University of Virginia Library

THE DEATH OF A FAIRY.

With one, prone at any time to their encouragement
and acquaintance, nothing contributes more, while
enfeebling and prostrating all the other faculties, than a
warm fever, to the growth and strength of fancy and
imagination. An attack of this description, arising
from cold, taken in a recent indiscreet exposure, kept
me awake all last night, and rendered particularly
active and acute an imagination not apt to slumber
very considerably at any time. The night was one of
clouds and gloom, and fatiguing silence. I heard not
even a dog bark in the streets, and the ticking of the
clock was the only sound that for several hours came
audibly to my senses. At length, however, I should
say about one o'clock in the morning, I could plainly
distinguish something like a humming but suppressed
whisper, as of many voices confusedly but cautiously
employed in dispute, which seemed to arise at the
extreme corner of the chamber in which I lay. Then
my eye was attracted to a small glimmering which
flashed out at intervals, I had almost said and certainly
thought at the time, from the top of my spermaceti
candle, which stood centrally upon the mantel. From
the emission of light, however at periods, marked by
the usual unsteadiness of its pale and delicate sparkle,
I judged and judged rightly, after a moment's reflection,

that the gleam was that of a glow-worm, which,
by some means or other, had begun
in the place of the more certain aid of my candle;
illuminating its own little sphere with a splendour,
which, though it could afford but little aid to my observation
at any other time, served fully on this occasion
to give me a perfect insight into the matters then
going on. Through its medium I could distinctly see,
that I was not, as I had been at retiring, the sole occupant
of my chamber; but that hundreds of little
creatures, formed like human beings, though on a
scale of the most diminutive insignificance, were
busily employed in a variety of offices, within its
precincts, making every thing around them their own,
and behaving with as much familiarity and freedom in
the four walls, as if they, and not I, were the owner
and proprietor. Their tiny forms, clothed in gay
green vestments, were tinged and tinctured here and
there with spots of the richest gold and crimson, while
the light and gossamer wings, which depended with
an air of the most perfect spirituality from their
shoulders, approved them those gay creatures of the
element,
Gradually the whole scene became developed to my
survey, and I could see that they were employed in
some great procession, at once of attraction and solemnity.
They formed a double circle, and performed
a variety of fantastic evolutions, which might be dances
for aught I knew of their habits and indulgences—
chanting all the while, in a low but highly musical
accent, the following song, which, to my ear, savoured
of a most pleasing melancholy.

Was this song intended for my ear? I thought so,
and did not think it improper, however imprudent it
might be, to look and listen. They did not dance
long, but dividing themselves into two nearly equal
bodies, they assembled directly in front, but yet at a
small distance from each other, drawn up in battle
array, and seemingly for the purposes of war. Some
were armed with the thorns of the orange-tree and rose-bush,
while the more common instruments of warfare
seemed to be the scented flowers of the one and the
buds and blossoms of the other. A solitary cricket
had been impressed into the service as a trumpeter by
the one side, who sounded his little bugle at intervals;
while on the other hand a parcel of cherry stones, enclosed
within the outer rind of the walnut, answered
the purposes of the drum for the other, being rattled
by a dwarfish but giant-looking member of their own
lilliputian tribe. Thus prepared and directed, they
approached each other with a degree of fury more
characteristic of a fierce combat, and more determined
affray; and the conflict was waged with a degree of
ardour more like a melée à outrance, than one of sport
or courtesy.

Various were the results of the strife. Here a feeble
warrior, overpowered with innumerable rosebuds, concentring
at the same moment on his person, would sink
down on the field, and the fight would be renewed with
aggravated fury above his body, as well with the view
of securing it from captivity on the one side, as to bear
it away as a trophy on the other. If the one party was
successful, the body of the unfortunate combatant was
borne from the field on a litter, woven together of vines

and leaves; and on the other, if the enemy proved triumphant,
chains made of blossoms of the pride of India
were put upon his hands, his wings were sprinkled with
dews, and sometimes clipped, and he was borne away
to a dungeon, made of a huge calabash, the entrance to
which was barred with spokes of cane and cedar. For
a long time was the battle continued, without any apparent
advantage on either side. New fairies were perpetually
arriving, joining themselves to one or the other
party, and, by this means, protracting the combat,
which, among those originally engaged, would otherwise
have been settled completely. Mingled as they
were, by this time, together; having lost all the original
ardour in which they had begun, the fight had at length
settled down into an affair of so many individuals, terminating,
finally, in so many single combats, which
seemed to be waged with a more particular fury than
before. The feeling was now personal and less general.
Passions became concentrated and at work, and
the combatants chose those for their encounter against
whom they appeared to entertain some especial enmity.
I could plainly see that there were several of this description
on foot; where such innocuous weapons as
rosebuds and orange blossoms, were made to give way
to the more formidable influence of pointed spears of
cane, or sharp thorns of various kinds; and some were
armed with lath whips or bludgeons, with which they
sought as well to disfigure as to maim their opponents.
Among these combats, my eye singled out one of a nature
purely personal. The parties seemed to entertain
for each other a more than common degree of hatred
and dislike. The utmost malignity shot out from their
eyes, and was distinguishable in their actions; and, disregarding
the rest of the combat, and all the scene beside,
saving and excepting the portions in which they
were necessarily engaged, they seemed to recognise no
other object than their entire destruction; nor did this
fury and singleness of purpose appear only to operate
upon and to affect the two. Whether it was that there
was a feud existing between them, known to their nation,
and which, like those of Scotland, had to be fought
out; or whether the novelty of their desperate fight
threw an air of ridicule and rebuke upon all others less
severe, I know not; but it was evident, that in a little
while they were the sole combatants on the ground, and
every interest of a more general nature was suspended
in the survey of the sharp controversy which they contrived
to carry on. Nothing could exceed the skill,
seemingly, with which they pursued the combat.

