The Tangled Fairy is based on a myth about why horses have tangles in their manes in the morning. According to the myth, it is because fairies have braided the horse to use it as stirrups for their nightly rides.

The text in the painting reads:

A gentle horse is almost asleep, behind its closed eyes it runs. With stirrups made of horsehair its rider rides. Light as laughter until the embarrassed morning blushes and the day dazzles the night's suns with nearer lights and nearer things. Rejoice in the braids of tangles for they are witnesses to a world closed to waking.