small part of
the task, after marshalling the evidence, would be to agree upon terms
which would be intelligible to ourselves and yet not misleading. To
take polity alone, are we to understand that any kind of Government
resembling that of human societies obtains among them? When we talk of
Queens or Kings of the Fairies, of Oberon and Titania, for example,
are we using a rough translation of a real something, or are we
telling the mere truth? Is there a fairy king? The King of the Wood,
for instance, who was he? Is there a fairy queen? Who is Queen Mab?
Who is Despoina? Who is the Lady of the Lake? Who is the "_[Greek:
Basilissa ton bounon]_," or "_[Greek: Megale Kura]_" of whom Mr.
Lawson tells us such suggestive things in his _Modern Greek
Folk-lore?_ Who is Despoina, with whom I myself have conversed, "a
dread goddess, not of human speech?" The truth, I suspect, is this.
There are, as we know, countless tribes, clans, or orders of fairies,
just as there are nations of men. They confess the power of some
greater Spirit among themselves, bow to it instantly and submit to its
decrees; but they do not, so far as I can understand, acknowledge a
monarchy in any sense of ours. If there is a Supreme Power over the
fairy creation it is Proserpine; but hers is too remote an empire to
be comparable to any of ours. Not even Caesar, not even the Great King,
could hope to rule such myriads as she. She may stand for the
invisible creation no doubt, but she would never have commerce with
it. No fairy hath seen her at any time; no sovereignty such as we are
now discussing would be applicable to her dominion. That of Artemis,
or that of Pan, is more comparable. Artemis is certainly ruler of the
spirits of the air and water, of the hills and shores of the sea, and
to some extent her power overlaps that of Pan who is potent in nearly
all land solitudes. But really the two lord-ships can be exactly
discriminated. They never conflict. The legions of Artemis are all
female, though on earth men as well as women worship her; the legions
of Pan are all male, though on earth he can chasten women as well as
men.[9] But Pan can do nothing against Artemis, nor she anything
against him or any of his. The decree or swift deed of either is
respected by the other. They are not, then, as earthly kings, leaders
of their hosts to battle against their neighbours. Fairies fight and
marshal themselves for war; Mr. Wentz has several cases of the kind.
But