So far as bodily prowess was concerned, they appeared
pretty equally matched, and it was left to their
respective knowledge of the science to determine the
affray. Their skill seemed perfect; and from the ease
which characterised their actual style of fight, it was
difficult to guess, how, unless some unpropitious circumstance
should throw its weight into the scale, it could
be decided. The helm, the shield, the curved shoulders,
and closed wings, alternately shrunk beneath the severity
of their several blows, which, though they seemed
to stagger the party receiving them, exhibited no
wounds and drew no blood. This might be owing
in part to their defence, and partly to the excellence
of their guard. Sometimes, suddenly unclosing their
silky wings, they would whirl away into the air, to

alight only the more unexpectedly before the antagonist,
changing the ground, and in hope to take him
upon advantage by the surprise. But their efforts did
not seem productive always of the proposed results;
for, to speak in just terms of their cunning in the art of
fence, if one did exhibit a surprising degree of activity
and skill in this flight, the other seemed not the less
well prepared to encounter and to foil him. But the parties
grew sensibly weaker, more irritable, and less
guarded than before; and at length, when I least expected
the affair to terminate, or terminate in this way,
the larger and more robust of the two, in a moment's
inattention, and by a sudden backstroke of his enemy's
bludgeon, received a severe blow on the arm, and with
a slight shriek from the excessive pain, let fall his
weapon, and stood at the mercy of his opponent. This
condition of things now brought the whole array once
more to loggerheads; particularly as the more successful
champion, following up his advantage, brought his
wounded opponent to the ground by a second stroke,
even more severe than that which had disarmed him.
The fight was just about to recommence, when I thought
it high time for other parties to interfere, and recollecting
that it was an old faith among the vulgar, that
water was an effectual barrier against the passage of
fay or fairy, I resolutely and somewhat desperately,
stretched my hands forth from the bedside, to where
stood my wash-stand, and seizing upon the ewer, conveniently
filled with water, I took deliberate aim at the
two combatants, who stood apart from the rest. At
the first hiss of the water one of them took to flight,
but the wounded champion, unable to move, was certainly
and suddenly soused all over, and a complete
stream thrown around him, preventing access from any
of his companions. I had no sooner achieved this feat,
than I was forcibly impressed with all its fearful consequences.
There is no class of spirits, “of the earth,
earthy,” so revengeful, so troublesomely revengeful,
according to the faith which recognises their existence,
as the fairy. They are renowned for their tricks upon
travellers, housekeepers, particularly old maids and
bachelors, and spinsters of a certain age. They tease
old coquettes, and worry young ones. They pinch the
sleeping wife, newly married, and rouse her and her
young lord up, more frequently o' the long nights than
is altogether consistent with their health and quiet.
But, why enumerate? Every body has read that fine
fancy of Mercutio,
If every body has not read it, every body ought to read
it, and they lose who do not. But, as I expected, the
toil and turmoil was now only about to begin. Certain
it is, the whole fairy tribe were in the utmost tremor
and tribulation for the fate of their companion thus
taken in the toils. The rival armies forgot all further
contention, and united their forces for his extrication—
all but the champion by whom the prisoner had been
overthrown. His malignity seemed more particularly
to have been marked and specific, from his conduct on
this occasion. He paused but a moment to survey the
condition of the prisoner, and I thought I could discover
something like a grin of delight on his sharp and
speculative features; then taking wing, he passed out
of my sight, but in what manner or direction, I could
not at the moment discover.

