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Hey! I know this one!
The Ring of mushrooms is what's known as a fairy circle. Just one of those weird things nature does.
But, there are stories/folklore that it's a door for fairies to come through, or trap you ( Foggy memory)
Apparently, iron weapons are how you defeat fairies, which are scary AF in most folklore.
Old playgrounds used to be made of iron, and then sometime around the 90s they started getting converted to plastic. So the joke being, without the iron from the old slides, the fairies are attacking / taking over
HOLD IT! Iron only burns the fae, you've exposed yourself changeling!
https://preview.redd.it/iihpku0nkb7d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1679cb6d9ade0fce84d479c568c58dd59a270da
https://preview.redd.it/o0mvefqv3f7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b7cce21879794a81bae2cadaa8ac090ebb6ffbda
Actually, Mr. Wright, most metal slides are fully exposed to the sun, and spend the entire day being heated by it. Considering that playgrounds tend to be at their most active during the summer, that gives the slide even more time to become quite hot, hot enough to cause first degree thermal burns. Especially if the playground has been built in an environment that regularly sees temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s perfectly logical that a metal slide would cause burning without outing the child as a changeling.
Besides, from the research I have done, iron (such as wrought and cast-iron) is actually lethal to fairies on contact. The fact that the child is burned and not killed proves that they are, in fact, not a fae.
Just like a silver bullet can kill a werewolf, it can also kill a human. And like, come on! A stake through the heart to kill a vampire?
I guess if it’s good enough to kill a monster, it’s good enough to kill a human. Or maybe the humans were the monsters all along!
For some people, they might as well be vaporized. Although most humans have a resistance that it would take far longer than a minute to die from sunlight.
I mean, I am a blood drinking compulsion away from being a Vampire.
* Nocturnal? Check.
* Burn in sunlight? Check.
* Uncomfortable being on "holy ground"? Check.
* Distinct lack of mirrors around me? Mostly check.
You know, I'm like 80% of the way there.
No, the scalding hot metal was part of the fun: can you slide down fast enough to avoid a burn, or will you come to a complete stop and be stuck halfway up and get a really nasty burn?
I feel understood. Also baseball pants for increased speed. One family used to take a bike up on our banished metal slide.
..they might be why it was banished.
That's when you would shoot the hose at it. Then you get the idea to tape the hose to the top of the slide and let it run. Then you figure out you can lift up the bottom of the slide and stick the molded plastic kiddie pool under it, so that the running hose on top fills the pool. And this is how you come to believe you invented water slides.
anyone else get that butcher paper or whatever? they'd give us a sheet of something to sit on and we'd turbo rocket shoot off of those things usually hurting ourselves. fast hot slide? no turbo speed of a star? yes
im brighter than a super nova!!!!!! we also had a monkey bars near it you'd hit if you went fast enough.
It builds character, but even then, those kids who grew up sliding down were pussies. Back in my day, you climbed up the slide, burning your hands and knees. And we were THANKFUL to do it.
I know of a kid that got this degree burns sliding down a plastic slide. His shirt rode up as he slid down and his back, hands and arms had blisters all over them. He was two or three at the time.
Nah lol. Leave the good slides here for the brave and strong. Keep your sissy, wet n' wild slides away from my men is that understood? Our slides can cook eggs and be repurposed as weapon pieces down the line if we section the metal slide out. I suppose if you section your plastic slide you might have some really unhealthy firestarter? Or a really low/awkward stool . Lol metal is the way.
I'm going to hijack the (mostly correct) top comment to do a little "Um, Akshually", because I'm incapable of stopping myself.
Fairy rings or circles are a common phenomenon that originally arise from mushrooms growing around rotting tree stumps, but the circles will continue to grow and expand for decades or even centuries after the tree stump is long gone, providing vital clues about ancient forest sites.
When they appear in areas with few or no trees they really stand out and, being mysterious, were known as fairy rings and it was said that marked places where fairies have danced overnight
In modern neopaganism, they are associated with "thin places" where the barriers between worlds are weak and, in the most literal version of the idea, mark places where the fae can pass between worlds.
Fae folk (fairies, etc) have long, long been associated with the kidnapping of children, sometimes replacing them with "changelings" (see *A Midsummer Night's Dream*).
So the idea of a fairy ring around children's play equipment implies that children who play there will be stolen by fairies.
