Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/408

 380 The Folkloi'c of Shakespeare.

there were fairy mortals as well, and he adds, " Fairies were not human but they were subject to mortality. It appears from the romance of Sir Huon of Bordeaux that Oberon himself was mortal."

The cantankerous Ritson would have none of this. He writes: "A fairy addresses Bottom the weaver: 'Hail, mortal, hail ! ' which sufficiently shows she was not so herself." Further, Ritson says: "The fairies have already called themselves spirits, ghosts or shadows, and conse- quently they never died — a position at the same time of which there is every kind of proof that a fact can require."

Dimimitive Creatures. Fairies were of a diminutive size, but could vary their size as suited them. They could make themselves visible or invisible as they wished. Ariel gives some indication of his stature Vv'hen he sings :

"In a cowslip's bell I lie."

Their size is one of their chief characteristics, and Titania alludes to it in her address to her train of fairies {M.N.D. ii. 2. I). ~

Gambols. In dealing with the little people we must place their dancing in a prominent position, and not forget the fairy rings. We are told that the elves continued their gambols till sunrise :

" Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark ; I do hear the morning lark. Oberon. Then, my queen, in. silence sad, Trip we after the night's shade."

The fairies of the Merry Wives are only sham fairies, but Anne Page, as queen, is allowed to explain the true ritual.

Household Duties. Cleanliness was highly prized by fairies, who pinched the sluts for their neglect. Belarius {Cymbeline, iii. 6j infers that fairies take no food when he says :-

" But that it eats our victuals, I should think Here were a fairy."