Poetry · Chapter
The Cap and Bells explained
Emperor Elfinan, ruler of a faery city in Ind, defies faery law by loving mortal women.
What happens
Emperor Elfinan, ruler of a faery city in Ind, defies faery law by loving mortal women. His court and priesthood protest, so he promises to marry an immaterial wife. He sends an embassy to Pigmio to secure the hand of Princess Bellanaine. The princess is brought weeping to Elfinan, accompanied by her nurse Corallina. They are spied upon by Crafticant, Elfinan's state-spy. Bellanaine laments the match, and the narrative includes excerpts from Crafticant's memoirs detailing their journey, including a flight over the Gobi Desert and arrival at Panthea. Elfinan, meanwhile, broods in his cabinet, threatening revenge on his ministers and longing for a mortal woman named Bertha.
Themes in this chapter
Social Critique and Mortality
The poem satirizes the emperor's court, parliament, and the hypocrisy of the priesthood, while death-warrants and threats of violence underscore mortality.
Love and Loss
Elfinan's thwarted love for mortal Bertha and Bellanaine's forced marriage highlight themes of unfulfilled desire and loss.
Dreams and Escape
Bellanaine dreams of 'Master Hubert' and the faery journey itself is an escape from reality, though fraught with peril.
Characters to notice
- Elfinan
Emperor of the faery city, who loves mortal women and is forced into a political marriage with Bellanaine.
- Bellanaine
Princess of Imaus, brought weeping to marry Elfinan; she laments the match and dreams of another.
- Crafticant
Elfinan's state-spy and memoirist, who records the journey and spreads calumny about Bellanaine.
- Bertha
Mortal woman beloved by Elfinan, mentioned in his lament.
- Eban
Elfinan's page, a fay of colour, sent to summon the soothsayer Hum.
- Hum
Soothsayer summoned by Elfinan via Eban.
Key passages
“In midmost Ind, beside Hydaspes cool, There stood, or hover’d, tremulous in the air, A faery city, ’neath the potent rule Of Emperor Elfinan; fam’d ev’rywhere For love of mortal women, maidens fair,”
In central India, near the cool Hydaspes River, a faery city floated in the air, ruled by Emperor Elfinan, who was notorious for his love of mortal women.
Establishes the setting and Elfinan's transgressive desire.
“He sat and cursed a bride he knew he could not touch.”
Elfinan sat and cursed his bride, knowing he could never be intimate with her.
Highlights the central conflict of the emperor's forced, unconsummated marriage.
“Sweet Bertha! what crime can it be to glide About the fragrant plaitings of thy dress, Or kiss thine eye, or count thy locks, tress after tress?””
Sweet Bertha! What crime is it to move around the fragrant folds of your dress, or kiss your eye, or count your locks one by one?
Elfinan's longing for the mortal Bertha, contrasting with his disdain for his faery bride.