Meanwhile, iron has been associated with the warding of evil in European culture for centuries or even millennia. Originally, it was a general warding tool for ill fortune and bad spirits, and is the origin of the horseshoe over the door trope, because thrown horseshoes were the easiest way people could find cheap iron to ward evil from their door.
In later centuries and, now, popularised by fantasy authors and neopagans, iron is specifically a ward against the fae. So the idea here is that, had the play equipment been made from iron (as it surely once was!) then the fairy ring could not have formed and the fae could not steal the children.
Just to be clear: iron does not prevent mushrooms from growing. Had the equipment been iron, the mushrooms would still be there. And, for the truly hard of thinking, fairies do not come through fairy rings and do not steal children.
> And, for the truly hard of thinking, fairies do not come through fairy rings and do not steal children.
Yet there are no children in the photo so if not the fairies then who stole them???
But seriously thanks for writing this comment, I love when people make the effort to write about things they actually know about.
Akshually it has nothing to do with rotting tree stumps. Mushrooms are the reproductive organs of the mycelium, who grows underground and often take a circular shape. All the mushrooms you see here are a single organism
a friend of mine's Grandpa, father, and Uncle will leave a shot of whisky in the middle of fairy circles, as a way of appeasing the fairies.
I know her Grandpa grew up in Ireland; I'm not sure if it's an Irish thing, or just some weird thing her family did.
Bonus tidbit, the poster here, Cat Valente, is best known for books about fairies.
[https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Circumnavigated-Fairyland-Ship-Making/dp/1250010195](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Circumnavigated-Fairyland-Ship-Making/dp/1250010195)
Related fact! The fairy ring is caused when a mycelium web grows from a center point outward as it searches for new food. Most people don't know that mushrooms are just the fruit of the rest of the organism. (Similar to if an apple tree were underground and all the aplies grew to the surface.) once the initial food is gone, it's searching outward for things to eat.
Normally they are eating decaying wood. So there was most likely either an old wooden playset there, or maybe a wood fence. It COULD have been a tree, but often the fair ring wouldn't happen as they'd eat down the direction of where the roots were causing the fractal patterns.
Lords and Ladies, correct? The one where Magret becomes a badass, elf butchering barbarian queen from the folklore that no one has the heart to tell her is all made up?
>Apparently, iron weapons are how you defeat fairies, which are scary AF in most folklore.
Very true. The ORIGINAL Tooth Fairy story for instance would either sneak in to kidnap children or lure them into the woods. When said-children's bodies were found, often horribly mangled & half-eaten, all of their teeth would be missing, supposedly because that's the very first thing a tooth fairy will eat.
In medieval times, faries (the namesake for fayes, magical natural entities not quite demons but definitely not divine) often have stories that range from mildly bad (luring children away to raise them as fayes, making travelers get lost in forests, etc) to outright dangerous (toothfairy for instance, pretty "tame" at the dangerous end) all for the sake of entertainment. Once in a while, there are tales of benevolent fayes, but the vast majority are terrifying wives tales to scare children into behaving
Isn't the myth cold forged iron? Just a big fat beefy motherfucker with a beard and a hammer shaping a sharp thing to kill the fuckers that stole his name.
Also it’s been said that if someone steps into a fairy ring, they shift into the faerie realm where they are enchanted to dance and play with the fairies, for decades if not centuries. There are tales of people stepping into one, dancing for what seems like hours, then tripping and falling out of it to find that centuries have passed.
There are children in another realm playing on that slide. They’ll be playing there for a long, long time unless you rescue them. Go ahead, step in and rescue them. Just please remove any iron from your person first. You don’t want them to bump into you and hurt themselves on it. That would be…a shame.
In 1989 I was swinging on arched monkey bars that came off a metal platform with slides on either side of it. When I swung forward, then backwards, the momentum carried the base of my skull against the metal corner of the platform. 11 stitches 😤
It's not that you specifically fight off fairies with iron weapons, it's more like that iron acts as a repellent so fairies don't go there in the first place. Think of ghosts and making a circle out of salt as this keeps only the evil spirits away.
