So, then, you want to hear some stories about the fairies, do you, little
girl? Well, I must humor you a little, I suppose; though I should not
wonder if my fairy stories were somewhat different from those you have
heard before. But have you the least idea that there were ever such beings
as the fairies in the world? If you have, let me tell you, you are quite
mistaken. The stories that have been told about these fairy people are none
of them worthy of belief, though it must be admitted that millions have
believed them. Many of the men and women who pretended to have seen the
fairies, and who related the stories in the first place, believed all they
said, I have no doubt. But they were generally ignorant persons, very
superstitious, and easily imposed upon. There are, it is true, invisible
inhabitants in this world. Those who believe the Bible, can hardly doubt
the presence of angels among us. But angels, as they are represented in the
Scriptures, are a very different class of spirits from those called
fairies, if we may credit what has been said of this singular race of
beings, by those who pretend to have seen them in fairy land.
Not a great while ago, the people of England and Scotland were very
superstitious. It is not two centuries since our good forefathers on that
island were burning witches by scores. At that time, a great many believed
in the existence of fairies, or elves. I have been at some pains to find
out at what time this fairy superstition first appeared among the Britons.
But it seems not very easy to determine. One thing is certain, that the
belief in some kind of spirits--either the same with the fairies, under a
different name, or very nearly related to them--dates back to a very early
period in British history--earlier, probably, than the Christian era.
The fairies are always represented as very small and very
beautiful--generally, as perfect miniatures of the human form. The color of
their dress is uniformly pure green. It would seem, according to the
accounts of these people, some five or six hundred years ago, that they
were kind, amiable, excellent neighbors. Indeed, one of the names they went
by was, "the Good Neighbors," and another was, "the Men of Peace." Still,
they used to do some mischief in those days, if we may believe their
historians, who tell us that the fairies, once in a while, visited the
abodes of men, and carried away captives into their invisible haunts, under
ground. The reason for this kidnapping of human beings was said to be, that
the fairies were obliged occasionally to pay a tribute of this kind to
their king or queen.
The fairies were not always cunning enough to keep their victims, after
they had caught them. Sometimes people would come back from fairy land, and
tell all about what they had seen there. You might suppose that a great
deal would be learned of these strange, invisible creatures, from the men
and women who had been with them and escaped. Well, so there was. But the
worst of it was, the stories did not hang together very well; and there
were about as many different and contradictory accounts of fairydom as
there were different individuals who pretended to have made a visit to that
country. However, all seemed to agree that fairy land was a very merry
country. The people there were great lovers of fun, according to the
general testimony, and used to dance a great deal by moonlight, in the open
air. They are engaged in one of their dances, you see, in the engraving.
Every evening, as soon as the moon rose, they assembled at some convenient
place, took hold of each other's hands, usually in a ring, I think, and
then they had a right merry time of it, you may depend. It did not seem to
make any difference, whether the spot selected for the dance was on the
land or on the sea. Indeed, they could dance pretty well in the air,
without any thing to stand upon. The assemblies held in the palaces of the
king and queen of the fairies, were, at times, splendid in the extreme. No
poet, in his most lofty flights of fancy, ever dreamed of such beauty and
splendor as were exhibited at the fairy court. They rode on milk-white
steeds. Their dresses were of brilliant green, and were rich beyond
conception. When they mingled in the dance, or moved in procession among
the shady groves, or over the delightful meadows, covered with the fairest
of flowers, music, such as mortal lips cannot utter, floated on the breeze.
However, these splendors, astonishing as they were, all vanished in a
moment, whenever the eye of any one gifted with the power of spiritual
communion was turned upon them. Then their treasures of gold and silver
became slate-stones, and their stately halls were turned into damp caverns.
They themselves, instead of being the beautiful creatures they were before,
became ugly as a hedge-fence.
The king of fairy land was called _Oberon_--the queen, _Titania_.
The king used to wear a crown of jewels on his head, and he always carried
a horn in his hand, which set every body around him to dancing, whenever he
blew it. Ben Jonson, a poet who flourished a great many years ago, speaks
very respectfully of fairies and elves, in his poems. In describing the
haunts of his "Sad Shepherd," he says--
"There, in the stocks of trees, white fays do dwell,
And span-long elves that dance about a pool."
Shakspeare, too, in several of his plays, makes us quite familiar with the
fairy people. Shakspeare, you are aware, wrote in the time of Elizabeth,
and as late as that period, there were thousands in England and Scotland in
whose creed the existence of such a race of spirits was a very important
article. It was not long, however, after this, before the superstition
about the fairies--which, at the worst, was a very foolish affair--began to
decline. But that decline brought a dark night to thousands of poor,
innocent men and women; for then came the era of witchcraft, and persons of
every rank, convicted of this imaginary crime, were hurried to the scaffold
or the stake.
In the beginning of the seventeenth century, Dr. Corbett, Bishop of Oxford
and Norwich, wrote a very humorous satire on the fairy superstition, called
"The Fairies' Farewell, a proper new ballad to be sung or whistled to the
tune of Meadow Brow." Perhaps I cannot better take leave of these very
curious imaginary people, than to employ a couple of stanzas from the
bishop's playful ballad:
"Witness those rings and roundelays
Of theirs, which yet remain,
Were footed in Queen Mary's days,
On many a grassy plain;
But since of late Elizabeth,
And later James came in,
They never danced on any heath,
As when the time hath been.
"By which we note the fairies
Were of the old profession;
Their songs were Ave Marias,
Their dances were processions;
But now, alas! they all are dead,
Or gone beyond the seas,
Or further for religion fled,
Or else they take their ease."