BUTTERLEAF

Charles H. Grooms

Butterleaf was his normal exuberant self, just having fun and enjoying life. After all, that was what the fairies did best. Ever since he had solved the problem of the humans not believing in the little folk anymore and threatening them all with extinction because of that non-belief, the little folk had all been happy, healthy and strong. So why shouldn't he be happy?

That happy, carefree mood that was so characteristic of the fairies was soon to be shattered.

He was sitting on the stump in his forest glen, munching on a wild mushroom, when he heard a faint rustle in the brush. Instantly, he was alert. It was either a human trying to be quiet, or one of the little folk approaching, making some noise so that he would hear the approach.

As it happened, it was really two of the little folk, one of them was one of the elves that had been at the meeting when he had outlined his plan to make the big people believe in the little folk again, the one named Moondance, and the other was a pretty pixie that he didn't know.

"Hello, Moondance, Lady pixie, what brings you to my glen?"

"Hello, Butterleaf. This fair pixie is named Toofa. She has come to the elves with a problem that we had already begun to become aware of, a problem which affects all of us now that the big people believe in us again. I think it is best that I let her tell her story first, then I can fill you in on what ever else we know of the problem."

"Well and good, mushroom?"

After both had declined the offer, Toofa began. "My story starts a little over a week ago. My brother, Nifdt and his friend Jirdy and I had gone out to gather some wild mushrooms and berries. Suddenly, it happened!" She paused and dabbed at a tear with a handkerchief made of spider web silk, "Jirdy was reaching under the branches of a bush for a mushroom when he was caught in a trap! Nifdt and I rushed to his rescue. We managed to get the trap open, and Nifdt held it while I dragged Jirdy out. Then the trap slipped and Nifdt's leg was broken. I got him free, but it was too late for Jirdy. The trap had killed him. Nifdt is at home now with his leg mending. I went to the elves with my story and Moondance brought me here."

Butterleaf looked from Toofa to Moondance and back to Toofa again. "The big people have been setting traps for animals for centuries. We have never considered them to be much of a problem in the past, why the big deal now? Jirdy must have been careless."

Moondance spoke up. "No, Butterleaf. This trap was different. It was not set for animals. This trap was set to catch little folk. And this is not the first of these traps that we have heard of. This is just the first fatality from one of them. Just a fortnight ago, two brownies nearly fell prey to one of them. If either of them had been alone, they would likely to have been caught. As it was one of them was bruised and they both had a good fright. And there have been other cases of little folk having close calls with these new traps.

"Since the big people have started believing again, they have started setting traps trying to catch us."

"So, it's my fault. If I hadn't talked everyone into letting the big people see us, they wouldn't believe in us and they wouldn't be trying to trap us."

"No, Butterleaf. If you hadn't talked the little folk into letting the big people see us, they wouldn't believe in us and we would be dying. A lot of little folk are alive today because of you. You know what it had gotten to be like before they started believing. We were fading away. Soon, we would all have been gone if you hadn't come up with the plan that made them believe again. Don't blame yourself for the traps, blame the big people.

"We have been giving a lot of thought to the problem, but you solved the last problem, so we thought that we would make you aware of this problem, too. Who knows? You might solve this one for us, too."

"But why would the big people want to trap us? We are certainly not causing them any trouble."

"In a sense, that is not completely true. But the problems are strictly human ones, and none of our causing. You see, the big people have this sense of curiosity which is unknown in any other species on Earth. Because of that, some of their scientists would love to get their hands on us to study us. Some of them would like to study our behavior, others would want to dissect us to find out how we are built."

Butterleaf was shocked and Toofa almost fainted. "Dissect us? You mean cut us up?"

"Yes. They have done that with every other species on Earth that they can get their hands on.

"But that is not the only problem. There is also greed, fear, hatred and another one that we don't understand at all. I will explain each.

"Let me start with the greed. Since there are those that would want to study us, there will be some that will try to trap us for the money that they can sell us for to the scientists. Others will want to exhibit us to the public. They will charge admission fees to others of their kind to come and ogle us. Their only thought will be the monetary gain that they can make from us, never mind that we are living, intelligent beings. Their only consideration will be the monetary gain that they achieve.

"Then there is the fear. Because they don't really understand us, there are some who will fear us. There are always those among the big people that fear the unknown. And many of them try to destroy anything that they fear.

"Next is the hatred. Many of the humans hate anything that is different, and you will certainly have to admit that we are different from the big people. Because we are different, they will hate us, and because they hate us, they will try to destroy us.

"Lastly, there is the problem that we really don't understand. Every fall, there are those that come into the woods and shoot deer and other animals. Then they tie those dead animals to their cars and drive around with them until they rot. If they were killing for food, we could understand that, but their only purpose is to exhibit their prowess as hunters. Others kill animals of all sorts and have their bodies or sometimes just their heads stuffed and put them on display in their dwellings. We really do not understand this behavior at all, but some of them will be looking for us to have us stuffed. They have laws against killing other humans, but that doesn't stop them from killing each other and they have no laws at all that would protect us."