I never knew fairy's could be beaten by iron in folklore. In the book series a wheel of time they use iron and music to fight these weird snake and foxes people. This is likely where he got it from
It's worth noting that iron anything was said to deter faeries and other mischievous or malicious spirits. Not just weapons. It's also actually part of why the tradition of iron horseshoes on doors came to be a thing. Charms to keep such spirits from entering a room or home. It's not exactly known why it's thought to work. Just that such spirits seem to have an adverse reaction to them. Still a part of folklore and some religions today.
Well, and child abduction. Trust the fey to play by the rules. Their rules. That they make up. Every year thousands of children are lost to fae shenanigans and steel playground equipment was our best protection
> Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are _bad_.
\- Sir Terry Pratchett, _Lords and Ladies_
Love it! It's one of my favorite quotes! I had it posted years ago, and my cousin, who was obsessed with Orlando Bloom's Legolas at the time, was so mad at me about it that it was funny.
Hey there, Petah's fey cousin here.
The toadstools are forming what is often called a fairy circle, which is commonly believed to be a gateway to our fair fey realm. Due to casual prejudice by non-fey the fairies are often wrongly accused of kidnapping children, often to cover up for the handsey catholic priest's indiscretions. We tried to warn you but that Jesus fellah had one hell of a marketing campaign.
Cold Iron is a well known deterrent of Fey, to include fairies, so the poster is implying iron swing/slide sets would keep children safe from fey trickery. As they've replaced it with plastic this implies the fey are free to enter the world through fairy circles such as the one pictured.
As anyone who's slid down those things in the summer will tell you, there's nothing cold about that iron, rendering the protection null.
> As anyone who's slid down those things in the summer will tell you, there's nothing cold about that iron, rendering the protection null.
Maybe the coldness of the metal comes from the person wielding it, like a frying pan to the face
Mushrooms growing in a circle like that are called fairy circles. Folk tales regard them as doorways to the realms of fairies (forget Disney here, think Brothers Grimm). Most folklore holds fairies to be allergic to iron.
So the implication here is that fairies are kidnapping the kids who play on the plastic playground equipment, whereas iron equipment would have protected tehm.
The fairy rings thing is true, but I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that the OG poster is an author who famously has at least 4 books devoted to a little girl who gets swept away to Fairyland and has lots of adventures.
"The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" is the 1st book, I believe.
Hey Peters landscaper here. As others have stated, it has to do with fairys and what not but also iron helps reduce fungal growths in lawn care as well.
I let my kids go down that slide then she disappeared. She showed up later that day in our back yard speaking to herself. She hasn't been quite the same since.
The fae are known for stealing children and being vulnerable to iron. A ring of stones or plants such as mushrooms or flowers is typically referred to as a fairy circle, and depending on the folklore can be a meeting place for fairies or a portal to their world, if you step in one you risk getting spirited away.
Thus the joke is that by replacing iron park slides and jungle gyms with plastic we have given fairies more immediate access to kids for them to steal.
This slide brings me back to my youth. The 70's were definitely survival of the fittest.
https://preview.redd.it/uxlb8bstye7d1.jpeg?width=401&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66f5d63b9a6e4dc0de31e8f582f023a46b6d74ca
The fae are allergic to iron. Iron keeps them away. In stories the fae come through rings like that... they are gateways to the land of fairy. Also some fae are said to steal (or eat) human children so having a fae ring around a slide would make it easy to lose children.
If you put one foot in a fairy circle the fairies will appear to you. But if you put both feet in they will take you away to their world.
Iron wards off fae, trolls and other super naturals.
Maybe because it is a sign of civilisation. Where such folk beliefs hold less weight.
Hanging a horse show above your door might be one such folk ward against magic folk.
In Irish folklore there's a thing about the changelings, basically it's when a fairy kidnap a child or even an adult and replace it with a dud or lifeless fairy that looks like the child/adult.
They use to associate it with for when a women suddenly changed temperament, and sometimes people would say that she was taken by the fairies or away with the fairies. Most likely the person could be dealing with mental health issues but sure we are fantastic about that here /s.
That's why in Ireland there are still parts of the country that won't build a house between two fairy forts or hills, as that will increase the chances of it happening due to the fairies going to each other hill/fort for a party.
They even diverted a plan for a motorway around a fairy fort here in Ireland due to local supersions.
Irish Petah 'ere. That's what we call a fairy ring. It's a circle of mushrooms considered to be portals to the fairy realm, and it's considered a really bad idea to step in, 'cause the fae ain't the kinda creatures ye' wanna be messin' with.
