Fairies I Have Met

Fairies I Have Met by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell, illustrated by Edmund Dulac

Fairies I Have Met is a book of short stories written by Maud Margaret Key Stawell, who is, according to the customs of the time, signed as Mrs. Rodolph Stawell.

Published by Hodder and Stoughton, New York and London, 1910

The book starts with a dedication to Penelope. When she was a baby, three sunbeams played with her. When she was about to move to England, they decided to go with her. A little bit older Penelope asked them if they would stay with her forever, and they said they might if she believed in fairies. This book was written to help her keep this belief.

Edmund Dulac created eight full-color illustrations in his signature rich style.

We’ll move throughout the book with all twelve short stories, one by one. The first eight of them have color illustrations.

The Bird of Shadows and the Sun-Bird

Agatha is a girl who loves to hear a nightingale. She wants to become a nightingale, too. Agatha finds a magician who is willing to help her, but his help comes with a price.

“Please,” she said, “I want to be a nightingale.”

We know a similar plot from Little Mermaid.

The Sea-Fairy and the Land-Fairy, and how they quarreled

Laughing Sapphire is a sea-fairy. Sweet-of-the-Mountain is a land-fairy. One day, they argue about which life is better and decide to have a competition. Each one of them has to bring three of the most precious things from his world. A sea-anemone will decide whose treasures are more precious.

He held out the little shell in the beam of colored light

The conclusion is a bit educational and predictable.

Princess Orchid’s Party

Hedgeflower is a wild-rose-fairy who is invited to the party. Princess Orchid is the host, and everything goes fine until a clumsy spider falls on her home. The question is, where will she live from now on?

She smiled at him very graciously when he was introduced to her

A lot of descriptions but not much of the story.

The Cloud that had no Lining

Every cloud should have a silver lining, but this one was without. The fairies living inside the cloud were very uncomfortable because the rain came through. Three fairies named Pearlywing, Skybright, and Mist-of-the-Morning were chosen to find an appropriate kind of silver to line the clouds and solve the problem of dampness.

And because the silver of the moonshine-fairies is very light he was able to carry a great deal of it

They tried different kinds of silver before they found the right one.

The Fairies who changed Places

Starblossom takes care of spring flowers. Drop-of-Crystal makes snowflakes. One day, a flower-fairy and a snow-fairy change places.

Drop-of-Crystal was too busy to speak

They are so satisfied with their new creations they decided to change their professions permanently.

The Making of the Opal

A princess is preparing for a wedding. She already has a dress made of rainbow but needs something sparkly for her dark hair. Fairies decide to create a few very precious gems from the crystals found in the mountains. We find out how the first sapphire, the first emerald, and the first ruby were made. They are all beautiful but don’t look good together.

Of course the Dear Princess … wore the great opal on the day that she was married

Then, another fairy got an idea to connect them all – with a bit of sunshine the first opal was made.

The Big Spider’s Diamonds

A spider makes a magnificent web, and dew-fairies decorate it with the finest diamonds. Sun-fairies steal them just to annoy the spider, but rain-fairies have a plan of their own.

The web and the diamonds and the Big Spider himself all fell to the ground

Lovely and humorous explanation of natural phenomena. All in all, probably the best story in the book.

A Little Girl in a Book

Christabel is a girl who admires literary characters. She wishes she could be in a book as well. Her wish comes true, and she enjoys it for some time.

The other people in the book looked at her in surprise

Beware of your wishes. They may come true. In my opinion, the second-best story in the book.

The Fairy who was looking for a Home

Flitterwing is a fairy without a home. He tries different flowers, but nothing suits him because gardeners are destroying his homes on a daily base. He finds a temporary home in an ink-pot, which leads to interesting consequences.

The Box of Dreams

Gretel is a poor girl. Her dying mother gives her a box of dreams. She can open the box only when she is alone, and she must be patient. When her hair turns gray, she will be pleasantly surprised.

The Fairy who had only One Wing

A flower-fairy has lost one of his wings. The story tells how that happened and how he found a new home.

The Little Boy from Town

A family goes to the seaside, and little Michael gets a chance to make friends with sea-fairies. Yet his best friend became a mermaid who helps him to take a small piece of the sea with him when the holidays are over.

A few words about Mrs. Rodolph Stawell

The writer of this book was Maud Margaret Key Stawell (1865-1949). She signed Fairies I Have Met with her husband’s name like it was common in the British Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. She wrote several books and also illustrated some of them. This one is her best work. It offers a very magical view of otherwise everyday things that adults don’t even notice anymore but are still intriguing to the children.

Some of these stories are better than others, yet her most valuable contribution to children’s literature is very likely her approach – always try to find some magic in ordinary stuff. Her tone is sometimes humorous, even ironic, and sometimes didactic. With more humor and less teaching, she would undoubtedly achieve more.