Butterleaf's knees felt weak and he also felt physically sick by the time that Moondance had finished. Toofa had already feinted. "Then the big people have changed more than I had thought. When they believed in us before, they never tried to do these cruel things. How is it, Moondance, that they could have changed so much in the last century or so?"

"They haven't really changed that much. The main change that has occurred is that they have gained more power and control than they had before. The time was, when they killed, it was mostly for food, most of them didn't really have the time to spend hunting for `sport.' Now they control their environment enough so that they don't have to kill for food, so they do it for sport. There was also the time that they feared the consequences if they harmed one of the little people. Now they have become powerful enough that they no longer fear the consequences, so their natural arrogance can go unchecked."

They were quiet for a few minutes while Butterleaf considered all that he had been told. In the meantime, Toofa had regained consciousness, though she still remained pale.

Finally, Butterleaf asked, "Tell me, Moondance, how are these traps of theirs constructed?"

"Well, that varies, depending on which type of little folk that they are trying to catch. Obviously, a trap designed for a dwarf or an elf or a leprechaun would have to be larger and sturdier than one meant for a faire or a pixie or a sprite. Some of the traps are constructed of materials that they make that they call plastics, others are made of iron or steel."

Butterleaf went pale, "Don't the big people know that the touch of cold iron is deadly to some of the little folk?"

"They don't remember, or those that do think that it is not really so, what they call `old wives' tales.'"

"Maybe it would have been better if I had not convinced the little folk to let the big people see us. Then we could just have faded away and this situation would not have come about."

"Never believe that, Butterleaf! Even if we must live under these conditions, that is better than not living at all. And sooner or later, we will somehow solve our problem."

Not much more was left to be discussed, so Moondance and Toofa finally left, but not before Butterleaf had managed to talk each into sharing a mushroom (the tasty morels were in season) and some nectar with him.

***********************

Butterleaf's exuberance of an hour ago was gone, replaced with a depression almost as deep as the one that he had felt when the little folk had been dying from disbelief. The more that he thought of the visit, the more depressed he became. Rats and trolls! Trolls and rats! Rats and trolls! What was wrong with the big people? Why couldn't they just accept the little folk and let them live in peace?

Butterleaf sat on his stump in the forest glen, deep in thought. This was beginning to become a familiar occupation for him, and a most unfairylike occupation it was. Time passed, but he was not really aware of it. Day became night, and then became day again. Slowly, some ideas began to take shape. Eventually, he felt that he knew what must be done.

Having spent so long in thought, he broke his fast and then flew off to the part of the forest where a large group of elves lived. He was soon in conference with Moondance, Raindrop (who had been at the earlier meeting), the elvish king, Sun Splendor and his beautiful queen, Morning Dove.

Two weeks later, phase one of Butterleaf's plan was implemented.

***********************

Two humans, carrying burlap sacks entered the woods in northern Maine. They were followed without knowing it. In all, they visited twenty traps that they had set up in the woods. Two of them had been sprung. They reset them. The others had been undisturbed. When they returned two days later, they found that all of their traps had been thoroughly demolished and the parts had been scattered. That stopped their trapping for awhile.

In south central Tennessee, a van came into the woods. On the side of it was clearly printed the name of a research institute. Two humans got out of it and were also followed. They too, visited several traps. None had been sprung, but all had been sprung two days later when they returned. They moved the traps and reset them.

In Florida, two men in a rickety pickup truck drove into the woods. In the back of the truck were three hounds. The men leashed their hounds and started into the woods. The first three traps that they came to were undisturbed, but the fourth had been sprung. The men immediately brought up the dogs and let them smell the trap and then unleashed them. The dogs sniffed around for a few seconds and then took off, baying. The men quickly set out in pursuit. "Go git 'em, boy!" shouted one of the men.

Suddenly, the dogs stopped baying and yelped. "Now whut tha hell has them damn dogs got inta?" He was soon answered as the dogs, whining, burst through the brush into the small clearing that the men now occupied.

"Ye, Gawd! Jed. Them dumb mutts dun run up a skonk!"

"Whew! I heard that, Purvis. Lets git 'em back ta tha truck. They ain't gonna be no more use today."

They turned to head back to the truck, but their retreat only lasted about two steps. Straight ahead of them were two skunks.

"Uh, Jed, Ah thinks we had better head that away." He pointed to the left.

"Then ya better think some more, Purvis, look."

It only took Jed and Purvis a few seconds to realize that they were completely surrounded by a ring of black and white skunks. Now a skunk that is facing you is no problem as long as he is facing you, and if you slowly back away, will be no problem. On the other hand, a skunk that has his back to you with his tail raised high is a very real and immediate danger. These skunks were all facing away from Jed and Purvis and all tails were raised high. Suddenly, as if on a prearranged signal, the skunks sprayed, simultaneously, and then calmly ambled off.