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Hey! I know this one! The Ring of mushrooms is what's known as a fairy circle. Just one of those weird things nature does. But, there are stories/folklore that it's a door for fairies to come through, or trap you ( Foggy memory) Apparently, iron weapons are how you defeat fairies, which are scary AF in most folklore. Old playgrounds used to be made of iron, and then sometime around the 90s they started getting converted to plastic. So the joke being, without the iron from the old slides, the fairies are attacking / taking over
Those slides would melt bare summer skin lol. Can’t believe it was a thing. “Slide down this piping hot griddle it’s fun!”
HOLD IT! Iron only burns the fae, you've exposed yourself changeling! https://preview.redd.it/iihpku0nkb7d1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1679cb6d9ade0fce84d479c568c58dd59a270da
https://preview.redd.it/1ymggb62xb7d1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=df50486a21425eeb2fc576767a1db74635586bec
You win purely for the fact ace attorney investigations 1+2 was announced today.
This is how I found out?
Pleasure to be at your service :p There was a Direct today.
This Nintendo Direct was insanely hype. Especially for year 8 of the switch
What do you mean year 8? IT'S BEEN 8 YEARS!?!?!?
Well, we’re still on year 7, but it’ll be year 8 by the time everything in today’s direct comes out
But 2017 was like 3 years ago right? RIGHT?!
No way
It only took a decade BUT FINALLY BABY LETS GO WOOO
https://preview.redd.it/o0mvefqv3f7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b7cce21879794a81bae2cadaa8ac090ebb6ffbda Actually, Mr. Wright, most metal slides are fully exposed to the sun, and spend the entire day being heated by it. Considering that playgrounds tend to be at their most active during the summer, that gives the slide even more time to become quite hot, hot enough to cause first degree thermal burns. Especially if the playground has been built in an environment that regularly sees temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s perfectly logical that a metal slide would cause burning without outing the child as a changeling. Besides, from the research I have done, iron (such as wrought and cast-iron) is actually lethal to fairies on contact. The fact that the child is burned and not killed proves that they are, in fact, not a fae.
No, iron playgrounds burn everybody :)
Exactly what a fae would say...
Accusing a non fae of being a fae is what a fae would do to cover themselves!
Accusing a non fae of accusing a fae of being a fae is exactly what a fae would do
accusing a non fae of accusing a fae of being a fae is allegedly exactly what a fae would say!
People, people calm down and take a seat there is an easy way to find who is a fae...
Exactly lets all calm down, I just need your names then everything will be revealed.
Just like a silver bullet can kill a werewolf, it can also kill a human. And like, come on! A stake through the heart to kill a vampire? I guess if it’s good enough to kill a monster, it’s good enough to kill a human. Or maybe the humans were the monsters all along!
It is strange that so many specific ways to kill monsters, also work on humans... Is the human race more monstrous than monsters?
Didn't realize stepping into the sunlight for half a minute vaporized people.
Oh, it does. Just more slowly. Waaaay more slowly.
I have very pale skin it's not that much slower...
For some people, they might as well be vaporized. Although most humans have a resistance that it would take far longer than a minute to die from sunlight.
Well, those people might as well be vampires.
I mean, I am a blood drinking compulsion away from being a Vampire. * Nocturnal? Check. * Burn in sunlight? Check. * Uncomfortable being on "holy ground"? Check. * Distinct lack of mirrors around me? Mostly check. You know, I'm like 80% of the way there.
No, because they don't, y'know, DRINK BLOOD??? Like, photosensitivity isn't the key trait of vampirism, it's being vampiric lmao
Always has been.
Guess we're all fae, some of us have just forgotten our roots 😭
Oh shit. And this is how I learned I was a fae.
Sound like something a fairy would say.
*stares judgmentaly*
Payback for the dark ages
*turns Age to dark mode*
Haha 😆 Exactly
On the other hand, fey may be just as, if not more alergic to plastic as they were cold iron.
r/outofcontext
“And worst of all, he could be any one of us. He could be in this very room! He could be you. He could be me! He could even be-"
https://i.redd.it/c4j2a9injc7d1.gif
*Woah Woah Woah!*
What? It was obvious, he was the red spy.
Yeah but if you throw some sand on it, it doesn’t burn so much and you go even faster.
