6 fi The Secret LiJe of NatureWhen Elsie saw them she called out to Frances,"The fairies are on the
plate!"
Frances, outside the door, skipped up and down and squealed with
delight.
A sun print developed by Mr. Wright caused him no little amaze-
ment, and though nothing he could say would induce the children to
give any other explanation than that they had indeed photographed
fairies, Wright remained convinced that the figures appearing on the
print must have been made of paper or some such substance.
Wright assured Gardner that he had been to the glen to search for
scraps of paper and that he and his wife had ransacked the girls' bed-
room when they were out but could find no evidence of trickery. A
month later Elsie had taken another picture, which showed a fairy
about ten inches tall leaping up close to Frances's face.
Gardner, seeking a chance to cross-examine Elsie, asked if she
would show him the site where the photographs had been taken.
Behind the cottage, its cultivated garden bordered a glen of wild fo-
liage where a small stream known as "the beck" tumbled through a little
valley on its way to the river Aire, less than a mile away.As Elsie led the
way, she informed Gardner she had no power of any sort over the ac-
tion of the fairies, that the only way to "'tice" them was to sit passively
with her mind quietly tuned in their direction. If faint stirrings or move-
ments in the distance heralded their presence, she would beckon to the
fairies to indicate they were welcome. Elsie added that if there was not
too much rustling in the woods it was possible to hear the faint and
high sound of pipes.
Gardner found a spot that was unquestionably the same as in one of
the photographs and noticed several large toadstools on the bank of the
stream, two of which he picked to take home.
Elsie pointed out where she had knelt to take the picture of her
friend Frances surrounded by a group of dancing fairies, reminding
Gardner that she had seen and played with fairy creatures ever since
she could remember.
Back at the cottage, Gardner tested Elsie's drawing abhty and noticed
that whereas she could easily sketch a landscape, the fairy figures she at-