"Oh, my Gawd, Purvis. Do that stink!"

"Ah don' know bout you, Jed, but Ah'm goin home."

The men, and their dogs left the woods without checking the rest of their traps. It wouldn't have done them any good to check them, all of the rest had been sprung. When they did return, it was to find that all of the traps had been thoroughly destroyed. They gave up trapping.

In China, Huang Chen carefully set out some traps that he had carefully constructed of strips of bamboo. When he returned two days later, he discovered that all of his traps had been just as carefully disassembled and that the bamboo strips had been just as carefully stacked in neat piles, but only after each strip had been carefully cut neatly in half. The piles of bamboo strips had also been carefully and neatly tied together with the string that had lashed the traps together. Huang Chen gave up trapping.

In France, in a vineyard, a grower placed some steel leg hold traps under his vines. These were the type that snap shut around the leg of any animal unlucky enough to step in it. The next day, he found that each of his traps had somehow managed to snap shut around the trunk of the grape vine that it had been set under. He didn't set them out anymore.

A street gang in New York got to wondering if there were any little folk in the city. If there were, they thought that they could trap them and sell them for some big money. They set out several traps of various types. They didn't catch any little folk, mainly because most of the little folk tended to shun all areas of high human concentrations, like cities. The notable exceptions were the gremlins, and they specialized in making mechanical objects malfunction, so the traps were no problems for them. They did manage to catch several rats and one stray cat.

In southern Iowa, over her husband's objections, a farmer's wife set out a pair of her husband's work shoes on which the soles were coming unsewed. Beside them she set a bowl of milk. In the morning, the bowl was empty and the shoes were gone. She and her husband got into quite a spat over their disappearance. He only had two pair of work shoes and couldn't really afford to buy another pair. The next morning, the shoes were back, neatly repaired and cleaned, looking better than they had in a long time. The wife got an extra kiss and she put out another bowl of milk that night.

In south eastern South Carolina, just north of Savannah, Georgia, a grade school teacher at a country school took her sixth grade science class on a field trip. With them, they carried a half dozen of the "have-a-heart" type of traps, the kind that are supposed to catch animals without harming them. When they returned the next day, they found that the first trap contained an unharmed squirrel. They admired the animal for a while and then released it unharmed. The next five traps each contained a cut out paper heart. Back in the classroom, they discussed their experience and came to the conclusion that trying to trap the little folk would be a heartless action, and that the message that they had received was to "have a heart" and leave the little folk alone. They resolved to do so.

Back in Tennessee, after the two humans from the research institute had had their traps sprung for the sixth time, they changed tactics. They went into the woods and set up some elaborate traps that were tripped by infrared beams. They also set up time elapse video cameras to watch their setups. For them, it was time for phase two of Butterleaf's plan.

The next day they returned. The first trap had been tripped, but nothing was in it. They gathered the tape and placed fresh tape in the camera. Then they went on to the second trap.

As they approached it they could tell that it had been tripped and that there was something in it. Excitedly, they bent to retrieve their catch. Imagine their disappointment when they found a child's doll. Also imagine their surprise when a large cage fell around them, neatly trapping them.

After the immediate shock of being caged was past, the researchers examined their cage to discover that it was simply constructed of wooden poles rather loosely lashed together with vines. It was quite easy to lift the cage off of themselves and get free. They thoroughly photographed and measured the cage. They couldn't find any release mechanism that had caused it to drop on them, but the one man called Joe did swear that he had heard a faint giggle right after the trap had fallen on them.

The rest of their day was uneventful. The rest of their traps had been tripped. All were reset. The tape was gathered from all of the cameras and all cameras were reloaded with fresh tape. When their tape was viewed, they had another disappointment. In all cases, the tape clearly showed a trap waiting to catch something. Then everything went dark for awhile, as though the lens of the camera had been covered, and when the picture resumed, the traps had been sprung. The tape from the second camera did show, near the end, two research field workers getting caught in a trap. Most of the researchers at the institute thought that it was rather humorous. Two notable exceptions were the two red-faced field researchers who had been snared.

***********************

In a mideastern country, a group of government researchers set up some particularly insidious and evil traps. A group of small canisters were arranged in a circle. A tripping mechanism would open the canisters if something got in the center of the circle. Then a nerve gas would be released, and regardless of wind direction whatever was in the circle would be gassed. This particular gas would paralyze it's victim for at least twenty four hours, while at the same time leave them fully conscious. This placed them immediately in phase 2, mode dangerous.

