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Short Fiction · Chapter

The Wax and the Awl explained

Colin uses a cobbler's wax and awl to trap the fairies in the Kelpie's Pool and force the fairy queen to return his son, whom they had stolen.

What happens

Colin uses a cobbler's wax and awl to trap the fairies in the Kelpie's Pool and force the fairy queen to return his son, whom they had stolen. After draining the pool and sealing the fairies with wax, the queen swears by the awl and wax to release the boy, and Colin rescues his son, bringing him home to his mother.

Themes in this chapter

  • Family and Sacrificial Love

    Colin's determined and clever rescue of his son from the fairies demonstrates a father's sacrificial love for his family.

  • Vanity and Self-Conceit

    The fairies' obsession with seawater and neglect of their duties illustrates their vanity and self-indulgence.

Characters to notice

  • Colin

    The father who uses cobbler's tools to rescue his stolen child from the fairies.

  • Rosamond

    Colin's child, who is rescued from the fairies and returned home.

  • Fairy

    The fairies who stole Colin's child and are trapped by the wax and awl.

Key passages

  • “The evening arrived. The sun was going down over the sea, cloudless, casting gold from him lavishly, when Colin arrived on the shore at some distance from his home.”

    As evening came, the sun set over a cloudless sea, pouring out golden light, and Colin reached the shore far from his house.

    Sets the scene for Colin's confrontation with the fairies.

  • “He crept down the rock again, took out the little cobbler's awl, and began boring a hole. It went through the rock as if it had been butter, and as he drew it out the water followed in a far-reaching spout.”

    He descended the rock, pulled out his small awl, and started drilling a hole; the rock yielded like butter, and water spouted out as he withdrew the tool.

    Colin uses the awl to drain the fairies' pool.

  • “I swear by the cobbler's awl and the cobbler's wax, returned the queen. In the name of your people? In the name of my people, said the queen, that none of us here present will ever annoy you or your family hereafter.”

    The queen swore by the awl and wax, and when asked, confirmed that she swore on behalf of her people that they would never trouble Colin or his family again.

    The fairy queen's oath secures the release of Colin's son.

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