The Windfairies · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for The Windfairies by Mary De Morgan.
Chapter 1
Dedication
The author dedicates the collection of little tales to Angela Dennis and Clare.
Chapter 2
The Windfairies
Lucilla, a lonely miller's daughter, meets the windfairies one night and promises never to reveal who taught her to dance. She grows up to be a beautiful dancer, marries a sailor after he proves his strength, and later, when her family faces poverty, the windfairies fulfill their promise to help her in her direst hour of need by reuniting her with her husband and providing gold.
Chapter 3
The Windfairies
Lucilla, a lonely miller's daughter, meets the windfairies one night and promises never to reveal who taught her to dance. She grows up to be a beautiful dancer, marries a sailor after he proves his strength, and later, when her family faces poverty, the windfairies fulfill their promise to help her in her direst hour of need by reuniting her with her husband and providing gold.
Chapter 4
Vain Kesta
Kesta, a dairymaid, rejects Adam's proposal to seek a better match. She flirts with the miller, the bailiff, the banker, the General, and finally the Duke, but her deception is exposed when her cheeses fall out of her basket. She is chased from the town by all the men she tried to ensnare.
Chapter 5
The Pool and the Tree
A tree and a pool share a deep, loving bond in a wilderness. Travellers uproot the tree to transplant it in a distant garden, causing the pool to mourn. The pool transforms into a cloud, travels across the world, and eventually reunites with the tree by seeping into the earth at its roots, saving it from drought.
Chapter 6
Nanina's Sheep
Nanina, a young shepherdess, disobeys her master's warning and ventures to an old palace inhabited by fairies. There, she dances each night with a beautiful fairy shepherd and his black goats, losing her entire flock of sheep and lambs one by one. A beech tree she helps offers to hold her feet fast so she can resist the dance, and after enduring great pain, she recovers her sheep. She returns home lame but wiser, having learned the consequences of disobedience.
Chapter 7
The Gipsy's Cup
The potter, searching for the gipsy to break the charm, encounters a gipsy man boasting of a cup that will make a beautiful woman love him. Recognizing the cup, the potter seizes it and learns from a traveller about a woman who weaves mats with a rhyme about a gipsy's cup. He returns home to find his wife waiting, having woven the rhyme into her mats. The gipsy boy hides the original cup to prevent his father from undoing the charm. The potter confronts and throws out the gipsy man, reunites with his wife, and they adopt the gipsy boy, who later becomes a potter making harmless cups.
Chapter 8
The Story of a Cat
A miserly old gentleman, who loves money above all else, refuses to give alms to a beggar on Christmas. The next day, a beautiful grey cat appears in his home. He plans to sell it at a Cat Show for a high price, especially after learning the Princess is fond of cats. However, the cat falls ill before the show. A stray brown cat returns on the next Christmas, and when the old gentleman reluctantly lets it in and feeds it, his own cat recovers. He begins to feel affection for the grey cat, prioritizing its health over profit.
Chapter 9
Dumb Othmar
In a mountain village, the sweetest-voiced youth Othmar is entranced by a dwarf's magical, self-playing instruments. The dwarf's troupe of enchanted musicians, who transform from instruments into human-like dancers, lure Othmar into singing with them. A young girl among them kisses him and steals his voice, leaving him mute. Meanwhile, the kind-hearted Hulda, who loves Othmar, follows the dwarf and, guided by a raven, retrieves a green snake that destroys the thief, restoring Othmar's voice.
Chapter 10
The Rain Maiden
A shepherd and his wife, living in a lonely cottage, are visited by a mysterious woman during a storm who grants them a child on the condition that the mother loves the child above all else. A daughter is born who displays strange, rain-loving behaviors and a deep connection to water. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, the King's son falls in love with her and wishes to marry her, but she refuses, preferring to stay with her mother. The mother's desire for her daughter's royal marriage conflicts with the daughter's wishes, leading to tension as the wedding approaches.
Chapter 11
The Ploughman and the Gnome
A poor ploughman discovers a gnome who promises him wealth in exchange for the best of everything in his household. As the ploughman grows rich, he marries a beautiful woman, but the gnome's demands escalate, eventually requiring his wife's face. The wife refuses, and the couple faces a crisis.
