These characters do not belong to Eoin Colfer, some of them may even 'belong' to you. Chelsea Flower Show belongs to the Royal Horticultural Society.


DISCRIMINATION

or

'There are Fairies at the Bottom of my Garden'

It seemed as if they hardly existed, were barely visible - there solely to provide the butt of jokes about their bulkiness. When one of them rose to a high position he was soon toppled. The rest of the People couldn't bear the idea that one of 'them' might be in authority. They weren't even acknowledged as a proper family.

They always drew the short straw: those tedious hours of stakeout duty, being forced to squat on toadstools or develop lumbago holding fishing rods by damp ponds.

Even Mud Men discriminated against them. Being banned from Chelsea was the final ignominy.


Author's Note: This is obvious, witness the pun, but I wondered why Colfer's endnotes never mention them as one of the seven, now eight, families of fairies. That, together with the Chelsea ban, sparked this drabble. No prizes for guessing where the sub-title (almost) comes from.