When the perpetrators returned to check their traps, they saw something in the first trap that they checked. Two of the group entered the circle to retrieve their catch. They too, had been fooled by a child's doll and the tripping mechanism had been moved and so rearranged that their precautions didn't work. They set off the trap themselves. Unfortunately for the rest of the group, the wind direction was just wrong, and most of the group were gassed. Only one of the group escaped being gassed. He waited until he felt certain that the gas had had a chance to dissipate and retrieved his paralyzed comrades. He placed them in the back their truck and returned to their headquarters. The next day, several workers went out to deactivate the rest of the traps, only to be gassed themselves. In all, it took the government group over a week to deactivate their traps.

The day after the last of their traps was finally deactivated, the chemical factory that had manufactured the nerve gas had a rather unusual "accident." Several containers of some other, more deadly gasses sprung leaks. Fortunately for the workers at the plant, all managed to escape without any fatalities, although some were exposed to some mustard gas that caused some uncomfortable hospitalization. Two days later the plant experienced another unusual "accident." Some of the equipment that manufactured the chemical agents somehow went wrong, and an explosion occurred which started a fire that destroyed roughly a fourth of the facility. The government sent in some extra investigators to determine the cause of the accident as well as extra workers to rebuild the destroyed portion of the plant. A month later, the investigators had been able to determine nothing, and the plant was back in partial operation when another unusual accident occurred. No part of the plant had been set up to manufacture anything as innoxious as tear gas or laughing gas. In spite of that, the machinery in the plant suddenly developed several leaks, and a combination of tear gas and laughing gas flooded the plant and caused the evacuation of the surrounding countryside.

The government decided that the plant was inhabited by evil demons, possibly even by the jinn. They shut down operations and dismantled the plant. They also stopped trying to capture any of the little folk themselves, but they did post a reward for any of the little folk, dead or alive, proclaiming it to be the will of Allah.

That was the final mistake of that government. For them, that started phase 3, special case.

A few thousand religious fanatics immediately armed themselves and set out in search of the little folk. They had a tendency to shoot at anything that moved and check later to see what they had hit. Not a few of them were killed or seriously wounded. But that was the final straw for the little folk of that area, who could be somewhat fanatic themselves, much more so than their distant relations who lived more peaceful lives in other parts of the world.

Although no one ever saw one of the signs being painted or put up, signs started appearing all over the land, including both inside and outside of government buildings and mosques. The wording varied from sign to sign, but in essence they all said the same thing. Translated loosely into English, they read, "Blessed of Allah are the Little Folk." Two days after the first signs appeared, voices started speaking to the people from the mosques. Thorough searches always failed to find the speakers. But the voices continued. They proclaimed that the government leaders had blasphemed against Allah by persecuting Allah's Blessed Ones, the Little Folk. When the leaders of the clergy tried to refute the claims of blasphemy, the voices also accused the leaders of the clergy of blasphemy.

The same fanatics that had gone on a hunt for the Little Folk now started hunting the country's leaders. The government called out the army to protect them. Some of the troops followed orders, others listened to the voices proclaiming that the leaders were blaspheming against Allah. Civil war erupted. Some of the leaders, both of the government and the clergy fled to other countries where they were pursued by some of the more fanatic of their former followers.

Eventually, some of the other countries in the area became involved in the dispute, and the civil war spilled over into them. When the chaos was at it's peak, and all civil authority and order had broken down completely, another country in the area decided that it would be to it's advantage "and to the advantage of the other peaceful nations in that part of the world, to bring law and order" to the area. They occupied the country and immediately started settling in the occupied areas. The fact that they spoke a different language and had a different religion didn't help matters.

***********************

Back in Tennessee, the researchers took a different tack. They went back into the woods, to the spot where they had been trapped. They did not reset the trap, but rather just sat down and waited. They were prepared to wait for a long time if they had to. They had brought with them thermos jugs of coffee and water as well as sandwiches and snack foods such as trail mixes.

They waited all that day, and finally, they set up a two man tent and slept on the spot. The next morning, they packed the tent away and sat and waited some more. Finally, from behind them a voice spoke, "What do you want?"

The pair of researchers turned slowly, looking for the source of the voice. It was nowhere to be seen. But then, there was enough underbrush and trees around that the speaker could easily hide. One of the researchers asked, "Where are you?"

"Never mind where I am, what do you want?"

"We want to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Well, we would like to get to know you and to learn more about you."

"You want to dissect us."

"No! We wouldn't do that!"

"Then you want to put us in cages to study us."

Since that was exactly what the researchers had originally had in mind, they were somewhat taken aback. "No. To be honest, that was our original thought, but we now realize that you are intelligent and won't do that either."

The voice was quiet for a few minutes. Finally it said, "Be back here in exactly one week, we will let you know something then." That week was the longest that the researchers had ever lived. For them, phase 3, normal, of Butterleaf's plan was about to begin.

One week later, the two researchers showed up again. They sat down and waited. After about an hour the same voice that had spoken to them before said from somewhere in front of them, "We have had a meeting. If you agree to our terms, you will be taken to a place where you can talk to many of the Little Folk."

The researcher named Joe said, "And what are those terms?"