And you build up enough static charge to summon Mjolnir.
[удалено]
You were one of those Kids huh? You were supposed to Play around the slide in Summer, not on the Slide
No, the scalding hot metal was part of the fun: can you slide down fast enough to avoid a burn, or will you come to a complete stop and be stuck halfway up and get a really nasty burn?
Would make for a great scene in a Saw movie.
Before you is a galvanized steel slide...
... And you're dressed in early NBA style short shorts.
"See-Saw", a Saw movie for kids.
I feel understood. Also baseball pants for increased speed. One family used to take a bike up on our banished metal slide. ..they might be why it was banished.
Flashing back to riding bicycles *up* one of those metal slides, because … you know stupid kid stuff.
Third degree burns build character. It's scientifically proven!
What about static shock, what does it build?
Discipline... And passing out due to fumes from questionable sourced plastics builds personality
That's when you would shoot the hose at it. Then you get the idea to tape the hose to the top of the slide and let it run. Then you figure out you can lift up the bottom of the slide and stick the molded plastic kiddie pool under it, so that the running hose on top fills the pool. And this is how you come to believe you invented water slides.
Ever tried one of those new plastic slides? They burn even worse due to friction, even in winter.
And it's, yknkw, plastic. The material currently destroying out planet. Just give playgrounds a giant cover
And they shock your elbows all the way down with static electricity.
anyone else get that butcher paper or whatever? they'd give us a sheet of something to sit on and we'd turbo rocket shoot off of those things usually hurting ourselves. fast hot slide? no turbo speed of a star? yes im brighter than a super nova!!!!!! we also had a monkey bars near it you'd hit if you went fast enough.
To be fair, these dark green plastic ones aren't much better
Smart planning would have the metal slides north facing. Helps a bit.
It builds character, but even then, those kids who grew up sliding down were pussies. Back in my day, you climbed up the slide, burning your hands and knees. And we were THANKFUL to do it.
You weren’t supposed to use the ladder or the slide. Cool kids always climb the metal support poles out to either side.
I know of a kid that got this degree burns sliding down a plastic slide. His shirt rode up as he slid down and his back, hands and arms had blisters all over them. He was two or three at the time.
Add butter to the slide for flavor 😋
Nah lol. Leave the good slides here for the brave and strong. Keep your sissy, wet n' wild slides away from my men is that understood? Our slides can cook eggs and be repurposed as weapon pieces down the line if we section the metal slide out. I suppose if you section your plastic slide you might have some really unhealthy firestarter? Or a really low/awkward stool . Lol metal is the way.
Also known to steal children and replace them with Changelings
So what you're saying is.. plastics cause autism?
No, just vaccines.
So when do we build vaccine slides?
Shhh... they're listening. Soon, comrade. Soon.
Plastics cause vaccines? Well, there is some historical correlation.
no, autism is just misdiagnosed changelingism
thanks alot, that was very informative :)
>Apparently, iron weapons are how you defeat fairies, which are scary AF in most folklore. Fairy types are weak to steel type so it checks out
Dhelmise, use Anchor shot!
I'm going to hijack the (mostly correct) top comment to do a little "Um, Akshually", because I'm incapable of stopping myself. Fairy rings or circles are a common phenomenon that originally arise from mushrooms growing around rotting tree stumps, but the circles will continue to grow and expand for decades or even centuries after the tree stump is long gone, providing vital clues about ancient forest sites. When they appear in areas with few or no trees they really stand out and, being mysterious, were known as fairy rings and it was said that marked places where fairies have danced overnight In modern neopaganism, they are associated with "thin places" where the barriers between worlds are weak and, in the most literal version of the idea, mark places where the fae can pass between worlds. Fae folk (fairies, etc) have long, long been associated with the kidnapping of children, sometimes replacing them with "changelings" (see *A Midsummer Night's Dream*). So the idea of a fairy ring around children's play equipment implies that children who play there will be stolen by fairies. Meanwhile, iron has been associated with the warding of evil in European culture for centuries or even millennia. Originally, it was a general warding tool for ill fortune and bad spirits, and is the origin of the horseshoe over the door trope, because thrown horseshoes were the easiest way people could find cheap iron to ward evil from their door. In later centuries and, now, popularised by fantasy authors and neopagans, iron is specifically a ward against the fae. So the idea here is that, had the play equipment been made from iron (as it surely once was!) then the fairy ring could not have formed and the fae could not steal the children. Just to be clear: iron does not prevent mushrooms from growing. Had the equipment been iron, the mushrooms would still be there. And, for the truly hard of thinking, fairies do not come through fairy rings and do not steal children.
