The problem was that there were very few landmarks in that part of Ireland. The footpath ran between swarms of drumlins, meandering from one ancient hillock to another. Even with a map and compass, it was easy to lose one's bearings and end up lost and confused. This was what had happened to the Currans.

Mr and Mrs Curran were experienced ramblers. They had made their preparations: stout boots, good clothing, guidebook - all the essentials for a walking holiday, neatly packed into small, canvas rucksacks. The Curran's intent was to cover twenty miles a day, going from one Irish village to the next. However, they had not been prepared for the trick the land had plated on them.

They had been warned. "You want to stay on the road, not go into the hills. That's where the fair folk live. They do not take kindly to strangers disturbing them."

"Fair folk?" Mrs Curran had asked.

"The sidhe. Tuatha." The old gentleman wh ran the post office had lowered his voice to a furtive whisper. "Fairies."

"There's no such thing as fairies. It's just superstition."

Perhaps it was only superstition, but ill-fortune had dogged the Currans since that conversation. And now they were lost.

Mr Curran consulted his map, trying to work out where to go next. There were no useful landmarks in the drumlins, no horizon to orient on, and the compass would not settle. Mr Curran turned to his wife. "I'm having no luck. Do you have any idea where we need to go?"

Mrs Curran scanned the way ahead. About a hundred yards away was what looked like an old-fashioned signpost. "Let's take a look at that," she said.

The couple walked a bit further. The signpost had three boards on it, each pointing into the drumlins in different directions. Mrs Curran wiped the moss from the boards. "Carrinford, that way. Come on." The two ramblers set off.

When they were out of sight of the signpost, a gust of wind blew out of nowhere, setting the sign spinning in its socket. For some reason, the creaking noise that it made as it span sounded like high-pitched laughter.