Another Breton name for the fairies is les Margots la fée, a title which is chiefly employed in several districts of the Côtes-du-Nord, principally in the arrondissements of Saint-Brieuc and Loudéac, to describe those fairies who have their abode in large rocks and on the wild and extensive moorlands which are so typical of the country. These, unlike the fées houles, are able to render themselves invisible at pleasure. Like human beings, they are subject to maladies, and are occasionally glad to accept mortal succour. They return kindness for kindness, but are vindictive enemies to those who attempt to harm them.
But fairy vindictiveness is not lavished upon those unwitting mortals who do them harm alone. If one chances to succeed in a task set by the immortals of the forest, one is in danger of death, as the following story shows.
The Boy who Served the Fairies
A poor little fellow was one day gathering faggots in the forest when a gay, handsomely dressed gentleman passed him, and, noticing the lad’s ragged and forlorn condition, said to him: “What are you doing there, my boy?”
“I am looking for wood, sir,” replied the boy. “If I did not do so we should have no fire at home.”
“You are very poor at home, then?” asked the gentleman.
“So poor,” said the lad, “that sometimes we only eat once a day, and often go supperless to bed.”
THE POOR BOY AND THE THREE FAIRY DAMSELS