the Fairy Nurse

Fairy Ointment or The Fairy Nurse is an English fairy tale. It has been told in many variants. Andrew Lang included one in The Lilac Fairy Book. The ointment itself is a substance allowing a human to see fairies. The story revolves around a midwife summoned to attend a childbed. The baby is born, and she is given an ointment to rub in its eyes. No one can say why exactly she rubbed some of it in her own eyes, but was enabled to see the house worked in in the way it really was. What secrets were revealed to her?