Time and time again reference guides refer to fairies as being ‘diminutive’ or ‘tiny’. In some cases ‘microscopic’ would be a better word. Shakespeare refers in Romeo and Juiliet (I, 4) to Queen Mab riding over a man nose with her horses: ‘in shape not bigger than an aget-stone, On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep.’ Among the trooping or social fairies this is sometimes, though by no means always the case. However, when we turn, instead, to the solitary or anti-social fairies, they are rarely tiny. In fact, sometime they are significantly bigger than any human they might happen to bump into and their size is one of the most intimidating things about them. The best examples here are sinister humanoids like trows or some of the Lancashire boggarts. It is even possible that some traditional ‘giants’ should be classed as bogey fairies.