There was now a tremendous buzzing and shuffling
in my chamber; all was doubt and deliberation among
the petty people. In their whisperings I thought I
could make out, every now and then, the hundred half-formed
plans proposed for the liberation of their comrade,
all proving ineffectual, however, for they did
nothing towards it. Now the chairs would creak and
rattle beneath the weight of half a dozen of them, endeavouring,
in this way, to behold the predicament of
their companion, which otherwise, through the dense
mass collected around him, they could not have seen.
In the mean time, what with his leaguer and his bruises,
the captive himself uttered at intervals a low complaining
murmur, like the sighing of the winds through
some decaying crevice in your shutter. A sad, zephyr-like
sigh, the dreamy faintness of which was quite as
touching as the grief in which it might be supposed to
have its origin. But to their plans for his extrication.
First they collected all their roses, and endeavoured to
bridge a way for him over the water, by which he might
escape without touch or taint from it; but the leaves
became penetrated with a strange susceptibility, and
the poor gladiator appeared to suffer so greatly from
his wounds, that assistance was necessary to bring him
out of the difficulty by a force independent of his own.
In the effort to pass to him, it was discovered that those
making the effort stood no small chance of incurring a
life forfeiture; the heavy liquid, penetrating with its

dank influence the silky and gauze-like texture of their
wings, and leaving them also at the mercy of the cold
and cruel creatures of the earth. It would be impossible
for me to describe the many efforts, the indefatigable
energy, and determined adherence to their purpose,
exhibited by the little creatures on this occasion. Unwavering,
however, as they were, it was soon discovered
that their efforts must be vain, unless the party
whom they sought to free could co-operate with their
labours. This, from the severity of his injuries, he
could not do, and their purpose was not now so much
his release, as their revenge upon him who was particeps
criminis, in thus placing him hors du combat. I
soon perceived, from sundry demonstrations, that my
turn was at hand, and I prepared for it accordingly.
Unfortunately, in my previous hurry in making my prisoner,
I had squandered away more water than was
necessary, and had put it entirely out of my power to
fence myself in from attack, by a wall of it around me,
which I might have done. With some of it in reserve,
at least, I might have kept them in salutary check from
the awe which it would have necessarily inspired. But
they came to the attack, unobstructed, and in fearful
array. A sort of chiming howl, which, though not
louder than the chirping of a cricket, excited a considerable
degree of nervousness, preceded their advance,
and led me to many disagreeable anticipations of what
was to come. At length their batteries were fairly
opened, and siege commenced in regular form. Heaven
only knows, I cannot remember, and certainly
would not pretend to describe, the many terrors which
they employed for my punishment. At one moment
my ears were assailed with the hummings as of ten
thousand musquetoes, gaunt wretches, whom the winter
had exhausted of blood, and who now came with
their accursed bugles and suckers to my veins for their
replenishment. Then their fangs, darted resolutely
into my cheeks and nose, rendered it imperatively necessary
that I should thrust myself entirely beneath the
coverlid and trust to it for protection; but in covering
my head rather too hastily, I left my feet bare, and the
invading army only transferred themselves from one
extremity to the other. Having secured these members
also by a familiar contraction of the knees, I conceived
myself perfectly secure, when to my utter
astonishment and horror, I heard them taking the
screws out of my bedstead, one by one, with a fearful
rapidity; and found the old posts, originally none of the
surest, tottering as well under their additional weight as
from my tremors, and promising a speedy dissolution.
In the mean time another strong body had seized upon
the bedclothes, and by concerted arrangement, was
drawing them entirely from my person. This was
quite too much. I made a desperate effort, leapt
out of the bed, and seizing my clothes, endeavoured to
put them on. But here again the mischievous urchins
had been at work, and had performed, with singular
ingenuity and haste, that peculiar operation upon them,
which is known among swimmers as a trick practised
upon the clothes of those who are in the water, by those
who are out of it. My linen was in fifty knots, my drawers
in no less; and when I attempted to put on my pantaloons,
I discovered the legs filled with stockings, vest, neck-cloth,
and slippers, in such hostile confusion as to create
an awkward question in my mind, whether or not I
might ever calculate on their extrication. I was at
this stage of the conflict, and in this perilous condition,
when, all on a sudden, a shriek burst upon my ears, so
piercing yet not loud, shrill yet not unmusical, so pleasingly
delicate, and yet conveying an idea of so much
agony, that I felt the blood curdle in my veins, and the
hair stood upright and bristling from my cold and
clammy temples. I recovered my position in bed, and
resumed my covering. The enemy had left me, and
all further attack seemed given over. They had a new
object of interest, and of far deeper consideration. The
shriek we had heard was from my captive, and they now
surrounded him in his death agony. They recognised
the peculiar cry of pain and of approaching dissolution;
and, by some effort, whether of him or of themselves,
he had been removed from the prison, within
which I had placed him. Supported on a layer of young
leaves, they busied themselves in finding either restoratives
or sedatives of some kind, and in their own way,
but seemingly in vain; for, with a gentle sigh, that seemed
like the faint echo of distant music, he breathed his
last in the arms of those immediately attending him.
The glow-worm dropped from the place from whence,
through all the time, he had directed their revels with
his light, and was seen no more; but the faint tramp of
their footsteps, as if they were marching in order, and
a low strain, that rose at intervals like a dirge upon my
ear, told me of the great loss they had suffered, and of
the grief that attended even upon the death of a fairy.