is full of such men and some, I am glad to say, were punished for it as they
deserved. Look at Bloodworth."5
5 Simon Bloodworth's fairy-servant came to him quite out of the blue offering
his services and saying he wished to be known as "Buckler". As every English
schoolchild nowadays can tell you, Bloodworth would have done better to have
inquired further and to have probed a little deeper into who, precisely, Buckler
was, and why, exactly, he had come out of Faerie with no other aim than to
become the servant of a third-rate English magician.
Buckler was very quick at all sorts of magic and Bloodworth's business in the
little wool-town of Bradford on Avon grew and prospered. Only once did Buckler
cause any sort of difficulty when, in a sudden fit of rage, he destroyed a
little book belonging to Lord Lovel's chaplain.
The longer Buckler remained with Bloodworth the stronger he became and the first
thing that Buckler did when he became stronger was to change his appearance: his
dusty rags became a suit of good clothes; a rusty pair of scissors that he had
stolen from a locksmith in the town became a sword; his thin, piebald fox-face
became a pale and handsome human one; and he grew very suddenly two or three
feet taller. This, he was quick to impress on Mrs Bloodworth and her daughters,
was his true appearance -- the other merely being an enchantment he had
been under.
On a fine May morning in 1310 when Bloodworth was away from home Mrs Bloodworth
discovered a tall cupboard standing in the corner of her kitchen where no
cupboard had ever been before. When she asked Buckler about it, he said
immediately that it was a magical cupboard and that he had brought it there. He
said that he had always thought that it was a pity that magic was not more
commonly used in England; he said it pained him to see Mrs Bloodworth and her
daughters washing and sweeping and cooking and cleaning from dawn to
dusk when they ought, in his opinion, to be sitting on cushions in jewel-
spangled gowns eating comfits. This, thought Mrs Bloodworth, was very good
sense. Buckler said how he had often reproved her husband for his failure to
make Mrs Bloodworth's life pleasant and easy, but Bloodworth had not paid him
any attention. Mrs Bloodworth said that she was not a bit surprized.
Buckler said that if she stepped inside the cupboard she would find herself in a
magical place where she could learn spells that would make any work finished in
an instant, make her appear beautiful in the eyes of all who beheld her, make
large piles of gold appear whenever she wished it, make her husband obey her in
all things, etc., etc.
How many spells were there? asked Mrs Bloodworth.
About three, thought Buckler.
Were they hard to learn?
Oh no! Very easy.
Would it take long?
No, not long, she would be back in time for Mass.
Seventeen people entered Buckler's cupboard that morning and were never seen
again in England; among them were Mrs Bloodworth, her two youngest daughters,
her two maids and two manservants, Mrs Bloodworth's uncle and six neighbours.
Only Margaret Bloodworth, Bloodworth's eldest daughter, refused to go.
The Raven King sent two magicians from Newcastle to investigate the matter and
it is from their written accounts that we have this tale. The chief witness was
Margaret who told how, on his return, "my poor father went purposely into the
cupboard to try if he could rescue them, tho' I begged him not to. He has not
come out again."
Two hundred years later Dr Martin Pale was journeying through Faerie. At the
castle of John Hollyshocs an ancient and powerful fairy-prmcej lie discovered a
human child, about seven or eight years old, cry pale and starved-looking. She
said her name was Anne Hloodworth and she had been in Faerie, she thought, about
two weeks. She had been given work to do washing a great pile of dirty pots. She
said she had been washing them steadily since she arrived and when she was
finished she would go home to see her parents and sisters. She thought she would
be finished in a day or two.
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