"You must carry no cold iron with you." Joe immediately removed his sheath knife and laid it on the ground.

"You must show us the contents of your pockets and backpacks so that we will know that there is nothing in them that is dangerous to us." Joe immediately emptied his pockets and displayed their contents. Then he and the other researcher, the one called Mary, started emptying their backpacks and displaying their contents. After this was done, a brownie stepped out of cover and came forward. He looked over the contents of the packs that was arrayed on the ground and then indicated that they could repack them.

"There is one more thing. You must agree to be blindfolded and led to the meeting place. Only after you are there will the blindfolds be removed." They quickly agreed.

After their packs had been repacked and they had resholdered them, two pixies came out of the brush. They each carried a piece of silk. "Sit down so that we can reach you to put these blindfolds in place." They sat down and were soon thoroughly and well blindfolded.

They started off through the woods and small hands guided them, many more hands that were possessed by two pixies and one brownie. They were pushed this way and that and twice were told to duck so that they wouldn't hit their heads. After about an hour, they had the sense of being in a more open space and the march stopped. They were told that they could remove the blindfolds. Surprisingly, the blindfolds dropped away as they touched them.

They found that they were in a forest glen. They were surrounded by an assortment of little folk. In the forefront were two elves and a fairy. One of the elves, who was slightly larger and in some indefinable way seem to be older than the other spoke. "I am Raindrop. My companion here is Moondance. And this fairy is named Butterleaf. And who are you?"

"I am Dr. Joseph Stetson, call me Joe. My companion here, is Dr. Mary Atkins, you can call her Mary. I take it that you are the spokesman for this group?"

"I am one of the two spokesmen for the elves, Moondance is the other. Butterleaf is the spokesman for the fairies. The others that you see here are all spokesmen for their people. They have elected the three of us to be the major spokesmen for the group."

Mary spoke up, "Would you say that you are typical elves?"

"Yes, I would say so."

Then she looked at Butterleaf. "And you, Butterleaf, are you a typical fairy?"

Butterleaf looked rather surprised. "Well, yes, I guess that I am."

Moondance spoke up, "Butterleaf is too modest. In some ways, he is quite typical of the fairies, in other ways he is a most atypical fairy, as you may discover. Why do you ask?"

"Well I certainly intend no offense, and I certainly hope that none is taken. But all of the old tales always picture the elves as being very intelligent. They also picture the fairies as being fun loving and never give credit for any great deal of intelligence to the fairies, so it surprised me to find that a fairy was one of the elected spokespersons."

"Butterleaf is somewhat of a hero to most of the little folk. And there is certainly nothing wrong with his intelligence when he chooses to exercise it."

Raindrop spoke up. "You said that you wanted to meet us. What did you want?"

Joe answered, "Well, we would like to get to know you and learn more about you."

"Why?"

"For centuries, there have been stories and legends about you but we thought that they were just, well, fairy tales. We had thought that we knew all of the major life forms on this planet, and now we find that we are sharing the planet with not only another, but several other intelligent life forms. Naturally, we want to know more about you. Why have you remained hidden all of these years?"

"What has been your occupation before you contacted us?"

"Why, we are research scientists at the Institute."

"I mean more specifically, what have you been doing prior to one week ago?"

"Well, we, uh, we were trying to trap some of you. But now that we know that you are intelligent, we would not do that."

"And can you speak for all humans? None of them will try to trap us?"

"No. I can't speak for all humans. But I can also say that not all humans know that you are intelligent. And I am also afraid that to some, it wouldn't matter."

"Exactly. And what did you intend to do with us if you had managed to trap us?"

"Well, we had planned to take you back to the Institute with us."

"And what there?"

"Well, we planned to study you."

"And where would you have kept us while you conducted your studies?"

"I'm afraid that we planned to keep you in cages."

"And can you now state that no humans would cage us?"

"No."

"And how long would it have been before you decided to dissect one or more of us?"

"We would not have done that. We are basically psychologists."

"But some of your scientists would want to make dissections immediately, would they not?"

"I'm afraid that you are right."

"And how many of your people would want to kill us simply because we are different? Or for the `sport' of it?"

"Too many, I fear."

"And yet you ask why we have remained hidden. Isn't the answer obvious?"

"Then why have you chosen to meet with us now?"

"Since it is due to Butterleaf that you know about us at this time, and also due to him that you are here today, I will let him answer that question. Butterleaf?"

Butterleaf began, "The king of the fairies has appointed me as the spokesperson and delegate for the fairies. With that authority, I will explain. Our existence depends upon you and the other big people. You had stopped believing in us and because of that we were fading away." He went on to explain how he had reasoned out the problem that had faced the little folk, and how he had solved it. Then he continued on with the new problem that had arisen when the big people had started trying to trap the little folk, and the dangers that that presented, especially in the case of the steel traps with some of the little folk. Then he explained how he had conceived of a solution to that problem that had culminated with this meeting here, today.

