A comparison might be made to their ability to fly (without wings) simply by holding a bundle of straws and pronouncing the correct words.

Intention alone (perhaps combined with some spell recited in the head) is sufficient to achieve the purpose. Such treatment of midwives is, naturally, preferable to poking sticks or fingers in the eyes, and it underlines the fact that very little is needed by the fae to wield their magical power. Examples of this are found in accounts from Scotland down to Wales. This may be by violent blinding, depriving the human of their sight completely, but breathing on the eye to return it to its original state is also known. Once it is discovered, the second sight is almost always promptly taken away by the faeries. Very common indeed is the treatment of midwives and nurses who have inadvertently given themselves second sight by touching their eyes with the green ointment that they’re meant to be using to anoint the faery baby. They can, of course, curse as well as bless by the very same means. These examples demonstrate the application of faery magic for good, helping those the faeries favour- often those who’ve helped them. In return, the faery breathed over the mortal woman’s meal chest, saying that it would never be empty again.

In Dumfriesshire, a woman living at Auchencreath helped a faery neighbour one day by lending her some oatmeal. For example, at Arisdale on the Shetland island of Yell, an old woman travelling home late one dark night was helped by the trows: they blew into the air and it became as light as day. Just their breath alone can transfer their glamour. We tend, to day, to be attached to the idea of faeries carrying wands, but they don’t actually need them. In fact, I’m not concerned here in this post with halitosis, but with an intriguing facet of faery magic- the ability to change things simply by blowing upon them. His fetid breath inspires brutality and oppressive actions.”

His character is manipulative and contagious he “loiters in lonely places and sullenly waits for his prey. In his 1998 book, Good Fairies, Bad Fairies, artist Brian Froud invented numerous humorously intended faery types, amongst which he included the ‘Bully Bogey,’ a being presumably in part derived from the bull-beggar of British tradition.

Faeries by brian froud