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This chapter looks at the various ideas that have been put forward to explain the origin of the circles, and breaks down into four areas: e 2 Meteorological theories e 3 Supernatural explanations, such as UFOs, earth energies and spiritual agencies e 4 Hoax explanations. There is a long tradition of faeries, ‘little people’ and figures such as Robin Goodfellow or Puck and Jack in the Green, who play mischievous pranks on unsuspecting humans and who have domain over nature. Their importance to pre-Christian societies is seen in the custom of leaving offerings at harvest time. Their existence was taken for granted in a way not easily grasped by the more rational mind-set that prevails today. Even in the Christian era, rural folk would have had little difficulty in ascribing markings in the fields to these type of agencies. There are some specific associations between faeries and circular markings. Round patches, known to be caused by fungus which increases nitrogen production, resulting in a darker colouring in grass, are known colloquially as 'fairy rings'. Danger attends anyone witnessing faeries dancing in a ring, where humans become enchanted, and dance to their death. Christine Rhone, writing in The Cerealogist, quotes John Aubrey, a seventeenth-century antiquarian, from his Natural History of Wiltshire, describing the story of a curate who came upon a dancing ring of little people and fell paralyzed. He was attacked with pinches and awoke at dawn inside a fairy ring. 4. Theories and Explanations e 1 Nature traditions and their associated ideas in other cultures Nature Traditions Puck and Faery dancers