"We have had meetings with most of the little folk and have come to an agreement. We are willing to meet with your people, and get to know each other. In return, we want your people to give us the same protections under your laws that you grant to your own people. That is, it shall be against the law for us to be hunted or trapped or killed, with the same punishment as would be imposed if one of your own people were hunted or trapped or killed. You must recognize that we are intelligent, that we have our own laws and our own rulers, and even though we may share the same world and the same space on that world, that we are separate and sovereign nations and must be granted that status. Just as you owe your loyalty to your nation and your president, I owe my loyalty to the fairies and to King Spruceslip, and Raindrop and Moondance owe their loyalty to the elves and to King Sun Splendor. Each of the races of little folk have their own nations and their own leaders and rulers. This must be recognized by your people."

"We do not have the authority to do that."

"No, but you can take the word back to your people and arrange meetings with those that do have the authority. When you have done so, return to the spot where we met you today and we will meet you and arrange for suitable meetings with those that can grant what we need. Then we will allow some of your studies, but no cages and no dissections."

Mary looked up at Moondance and asked, "Do all of the little folk agree with this?"

"As Butterleaf has said, we have had meetings with most of the little folk around the world. We all recognize the need for this."

"I notice that you said `most of the little folk' and also noticed that Butterleaf said the same thing. Do you mean that there are some of the little folk that do not agree?"

"There are some little folk that the rest of us really have little use for, just as your ancestors had little use for them. Such folk as the trolls and goblins are really not intelligent enough to understand what we are talking about, and even if we were able to get them to understand, they would not be likely to cooperate. Fortunately their numbers have always been very small."

Raindrop asked, "Do you agree with our proposal?"

Joe answered him, "Yes. I can see and understand your need. We will take your message back to our leaders."

"Then in that case, if you will let us blindfold you again, we will lead you back to where we met you. But first," he turned his head and called, "Glomar, it is all right now."

At that, a sturdy dwarf that they had noticed strode forward and presented Joe with his sheath knife.

Joe said, "I thought that the little folk found the touch of cold iron deadly."

Glomar answered him, "Some of them do find it deadly, to others it is just uncomfortable or painful. We dwarves and the gremlins are the only ones of the little people that can handle iron or steel with no problems," he rumbled. His voice sounded as though it were coming out of the sub basement.

The researchers blindfolds were replaced and they were led back to the spot in the forest where they had been met.

A month later, they showed back up at the meeting place. With them they had three other men. The men carried briefcases. Within minutes, a voice asked who the three strangers were. Joe answered, "These are representatives of our government. They are here to talk about the arrangements that we discussed earlier."

This time, it was a sprite that stepped out of concealment. She said to the three strangers, "Do you understand about the cold iron?"

The three men agreed that they did understand about the ban on iron and steel. Then the sprite asked them if they understood that she would have to see the contents of their pockets and their briefcases. The men immediately displayed the contents of their pockets and showed that their briefcases only contained papers.

"Do you also understand that we will have to blindfold you this time as we lead you to where you will make your first meeting with representatives of our people?"

The government representatives grumbled about it, but agreed to it. Soon the five humans were being led blindfolded through the forest.

Again, the trip took about an hour. When they reached the clearing, the blindfolds were removed and the five humans faced Raindrop, Moondance and Butterleaf. The same representatives as the two researchers had seen before were also present. Joe made the introductions. US Senator Thompson and US Representatives Smith and Holbrooke were the three new humans. The human representatives at first seemed very cooperative with the little folk as they explained the situation to them, much as it had been explained to the three researchers a month earlier. When the need for them to recognize the autonomy of the little folk was brought up, however, they balked.

The senator said, "You can't really expect us to grant you autonomy as a separate nation within our own borders, can you?"

"Why not?" Moondance asked. "Some of us knew your ancestors in Europe before they came to this land, some of us were already here when the first white settlers came to this land. Others of us were born here since this country was settled. And besides that, your nation is a human nation, with laws that are meant for humans. You must remember that we are not human."

Representative Smith said, "You mean that some of your ancestors knew some of our ancestors in Europe and that some of your ancestors were here when the white man first came here, I believe."

As an answer, Moondance looked at Butterleaf and asked, "Butterleaf, how old are you?"

Butterleaf grinned, "Oh, I'm still a youngster. I'm only about three hundred and fifty."

"And where were you born?"

"About a hundred miles northwest of London, England. Just about halfway between Coventry and Derby."

"And when did you come to this land?"

"I was still just a boy when my parents decided to come here in 1660. We knew that we had some relatives here that had come over about two hundred years earlier."

"And when did you meet me, Butterleaf?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, it was the next year. You greeted my family when we finally settled into the area about five miles from where you were living."

Moondance turned back to Representative Smith and said, "I was just a boy myself at that time. I had been born about forty two years earlier where I was living when Butterleaf met me. So you see, I was born here in this land in 1619. My people already had a nation in this land when Columbus first came here, and our king was ruling our people then as he does now.

