by Niabh » Sun Dec 30, 2018 10:10 am
Here is Writ the Testament of Lord Thomas Ercledoune, called Thomas the Seer and True Tom, who was spirited away to those realms men call Fairie, where he dwelt full Seven Yrs as Consort to the Fairie Quene, who laid upon him a Geis, or Curƒe, that he micht Sing for the Pleaƒure of Her Court, but forbade him to speak to any Creature save Herƒelf, leƒt his Immortal Soul be forfeit. In that Tyme he bore Witness to all the court and pageantrie of these Peoples, their straunge Magicks, their Pagan gods, and all manner of Deviltrie that no Man born of this Worlde ever before did see. At the Concluƒion of this Term was he granted the devine ƒecrets of Prophecie, and thereafter did served 18 yrs under His Majestie King Albarech as His Chief Counsellor and Soothsayer, foreseeing all Manner of Calamities, Including the Fall of Lothaine and the Blight that did follow, as well as many other Dreadful Prophecies that are Recorded, but not yet come to Pass. This Teƒtament describes his time spent amongst these Creatures, in Order to Reveal their ways and their Weaknesses, that other men may avoid Beguilement and Enƒlavement.
Since the Daie my Lady released me from Her service I have been burden’d that any thing I ƒpeak will come to pass, never knowing yf my speaking makes so or yf it would come to pass yf I spake it not. With this Fairie Gift have I ganed Fortune and Renoun, and have been the Adviƒor to men of Power; but I swear that I have had not one Hour’s Peace, without that my Mynd’s Eye dwells on the Horrors it has foreƒeen, that I would fain pluck out my two eyen and live in Darkness, would it but cast off these Viƒions. I have foreƒeen the Death of all I love, my two good Wyves, my own deare Daughther, and my Leige and King. Of late the hour of myne owne death has come to me, that no man should ever know, so that bread turns to ashe in my Mouth, and wine to gall, and I durst not sleep, for each sleep measures nerer to the Last. For these reasons I will speak no further Prophecie, lest I unwitting birth more Sorrows.
These Fairies (or as they call themƒelves, the DU-HA) are of a midle Nature betuixt Man and Spirit, as were Dæmons thought to be of old. Chief of their Nature is their changable Bodies, somewhat of the Nature of a condensed Cloud, and best seen by Twilight. Thes Bodies be so plyable through the Subtilty of their Spirit, that they can make them appear or disappear att their Pleaƒure. Their Bodies of congealled Air are some tymes lent to step into Shadow, where they are conƒumed by Darkness, but do reveal themƒelves from outten ƒome other place. This sport they oft do in deep foreƒt, delighting in slipping apace from tree to tree, that they may ever be one step before; or I have seen them att their Daunces, wherein a Woman wearying of her partner, wheels him round the far side of the fyre, onlie to reappear in the arms of another.
But more Subtle by far is their Glaumorie, by which means they Decieve the Eye and Mynd, and which hangeth like a Veil of Smoke allways about them. I do not believe I ever once beheld the true Face of my Lady, though in that time I saw Her change into a multitude of Schapes, for Her pleaƒure and myne. As a certain Favor to me, She once tranƒformed Herself into the very likeness of myne old love Maragrete, which was a Horror to me, as that woman had been Dead ƒome years, but the Fairies have no underƒtanding of ƒuch things, but thought only that I would be pleaƒed to lay with her again. But never had I told Herself of this Maragrete, nor had She ever laid eye on her in lyfe. I preƒume the trick was not that She Herself changed, but that she diƒtorted myne own viƒion, that I would perseive whatever I deƒired most.
So do the Fairies mislede men by distorting themselves to the eye that sees them, so that they may seem passing fair and wise, or possessing secret knowledge, but in truth they serve as a Reflexion of our own Desires, and by means of trickerie use the knowledge so gleaned against Us. Our owne mynds make perfect their Decepƒion, in that so long as men may Dream other than what is, so too may Fairies rob them of their viƒions and cast them back as seeming truths. Full often did it seem they stole even the music from my head, so as to weave it into their own Illusions, they who can create nothing of their own, but must steal or barter it from us.
