Robert Hunt offers up a story of of how a Cornish laborer intruded on a fairy feast but the vision faded because anything touched by a mortal is cursed to the fairy, and the fairy could not afford to let even a mortal's finger touch their table.

Richard [the one and same fellow in"The Fairy Funeral"] also once witnessed a fairy revel in the Towen—upon which tables were spread, with the utmost profusion of gold and silver ornaments, and fruits and flowers. Richard, however, according to the statement of"Aunt Alcey" (the name by which his wife was familiarly called), very foolishly interrupted the feast by some exclamation of surprise; whereas, had he but touched the end of a table with his finger, it would have been impossible for the fairy host to have removed an article, as that which has been touched by mortal fingers becomes to them accursed. as it was, the lovely vision faded before the eyes of the astonished labourer.

This story makes the division between mortals and the beings of the otherworld clearer. The fairy cannot abide something that a mortal has touched.