"We have always lived among you as separate nations, both in this land and in other lands. This is nothing new. Some of your ancestors knew this in other lands and accepted it with no problems. Why should it be different now?"

Senator Thompson spoke up, "Now let me get this straight. You say that you have been living among us for centuries. Well how come we didn't know about it till now?"

Raindrop answered him, "The answer to that question is simple. Your ancestors did know about us. Read your own old literature, even your Shakespeare wrote about us. But we have always tried to avoid you humans. You are too violent a race. Then when you started a program of mass education, and started teaching your people that if you can't see it, feel it, hear it, smell it or measure it, it doesn't exist, you stopped believing in us. For a time that seemed like a good idea to us."

"And yet now you seem to have changed your minds. Otherwise we wouldn't have had this sudden rash of sightings of your peoples. You certainly seem to be able to remain hidden if you wish. Just what caused you to change your minds?"

"To answer that question, Senator, you must understand more about our people. All of the little folk have certain abilities which your people would consider supernatural powers. Each group has different abilities, some are similar, some are very different. We evolved quite independently from the humans, although side by side with you. To compensate for these `powers' are certain obligations and weaknesses. One of the things that the little people all have in common is the need for human belief. As we explained earlier, because you humans had ceased to believe in us, we were fading away. Only your children, your simple minded and a few dreamers still believed in us. And they only as a maybe so type of thing. That belief was not enough to sustain us. We needed more if we were to survive. In many ways, you humans with your iron and steel are anathema to us, and yet you are also absolutely necessary to our very existence.

"It was Butterleaf that realized just what the problem was and what to do about it. When he demonstrated the factuality of his deductions, then proposed the plan to regain your belief, we all went along with it. We could understand the necessity of it."

"You mean that if I stop believing in you, you will fade away?"

"No, Senator. There are enough humans who do believe in us to keep us strong. Your belief, as a single individual is not necessary. Your belief as a people is."

Representative Holbrooke spoke up. "O.K., I can understand why you tried to remain hidden all of these centuries, and why you decided to let us see you again. But you always remained aloof and avoided contact in the past. Why are you changing that now? And I think that I would like to hear from another voice. I intend no offense, mind you, I would just like to hear it from a different viewpoint than from you three."

"No offense is taken, I assure you. From whom would you like to hear?"

The congressman got a sheepish grin on his face and said, "Well, as a kid, I always sorta had this thing about dwarves. I've been watching that one over there and I think that I would like to hear his side of it."

Glomar stepped forward. He stood about four feet tall and was about three feet across at the shoulders. His white beard was neatly trimmed at about mid chest. As has been earlier noted, when he spoke, his voice rumbled up out of the sub basement in a basso profundo. "We are contacting you now because Butterleaf has shown us that we must."

When it became apparent that he wasn't going to expand on that, the congressman prompted, "Could you clarify that somewhat, please?"

"Uh, yeah. O.K. Your people have been setting out traps for animals for years. Usually, they don't give us any trouble. A few of us have been hurt or killed by them, but we usually manage to avoid them. Then you started trying to trap us. Some of us have been hurt and even killed by your traps. So Butterleaf thought about that and came up with a plan. Those traps that would simply trap us, we usually just tripped them. Those that could hurt us, we destroyed. Some of you came after us with traps and dogs, they got the skunk treatment." At the congressman's questioning look, he explained about the case that happened in Florida. All of the humans had a healthy laugh at that.

Glomar continued. "Some of the people trying to trap the little folk got real nasty about it. They set up traps using poison gas. Got caught in those traps themselves when we got finished with them. Then they set out the general population with guns to shoot and kill us, said that it was `The Will of Allah.' Now their country is being occupied by another country and their leaders are being hunted down by their own people."

At that announcement, the senator turned a little pale. The other humans were shocked, each thinking of the recent developments in the mideastern world. The elves noted the human reactions, but Glomar didn't. He went on. "We have always tried to be a peaceful people and suit our actions to the provocation. We have always tried to never overreact."

All were silent a few seconds, each in their own thoughts. Then the senator asked, "And why did you choose here and now to make your contact?"

"Butterleaf had pointed out to us that we would have to contact you," Glomar answered. "We decided to carefully choose who we would let that initial contact be with. When we saw that Joe and Mary were persistent in their attempts, and saw that the traps that they used were carefully designed not to harm, we thought that they might be our best contacts. Then when we trapped them, they realized that we were intelligent and stopped trying to trap us." This announcement caused two red faces and three amused smiles. "So they went back where we had caught them and just sat and waited. This showed us that they might be open to some friendly negotiations. So we made the contact with them and here you are."

The humans were again quiet for a time, thinking about what they had been told. Then Representative Smith asked, "So where do we go from here?"

"That is easy," Butterleaf answered. "Legally recognize us as people, with all of the rights and protections under your laws that the human people have. Recognize our autonomy. And we will meet with your representatives and scientists and get to know each other."