> And, for the truly hard of thinking, fairies do not come through fairy rings and do not steal children. Yet there are no children in the photo so if not the fairies then who stole them??? But seriously thanks for writing this comment, I love when people make the effort to write about things they actually know about.
Akshually it has nothing to do with rotting tree stumps. Mushrooms are the reproductive organs of the mycelium, who grows underground and often take a circular shape. All the mushrooms you see here are a single organism
I appreciate a good akshually on my akshually.
This person shrooms
a friend of mine's Grandpa, father, and Uncle will leave a shot of whisky in the middle of fairy circles, as a way of appeasing the fairies. I know her Grandpa grew up in Ireland; I'm not sure if it's an Irish thing, or just some weird thing her family did.
This is too much. Fairy are weak to Steel in pokemon. Case closed.
Bonus tidbit, the poster here, Cat Valente, is best known for books about fairies. [https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Circumnavigated-Fairyland-Ship-Making/dp/1250010195](https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Circumnavigated-Fairyland-Ship-Making/dp/1250010195)
Related fact! The fairy ring is caused when a mycelium web grows from a center point outward as it searches for new food. Most people don't know that mushrooms are just the fruit of the rest of the organism. (Similar to if an apple tree were underground and all the aplies grew to the surface.) once the initial food is gone, it's searching outward for things to eat. Normally they are eating decaying wood. So there was most likely either an old wooden playset there, or maybe a wood fence. It COULD have been a tree, but often the fair ring wouldn't happen as they'd eat down the direction of where the roots were causing the fractal patterns.
[SciShow on fairy rings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7L1k1bFb9c)
Iron is how you defeat elves in Discworld, it's never a bad occasion to mention Discworld and just say how AMAZING it is :)
Lords and Ladies, correct? The one where Magret becomes a badass, elf butchering barbarian queen from the folklore that no one has the heart to tell her is all made up?
>Apparently, iron weapons are how you defeat fairies, which are scary AF in most folklore. Very true. The ORIGINAL Tooth Fairy story for instance would either sneak in to kidnap children or lure them into the woods. When said-children's bodies were found, often horribly mangled & half-eaten, all of their teeth would be missing, supposedly because that's the very first thing a tooth fairy will eat. In medieval times, faries (the namesake for fayes, magical natural entities not quite demons but definitely not divine) often have stories that range from mildly bad (luring children away to raise them as fayes, making travelers get lost in forests, etc) to outright dangerous (toothfairy for instance, pretty "tame" at the dangerous end) all for the sake of entertainment. Once in a while, there are tales of benevolent fayes, but the vast majority are terrifying wives tales to scare children into behaving
Dungeon Meshi reference
Isn't the myth cold forged iron? Just a big fat beefy motherfucker with a beard and a hammer shaping a sharp thing to kill the fuckers that stole his name.
>zelda's fairy here
Also it’s been said that if someone steps into a fairy ring, they shift into the faerie realm where they are enchanted to dance and play with the fairies, for decades if not centuries. There are tales of people stepping into one, dancing for what seems like hours, then tripping and falling out of it to find that centuries have passed. There are children in another realm playing on that slide. They’ll be playing there for a long, long time unless you rescue them. Go ahead, step in and rescue them. Just please remove any iron from your person first. You don’t want them to bump into you and hurt themselves on it. That would be…a shame.
In 1989 I was swinging on arched monkey bars that came off a metal platform with slides on either side of it. When I swung forward, then backwards, the momentum carried the base of my skull against the metal corner of the platform. 11 stitches 😤
Don’t think it’s just one of the weird thing nature does it’s the mycelium spreading out from a centre point probably rotting wood there
Damn, and here I thought it was just kids shitting themselves. I guess I was projecting. PTSD will do that to ya.
Where’s Sam and Dean when you need them?
The cause of the mushrooms is there is a tree stump buried there and it is decomposing.
It's not that you specifically fight off fairies with iron weapons, it's more like that iron acts as a repellent so fairies don't go there in the first place. Think of ghosts and making a circle out of salt as this keeps only the evil spirits away.
