I stumbled across the
fairy reserve near my home last Autumn. I wanted a short walk and
decided I would go into the hills above Horice Na Sumave. Originally
it was my intention to just walk up to the open-air theatre which is
home to the annual Horice Passion Play, but I saw signs to the fairy
reserve and my interest was piqued. My other motivation was that the
signs were pointing towards a wooded hill, and in Autumn Czech woods
mean mushrooms.
At the edge of the wood
was a red and white toll both, closed now, but the price list was
still visible. Underneath was some graffiti in English: “I want to
believe...” There were other signs in various parts of the wood.
One read that it was forbidden to go under the mushrooms. A
signpost's two arrows pointed “This way” and “There”. This
was all that remained of a time in the summer holidays when the
reserve had been full of children entertained by actors playing
fairytale characters. Now I was alone to imagine their fun, or maybe
the fairies just weren't showing themselves.
I wandered around the
hill following in places a pilgrimage trail with its stations of the
cross up to a ruined chapel and the top of a ski-slope. The chapel
walls were destroyed by explosives in the 1960s. Grass grew between
the stone paving stones and the winding head of the ski-lift stood
rusty against the blue sky. Again here was a place that once thronged
with people processing up from the small town, but now was empty.
Turning back, I started
to notice strange formations of small rocks and twigs among the
trees. Leaving the path, I looked closer and found that they were
miniature settlements, made by the children for the fairies. I looked
up and saw horn of plenty mushrooms pushing through the leaf litter.
I thanked the fairies and filled my basket, before walking home.
A few weeks ago I took some British visitors for a walk. I took them to the fairy reserve and the ruined
chapel. I explained to them the very Czech love of fairy tales, of how television dramatizations of fairy tales made in the sixties and seventies are part of
every family's Christmas TV viewing, of how adults would talk with a
straight face about fairies and other spirits, and I told the story
of the builder who put milk out to appease the threshold fairies.
When I told them that I was thinking of writing an insider's guide to
the Czech Republic, they urged me to do so, saying that you would
never find anything about fairies or their reserves in a normal guide
book.
