Elfin music: an anthology of English fairy poetry

the dawn or "day-spring" of our literature; Shakespeare, Drayton, Herrick, and other masters of melody in the full splendor of its noon-day light; and Hogg, Horne, and Allingham in our own era of inspired imagination.

From the days of Casaubon to Keightley, rival etymologists have proposed many conflicting derivations for the word "fairy." It is now fairly established that it came to us from the Latin fatum Fate through the Romance languages. A debased Latin verb, fatere to enchant, was common in medieval times and became naturalized in Spain, Italy, and Provence. The French form was faer or féer to enchant. Of this verb, says Keightley in his masterly Fairy Mythology, the past participle is faé or fé enchanted. Consequently, in the romances, we continually encounter "the enchanted knights" original: "les chevaliers faés" and "the enchanted ladies" original: "les dames faées", etc.

We are told by the same authority that from the verb faér or féer, the French created a noun, faerié or féerie illusion, enchantment. This word's meaning was considerably expanded both before and after it was adopted into the English language. It came to be used not only for illusion, but also for the land that was the ultimate home of all gramary magic or enchantment, illusion, and envoûtement original: "envoutement"; bewitchment or casting a spell—namely, the Land of the Fairies—as well as for the people who dwell there and for every individual member of the elfin tribe.

It is also established by this etymology that the original "fairy" of Frankish poetry and fiction was simply a woman initiated into the mysteries and marvels of magic. Such was the mighty Morgan le Fay original: "Morgue la Fay", the mystic sister of King Arthur. In unconscious accordance with this original tradition, such were also those fairies of later French romance who delighted our childhood in the graceful and beautiful stories of Perrault and the Countess d'Aulnoy.

The immediate source of the concepts at the base of English fairy poetry must evidently be sought in the romances and legends of early French chivalry. These include such delightful, though relatively unknown, stories as that of the Paladin Huon of Bordeaux. In his story, he was protected during extreme danger and assisted in the successful pursuit of an almost impossible quest by the divine child Oberon. Then, in a glade of dew and sunshine, protected by the mystic darkness of a Syrian forest, he was anointed with supernatural chrism consecrated anointing oil and instructed in the magical incantations that compel the obedience of elf, gnome, and lutin a type of sprite or hobgoblin, and was "crowned King of all Fairyland" original: "Faërie".

It is true that Oberon himself has a Teutonic origin and is known in early Germanic folklore by names like Alberich or Alberon; however, the original inspiration for English fairy poetry is