Short Fiction · Chapter
The Fiddler of the Reels explained
Car'line returns to her native Stickleford with her husband Ned and daughter, but a chance encounter at the Quiet Woman Inn with the mesmerizing fiddler Mop triggers a powerful, involuntary compulsion to dance.
What happens
Car'line returns to her native Stickleford with her husband Ned and daughter, but a chance encounter at the Quiet Woman Inn with the mesmerizing fiddler Mop triggers a powerful, involuntary compulsion to dance. Despite her resistance, she is drawn into a reel that leaves her exhausted and hysterical. In the chaos, Mop abducts her daughter Carry, and despite frantic searches, neither is ever found, leading Ned to return to London in despair.
Themes in this chapter
Fate and Coincidence
Car'line's chance encounter with Mop at the inn, despite her efforts to avoid him, sets off a chain of events that leads to her daughter's abduction.
Isolation and Longing
Car'line's longing for her past and her isolation in London are contrasted with the overwhelming, inescapable pull of Mop's music.
Characters to notice
- Ned Hipcroft
Car'line's husband, who seeks employment near Stickleford and later becomes distraught over the loss of his daughter.
- Mop Ollamoor
The fiddler whose music exerts a hypnotic power over Car'line; he abducts her daughter Carry after the dance.
- Caroline
Referred to as Car'line, she is the protagonist who returns to Stickleford as a London wife and is overwhelmed by Mop's fiddling.
Key passages
“Tinglings of pleasure pervaded Car'line's spasmodic little frame as she journeyed down with Ned to the place she had left two or three years before, in silence and under a cloud.”
Car'line felt a thrill of joy returning to Stickleford with Ned, having left it years ago in shame and secrecy.
Highlights her sense of triumph and social elevation after her London marriage.
“The saltatory tendency which the fiddler and his cunning instrument had ever been able to start in her was seizing Car'line just as it had done in earlier years.”
The fiddler's music triggered an irresistible urge to dance in Car'line, just as it always had.
Emphasizes Mop's hypnotic control over her through his playing.
“She flung up the veil, and cast her eyes upon him, as if imploring him to withdraw himself and his acoustic magnetism from the atmosphere.”
She lifted her veil and looked at him, silently begging him to stop his music's magnetic pull on her.
Shows her desperation and the power of Mop's 'acoustic magnetism.'