Iâm not convinced by this, actually!
Like, this analysis treats it as a substance problem, i.e. âedible matter from fairyland has properties that, if ingested, physically prevent you from being able to return to the real world.â
But OTOH, a recurring theme throughout fairy stories is that theyâre all aboutâŚrules and exchanges and agreements with really steep interest rates:
âIâll do you this favor, but if you donât guess my name youâll have to give me your first-born child.â
âYouâre gonna be real good at everything but when youâre 16 youâre gonna prick your finger and die.â
âYou loaned me $2 for the bus when I looked like a beggar, so now hereâs a literal pile of gold and shit.â
Not to mention that in Childe Rowland, one of the central âif you eat food from fairyland youâre stuck thereâ stories, Rowland manages to retrieve his siblings despite them all presumably having chowed down on fairy food â all it took was beating the Fairy King in a swordfight and threatening to chop his head off.
The takeaway, I think, is that the food thing a matter of implicit exchange: if you get your grub on in fairyland, youâre accepting their hospitality and eating food that they own. This means you owe them, which the fairies can magically leverage to prevent you from leaving.
(You can probably get around this by explicitly agreeing to pay for your meal before you sit down to eat. From what I remember, fairies donât seem capable of pulling a âHaha, we had an agreement but youâre fucked anyways!â maneuver, so if they agree to let you leave they might even be forced to help you leave.)
Which brings us to the matter at hand: if you blow a fairy youâre doing them a favor! They owe you.
AndâŚtheyâre a fairy, so if you didnât agree to terms beforehand they might not repay you in a way thatâs ultimately helpful or safe, but it certainly doesnât seem like theyâd be able to, like, pat you on the head and be like âThanks, youâre really good at this buuuuuuut also youâre stuck here forever now.â
Instead, what seems more likely isâŚI dunno, showing up to your wedding years later and giving you a beautiful white horse that always comes when called, while loudly praising you as truly deserving it for giving them them simply the best oral theyâve had in years.Â
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