Mab Queen Of The Fairies

Story

Mab was the traditional Queen of fairies until Titania, of Midsummer dream 's fame, dethroned her.

In The wandering of Oisin, W.B. Yeats described her equally the "the nearly beautiful woman ever, bearing a sword."

She resided in Ireland, reigned on Caunnaught (Connemara), and was the actual sovereign. Still, her husband Ailill possessed 1 thing she did not accept, a magnificent bull. In Ireland, power was for the richest, then Mab needed an even better bull. She first tried to buy a bull "the great brown of Cooley" to her neighbor king Cochonbar.

When he refused, Mab alleged war, but Cochonbar 'south champion was the invincible hero Cuchulain, and Mab'southward armies did not defeat him. She offset tried by offering her daughter Findabair equally well every bit her own body, to incite Ferdiad, another invincible hero, to impale Cuchulain. But the latter killed Ferdiad despite that they were childhood friends. Finally, Mab used the black magic of three witches to kill the hero, and obtained the bull.

Shakespeare describe a quite different fairy in Romeo and Juliet:

O, then, I encounter Queen Mab has paid you a visit.

She is the fairy responsible for dreaming, assuming a shape

No bigger than an epitome engraved on a rock in the ring

On the index finger of a politico,

Drawn (in her chariot) by a team of creatures as tiny as atoms

Across the noses of men as they lie asleep;

Her railroad vehicle-spokes are made of long spiders' legs,

The cover is made of grasshoppers' wings,

The harness is made of the smallest spider's web,

The collars (around their necks) are made of thin moonbeams

, Her whip is made of a cricket'due south bone, the lash is made of film,

Her charioteer is a pocket-size gray mosquito

, Not fifty-fifty every bit big equally a parasite

Pulled off the lazy finger of a maid;

Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut Made by the carpenter squirrel or former worm,

(Who have been) the fairies' jitney-makers since fourth dimension began.

And with this splendour she gallops nighttime after night

Through the brains of lovers, and then they dream of love;

Over the knees of courtiers, that dream on bowing to gain favour at Court,

Over the fingers of lawyers, who immediately dream of fees,

Over the lips of ladies, who immediately dream of kisses,

Who the angry Mab often plagues with blisters,

Because they have eaten candied fruit to sweeten their breath:

Sometimes she gallops over the nose of a courtier,

So he dreams of some promotion within the Court;

And sometimes she comes with the tail of a grunter intended to pay the Church

, Tickling a government minister's nose as he lies asleep

, So he dreams of some other way to increase his income:

Sometimes she drives over the neck of a soldier,

And so he dreams of cutting foreign throats,

Of breaches, ambushes, the finest swords (idea to be Spanish)

, Of toasting friends with alluvion cups; and then right away

He hears drums in his ear (for battle), which startles and wakes him,

And, being frightened, he says a hollow prayer or two

And sleeps again. This is that very Mab

That tangles the manes of horses in the dark,

And plasters on bloody knots in the pilus of sluttish women,

The untangling of which brings much misfortune (either the ire of Mab or possibly infection):

This is the hag, who, when virgins lie on their backs,

Pushes on them and teaches them to stand the human action (of intercourse),

Making them able to bear the load (of their husbands' weight)."

Crazy people were told to accept their mind kidnapped by this version of Mab. Still according to Shakespeare, Mab was actually fairies'southward midwife. As such, she is a pocket-sized, pleasant brute, having butterfly 's wings, flowers on her head, and wearing pink; while giving sweet dreams to humans.

However, some authors even so employ her every bit Titania's foil; while the starting time is queen of Seelies (good fairies) , Mab is the queen of Unseelies (villains fairies).

Trivia

-Mab'southward kingdom is the province of Connaught.

-The minor, dream inducing Mab is expert, but she is often quite villainous, whether she declared a state of war out of pride and ended the life of Cuchulain, or as the queen of Unseelies, with ordinarily a witchy look. She is notably 1 of the main villains of the comics Wika and the Tv flick Merlin, (incarnated past Miranda Richardson) where she is fighting Christianity to bring dorsum old gods influence. She fails, and while immortal, she finally vanishes when humanity forget that fairies exist.

-The "nighttime" Mab remind of Hecate, the goddess of black magic, which was a personality of goddess Artemis.