Tears of Fairies ...Howdy! I'm Nathanael O. Smith. I've lived in these mountains all my days, wouldn't ever dream of leaving here, my ancestral roots are here to stay. I've been telling tales and hearing tales all my life, its what my family and neighbors have been doing in these parts for generations. Tales about pioneers and the folks that arrived here directly from the "Old World." Some of my fondest tales have been about the Cherokee people, they're really the first mountain people, and they lived here longer than time will tell.

On my twelfth birthday my wise old pappy gave me a special charm he carried everyday of his life. It was a stone of staurolite crystals, or should I say two, two inch long brownish crystals that had crossed through each other. Pappy told me, it was a magical charm, an amulet given to him by a medicine man who once saved his life.