“We are the Fairies, and for a long time we have been mournful, for we have lost our Queen, our beautiful Queen.  She loved a mortal, and on this account she was banished from Fairyland, nor may she ever revisit the haunt and the kingdom that were hers.  But Merlin, the oldest and the wisest of the wizards, told us we should find another Queen, and that we should know her by the poppies in her hair, the whiteness of her brow, and the stillness of her eyes, and with or without such tokens we should know, as soon as we set eyes on her, that it was she and no other who was to be our Queen.  And now we know that it was you and no other.  Therefore shall you be our Queen and rule over us until he comes who, Merlin said, shall conquer your kingdom and deliver its secrets to the mortal world.  Then shall you abandon the kingdom of the Fairies—­the everlasting Limbo shall receive you.”

* * * * *

It was one summer’s day a long time ago, many and many years after Proserpine had become Queen of the Fairies, that a butcher’s apprentice called William was enjoying a holiday, and strolling in the woods with no other purpose than to stroll and enjoy the fresh air and the cool leaves and the song of the birds.  William loved the sights and sounds of the country; unlike many boys of his age, he was not deeply versed in the habits of birds and beasts, but devoted his spare time to reading such books as he could borrow from the village schoolmaster whose school he had lately left to go into trade, or to taking part in the games of his companions, for he loved human fellowship and the talk and laughter of his fellow-creatures.

The day was hot—­it was Midsummer Day—­and William, having stumbled on a convenient mound, fell asleep.  And he dreamt a curious dream.  He thought he saw a beautiful maiden walking towards him.  She was tall, and clothed in dark draperies, and her hair was bound with a coronal of scarlet flowers, her face was pale and lustrous, and he could not see her eyes because they were veiled.  She approached him and said:—­

“You are he who has been chosen to try to conquer my kingdom, which is faery, and to possess it:  if, indeed, you are able to endure the fierce ordeal and to perform the three dreadful tasks which have been appointed.  If he who sets out to conquer my kingdom should fail in any one of the three tasks he dies, and the world hears of him no more.  Many have tried and failed.”

And William said he would try with all his might to conquer the faery kingdom, and he asked what the three tasks might be.

The maiden, who was none other than Proserpine, Queen of the Fairies, told him that the first task was to pluck the crystal apple from the laughing tree, and second to pluck the blood-red rose from the fiery rose tree, and the third to cull the white poppy from the quiet fields.  William asked her how he was to set about these tasks.  Proserpine told him that he had but to accept the quest and all would be made clear.  So he accepted the quest without further talk.