he can reach speeds of up to 1cm per second!

magic: 4

He doesn’t have much time to practise fairy magic as he is usually far too busy checking his course and watching for trouble ahead. However, if it involves mermaids or sea monsters then it’s a different matter – that’s the kind of magic worth looking out for!

mischief: 7

The Captain likes a bit of larking about but only if it’s water based – plugs out of baths when they’re running, mysterious drips, ice cube puddles on floors, strange wet patches on peoples clothes, that kind of thing.

Travelling Tom the Trickster has been tricking people at village fairs across Ireland for decades. Weasels from hats, crows from handkerchiefs, you name it he can do it. He’s great fun but watch your watch!

height: 13.5cm

Tom is one of the tallest fairies (even when he isn’t wearing his top hat). His arms are so long that he can easily distract people while he picks their pockets.

magic: 9

Most of the time what Tom says is magic is just sleight of hand or an optical illusion, but even he isn’t sure how he does some tricks – like the time he cut the whistle twins in half and gave them the wrong bottom half back! It was OK, they didn’t notice.

mischief: 18

Not a classic troublemaker but he loves a subtle bit of mischief like hiding the end of the tape or making the chair make a fart noise when you sit down. Making pens disappear as soon as people put them down is one of his favourites.

Penny Half lives life to the full. She was born some time between 1927 and 1971 which in fairy years makes her a child. However, that means that she is permanently up to no good.

height: 9.5cm

Penny is a pocket rocket. If she wants others to come down to her size she just runs over their toes. She’s fast though. No-one can catch her unless she rolls through jam by mistake. That slows her down!

magic: 13

People are always making wishes with pennies and throwing them into fountains and rivers. Little do they know the consequences. The Irish half-penny is a particularly lucky charm, so she has to move fast to stop being picked up.

mischief: 20

The princess of mischief likes to roll things to places where you would never look for them – think when the batteries fall out of the remote, or a pound slips out of your pocket. Have you ever tried to find a tennis ball in the flowerbed?

Major Mackattackalot is a soldier through and through. He loves getting people to join his army and bossing them about. However, you aren’t supposed to question orders, just carry them out…. NOW!

height: 8.5cm

The Major isn’t the tallest (but then neither was Napoleon). But what he lacks in stature he makes up for in attitude. Woe betide anyone who disobeys their orders. He doesn’t keep that sword of his sharpened for nothing!

magic: 2

He has little time for magic. He finds it inferior to a well-drilled regiment and a good old fight. Having said that, there are rumours that if he ever takes his hat off, strange things happen…

mischief: 17

Once he gets angry you had better watch out. Rips in the furniture, gashes in potatoes and cracks in glasses are all the work of the Major. His speciality is paper cuts... Ow!

Pirate Grace is the queen of the oceans. She was out plundering treasure when your granny’s granny was still in nappies. She still loves a challenge though and can make trouble with the best of them, especially when it comes to gold!

height: 12cm

Grace is a tall and elegant pirate queen who is usually quiet and a bit reserved, but when she lets her hair down watch out! Sea shanties, hornpipes and old sailor jokes will soon have you jigging like a mad thing or laughing your head off (literally, in Turnip-head O’Hare’s case!)

magic: 11

Like most ancient sailors, Pirate Grace is very superstitious. If she sees people walking under ladders or breaking mirrors, she will immediately make something bad happen. It would be terrible if people stopped believing in bad luck…

mischief: 19

She has an eye for treasure so if you don’t keep tabs on your money, watch, wallet or jewellery you only have yourself to blame. Just when you go to get it from where you left it you’ll find it… gone!

Olaf has been around for 1200 years or so. Yes, he’s a Viking and yes, he’s from Ireland. They were around for a while you know. And it wasn’t all rampaging around looting monasteries, they were a cultured and peace-loving race when allowed the opportunity. But not Olaf…

height: 9.5cm

Yes, Olaf is quite small, but whatever you do, don’t point it out or you might regret it! Any way his horned helmet makes him a good few millimetres taller (or so he thinks). You never really see Olaf move but he turns up in the most surprising of places.

magic: 3

Like most fighting male fairies (see Major Mackatackalot) Olaf doesn’t have much time for magic. He prefers to surprise people with his trusty battle axe. Occasionally he might shout out an old Viking curse, but he’s really just letting off steam!

mischief: 22

He puts his beloved battle axe to good use. He is an absolutely fearless smasher of biscuits, ruthless slasher of school tights and pitiless gouger of holes in socks.

At 921, Mick the Monk is one of the oldest fairies around. He used to live on an island in Fermanagh where he passed the time doodling complicated knot patterns on the side of manuscript pages. These days he just likes to have a laugh!

height: 10cm

Mick is an average height but when he is concentrating on his knots he can nearly disappear altogether! He likes to get lost in his work. Sometimes he actually does get lost in his work.

magic: 5

Mick finds it hard to work out what’s magic and what isn’t these days. Back when he was a young monk in 1199 AD he would always be muttering rhymes that helped crops grow or helped other monks recover from illness, but now he just mutters out of habit!

mischief: 16

He tries to practice his knot-work whenever he can but his eyesight isn’t the best. So, that explains the tangle of wires behind the TV, the children’s hair and laces and of course, the fairy lights when its time for the Christmas tree.

Turnip-head O’Hare is a lesser-spotted fairy as usually appears around Hallowe’en. He loves scaring people by taking his head off and tucking it under his arm.

height: 11.5cm

Turnip-head’s height varies depending on whether his head is on or off. He moves relatively slowly for a fairy because of that bucket of foul-smelling stuff he carries everywhere. He says he can’t afford to spill any of it as it would cause an unnatural disaster!

magic: 9

The head gag is amazing and nobody knows how he does it, so there must be magic involved at some stage. As for the stuff in the bucket, nobody knows whether it is magical or not as they are all too scared to look!

mischief: 17

He’s a naughty fairy is Turnip-head, so thank goodness he doesn’t mess too much apart from at Hallowe’en. However, if there is a bad smell in the cupboard, the car or when you go into the bathroom – he may have been around.