Amongst them it is a great Shame to force a Fairie to cast off her glaumorie, no less than it would be amongst us to be stripped before the court, but the Quene Herself hath no power to strip the glaumerie of another yf they wish it Naught. By means of Coerƒion it may be done, or that the Fairie be bound in Iron so that the Pain perƒuades her to relent (Iron being a moƒt potent Charm against them, of which I will speak more anon). It is as well taken as Insult to dictate of them any particular Glaumorie, for No Thing is held more dere to Them, and they will accept no Authoritie save their owne in this. A Large Portion of their Law seems devoted to this Autonomie, as much as men make Laws to defend Propertie, as well as many Rules forbidding even Remark upon a change in another’s Schape, though it seemed to me impossible to avoid.
With their Skill they do distort Tyme itself, that their Merrie Reveles may seem to pass in the courƒe of one Nicht, but in truth this single Nicht may lengthen over many Daies, till all are sated with Pleaƒure. And yet in the same manner they may play out a mere Instance to an agony of Houres, out of spite, and to my Sorrow I was plaied this cruel gest many a tyme, till I knewe not how long I had been bound up in Their compangye, and dreaded allways that I would be returned to a World passed on many Yeres, and noone left that knewe me, as they say in the fables. I believe that this Distortion may be root of our Superstition against the eating of Fairie Fruits, that it is not the Fruits themselves that may be deadlie, but that a man believes himself to have been in Fairie but few houres, when in Truth he has been snared there for monye daies unwary and perishes of Hunger. This dread Fate is not beyond Their skill. I was myself alarmed when my Lady would ply me with foods daie and nicht, fearing She meant me ill (that there was poison or Magick upon it) ere She assured that it was all because I had not supped since yestereven, though I knewe it nowt.
Yet I do believe upon my Witness that they have no true Power over Tyme, but as with their Glaumorie instead diƒtort Perseptyon, and this they do for Joie as much as miƒchief. For none of their Glaumours have any bearing upon Truth, as they cannot alter Solid Matter (themself being all aery nothing) but work their will upon the Mynd’s Eye to cause one to Believe that a thing has changed. This they do amongst themselfs as well, with this Difference: that they can at will cast off Belief, and Perceive true Nature.
[Here the lower half of the page was cut out, though it is not known if Thomas has removed it or if it was done by a later hand.]
Lacking Souls, they are bereft of all Conƒcience and the natural Qualities of Temperance, Humility and Chaƒtity. They are the most shreud of Theives, that nothing that may be graƒped in the Hand is safe from them, but do nowt reckon theft among Themselfs (that they call Borrowing), but are bound by their curious Laws as what may or may not be stolen. To Steal outright they frown upon, but yf a thing may be won by means of clever trickerie and deceit, it is nowt reckoned theft. Yf they possess any Vertue whatever, it is that of Generositie. There is not a thing that can be ask’d that they will not grant yf it be in their Power, but this is less vertue than that they have nowt any notion of Propertie, but keep all their possesƒions in common, even unto their owne Children, who wander free between houses so that yt micht be thought they do not know their owne Mothers.
This Society is so contrarie that the natural hierarchy is subverted, so that women rule over the men and men are seen as no more than Unrulie Children themselves, and are set such Lowlie tasks as cookerie and such weaving with wool and flax as they are given to. In Court they are subject to any false Grievance a Woman may devise against them, not being allowed to Speak on their own, but requiring some number of Witnesses to vouch for them, nor are they allowed to make claim in Court themself lest a female relation (or often yet one of their Bard) make plaint on their part. Anyone would laugh to see these Trials, for they are like Children playing at how they think a true Trial must be, with Ladies pronouncing Judgement and the men ordered to silence. Yet I trowe that a man of Fairie may be better off than one of our young Wyves, for they are not oft beaten or ill-treated, and much unlike our Wyves these men seem content in their lot and are not given to be Quarrelsome or Disagreeable.
[Here is the other side of the page which was removed, with the text resuming at the top of the page following.]
Yet my Lady made plain that I was Her eƒpecial possesƒion, and took pains that I should come to no Miƒchief at Her peoples hands, nor that any other Woman shold take me for her owne, for in Her Court were all manner of jealous wychts who would have seduced me from her for the sake of raising their own Status. This Status is given through Childbirth, and passed through Legacies, and women may speak of a Child yet Unborn as though it lay sleeping in a cradle in the next room. My Lady made no secret that the reason in part She had chose to bear me away was hope that my Human Blood micht comingle with Her own to secure the right of Her line to rule, and I will say that never was a man so Pleƒauntlie employed in a Lady’s service to that end, though nothing came of the Union.
