How do humans protect themselves against fairies?

Question

My fairies are 1-6 inches tall, however, the 4-6 inch tall fae serve as hunters of their favorite prey- humans.

They fly at around 60 MPH, however they can only fly for 5 minutes. They can also hover, fly backwards, etc. Think of them like hummingbirds when it comes to flight.

They, because of their size, are amazing at hiding.

Because of square cube law, they are stronger than they look. They use swords about three times their length, and they stab people with them through the eye to kill them. Can't reach the eyes? Even better. Then, they'll dip the blade in poison, stab them, and wait for them to die (or not).

They have the intelligence of a human, and they commonly tag along with wolf packs like ravens do.

Humans only have medival technology.

By the way, I still want fairies to be extremely deadly, I just don't want them to kill all of my humans.

If you need any more details, just say so in the comments.

Answer 1

Netting:

Got a bird that's a problem? Net it. Got bees trying to bite you? Get a suit with netting to protect you. Loose might be better, and layered to stop darts. Keep the stabbing point of the creatures away from skin. Thick batting and leather in layers will be surprisingly tough. Remember, they are still small and their weapons have relatively little force behind them. These same suits will resemble those used to train dogs, so they'll be effective against wolves.

By the way, I'm reasonably confident that fairies would NOT be able to manage metallurgy. They simply lack the strength. So no swords, but possibly stabbing weapons. The same likely goes for flint knapping (have you ever tried it? It's very precise but also takes a lot of force). So while they may be able to steal things from humans (and thus be dependent on us for hard tools), their weapons will likely be primitive. Like pre-stone age. This means weapons are unlikely to be able to cut through even light armor, and will break easily.

Now make a tennis racket. Okay, don't call it that, but a broad weapon to suddenly stop them, but gentle enough you can hit another person with it to swat a fairy. You want a glorified fly swatter. Frying pans will work in a pinch. While the bones are proportionately stronger, they are also tiny and perforce must be light like a bird. Think of all the dead birds that hit windows, and realize these things are vulnerable. Traumatic shock and tissue damage will kill them quite effectively.

Now go on the offensive. Fairies are tiny and can't handle the cold. If they don't migrate, they'll need to hole up for the winter. Burn them out. If needed, burn the forests (so attack in the dry season as well). Find irritants like smoke and ash that will clog fairy lungs much faster than human ones. Toss them about and drive the vermin from their holes into your waiting nets. The women and children can bludgeon them with clubs as the men root them out. Hunt wolves with traps to extinction. This is survival of the fittest, and there's no room for Tinkerbell to live. It's her or us.

Answer 2

I mean, 4-6” is still relatively small. Medieval technology allows for plate armor and you could add some mesh over the helmet to keep those pesky little pointy bits away from the soft face bits. Also, fairies that size, despite their relative strength, will be like insects compared to humans. Really a fairy flying into something hard, like armor for instance, would probably sustain severe injuries if the impact didn’t outright kill them.

Like the previous answer said, nets will do nicely. However, if you are quick enough to catch one, (if some people can catch flys with her bare hands this won’t be a problem), then all you would have to do is squeeze and you would have a very dead fairy. An unprepared human would have a problem, especially if there are multiple fairies, but attacking a prepared human would be suicide. Remember, we are the apex predators on a planet with animals who are bigger, stronger, faster, more numerous, have armor, teeth, claws, venom, etc. Unless we are talking about fairies outnumbering people by a million to one, I doubt the balance of power would shift very much.

As a side note, remember that we can partner with wolves as well.

Answer 3

Teamwork, first aid and medical knowledge

How do we deal with poisons with modern tech? Hospitals packed with antidotes that we've researched over the centuries, paramedics that can rush you to hospital, and quick communication so you can get an ambulance in minutes.

How does this translate to medieval? Well stocked apothecary and people experimenting with various plants, potions, and balms, and other things. A fairy attack results in the doctor being summoned and various antidotes being given. With practice, the odds of surviving a fairy attack are pretty good now.

Most people are wearing primitive sunglasses to partially protect their eyes now, and as another answer has said there is netting protecting the village.

Humans rarely go outside alone. A fairy attack may take one by surprise but it costs the fairy their life when the companions fight back. The one taken by surprise generally recovers due to humans getting pretty good at first aid.