In Serbian folk belief, there is an interesting belief about fairies and horses.

When I was younger, my father told me, while looking at our mare and her mane, that the little braids I kept finding in her mane had been made by fairies. He told me that fairies came at night and rode the mare while people were asleep, leaving those strange little braids behind in the morning.

Almost every morning, I would find tiny braids in her mane, even though none of us had made them. At the time, I did not think much about it, but my father's story stayed with me.

In folk belief, these braids were not simply considered tangled hair. They were believed to be a sign of the fairies' presence. Fairies would come to horses and mares at night and ride them while people slept, leaving their presence woven into the mane.

A horse that had been visited during the night could be tired and sweaty in the morning, while its mane would be full of small knots and braids.

Fairy braids are therefore part of the beliefs about fairies that were passed down through oral traditions and stories of their encounters with people and animals.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods