In my current translation project I have a few lines where I would use a singular noun to refer to a group of people. For example,

>But be careful around the Fair Folk. They can be fickle, and you do not want to cross them.
>
>The Fair Folk rarely reveal themselves to travelers, and are seen only when they wish to be seen, save perhaps at Midsummer's Eve.

I am translating "the Fair Folk" (fairies) as "das holde Volk," so it is a singular noun.

I have read this post (https://german.stackexchange.com/a/411/30970) explaining that singular verbs should be used for nouns which refer to groups of people, e.g. "die Familie ist..." However I am not sure if this applies to pronouns referring to the same noun in a subsequent sentence. Can the "they" in the first line above be just "sie," with a 3rd person plural verb, or should it be "es" with a verb in the 3rd person singular to fit with the subject of the previous sentence?