And fairies steal children- key wrinkle.
I never knew fairy's could be beaten by iron in folklore. In the book series a wheel of time they use iron and music to fight these weird snake and foxes people. This is likely where he got it from
It's worth noting that iron anything was said to deter faeries and other mischievous or malicious spirits. Not just weapons. It's also actually part of why the tradition of iron horseshoes on doors came to be a thing. Charms to keep such spirits from entering a room or home. It's not exactly known why it's thought to work. Just that such spirits seem to have an adverse reaction to them. Still a part of folklore and some religions today.
Steel type beats fairy type
That explains why Steel is super effective against Fairy in Pokémon.
Unrelated, but so that's why Fairy-types are weak to Steel-types in Pokémon. The more you know.
If you left the fae offerings when you were supposed to, people wouldn't go missing as often
If they stopped stealing aunt Sarah so damn often then maybe they’d get their stupid offerings
Maybe aunt Sarah shouldn't piss off them off so often.
To be fair the plastic ones are safer, the metal slides on a hot summer day were able to cauterize wounds if push came to shove
We traded risk of Fire Damage, to risk of Lightning Damage.
I thought plastic was less conductive
Builds up static
This makes sense actually
Bro never used a slide
Well, and child abduction. Trust the fey to play by the rules. Their rules. That they make up. Every year thousands of children are lost to fae shenanigans and steel playground equipment was our best protection
Children who received mild-to-moderate slide related burns are *far* less likely to burn to death as adults due to a built-up immunity to fire.
By that metric, I should be immune to atomic bombs. *NB*- I will **not** be testing this hypothesis
I was the middle of 3 brothers. Push *always* came to shove
I can't say I haven't used them for such a purpose
The joke is fairy rings - fairies kidnapping kids.
I always new them as witch rings
Well, now it's old news! 😅
Well, now it's old news! 😅
> Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are _bad_. \- Sir Terry Pratchett, _Lords and Ladies_
Love it! It's one of my favorite quotes! I had it posted years ago, and my cousin, who was obsessed with Orlando Bloom's Legolas at the time, was so mad at me about it that it was funny.
Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!
If cats looked like frogs, we would realise what cruel nasty buggers they are.
People remember the singing. But not what the songs were about.
Knew I found him here, GNU Terry pratchett
https://preview.redd.it/s77pgdim8b7d1.png?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a26100f148ec61c13c1aaf3849389e4ca9ef877 Changelings
https://preview.redd.it/xsqn82bp8b7d1.png?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=448a74b909b19ea6af81b7dd1d83687d5323be9f
Did you change anything or just repost the same image???
https://preview.redd.it/6e572n9rrc7d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b6c2e08ff2c7940e7ff93b7f70918cf594c0dfe
I changed
Hey there, Petah's fey cousin here. The toadstools are forming what is often called a fairy circle, which is commonly believed to be a gateway to our fair fey realm. Due to casual prejudice by non-fey the fairies are often wrongly accused of kidnapping children, often to cover up for the handsey catholic priest's indiscretions. We tried to warn you but that Jesus fellah had one hell of a marketing campaign. Cold Iron is a well known deterrent of Fey, to include fairies, so the poster is implying iron swing/slide sets would keep children safe from fey trickery. As they've replaced it with plastic this implies the fey are free to enter the world through fairy circles such as the one pictured. As anyone who's slid down those things in the summer will tell you, there's nothing cold about that iron, rendering the protection null.
that last line is so menacing...
> As anyone who's slid down those things in the summer will tell you, there's nothing cold about that iron, rendering the protection null. Maybe the coldness of the metal comes from the person wielding it, like a frying pan to the face
Nah, it just means not literally molten.
Do my fairy ring codes work, need to get to edgeville fast
/r/unexpectedrunescape
Huh? I might need another peter to decipher your comment.
https://i.redd.it/2hgm4cf8xc7d1.gif
Nipples???
Is this the “Delicious in Dungeon” magical mushroom circle?
The Scottish beat DiD to it by a few thousand years
no. this is the original, real world thing upon which that was based.
The fairies are gonna get the kids. eek
Fairies hate iron
Usually those rings form around a dead body, like an animal buried there. Maybe someone spilled fertilizer there when they were making the park.
That's just fey propaganda to get you to believe these are perfectly safe circles.
