Now, once upon a time there was sadness throughout the whole kingdom of Oberon—and his kingdom has no boundaries—because of a quarrel which had arisen between the king and the queen. It was a very small matter to begin with, but the king was a king and did not think it consorted with his dignity as such that his will should not be law, while the lovely Queen Titania thought that even the powerful king of the fairies should give way to her wishes. A small Indian prince, a dusky child, son of a mighty monarch of the East, had been stolen and a fairy baby left in its place and King Oberon wanted the changeling to be one of the knights of his train, while Queen Titania insisted on keeping him as one of her pages. Long and bitter was the quarrel but neitherking nor queen would give way, and at length they parted and half the fairies marched off under the banner of the king and half under the banner of the queen.
Now you know of course that it was the fairies that looked after all things, the flowers and the trees, the streams and lakes, the little birds and beasts, and even—though they might not be aware of it—after the doings of many men and women; thus when it befel that their king and queen quarrelled and all the fairies rallied to their separate courts everything was neglected: the corn died unripened, the grass withered in the fields, so that the flocks and herds starved, the summers were cold and wet, the winters were sickly and mild, and many good men, women and children lost their tempers and became troublesome and unhappy they knew not why, and certainly never imagined that it was all because of a quarrel between the rulers of the world-wide kingdom of Fairy.
For a long time it seemed as though the king and queen would not be reconciled. When they met Oberon would say, “I do but beg a little changeling boy to be my henchman”; and Titania would reply, “Set your heart at rest, the Fairyland buys not the child of me.” And againthe king would say, “Give me the boy and I will go with thee”; and the queen would answer, “Not for thy fairy kingdom.” Luckily Oberon by means of his fairy-arts was finally able to win his way and gain the little changeling for his retinue, the king and queen were reconciled and all the fairies returned to their happy work: the crops and grass revived, flowers bloomed everywhere, the birds sang, summer was once more warm and sunny, and winter once more white and frosty, while men, women and children suddenly regained their good tempers, knowing as little why they did so as why they had lost them. All the world was indeed once again bright and happy as it should be. Great was the rejoicing throughout the realm of Fairyland, and greater still it became when King Oberon summoned to his court all his subjects from all parts of the world to celebrate the reconciliation. Quick as thought his wish was made known by Ariel and Puck his ready messengers, and at once all the little people were hurrying to obey the monarch’s behest, and within the forty minutes which Puck takes to put a girdle round about the earth all had assembled. Then there was such a sight of wonderful splendour as would have astonished human eyes: therein beautiful colours were fairies from the flowers and the rainbows, from streams and woodland, elves, dwarfs and gnomes from caves under the earth where gold is hammered and precious stones are made; there were pixies and brownies and quaint little sprites innumerable; there was Cinderella’s fairy godmother, and there was Allwise the dwarf who wanted to marry Thor’s daughter; there was Robin Goodfellow, and there was Ariel; there were Titania’s attendant fairies Peaseblossom and Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed; there was Thumbeline and the fairy Prince her husband, and Hop-o-my-Thumb, and Thumbling; there were the King’s courtiers—Perriwiggin, Perriwincle, Puck, Hob-Goblin, Tomalin and Tom-Thumb; there were the Queen’s maids of honour—Hop, Mop, Drop, Pip, Drip, Skip, Tub, Tib, Tick, Pink, Pin, Quick, Gill, Un, Tit, Wap, Win, Wit with Nymphidia the mother of the maids—but if I were to give you a list of all the different fairies who gathered about Oberon’s court I should fill up this book and leave no room for any stories or for Mr Robinson’s illustrations.
There were, to put it shortly, all the fairies that ever lived, all the fairies that you ever knew, told of in tales or dreamed of in dreams, and a marvellous sight it would have been if we could have seen them gathered about the fairy palace of King Oberon. Everyone knew everyone else, and many were the stories told of elfish mischief and of benefits done to good people by their attendant fairies. Oberon and Titania passing along, talking to their happy subjects and attended by the changeling boy who had caused so much trouble, overheard one of these stories, and turning to his queen, the king said: “My Titania, shall we not hear some of these stories which our people can tell of their doings with men, women and children in the world of big folk?” Titania readily agreed that it would be delightful; and elfin trumpeters passed amid the multitude and blew their horns, and said that all were to arrange themselves in the great Fairy Ring and were to be prepared to tell stories until the dawn. Then therewas a pretty hustling and bustling of merry crowds jostling and soon all were arranged in circles about the great Fairy Ring, and Oberon and Titania ascended a throne which was beautifully formed of sweet-scented flowers that never faded. At the foot of the throne a stool was placed, and on it the story-tellers were to sit while amusing the Court; such was the magic of the circle that though the fairy speaking only addressed himself to the king and queen, his voice was heard even by the fairies furthest away, on the very outermost part of the ring. Happily for us the changeling boy was there sitting on the steps of the throne, and when, years afterwards, he found his way back to his father’s kingdom, he wrote down all the wonderful stories he had heard at the Court of King Oberon, and they have since been translated into many tongues by many writers, so that some of them will no doubt be familiar to you. Here, however, we have the stories just as Oberon’s changeling wrote them down, and the first story was repeated by a Scandinavian dwarf out of the cold north, who told how it was that the great hero Thor got