'Fables of the Fairy's Cup: Book of Wortcunning & Magical Tales' Coming Soon!
Mythology
of the
Fairy's Cup
The body of mythic literature surrounding the trope of a legendary fairy's cup usually follows a narrative story arc that goes something like this: a hero or protagonist (always male) encounters a being who tempts him with the invitation to drink of a magical liquid contained by a cup, chalice, or bejeweled horn (as was the ancient custom). The hero - considering themselves clever - pours the liquid unceremoniously unto the earth and then steals away with the prized fairy cup, oftentimes chased in haste by magical beings teeming with fury.
I offer below one such historical telling of the myth that is a departure from the usual plotline. To drink from the fairy's cup is a form of veneration, keeping the order of things between this world and that of the Otherworld. The robber-knight who fails to drink and instead steals the fairy's cup is penalized by his King for violating this ancient rite and pays with his life.
Eleanor Roosevelt is said to have once written: "The Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". To manifest anything, on some level, this must be so. However, I might add, that in addition to the belief, to usher in a different world, we must also commit to telling new stories. Specifically, rewriting the old myths.
Morpheus' famous speech is as follows: "You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes".
In essence, I believe that the old myths recount a narrative of heros full of braggadocio parading they took the blue pill, they chose "reality". And what's more they even boast they have stolen something of vital value from the other realm.
I ask, in earnest, what if we chose to take the red pill? To believe in the beauty of our dreams? To refuse to allow our minds and our souls to be imprisoned by a narrow sense of other peoples' views of the world. What if we choose Wonderland instead?
The Fairy's Cup is my red pill, my ode to Wonderland. My stuffing the dictum that we must lead boring, unbeautiful, unartful, unhealthful lives and telling it to a stuff one up theirs.
Won't you rewrite the story of the Fairy's Cup with me? One in which we drink from the beautiful vessel this life has to offer us, and drink deeply of it.
Let's see what beauty, mischief, & magic we can conjure up together!
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THERE is in the county of Gloucester a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game that England produces In a grovy lawn of this forest there is a little mount, rising in a point to the height of a man, on which knights and other hunters are used to ascend when fatigued with beat and thirst, to seek some relief for their wants. The nature of the place, and of the business, is however such that whoever ascends the mount must leave his companions, and go quite alone.
When alone, he was to say, as if speaking to some other person, "I thirst," and immediately there would appear a cup-bearer in an elegant dress, with a cheerful countenance, bearing in his stretched-out hand a large horn, adorned with gold and gems, as was the custom among the most ancient English.
In the cup, nectar of an unknown but most delicious flavour was presented, and when it was drunk, all heat and weariness fled from the glowing body, so that one would be thought ready to undertake toil instead of having toiled.
Moreover, when the nectar was taken, the servant presented a towel to the drinker, to wipe his mouth with, and then having performed his office, he waited neither for a recompense for his services, nor for questions and inquiry.
This frequent and daily action had for a very long period of old times taken place among the ancient people, till one day a knight of that city, when out hunting, went thither, and having called for a drink and gotten the horn, did not, as was the custom, and as in good manners he should have done, return it to the cup-bearer, but kept it for his own use.
But the illustrious Earl of Gloucester, when he learned the truth of the matter, condemned the robber to death, and presented the horn to the most excellent King Henry the Elder, lest be should be thought to have approved of such wickedness, if he had added the rapine of another to the store of his private property.
T . Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, p. 284, quoting Gervase of Tilbury.