By Marianne Mathiasen

Nidlongdir Whisperings

“Germinating seeds of imagination in your mind, and allowing them to bloom, will provide you with the greatest magic power in the world!

The only person in my family who truly believed in fairies was my grandmother. As a child, she asked me to bring stew and beer to the gnome living in the stable, otherwise the pigs would become ill and die. My grandfather was a painter, and he was the one who taught me about the magic of colours and how to mix them. I started to draw and paint as a child, so art has always been a part of my life.

My fairy name is Ranunkel and I was born in Denmark and still live on an island called Als in the south. I am a botanical illustrator and skilled cartoon animator, have worked as an art director and designed a computer game called Rosa and the Magic Fairy.

I find the inspiration for my art in nature, and strongly believe in recycling to save our planet.

May the fairies watch over you!”

Introduction to Nidlongdir and our Faezine Reporter Plotka Hildur

I would like to invite you to Nidlongdir, a fairy realm I discovered in my garden. The word Nidlongdir is the fairy's word for world, so they all live in Nidlongdir. There are two fractions of fairies. The Apple Fairies are ruled from Apple Hold Castle by a king and queen. Most of The Apple Fairies live in Leafenheim City. The other fairies are the Dragonians. The Dragonians live in Dragonia in underground caves and are also known as the black nosed fairies. The Dragonian fairies have a parliament called The Gathering where the elder elected advisors rule.

It all started late in the summer of 2008 when I was doing some botanical illustrations of apples in my garden. During the summer I spend many hours under the three old apple trees in the back of my garden, and sometimes I had a feeling that I was being watched. I also found things in the garden that indicated to me that there were fairies in the neighbourhood. My first encounter with the fairies was one morning when I saw two fairies resting in the morning sun in the apple tree. It turned out to be the fairy queen Agrafina and her king Applestrong.

Later in the fall my daughter found a pair of fairy baby twins in an apple from one of our trees. As she was a student she didn't have time for two small babies, so I decided to take care of them myself. I named the twins Selene and Ebbe. I soon discovered that there were many problems taking care of the twins, but one morning a fairy had left a gift for me, it was a fairy communicator that makes it possible for me to understand what the fairies are saying!

During the winter of 2008-2009 I have been travelling into Nidlongdir with the help of some of the fairies I got in contact with in my garden. I was appointed as ambassador of Dragonia, and my task is to tell the human world about Nidlongdir.

There are some ongoing conflicts between the two fairy fractions. They are fighting about the apple trees. The Apple Fairies live in the tops of the trees, and produce apple juice. The Dragonian fairies are living in caves underneath, and they produce tree juice from the roots of the trees. The Apple Fairies want the tree juice production to stop because they think they get fewer apples when the Dragonians take the juice out of the trees.

The Queen is very selfish and her guards are hunting down a jewellery crafter called Danagonia, because she has refused to send her spring collection of jewellery to the queen. I am appointed as ambassador of Dragonia and I had the task is to put an end to the conflicts. At the Snow Drop Ball I was to get an appointment with the Queen to find a way to stop the guards from hunting Danagonia. The queen is spoiled and has too much power, and the King is powerless to her plots.

You can read all my old blogs if you go to The Whispering Library. The fairies of Nidlongdir don't use paper to write on, they use whispering leaves! I am constantly adding new content to this site when I travel into Nidlongdir, and drawing/updating maps so that it will be easy for new visitors to get around. It is my hope that you should be able to go into every building when it has all been finished! For more information on travelling into Nidlongdir please visit the Nidlongdir.com travelling guide.

You can also follow the story through my Enchanted Folk site.

Faezine has hired a Nidlongdir reporter called Plotka Hildur so that you will be able read the latest news from this magic world. Plotka and I work together and have become very good friends. (You can read all about her in the interview I did in the first issue of Faezine Spring 09)  As of Summer 09, Plotka has her own column in Faezine.

Marianne - Ambassador of Dragonia

Marianne has been a member of Enchanted Folk since June 2008

members.enchantedfolk.com/mariannemathiasen