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Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen, The silver token and the haunted green. POPE
The Fairy Mythology of England divides itself into two branches, that of the people and that of the poets. Under the former head will be comprised the few scattered traditions we have been able to collected respecting a system, the belief in which is usually thought to be nearly extinct; the latter will contain a selection of passages, treating of fairies and their exploits, from our principal poets.
THe Fairies are England are evidently the Dwarfs of Germany and the North, though they do not appear to have ever been so denominated. Their appellation was Elves, subsequently Fairies; but there would seem to have been formerly other terms expressive of them of which not a vestige is now remaining in the English langage.
They were, like their northern kindred, divided into two classes: the rural Elves, inhabiting the woods, fields, mountains, and caverns; and the domestic or house-spirits, called Hobgoblins and Robin Goodfellows. But the Thames, the Avon, and the other English streams were never the abode of a Neck or Kelpie.
For the earliest account we have of the English Fairies we are indebted to the Imperial Chancellor Gervase of Tilbury, who gives the following particulars respecting the Fairy Mythology of England in the thirteenth century.
"There is," says he, "in the country of Gloucester, a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game that England produces. In a grovy lawn of this forest is a little mount, rising in a point to the height of a man, on which knights and other hunters are used to ascend when fatigued with heat and thirst, to seek some relief for their wants. The nature of the place, and of the business, is, however, such, that whoever ascends the mount must leave his companions, and go quite alone.
"When alone he was to say, as if speaking to some other person, `I thirst', and immediately there would appear a cupbearer in an elegant dress, with a cheerful countenance, bearing in his stretched out hand a large horn, adorned with gold and gems, as was the custom among the most ancient English. In the cup (note 1) nectar of an unknown but most delicious flavour was presented, and when it was drunk, all heat and weariness fled from the glowing body, so that one would be thought ready to undertake toil instead of having toiled. Moreover, when the nectar was taken, the servant presented a towel to the drinker to wipe his mouth with, and then having performed his office, he waited neither for a recompense for his services, no for questions and inquiry.
"This frequent and daily action had for a very long period of old times taken place among the ancient peoples, till one day a knight of that city, when out hunting, went thither, and having called for a drink and gotten the horn, did not, as was the custom, and as in good manners he should have done, return it to the cup-bearer, but kept it for his own use. But the illustrious Earl of Gloucester, when he learned the truth of the matter, condemned the robber to death, and presented the horn to the most excellent King Henry the Elder, lest he should be thought to have approved of such wickedness, if he had added the rapine of another to the store of his private property." (note 2)
In another place he says,
"They have in England certain demons, though I know not whether I should call them demons or figures of a secret and unknown generation, which the French call Neptunes, the English Portunes. It is their nature to embrace the simple life of comfortable farmers, and when, on account of their domestic work, they are sitting up at night, when the doors are shut, they warm themselves at the fire, and take little frogs out of their bosom, roast them on the coals, and eat them. They have the countenance of old men, with wrinkled cheeks, and they are of a very small stature, not being quite half an inch high (note 4)
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Note 2: Otia Imperialia apud Leibnitz Scriptores rerum Brunsvicarum, vol. i. p. 981.
Note 3: Dimidium pollicis Should we not read pedis?
Note 4: P. 980.