Break from reality with festival visit? What a fairy good idea

AMIDST all the tumult in public affairs, the power plays, circular arguments, shifting alliances and unedifying hullabaloo, this question arises: “If there are really no fairies, why do people believe in them, all over the world?”

This perceptive query was put by Scottish Borders writer Andrew Lang, who produced 25 fairy story collections (the best known being his 12 “Coloured” books) between 1889 and 1913. He believed fairy tales “unobtrusively teach the true lessons of our wayfaring in a world full of perplexities and obstructions”.

Anyone agreeing with this controversial view might fancy wayfaring to Haining House, Selkirk (Lang’s home town), this week. The grand, 18th-century manor by the lochside on a woodland estate plays host to a Festival of Fairy Tales inspired by Lang’s fey compendia.

The three-day event will feature stories, puppets, exhibitions and talks, with a particular highlight being nightly performances by Borders Youth Theatre of There Be Fairies, a Lang-inspired play directed by John Haswell.

On Thursday evening, Dr Lizanne Henderson, co-author of the book Scottish Fairy Belief, will ask: where is the road to Elfland? Not in Edinburgh, one hopes, as it’ll almost certainly be getting dug up and subject to temporary traffic lights. Dr Henderson will look at fairy origins, lifestyles and even politics (please, no!) as well as describing some of the cultural influences that inspired Lang’s writing.

I should mention that much of the festival is, of course, aimed at stimulating the imaginations of children, the younger of whom will doubtless enjoy visiting the Gingerbread House, where Little Red Riding Hood and the Frog King might be found.

There are little windows of wine-time for adults now and again, and I should mention tickets are only £1 per person per day, with an additional £7 charge for There Be Fairies.

Decent ratepayers have been overdosing on reality of late: time for a little detour to the land of Faerie. The Festival of Fairy Tales runs from Thursday to Saturday at The Haining, just ten minutes on foot from Selkirk town centre.