Raindrop added, "Actually, each nation will have to recognize us. Ideally, your United Nations should also recognize us as well. We will work with any nation that does recognize our rights, but will not cooperate with any that do not. With those we will do as we have in the past, that is, we will avoid contact and try to ignore them. There is one other stipulation. When we meet with your scientists, we must be treated as people, not as semi-intelligent animals. We are not to be caged, we won't run mazes as your rats do, nor will any of us be dissected or subjected to anything against our wishes.

"Respect these terms and you will find that the little folk can be very cooperative. Don't respect them and we won't cooperate.

"Also, there is some precedence for what we are asking. Many of your Native American people have their own nations within your national borders, you call them reservations. And on these reservations, they have their own laws and their own governments."

"But you have no reservations, no land."

"True, but the concept is the same."

"All right. Lets assume for a moment that we do manage to go along with what you wish. So far, you have only made direct contact with five humans. And we don't even really know exactly where we are. How will we go about setting up the meetings between our researchers and your people. I can't see everyone making a hour long blindfolded trek through the forest whenever they want to meet with you."

Moondance answered. "We have considered that. For our comfort and safety, we feel that our meeting place should be in a wooded area, similar to this. For the comfort of your people, you would rather have a building. We propose that you build a structure with `labs' that have one wall open to the outside. We will meet with your people there. Just make certain that there is no cold iron or steel exposed anywhere around."

"You realize, I hope, that even though we are government representatives, and members of the legislature, we can not grant what you wish. What I can promise you is this. When we return to Washington, I will have a meeting with the president and try to convince him to go along with what you want, he is the only government authority that can legally make treaties. I will also sponsor a bill in the senate to grant you the rights that you are asking for. That is the best that I can do."

Raindrop said, "We understand that, Senator. And we certainly appreciate it. Let us hope for the good of both of our people that you are successful. Now, unless you have something else that you wish to discuss, we will lead you back to where we met you. You can make contact with us at any time by having any of the five of you come to the same place. We will not necessarily make contact with someone that we don't know."

"I guess that that is all that we can do for now. Do we really need to be blindfolded to leave here?"

"This is the most comfortable meeting area for several miles around. Comfortable both by our standards and by yours. If you know where it is, until we have some legal protections, we won't meet here again. So unless you wish the next meeting to be in a slightly less comfortable area, we will have to blindfold you."

The humans agreed and were led off.

After the humans were back in their car and heading back to the city, Representative Smith looked at the senator. "Why did you suddenly give in to their demands like that without even trying to negotiate something less?"

The senator looked at him steadily for a few seconds. "You don't understand that? Explain it to him, will you Holbrooke?"

"Smith, didn't you hear what that dwarf said about the events in the Mideast? Did he really strike you as being intelligent or imaginative enough to make that up? I think that Thompson is right. We need to make sure that we have peaceful relations with these little people. Stop and think about some of the old stories that you heard when you were a kid. Some of these little people have a reputation of being real pranksters. And some of their pranks can be wicked, especially if they are provoked. When you consider that they seem to be able to disappear into the woodwork, and that no one has ever been able to catch or trap one, would you really want them to decide to do a job on us, like the one that that dwarf mentioned? Or don't you keep up with international news?"

Fifteen months later, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to recognize the various little folk as intelligent citizens of the world, and as autonomous nations. The vote was close, but since fifteen nations, including the United States had already done so, and since the other nations could see some of the benefits that they were receiving from that contact, the vote passed. Several other nations were also considering following the lead of those that had already accepted the little folk.

Research institutes had been set up in several countries that had some rather peculiar constructions. No where was there any exposed iron or steel. Outside walls were missing on all of their labs. Most of them were built in wooded areas with only a single road leading to them.

In most parts of the world, no one was trying to trap the little folk any longer. In those areas where they were, strange things were happening. For instance, in a certain central American country, Capitan Raoul Garcia y Fernandez, chief of the local police barracks, had decided that it could only help his advancement in the government if he could capture one of the little folk. He had dreams of being El Presidente's right hand man, and perhaps some day, even being El Presidente himself. One morning, seconds after he had stepped from his home, and after being preceded by two bodyguards, he suddenly found himself enclosed in a trap. The bars of the trap were made of bronze, and although there was nothing unusual about the alloy, it took workers with torches nearly an hour to extricate him, mainly because they had to use so much care due to the Capitan's proximity to the bars.

Although Raoul tried to keep the incident quiet, photographs of the caged police chief eventually found their way to the Presidente's palace, and even El Presidente himself enjoyed a hearty laugh at Garcia y Fernandez's expense. The incident at the very least slowed down El Capitan's advancement in the government.

In those areas where their rights had been recognized, most of the little folk were relaxing again.

For his own part, Butterleaf was just having fun again.

The Last Story in the Trilogy

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