In this Court there was a man who had no name but Lawnan, meaning Beloved, and who was what our people call a Changeling. By degrees Lawnan revealed that he was born a mortal man, having been stolen away in his tenderst yeres, with no memory of any Lyfe before he came to the Courts, and gretely curieus of the Worlde wherein we both had been borne. Alas, being unable to speak, I could not answer his questions to any degree of Satisfaction, but instead gave him my songs in hope that he could gather some truth of things. In exchange he told me how he had come hence:
These Fairies will take up mortal Children, a lingering voracious Image of them being left in their place, (like their Reflexion in a Mirrour,) which soon turns stiff and cold as yf it expired by a naturall and common Death. The true Child would be removed to a Fairie Nurƒe, and bid to ƒuckle at her own breaƒt, or yf the Child came to her wained, the Nurƒe makes of it a ƒop. Soon after the Child is taken and given an Unholie baptism, in one of the Secrete Wells devoted to their Gods (which I was never able to learn the place of) and given a new Name, and by these means the mortal part of the Child is purged, and it is tranƒlated into a Fairie. By these menes do they Encrease and Strengthen their lines, for their owne Blood runs thin. But yf the Child is conveyed back to its naturall Place, it soon pines and dies. The Fairie beleve they do these Children a great ƒervice to remove their Immortal Souls and grant them Long Lyfe and Fairie gifts, though I fear yet what Fate awaits these unnatural beings yf they be barred for ever from the Eternal Bliss of Paradiƒe.
For this reason above others I believe that these Fairies live alongside us and prey upon us, like as an ivy upon an oak, suckling its sap to lengthen its own life, and yet in the same breath they deƒpise mortal men and reƒent their Dependence. In that Court I never ceased to fear my Lyfe, for all their Doting belyed Reƒentment. Even my faire Quene might ply with sweet caresses in one moment and the next with ferce blowes. Above all they hate mortal men for overrunning their own kind, yet know our grete numbers prolong their own Exiƒtence, so that they deƒpise us alle the more.
[Here some two or three pages are likewise excised.]
They have a multitude of Quenes, of which my Miƒtress was chief, and at the Quarters of the Year these Quenes hold their Counsels. They remove to other Lodgings at the Beginning of each Quarter of the Year, being imputent ƒtaying in one Place, and finding ƒome Eaƒe by ƒo Journeying and changing Habitations. At ƒuch revolution of Time, which they reckon by the Moon, they move in grete bands (that they call rades) and it is sworen amongst the Queenes that no one should meddle with a Rade, or attack it, and I have seen two women of rival Clans, that would have other whiles fallen to war, that will but hail each other whenn they cross rading pathes with all their Kin, meting in Peace while each is on her Path. But no sooner than the Rading is over then these ƒame two will be at one another’s Throats.
The Lady was Herƒelf possessed of ferce temprament, and I was not spared Her wrathe. When in Her Eye I lingered too oft with a maiden of the Court, She blewe Her breath in my Eyen, that I was robbed of all sight till I begged Her pardon. Yet my Lady was ever ready to remind me of Her affectyon, and made much of me before her Band, and she could in Her humour be so fond that one micht wonder which of us was Servant and which Master. This I soon well learned was all in sport, for the Fairie Quene would have no Master.
A Tyme there was when my Lady undertook a Journie during which I could not accompanie Her, but was left in the Safeguard of Her Court. She set upon my smallest finger a ring of Iron, and made me vowe never to remove it; but I later learnt that this Ring had not the least power of itself, but served as Warning of what Herself would do to any who did me mischief. Later I was to learn that this Ring was near sacred to them, so that alle who saw it on my hand made Mervel of it, saying that truly was I the Lady’s Favourite.
And this is of a grete contradiction: that common Iron is valued more than alle their Jewells, being more rare amongst them than Gold and Silver, but so hated they shy from it, and will spit upon the Ground, or touch their thumbs to their lip, yf the name of Iron is spake (for they believe that to name a thing gives it power). Though indifferent to all other Pain, if Iron touches them, they will writhe on the ground with foam upon their lips, and will soon be Agreeable to any Demand, for They can know no greter Torment than to be without their Magicks. Their Weapons are moƒt what ƒolid earthly Bodies, nothing of Iron, but much of Stone, like to Flint, or of caƒt Bronze. With the Longbow and Arrow they are gretely skill’d, and with the Barbed Pike, and the fletched Dart. These they favor much above Swords that they may kill from afar in ƒecrete, for their eye is like unto a Hawk in cunning, but Iron is reserved for the Quene alone, and She hoards it Jealously.
