Some legends assert that the only safe way to investigate a fairy ring is to run around it nine times.
42.
A tale from the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, current in the 19th century, describes a mortal's encounter with a fairy ring:
43.
They dance like tiny ballerinas across lawns, parks and golf courses, arranged in what the public calls " fairy rings ."
44.
Chalky soils on higher elevations in the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England used to support many meadow-type fairy rings.
45.
One fairy ring in France has been reported at over half a mile in diameter and estimated at 800 years of age.
46.
Typically, elf circles were fairy rings consisting of a ring of small mushrooms, but there was also another kind of elf circle:
47.
It was built upon a passage tomb; this one known locally as a " fairy ring ", an ancient monument similar to Newgrange.
48.
For example, in a legend from Carmarthenshire, recorded by Sikes, a man is rescued from a fairy ring only to crumble to dust.
49.
Some common mushrooms you'll see while the soil stays damp include mycenas, little parasols that sprout overnight in short-lived circles called fairy rings.
50.
Long-term observations of fairy rings on Shillingstone Hill in Dorset, England, further suggested that the cycle depended on the continuous presence of rabbits.
