Thomas Dyer - Folk-lore of Shakespeare

While the belief in the power of fairies existed, they were supposed to perform much good service to mankind. Thus, in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (v. 1), Oberon says:

the object of their blessing being to bring peace upon the house of Theseus. Mr. Douce 37 37 “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” pp. 126, 127. remarks that the great influence which the belief in fairies had on the popular mind “gave so much offence to the holy monks and friars, that they determined to exert all their power to expel these imaginary beings from the minds of the people, by taking the office of the fairies’ benedictions entirely into their own hands;” a proof of which we have in Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath:”

Macbeth, too (v. 8), in his encounter with Macduff, says:

In the days of chivalry, the champion’s arms were ceremoniously blessed, each taking an oath that he used no charmed weapon. In Spenser’s “Fairy Queen” (book i. canto 4) we read:

Fairies were amazingly expeditious in their journeys. Thus, Puck goes “swifter than arrow from the Tartar’s bow,” and in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” he answers Oberon, who was about to send him on a secret expedition:

Again, the same fairy addresses him:

Once more, Puck says:

It was fatal, if we may believe Falstaff in “Merry Wives of Windsor” (v. 5) to speak to a fairy: “They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die.”

Fairies are accustomed to enrich their favorites; and in “A Winter’s Tale” (iii. 3) the shepherd says: “It was told me I should be rich by the fairies;” 38 38 See Croker’s “Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland,” p. 316. and in “Cymbeline” (v. 4), Posthumus, on waking and finding the mysterious paper, exclaims:

At the same time, however, it was unlucky to reveal their acts of generosity, as the shepherd further tells us: “This is fairy gold, boy; and ’twill prove so; up with’t, keep it close, home, home, the next way. We are lucky, boy; and to be so still requires nothing but secrecy.”

The necessity of secrecy in fairy transactions of this kind is illustrated in Massinger and Field’s play of “The Fatal Dowry,” 1632 (iv. 1), 39 39 See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. ii. p. 493. where Romont says:

Among the many other good qualities belonging to the fairy tribe, we are told that they were humanely attentive to the youthful dead. 40 40 Ritson’s “Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare,” 1875, p. 29. Thus Guiderius, in “Cymbeline,” thinking that Imogen is dead (iv. 2), says:

there having been a popular notion that where fairies resorted no noxious creature could be found.

In the pathetic dirge of Collins a similar allusion is made:

It seems, however, that they were also supposed to be malignant; but this, “it may be,” says Mr. Ritson, “was merely calumny, as being utterly inconsistent with their general character, which was singularly innocent and amiable.” Thus, when Imogen, in “Cymbeline” (ii. 2), prays on going to sleep, it must have been, says Mr. Ritson, 42 42 “Fairy Mythology,” pp. 27, 28. the incubus she was so afraid of.

Hamlet, too, notices this imputed malignity of the fairies (i. 1):

That the fairies, however, were fond of indulging in mischievous sport at the expense of mortals is beyond all doubt, the merry pranks of Puck or Robin Goodfellow fully illustrating this item of our fairy-lore. Thus, in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (ii. 1) this playful fairy says:

A fairy, in another passage, asks Robin:

We have already mentioned how Queen Mab had the same mischievous humor in her composition, which is described by Mercutio in “Romeo and Juliet” (i. 4):

Another reprehensible practice attributed to the fairies was that of carrying off and exchanging children, such being designated changelings. 45 45 This superstition is fully described in chapter on Birth . The special agent in transactions of the sort was also Queen Mab, and hence Mercutio says: