Taken By the Fairies

Either response serves the Old Shepherd'spurposes. Yearslater, however,when the Shepherd'sson as Perdita's brotherfears recriminationsfrom the angry Polixenes,the Clown pleads with his father to deny any kinship: Is the play raisinga smile here at the Clown'sexpensefor his literalbelief in fairychangelings? In this anonymouswork a manservantnamed Haunce uses fairy allusionsto describean informalsystem of briberywhich insures his silence about the nighttimevisits of his mistress'swealthylover: Well, I am glad we are haunted so with Fairies: The play represents Haunce as well aware that the young aristocrat who 24 PierreBourdieu,Outlineofa TheoryofPractice, trans.

CambridgeUP, , The passageraisesthepossibilitythattheeuphemism "going to see the fairies" to indicateillicitsexualactivitiesmayhavebeenwidespread enoughto be readilyunderstood by a contemporary audience.

As in TheWinter's Tale,the transaction betweenHaunceandhis mistress's lover representsa cross-classcollaboration in evadingthe prohibitionsof the dominant culture,in this case againstpremaritalsex. For Haunce'smistressthe sexual encounterwas desired,but in the prose pamphletRobinGood-Fellow, His Mad Prankes,andMerryfeststhe desireof a youngwomanof littlemeansfor a wealthy manis less easilydetermined. A tavernhostesstells of Robin'smother,a"proper youngWench"whoseroomwas repeatedlyvisitedat nightby a "heeFayry" who "forced" her to dancewith him, leavingher silverandjewelsat his departure.

Askedthe identityof the father,the hostessreplied: Even as she prays,the treacherous Iachimois hiddenin hertrunk,planningif not actuallyto ravishher,at leastto ruinherreputationforchastity. The sexualdeedsperformedby the "heeFayry" and falselybraggedaboutby Iachimobearthe samesignsof humanagencyas spiritsdescribedin the edi- tion of ReginaldScot'sDiscouery In fact,laterin this passagethese of witchcraft. A4'-v;quo- tations of this work follow the edition. Manysuchhavebeentakenawayby the saydSpirits,for a fortnight,or month together,beingcarryedwith them in Chariotsthroughthe Air,overHills, and Dales, Rocksand Precipices,till at last they havebeen found lying in some Meddowor Mountainbereavedof theirsences,and commonlyof one of their Membersto boot.

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It is not clearfromthis account,however,who was responsiblefor attribut- ing these acts to spirits. Did the victimsclaimthat they werewrongedby spiritsas a sign of their refusalto namethe assailantsOr did the personswho foundthem make this claimto signifythat therewas no evidencepointingto a specificperson? Or was this explanationofferedby the victims'familieswhen pressuredto explainwhat had happenedto theirlovedones? Stretchingthe boundariesof literalbelief,the apparently wide attributionof realand physicalharmto "Manysuch"victimssuggeststhe coop- erationof the victims'communityin circulatingthis whitelie to protecttheirmembers fromfurtherharmor perhapsto preservethe reputationsof theirviolatedvirgins.

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Some insight into a verysimilarwhite lie attributingassaultspecificallyto fairies is providedby a twentieth-centurycommunityin Newfoundland,descendedin part from Irish and English fishermenwho settled in this areain the late-sixteenthand seventeenth centuries. While Burke cautions against the regressivemethod of studying an earlier cultural phenomenon through its modern version, he does acknowledgethe method'sutility as a base fromwhich to considerfragmentaryevi- dence froman earlierperiod,as I am doing here.

Garland, , , esp. A less fortunateyoung sister of an infor- mant'sgrandmotherwas taken by the "fairies;" neverto return,leavingbehind only one red sock and a dipperof blueberries. The extent to which fairyagencywas used to deflectscandalappearsin the case of an informant'saunt. When the local doctor announcedthat she was pregnant, her brotherresponded,"No, she isn't. To most readersoutside Newfoundland this explanationremainsunintelligible. The brother,however,assumedrightlyor wronglythat the doctor belongedto a discur- sive community that understoodthis referenceto fairiesas a denial of his sister's sexualagency.

His allusionto fairiesrepresentsher as a prey to forces,presumably physicalones, beyond her control. Did the brother'sreplyindicatea simple state of stunned denial? Or did his responseimply that his sister was a victim of rape,and so this pregnancywasn't"real" and should perhapsbe terminated Was termination of "fairy"pregnanciesan acceptedpractice? While Narvaiezdoes not reportthe doc- tor'sresponse,the brother'sassumptionraisesinterestingquestions.

Was this dis- cursivecommunity,as defined by understandingof fairy allusions,centered in a socioeconomicgroup? Would the doctor'sprofessionalstatus and educationin the sciences have excludedhim from such a community? Or would boyhood contact with this communityhaveequippedhim to understandthe brother'smeaning? The questionsraisedby this episodeareequallyapplicable to the earlymodern period. Since storiesof fairy-induced pinches,pregnancies, and even maimings dependedon communityassent,geographymayhaveplayedan importantrolein theearlymodernperiod,as well. Who exactlyweremembersof thediscursive com- munity circulatingfairy allusions?

The boyhoodperceptionsof men such as Aubrey,raisedamongservants,mayhavereflectedonlya partialunderstanding of the functionof whitelies. Yetothermembersof the dominantcultureseemedfully ableto collaborate in the use of fairyallusionsto resistthe valuesandcustomsof their own group,especiallyin the case of consensualsexualacts or bribery. Sometimesallusionswerenot so much collaborative as they wereprotectiveof innocentvictims-such as rapedwomenor illegitimate babies-who wouldother- wisesuffershame.

Whilefairynarratives originated in theoraltraditionof anagrar- ian culture,they circulatedbeyondthis group,especiallyin its interactionswith membersof othercultures. Evenpartialanswersto thesequestionsprovidea windowonto the com- plexrelationships betweenthe commonandelitecultures.

Cottingley Fairies

While in theirverynature,sexualactivitiesblurthe binarydivisionsbetween membersof the commonandelitecultures,propertythefttendedto reinstatethese divisionsto compensate thosepersonsdisadvantaged byaneconomicsystembasedon personalownership. Allusionsto the fairiesin mattersof propertyfunctionedmore explicitlyas a weaponof the weakto intervenein the unequalpowerrelationships supported bythejuridicalsystemsandvaluesof thedominantculture.

Thus,in addi- tionto coverforsexualactivities, earlymodernsalsousedfairiesto referto formsof socialprotestrangingfromrevoltto propertycrime. This latteruse represents an extensionof the Old Shepherd's appropriationof the moneyfoundwithPerditaas "fairygold"andbelongingto no one. In TheWisdome ofDoctor Dodypoll,Hauncedoes notbelievethatfairiesleftmoneyin hisshoe;he alsodoesnotbelievetheallegedfairy originsof a valuable goldencupthata peasantattemptsto sellto ajeweler.

Interpretingthe fairyoriginsof mysteriouswealthas a whitelie foractssuchas briberyor theft restoresintelligibilityto the followingincidentnoted by John Aubrey: Giventhe associations of fairymagicwithotherkindsof illicitactivity,the wife'sfearswouldseemto be well founded. When hermountinganxietyled herto a directconfrontation, his expla- nationof fairybeneficence wasprobablyintendednot to inspireliteralbeliefbutto signifyhis refusalto identifythe actualsource.

But whetherhis wife'sobjections becameunpleasantin themselvesor endangered his activityby signalingherwith- drawalof silentassent,he eitherceasedthepracticeor ceasedtellinghis wifeabout anyothersumshe"found: Lesscal- culablein this relationis JohnAubrey's ownlevelof belief. As one of the firstanti- quariansof commonculture,Aubreyseemsmoreconcernedwith recordingthan interpreting suchevents.

Still,the absenceof anyreferenceto an underlyingcode suggestsan ignoranceproceedingfromthe two stagesof his relationship withthis community.

Cottingley Fairies - Wikipedia

As a child,he wasliableto believestoriesof fairygold;as an adultout- siderto thegroup,he wasliableto havecreditedhis informant's beliefin fairygold. If fairygoldis understoodas a formof whitelie,the actualsourceof a number of goodsbestowedby fairiesbecomessuddenlyvulnerable to suspicion: Equallyeffectivewasa formof communi- ty assentfor explanations that impliedmerelya discreetacceptance of the tellers' refusalto divulgea presumably illegalsource.

In manycasessuch discretionmay haveexpressed a community's resistance to a systemof propertyownership. In these particularcasestheft representednot so much a crimeas compensationfor an inequitabledistributionof wealthwithina society. Those outsidethis discursive community, whateverits actualclassdivisionsmighthavebeen,wouldhavemisun- derstoodthesefairynarratives as falsesuperstitions or wondroustruths. Forthis reasonit is not surprisingthat con artistssuch as the Wests foundtheir most gulliblevictimsamongthe educatedbourgeoisor middle-class townspeoplerather 41 Aubrey, In commissionsof propertytheft thereis sometimesa thin line betweenper- sonalgreedandsocialprotest.

RichardWilsonhasrelatedtwopoliticalincidentsof subversive fairyallusionsfromthe late-medieval period. The claimby Shakespeare's Cadewasdesigned not so muchto inspireliteralbeliefas to parodythe lineageof othersupposedly seriousclaimsto the throne.

phrases, sayings, proverbs and idioms at

In a similarway the historicalCade'ssuperficially absurdassertionof his sovereignrightto territoryin the nameof the queenof the fairiesmadea seriouspoliticalpoint. Cade'spretenseparodiedthe claimsof an elite groupto exclusiverightsto ownland. To somedisenfranchised citizenstheserights undoubtedlyseemedjust as groundlessas those of the fairyqueen.

As Cadenot only referredto fairiesbut also cast himselfas theirqueen,he was literalizinga figureof speechto legitimatepropertytheftfromthe wealthy. His defiantuse of a familiarfigureposedthe interestsof his groupin directoppositionto the interests of thoseprofitingfromthecontemporary politicalsystem. A similarlogicstructures thesecondepisode,occurring a yearlater. It also enactedan underlying ideologythatdeniedthe duke'sexclusiverightto owndeer. Howlargewasa discursive communitycharacterized by the implicitassentof its membersin thepropertycrimesrepresented as bestowalof fairywealth?

Depending on the timeandplace,it no doubtvariedin size froma fewmembersof a bandof thievesto a substantial portionof thepoorof anentirearea. It seemsprobable thata practicesuchas this informedFalstaff's namingof his bandas"Diana's foresters. NatalieZemonDavishas founda largerdiscursivecommunityamongruralpeasantsin Francewho protectedthe 43 See Wilson, Kent ArchaeologicalSociety, , The femaledomain,in the bear- ing and raisingof children,providesa somewhatmorecomplexuse of fairyallusions, not all of which necessarilyencodeda white lie.

Accordingto Minor Latham,narra- tives explainingvariousphysicalchangesin infants or even their mysteriousdeaths were recordedfor the first time in the sixteenthcentury: It is especiallydifficultto determinethe level of parental or even communal belief given the striking correlationsbetween the described appearanceof "changelings" and some actualdisorders. It was popularlybelievedthat if parents treated their changelingscruelly,the fairieswould take the changelingsbackand returnthe mortalinfants.

Stanford UP, , Or did fairy narrativesoffer a socially acceptableform of infanticide as a means of managing a situation that seemed,or perhapsactuallywas, impossible? The use of the changelingnarrativeto soften the cruelrealityof accidentaldeathemergesfroman anecdotetold by Robert Willis, born about the same time and to the same approximatesocioeconomic group as Shakespeare,concerninghis own near death in infancy: Such an accident by relationof others befell me within few daies after my birth, whilst my motherlay in of me being her second child,when I was takenout of the bed from her side, and by my suddain and fierce crying recoveredagain, being found stickingbetween the beds-headand the wall;and if I had not cryedin that manneras I did, our gossips had a conceit that I had been quite carriedawayby the Fairiesthey know not whither,and some elfe or changeling as they call it laid in my room.

In Willis'scase the term changeling would have referredto an actual dead infant, not a living fairy substitute. His use of the word"conceit" indicateshis perceptionthat the women or "gossips"attendinghis mother after childbirthwere well awarethat his near death had nothing at all to do with fairies.

If Willis had died, the fairy narrativewould havedeflectedblamefor a terribleaccidentfrom the mother and her attendants. This use of a changelingnarrativeto deflect blame also appearsin Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage. When the nurse temporarily loses the boy Ascanius, the play presents her fairy story as the flimsiest of excuses: He lay with me last night, and in the morninghe was stolne from me, I thinke some Fairieshave beguiled me! In fact the loss of children by nurses, whether from such accidents as the one nearly occurring to Willis or from general neglect, reflects a grim actuality.

Elizabethan andtheProfessional SeasonalEntertainment Stage,trans. Cambridge UP, , CambridgeUP, , 1: Narrativesof changelingswerewell enoughknownin courtby the late- sixteenth century for George Puttenham to refer to a figure of speech as a "changeling" because among the "Ladiesand pretie mistressesin Court.

An aristocraticmothermight havewithheldher assentto such a nar- rativewhen it came to a nurse'sloss of her own infant. Marlowestagessuch a con- frontationwhen his characterDido respondsto Ascanius'snurseby callingher a liar: Thatslayestme withthyharshandhellishtale, Thou forsomeprettieguifthastlet himgoe, AndI amthusdeludedof myboy. If Willis had died, the "gossips" would havehad to agreeto the"changeling" explanation. The surroundingcommu- nity would havehad to assent to this narrative,either as the actualreasonor, more likely,as the sign of their refusalto assignblamefor the baby'saccidentaldeath.

But a communitycould refusesuch assent,as happenedas late as in Ireland,when a young woman named BridgetCleary was suspected of being a changelingafter she fell ill of catarrhand nervousexcitement. Over a period of severaldaysher hus- band and relatives,in order to elicit a confessionof her fairy identity,burned her with a hot poker until she died. When they buriedher,they claimedshe had"gone with the fairies.

A contemporarybroadsidedescribedthe incident in this way: Methuen, ], , esp. For more on widespreadfears about wet-nursinginfants,see Deborah Willis, Malevolent Nurture: Cornell UP, ,18 and Gladys Willcock and Alice Walker Cambridge: Robin Goodfellow was associated with property theft, as is evident in Thomas Harman'sdescriptionof vagabond"hokers," who intruded a hooked staff through windows to pluck blanketsand even garmentsfrom their sleepingvictims: In , William Tyndale used this trope to representthose confused by an unfamiliarBible: Unlike fairies,however,Robin Goodfellowdid not traditionallyplaya rolein the theft of mortalbabiesor as a directparticipantin sexualepisodes.

Insteadhis pri- maryrole appearsto havebeen the performanceof particularlyoneroushousehold tasks. Scot mentionsgrindingmustardand sweepingin exchangefor a bowl of milk. The second part of the ballad portraysthis relativenakedness;he is clothed in animal pelts down to his upper thighs with his legs left bare. This costume of animal skins is consistentwith Eberly'ssuggestionthat persons cast out becauseof retardationor disfiguringcongenitaldisorderscould become"solitaryfairies"or "roughmen"who 59Thomas Harman,A Caveator WarningforCommenCursetors VulgarelyCalledVagabones London, , FairyNames and Natures London: Geoffrey Bles, , Stephen Austin for the Ballad Society, , If bowlsof milkwereactuallydrunkandburdensome tasksactuallyperformed, then leavingout foodforRobinGoodfellowin exchangeforlabormayhavereferred to a practiceratherthana superstition.

The firstpartof "Madmerryprankes" presentsGoodfellowin his traditional activities-misleadingtravelers, shapeshifting, grindingmalt,andspinninghemp. Perhapsunderthe influenceof workssuchas A Midsummer Nigbt's Dream,the sec- ond partconflateshis activitieswith those conventionally performedby fairies- pinchingmaidens,stealingnewbornbabies,and singingwith the fairyking and queen. The competinginterpretations of Goodfellowappearmost clearlyin the figuresprefacingthe two partsof the ballad. In the firstimage fig. Woodcut illustrationfrom Volume 2, part 1, of The Roxburghe Ballacds , As describedabove,the secondimageportraysa figurebarelyclothed in animalpelts fig.

This pairingsuggeststhe adaptationof an agrarianfigureto a primarilyurbanor villagesceneof crimein orderto denote an alternativeform of anonymousnighttimelabor,muchlike that recordedby Harman. The rabbitsimportinto the Goodfellownarrative an instabilityof per- spectivetoward con gamnes shared with Robert Greene's cony-catching pamphlets , in whichaninitiallysanctimonious toneyieldsto anamoraldelightin theescapades of cleverconmen. The imagesof two conies-one hookinggarmentsfromoutside This content downloaded from The imagesprefacingthe two partsof RobinGood-fellow, His MadPrankes and MerryTestsrevealthe pamphlet'sown contradictoryconstructionsof Robin Goodfellowas a signcirculating amongcompetingideologies.

The pamphlet's title pagedepictsa roughandhairydevilfigureor satyrwith clovenhoofs,erectpenis, horns,and animalearsdancingwithina circleof smallerhumanfigureswearing hats see cover. The secondimageportraysa stocky,bare-chested huntsman fig. This simplehuntsmanfiguredemystifiesthe nonhumanaspectsof the first image,to suggestthat Robin Goodfellowis only an ordinaryman whose pranksaremoreliableto inspirelaughterthanfear.

Thesesignifications arefurther destabilizedby the competingvaluationsof the devilfigure. To the middlingsort the clovenhoofs,erectpenis,andhornsidentifyRobinGoodfellowas an embodi- mentof evil. Weimannobservesthatreferences to RobinGoodfellowas a devil in playssuch as GrimtheCollierof Croyden "playfuleuphemismsfor his represent non-Christianorigin"ratherthan a sense of innate evil.

A bio-bibliographical book,Vicki K. Johns Hopkins UP, , Wendy Wall is also currentlyat work on immensely interestingmaterialon this topic. Weimann traces his sig- natory"ho ho ho"to the Vice of medievalmysteryplays,noting, however,that as the "good-natured servantto Oberon,"Shakespeare'sPuck was"clearlynot a Vice figure"and in fact shows the influence of the classicalCupid Reproduced by kind permission of The Henry E. Huntington Libraryand Art Gallery functionedas a signof commonfestivityor evenresistanceto the valuesof domi- nant culture.

Names such as "Beelzebub"and "LittleDevil Doubt,"recordedfor mummers of a later date, suggest the community's capacity to appropriate negative associations with the devil and to revalue them as positive. Clarendon Press, , and Alan Brody records a description of a mumming event, alreadyan "ancientpastime"in the author'schildhood, which includes Beelzebub and a little devil who used a broom to gather up money The EnglishMummersand Their Plays: U of PennsylvaniaP, ], A numberof other pranks,however,reinterpret"devil" to rep- resenta hero who rights the wrongssufferedby the powerlessand the poor.

Robin Goodfellowtricksan old lecherinto permittinga youngmaid to marryher beloved. He savesa young maiden from rapeby transforminghimself into a horse to carry awaya lecherousgallant. He becomes a ravenand then a ghost to terrifya wicked usurerinto liberality. He reformsa tapsterwho cheatshis customersby using small drinkingpots. In these episodes Robin Goodfellow'sactions reflecta strategy,no doubt originatingin the storiescirculatingwithin an oralculture,for changingwhat JamesC. Scott has called the "climateof opinion"in orderto providesome redress for groups whose needs and complaintsdid not dependablyfind remedythrough earlymoderninstitutions.

Greaterliteracy,as well as more disposableincome,could be found in other groups,particularlyin the rising"middlingsort: If thouwilt leada blestandhappylife, I willdescribethe perfectway: Firstmustthoushunallcauseof mortallstrife, Againstthylustcontinually to pray. Sharpe, , RobinGood-fellow, This content downloaded from When the listenerswould open up their windows or doors, this singerof devout songs would"runneawaylaughing,ho, ho, hoh.

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Gender issues further complicatethe ideologicalconfigurationof RobtinGood- fellow,His MadPrankesandMerrylestsas the pamphletconcludeswith a referenceto its own initialframingdevice. These storiesof Robin Goodfellowhavebeen told by a tavernhostess to a tired traveleras her frivolousexplanationthat the people of that county were called"longtayles"because their"Taylesare long that we use to passe the time withall,and makeour selvesmerry.

The ballad"Madmerryprankes"also ends with a referenceto women nar- rators: The almost obsessive emphasis on a female narrator,often an elderly female, representsa crucialsignifying element of this oral tradition. This is not to claim that only women told tales. While some of the activities,particularlythe fairies' theft of infants and Goodfellow's carding of hemp, take place in the domestic realm, men were undoubtedly as numerous and as active as women, especially within those groups most likely to commit property theft.

Only men are repre- sented as disguising themselves as "fairies"to poach deer. Accounts more often recordthe involvementof men than of women in discoveriesof "fairygold"and in other forms of theft. Thus the figureof the femalenarratorreflectsthe act of nar- ration itself. Since garrulitywas and is considereda female attribute,the choice of "beldamsold"as narratorsenables the telling, and the receiving,of tales sup- posed to be devoid of the more serious purpose appropriateto masculine nar- rators.

Giovanni Boccaccio representsas without merit or meaning the stories of "amaundering old woman, sitting with others late of a winter'snight at the home fireside,makingup tales of Hell, This content downloaded from As the primarycaretakersof children,women-especially ruralor lower-classwomen-were theprimarytransmitters of commoncultureto the childrenwho wouldgrow up to write pamphlets,plays,and other literary works.

To many adult males who transcribednarrativesof fairiesand Robin Goodfellow, the spaceof thiscommonculturewasoccupiedmainlyby womenand the childrentheseauthorsoncewere. In this spacewaspracticedthe mostproduc- tive interactionbetweenmembersof the commoncultureand those who would becomemembersof morepowerfulsocialgroups. ForwriterssuchasJohnAubrey this spacewasleft behindbut neverforgottenwhentheyenteredthe schoolroom to be educatedin the valuesandLatintextsof the learnedor"great"culture.

As numerous people,includingShakespeare himself,gravitatedto Londonfrom smalltownsandfarms,somepractices circulatingaroundRobinGoodfellowbecame of life. Otherpractices,suchas leavingout a bowlof cream,werelesseasilyassimilated. Boththepamphletandtheplayretainaspectsof the originalRobinas a countryprankster. Butneitherfunctionsprimarily to trans- mit oraltraditions.

As the pamphlet's preposterous attributionof a pioussongto RobinGoodfellowsuggests,a gapwasopeningup betweenthevaluesderivingfrom Robin'scountryoriginandthoseheldbythedevoutreadersof anincreasingly urban middlingsort. Not as evidentlyinfluenced by a growingpopulationof devoutread- ers, Shakespeare's Robin Goodfellowdid not sing godly songs againstlustful desires. The socialfunctionsperformed by RobinGoodfellowandthe fairiesextendedoutwardto takeon newandunfamiliar purposes. Formanymem- bersof Shakespeare's audiencethe originalsubversive practicesno longerrepresent- the fates, Ghosts, and the like" Boccaccio on Poetry,ed.

Charles Osgood [New York: LiberalArts Press, ], Insteadthedistance betweenShakespeare's Londonaudienceandmostpractitioners of weaponsof the weakenabledthe creationof fairiesandof RobinGoodfellowas signsnot onlyof subversive strategiesbut,evenmore,as signsgroupingtogetherthe variouspracti- tionersof thosestrategiesas one culture. By engagingin the conceptualization of a popularculture,definedwithina mutuallyconstitutive relationship witha moreelite culture,A Midsummer NightsDreamrepresentsa precondition for the denigration andeventualrejectionof popularcultureasvulgarbythe eighteenthcentury.

Butin the late-sixteenthcenturya cleanandsimplerejectionwasnot yetpossible. Whenconsidered in isolation,the forestepisodesof A Midsummer NightsDream stagemeaningsforthe fairiesandforRobinGoodfellowwhicharenot yetsubstan- tiallydifferentfromtheirmeaningswithina commonculture. The playliteralizes the strategicuse of fairyallusionsas a coverforactsregarded as illicitby the domi- nantculture. Bottom'sadventure withTitaniastagespreciselywhatfairyallusions functionedto evoke,in this casea sociallyunacceptable sexualunionbetweenan artisanandan upper-class woman.

In oppositionto Athens,the Englishforestis a worldof desire ratherthanlaw;andit is therethatHermiaandLysander fleeto findrefugefroma patriarchal societythatwoulddenythemtheirchoiceof marriage partner. It is there that HelenaandDemetriusarepropelledby theirown eroticlongings. The roles playedby Oberonandby Puck,who refersto himselfas RobinGoodfellow, in the lovers'wanderingsmakeliterala popularfigureof speech. Sincegoingto "Seethe Fayries"refersto illicitsexualencounters, thenthe loversareindeedgoingto"Seethe thattheydo notseeanyfairiesmayregistertheirownupper-class fairies"; ignorance of this homelymetaphor.

The fairyointmentPuck rubs on Lysander's eyelids alludesto whatneednot be directlystated: Herethe absenceof eitherwillingor forcedsexual congressbetweenthe aristocratic couplesrepresents a strikingintervention of bour- geoismoresin the conventional outcomeof fairynarratives. I went off, to Cottingley again, taking the two cameras and plates from London, and met the family and explained to the two girls the simple working of the cameras, giving one each to keep.

The cameras were loaded, and my final advice was that they need go up to the glen only on fine days as they had been accustomed to do before and tice the fairies, as they called their way of attracting them, and see what they could get. I suggested only the most obvious and easy precautions about lighting and distance, for I knew it was essential they should feel free and unhampered and have no burden of responsibility. If nothing came of it all, I told them, they were not to mind a bit. Until 19 August the weather was unsuitable for photography. Because Frances and Elsie insisted that the fairies would not show themselves if others were watching, Elsie's mother was persuaded to visit her sister's for tea, leaving the girls alone.

In her absence the girls took several photographs, two of which appeared to show fairies. In the first, Frances and the Leaping Fairy , Frances is shown in profile with a winged fairy close by her nose. The second, Fairy offering Posy of Harebells to Elsie , shows a fairy either hovering or tiptoeing on a branch, and offering Elsie a flower. Two days later the girls took the last picture, Fairies and Their Sun-Bath.

The plates were packed in cotton wool and returned to Gardner in London, who sent an "ecstatic" telegram to Doyle, by then in Melbourne. My heart was gladdened when out here in far Australia I had your note and the three wonderful pictures which are confirmatory of our published results. When our fairies are admitted other psychic phenomena will find a more ready acceptance We have had continued messages at seances for some time that a visible sign was coming through.

Doyle's article in the December issue of The Strand contained two higher-resolution prints of the photographs, and sold out within days of publication. To protect the girls' anonymity, Frances and Elsie were called Alice and Iris respectively, and the Wright family was referred to as the "Carpenters". The recognition of their existence will jolt the material twentieth century mind out of its heavy ruts in the mud, and will make it admit that there is a glamour and mystery to life. Having discovered this, the world will not find it so difficult to accept that spiritual message supported by physical facts which has already been put before it.

Early press coverage was "mixed", [23] generally a combination of "embarrassment and puzzlement". Margaret McMillan , the educational and social reformer, wrote: Look at Iris's [Elsie's] face. Major John Hall-Edwards , a keen photographer and pioneer of medical X-ray treatments in Britain, was a particularly vigorous critic: On the evidence I have no hesitation in saying that these photographs could have been "faked".

I criticize the attitude of those who declared there is something supernatural in the circumstances attending to the taking of these pictures because, as a medical man, I believe that the inculcation of such absurd ideas into the minds of children will result in later life in manifestations and nervous disorder and mental disturbances.

Doyle used the later photographs in to illustrate a second article in The Strand , in which he described other accounts of fairy sightings.



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The article formed the foundation for his book The Coming of the Fairies. Sceptics noted that the fairies "looked suspiciously like the traditional fairies of nursery tales" and that they had "very fashionable hairstyles". Gardner made a final visit to Cottingley in August He again brought cameras and photographic plates for Frances and Elsie, but was accompanied by the clairvoyant Geoffrey Hodson.

Although neither of the girls claimed to see any fairies, and there were no more photographs, "on the contrary, he [Hodson] saw them [fairies] everywhere" and wrote voluminous notes on his observations. By now Elsie and Frances were tired of the whole fairy business. Years later Elsie looked at a photograph of herself and Frances taken with Hodson and said: Public interest in the Cottingley Fairies gradually subsided after Elsie and Frances eventually married and lived abroad for many years.

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She admitted in an interview given that year that the fairies might have been "figments of my imagination", but left open the possibility she believed that she had somehow managed to photograph her thoughts. Elsie and Frances were interviewed by journalist Austin Mitchell in September , for a programme broadcast on Yorkshire Television. When pressed, both women agreed that "a rational person doesn't see fairies", but they denied having fabricated the photographs. They concluded that the photographs were fakes, and that strings could be seen supporting the fairies.

He also concluded that the pictures were fakes. In , the cousins admitted in an article published in the magazine The Unexplained that the photographs had been faked, although both maintained that they really had seen fairies. Elsie had copied illustrations of dancing girls from a popular children's book of the time, Princess Mary's Gift Book , published in , and drew wings on them.

Seated on the upper left hand edge with wing well displayed is an undraped fairy apparently considering whether it is time to get up. An earlier riser of more mature age is seen on the right possessing abundant hair and wonderful wings. Her slightly denser body can be glimpsed within her fairy dress.

Elsie maintained it was a fake, just like all the others, but Frances insisted that it was genuine. In an interview given in the early s Frances said:. It was a wet Saturday afternoon and we were just mooching about with our cameras and Elsie had nothing prepared. I saw these fairies building up in the grasses and just aimed the camera and took a photograph.

Both Frances and Elsie claimed to have taken the fifth photograph. In a interview on Yorkshire Television 's Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers , Elsie said that she and Frances were too embarrassed to admit the truth after fooling Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes: Frances died in , and Elsie in The collection included prints of the photographs, two of the cameras used by the girls, watercolours of fairies painted by Elsie, and a nine-page letter from Elsie admitting to the hoax.

Frances' daughter, Christine Lynch, appeared in an episode of the television programme Antiques Roadshow in Belfast , broadcast on BBC One in January , with the photographs and one of the cameras given to the girls by Doyle. Christine told the expert, Paul Atterbury , that she believed, as her mother had done, that the fairies in the fifth photograph were genuine. In one letter, dated , Frances wrote:. I hated those photographs from the age of 16 when Mr Gardner presented me with a bunch of flowers and wanted me to sit on the platform [at a Theosophical Society meeting] with him.

I realised what I was in for if I did not keep myself hidden. The films FairyTale: In a further two fairy photographs were presented as evidence that the girls' parents were part of the conspiracy. Dating from and , both photographs are poorly executed copies of two of the original fairy photographs. One was published in in The Sphere newspaper, which was before the originals had been seen by anyone outside the girls' immediate family.