There are no poor among them, for the meanest possess gold and silver that would make him a Lord in some other countrie, and the grete Ladys do fair grone benethe their treasoir; these they despense with a free hand, as one throws a copper to a beggar. No sooner I was in my Lady’s possession than She dreƒsed me in gold bracers that I trow were hundredweight together, and pressed upon me Rings and Circlets so that noone could say I did reflect ill upon Her retinew. But chief of their jewells is the Torc, being a collar of twiƒted gold turned like a Crescent Moon and oft set with Jewells of grete worth, and blessed with Magic that they can not be unclasp’d but by She who wears it. By this Torc do the Quenes swere their oaths, and no one will break a vow that is set upon her Torc, or by her owne true Name.
Yet in spite of these riches they knowe nothing of monie or trade, or of occupation, each working with a will at their labours, and the goods thereby produced being shared amongst the clan, while the Gold is valued for its Beautie only. When I endeavored to tell the Quene of Her own wealth, and what this would make of Her in our owne country, She claimed offenƒe at the notion, saying that to trade with jewellery would be no different than to trade a child for a loaf of bread. But they do not shirk to trade their gold for their owne lyfe, for each Quene keeps her weight in ransom-gold, which is traded whenever She is captured. So it is that these treaƒoirs pass from hand to hand between them.
They oft dreƒs in no more than soft hides (as woven cloth of all kinds is dere to them) in skins to the knee, or in leathern trows, all painted in gaie hue, and hung with coloured beads. All alike wear the Brad, or cloak, of fine felted wool, well warm and proof againƒt rain, which they use as bedding. These cloaks are much priz’d, so that they say that to steal a cloak is no better than to cut a throat. After the Midƒummer they are not shamed to go bare above the waiƒt, men and women alike, their children running naked as they were born, nor is it uncommon to see them in the morning-time come out of their homes and raise their arms to the Sun without a stitch of clothes, for it is so often Rain that they make Obeisance to the Sun (which they reckon a god) when it shows its face.
THEY have a multitude of pagan Gods that they worƒhip in the form of Hills and Wells and Groves, and that come to them in the Seemings of Animals. Chief to my Lady was the Goddess EPONINA, that was said to appear in the Schape of a White Mare. When She comes the youths all gather round Her and pay Court to Her as though she was a beauteous Maiden, till that She chooƒes one to be her Bridegroom. Then there is held a wedding for the pair, this beast being adorned in Blossoms, as a Veil, which upon my witnessing I did take for a mock Marriage, but my Lady asƒured that the youth would surely play the Mare’s stallion. And there were many such Rites that I was not a witneƒs to, but learned of them after. In Battle they lay aside the ƒevered Heads of their foes in heaps high as to the Waist (for the Fairies believe that there is Power that reƒides within the Head) to do Honour to their goddess MORIGAINE. This aweful preƒence comes upon the Battlefield in the form of a Cloud of Crows, and this I have seen with myne own eyes. A question I did put to my Lady was yf they made Blood offerings to their Gods (for I feared myself such a one), at which notion She was much diƒmayed, and seemed curious yf myne own people did so. It seems this cuƒtom is unknown to Them though they shy nowt from every other form of Cruelty.
In addition to these Gods there are amongst them Wild Beasts or Spirits they revere, that are allowed to stalk their borders in full wantonness. In my tyme there was a child who was lost to such a Spirit that they call Grawnya Doo, or the Old Black Witch, that was said to take the form of a black rock by nicht, and wander by Daie. By my Oath I swear and attest that when this child was found, he was bound up within this very rock, not unlike an Owls-Pellet in which there are mony small Bones, so that none could pull the body forth, and they were forced to leave it there till it rot or the rock let it loose. And there were so many Spirits of this ƒort I can not name them all nor write of each one of their natures
[Here the text ends. It is believed that Thomas recorded some small prophecy in these final pages, which were removed much later for political reasons.]
Anything can be magic if you're gullible enough.