se to grow; however, she repented immediately and added that he
should be "the fairest creature that nature ever formed." Another fairy
endowed him with the power of seeing into the minds of all men; and a third
enabled him to go whither he would at a wish. "Moreover, if I will have a
castle or a palace at my own device, incontinent it shall be made, and as
soon gone again if I list; and what meat or wine that I will wish for, I
shall have it incontinent."

Elsewhere[80] in the romance his handsome equipment and dress are
described; his gown, his bow, and above all his horn, "made by four ladies
of the fairy," who endowed it with four gifts; it cured all diseases by its
blast, it banished hunger and thirst, it brought joy to the heavy-hearted,
and forced any one who heard to come at the wish of its owner.

Horns, in English folk-lore, appear to belong rather to elves than to
fairies[81]--the elves that haunt hills, and are known all over Europe;
dwarfs, trolls, kobolds, pixies, and so forth. Teutonic witches are called
horn-blowers. Again, the fairy-train or fairy-hunt is supposed to carry
horns; we have seen it already in _Sir Orfeo_,[82] and in _Thomas of
Erceldoune_,[83] the fairy-queen bears a horn about her neck.

But this Oberon of _Huon of Bordeaux_ is mortal, and is not pictured as
being abnormal in stature, any more than Mider. Shakespeare's Oberon and
Mider are invisible (or can make themselves so), both have supernatural
powers, and both are immortal.

The question of the _size_ conventionally attributed to the fairies is of
importance, because it shows that a confusion existed between the fays of
romance with the elves of folk-superstition. Elves and their numerous
counterparts in all European countries and elsewhere--we have just given a
list of names which can easily be extended--are above all things _small_;
they also are earth-dwellers, living in hills or underground chambers, and
originally, perhaps, were supposed to be mischievous by nature. But even in
Shakespeare's day, it would be impossible to say that fairies were
benevolent and elves malevolent; the two kinds and their respective
characteristics were already confused.

Robin Goodfellow, the Puck, or Hobgoblin, is however essentially
mischievous. In a book contemporary with our play we find:--

"Think me to be one of those _Familiares Lares_ that were rather pleasantly
disposed than endued with any hurtful influence, as Hob Thrust, Robin
Good