The only sensible answer to this question is: ‘it depends’. Some fairies are in the fairy godmother vein. They run around trying to help their special charge and they won’t rest till she or he have the crown on their head or a love in their bed. Other fairies are though thoroughly, sadistically nasty to any man, woman or child who should happen to fall into their grasp or across their path. Most fairies in tales are ambivalent: that is to say that they can go from icy cold to boiling hot at the slightest provocation. They are indifferent to humans as long as humans treat them well. But should humans break one of their special laws or taboos… Well, it will be worse for everyone involved. Thinking back to the rural populations that suffered fairy wrath not the least frightening thing about the local fairy was that humans were always walking on egg shells. They never knew what might anger ‘the good people’ and conversely what might make them happy. A general answer? Human-fairy relations rarely ended in smiles and all too often someone’s blood was splattered over a dry-stone wall.