I spied King Oberon and his beauteous Queen Attended by a nimble-footed train Of Fairies tripping o’er the meadow’s green, And to mewards (methought) they came amain. I couched myself behind a bush to spy, What would betide the noble company.
It ’gan to rain, the King and Queen they run Under a mushroom, fretted overhead, With glow-worms artificially done, Resembling much the canopy of a bed Of cloth of silver: and such glimmering light It gave, as stars do in a frosty night.
He put his acorn helmet on; It was plumed of the silk of the thistle down; The corslet-plate that guarded his breast Was once the wild bee’s golden vest; His cloak, of a thousand mingled dyes, Was formed of the wings of butterflies; His shield was the shell of a lady-bug queen, Studs of gold on a ground of green; And the quivering lance which he brandished bright, Was the sting of a wasp he had slain in fight. Swift he bestrode his fire-fly steed; He bared his blade of the bent-grass blue; He drove his spurs of the cockle-seed, And away like a glance of thought he flew, To skim the heavens, and follow far The fiery trail of the rocket-star.
Come, follow, follow me, You Fairy Elves that be, Which circle on the green, Come, follow Mab your Queen. Hand in hand let’s dance around, For this place is Fairy ground.
When mortals are at rest And snoring in their nest, Unheard and unespied, Through keyholes we do glide; Over tables, stools, and shelves, We trip it with our Fairy Elves.
And if the house be foul With platter, dish, or bowl, Upstairs we nimbly creep, And find the maids asleep: There we pinch their arms and thighs; None escapes, nor none espies.
But if the house be swept And from uncleanness kept, We praise the household maid, And duly she is paid; For we use before we go To drop a tester in her shoe.
Upon a mushroom’s head Our table-cloth we spread; A grain of rye or wheat Is manchet which we eat; Pearly drops of dew we drink In acorn cups filled to the brink.
The brains of nightingales, With unctuous fat of snails, Between two cockles stewed, Is meat that’s easily chewed; Tails of worms and marrow of mice Do make a dish that’s wondrous nice.
The grasshopper, gnat, and fly Serve for our minstrelsy; Grace said, we dance awhile, And so the time beguile: And if the moon doth hide her head, The glow-worm lights us home to bed.