-
Articles/Ads
Article THE FAIRY FAMILY. ← Page 8 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Fairy Family.
brought OA er by the Crusaders and Troubadours , as previously stated . Our Fairies , properly so called , bear more resemblance to the Dwarfs than to any other race , although the term dwarf has never been applied to them , nor indeed has been ever used in any sense hut that of a stunted human being . The English fairy Avas a tiny span-long creatureclad in bright green . It
, lived underground , and was capable of causing any one who sought to gratify his curiosity at the expense of its privacy , to be struck blind of one eye . Our chivalrous ancestors used to defy the Fairies , however , by intruding upon them at their revels . A lord of Colchester presented a drinking-horn to Henry I . which he had taken from the midst of a fairy banquet .
, Such a gift Avas considered to insure great good fortune to the recipient . In Edenhall , Cumberland , a goblet is still preserved , said to have been seized from an elfin festival by a member of the ancient family of Musgrave . On the occasion of its capture , the Fairies completely vanished , while a A oice cried
aloud" If the glass do break or fall , Farewell the luck of Edenhall . " On one occasion it narrowly escaped destruction , Avhen the butler caught it in a napkin as it fell from his master ' s hand ; it is now secure from all mishap , and the lees of Avine are still seen at the bottom .
Poole , in his " English Parnassus , " gives the folloAving members as constituting the fairy court : —Oberon , the emperor ; Mab , the empress ; Puck , Hobgoblin , Tom Thumb ,- & c , courtiers ; and Nymphidia , mother of the maids . The mighty Shakspeare has clothed these with a vividness which they will never lose . Puck , or Robin Goodfellow , is a domestic sprite , allied to the Kohold , of which we have spoken , sometimes assuming the form of a domestic animal . His avocations he can describe for himself : —
" And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl , In very likeness of a roasted crab ; And when she drinks , against her lips I bob , And on her ivithered dewlap pour the ale . " This roguery is the counterpart of that of Brownie , of the Scottish Lowlands : — " Two lasses having made a fine bowlful
of buttered brose , hacl taken it into the byre to sup in the dark . In their haste they brought but one spoon ; so , placing the bowl between them , they supped by turns . ' I hae got but three sups , ' cried the one , ' and it ' s a' dune . ' ' It ' s a' dune , indeed , ' cried the other . 'Ha , ha , ha ! ' cried a thud voice , 'Brownie has got the maist o' it . ' And Brownie it ivas Avho
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Fairy Family.
brought OA er by the Crusaders and Troubadours , as previously stated . Our Fairies , properly so called , bear more resemblance to the Dwarfs than to any other race , although the term dwarf has never been applied to them , nor indeed has been ever used in any sense hut that of a stunted human being . The English fairy Avas a tiny span-long creatureclad in bright green . It
, lived underground , and was capable of causing any one who sought to gratify his curiosity at the expense of its privacy , to be struck blind of one eye . Our chivalrous ancestors used to defy the Fairies , however , by intruding upon them at their revels . A lord of Colchester presented a drinking-horn to Henry I . which he had taken from the midst of a fairy banquet .
, Such a gift Avas considered to insure great good fortune to the recipient . In Edenhall , Cumberland , a goblet is still preserved , said to have been seized from an elfin festival by a member of the ancient family of Musgrave . On the occasion of its capture , the Fairies completely vanished , while a A oice cried
aloud" If the glass do break or fall , Farewell the luck of Edenhall . " On one occasion it narrowly escaped destruction , Avhen the butler caught it in a napkin as it fell from his master ' s hand ; it is now secure from all mishap , and the lees of Avine are still seen at the bottom .
Poole , in his " English Parnassus , " gives the folloAving members as constituting the fairy court : —Oberon , the emperor ; Mab , the empress ; Puck , Hobgoblin , Tom Thumb ,- & c , courtiers ; and Nymphidia , mother of the maids . The mighty Shakspeare has clothed these with a vividness which they will never lose . Puck , or Robin Goodfellow , is a domestic sprite , allied to the Kohold , of which we have spoken , sometimes assuming the form of a domestic animal . His avocations he can describe for himself : —
" And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl , In very likeness of a roasted crab ; And when she drinks , against her lips I bob , And on her ivithered dewlap pour the ale . " This roguery is the counterpart of that of Brownie , of the Scottish Lowlands : — " Two lasses having made a fine bowlful
of buttered brose , hacl taken it into the byre to sup in the dark . In their haste they brought but one spoon ; so , placing the bowl between them , they supped by turns . ' I hae got but three sups , ' cried the one , ' and it ' s a' dune . ' ' It ' s a' dune , indeed , ' cried the other . 'Ha , ha , ha ! ' cried a thud voice , 'Brownie has got the maist o' it . ' And Brownie it ivas Avho