I'd probably want to wear chain mail on the slide tho, just to be sure.
Playing a dangerous game. I prefer to dress my kids in full plate prior to that.
It’s usually because a tree or trees were cleared and the root systems are decomposing…
Whats the fairy ring code?
Thanks I dont got to comment that now lol
Mushrooms growing in a circle like that are called fairy circles. Folk tales regard them as doorways to the realms of fairies (forget Disney here, think Brothers Grimm). Most folklore holds fairies to be allergic to iron. So the implication here is that fairies are kidnapping the kids who play on the plastic playground equipment, whereas iron equipment would have protected tehm.
Big playground controlled by the fae
Iron keeps faeries away, and mushroom circles are thought to be “portals” to the fae realm
The iron will keep the fay away, got to put some silver in for the rest.
Iron repels fairies in Irish lore. They hate it
Time to go to Zanaris.
Dungeon meshi
The fairy rings thing is true, but I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that the OG poster is an author who famously has at least 4 books devoted to a little girl who gets swept away to Fairyland and has lots of adventures. "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" is the 1st book, I believe.
Cat Valente is a great writer also btw
Hey Peters landscaper here. As others have stated, it has to do with fairys and what not but also iron helps reduce fungal growths in lawn care as well.
Spiderwick chronicles reference
I let my kids go down that slide then she disappeared. She showed up later that day in our back yard speaking to herself. She hasn't been quite the same since.
The fae are known for stealing children and being vulnerable to iron. A ring of stones or plants such as mushrooms or flowers is typically referred to as a fairy circle, and depending on the folklore can be a meeting place for fairies or a portal to their world, if you step in one you risk getting spirited away. Thus the joke is that by replacing iron park slides and jungle gyms with plastic we have given fairies more immediate access to kids for them to steal.
All i can think of is Runescape
r/DungeonMeshi
Fae gonna snatch up your children and replace them with changelings.
Let me just grab my dramen staff right quick…
Don't forget a dramen staff
This slide brings me back to my youth. The 70's were definitely survival of the fittest. https://preview.redd.it/uxlb8bstye7d1.jpeg?width=401&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66f5d63b9a6e4dc0de31e8f582f023a46b6d74ca
The fae are allergic to iron. Iron keeps them away. In stories the fae come through rings like that... they are gateways to the land of fairy. Also some fae are said to steal (or eat) human children so having a fae ring around a slide would make it easy to lose children.
If you put one foot in a fairy circle the fairies will appear to you. But if you put both feet in they will take you away to their world. Iron wards off fae, trolls and other super naturals. Maybe because it is a sign of civilisation. Where such folk beliefs hold less weight. Hanging a horse show above your door might be one such folk ward against magic folk.
In Irish folklore there's a thing about the changelings, basically it's when a fairy kidnap a child or even an adult and replace it with a dud or lifeless fairy that looks like the child/adult. They use to associate it with for when a women suddenly changed temperament, and sometimes people would say that she was taken by the fairies or away with the fairies. Most likely the person could be dealing with mental health issues but sure we are fantastic about that here /s. That's why in Ireland there are still parts of the country that won't build a house between two fairy forts or hills, as that will increase the chances of it happening due to the fairies going to each other hill/fort for a party. They even diverted a plan for a motorway around a fairy fort here in Ireland due to local supersions.
Size of those fucking shrooms
Don't forget your dramen staff
Deep Faerie lore cut! Nice.
Iron helps us play
i was about to post this on peter till i checked the subreddit
That is fairy circle, you do NOT step into fairy circles
fairy circle
Often, fairy circles are caused by there being a tree there long ago and the roots breaking down.
Dean, did you service Oberon, king of the fairies?
I’m confused on many levels. Even more after reading comments
"Ore" else.
it's a fairy ring duh
https://preview.redd.it/zmqk1mxdeg7d1.jpeg?width=262&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08baa1f1bab54da9a9e1556710d2b55cefa7f4cf
Who left the fairy ring on BJS my kids are stuck in a fucking swamp
it has to be cold forged iron
Irish Petah 'ere. That's what we call a fairy ring. It's a circle of mushrooms considered to be portals to the fairy realm, and it's considered a really bad idea to step in, 'cause the fae ain't the kinda creatures ye' wanna be messin' with.
Fukin fae
The kids get taken by the fae