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The Imp Tree
From Fairy Gold: A Book of English Fairy Tales
edited by Ernest Rhys, 1906
This version abridged and annotated by Dan Norder, copyright
© 2003
Once there was a king of Winchester called
Orfeo, and dearly he loved his queen, Heurodis. She happened
one hot afternoon in summertime to be walking in the orchard,
when she became very drowsy; and she lay down under an imp tree,
and there fell fast asleep. While she slept, she had a strange
dream.
She dreamt that two fair knights came to her
side, and bade her come quickly with them to speak to their lord
and king. But she answered them right boldly, that she neither
dared nor cared to go with them. So the two knights went away;
but very quickly they returned, bringing their king with them,
and a thousand knights in his train, and many beauteous ladies
dressed in pure white, riding on snow-white steeds. The king
had a crown on his head, not of silver or red-gold, but all of
precious stones that shined like the sun. By his side was led
a lady's white palfrey that seemed to be prepared for some rider,
for its saddle was empty. He commanded that Heurodis should be
placed upon this white steed, and thereupon the King of Faerie
and his train of knights and white dames, and Heurodis  beside them, rode off through
a fair country with many flowery meads, fields, forests and pleasant
waters, where stood castles and towers amid the green trees.
Fairest of all, on a green terrace overlooking many orchards
and rose gardens, stood the Faerie King's palace. When he had
shown these things to Heurodis, he brought her back safe to the
Imp Tree; but he bade her, on pain of death, meet him under the
same tree on the morrow.
When Heurodis awoke from this dream, it was
to find Orfeo standing at her side. She told him of all that
had happened, of the Faerie King and of the green faerie country
she had visited. He resolved that on the morrow he and a thousand
knights should stand armed round the Imp Tree to protect her
from the Faerie King. And when the time came, there they stood
like a ring of living steel or a hedge of spears to guard Heurodis.
But in spite of it all she was snatched away under their very
eyes; and in vain were all their efforts to see which way she
and her faerie captors were gone.
Orfeo made search for his lost queen everywhere
during many days, but no footstep of her was to be found in upper
earth. And then in sorrow for her, and in utter despair, he left
his palace at Winchester, gave up his throne and went into the
wilderness, carrying only a harp for a companion. With its tunes,
as he sang to it sorrowing for Heurodis, the wild beasts were
enchanted and often round about him -- yea, wolf and fox, bear
and little squirrel -- to hear him play.
And sometimes he saw the Faerie Host pass,
as if to war, the knights with their swords drawn, stout and
fierce of face, and their banners flying. Other times he saw
these faerie knights and ladies dance, dressed like guisers,
with tabors beating and joyous trumpets blowing.
And one day Orfeo saw sixty lovely ladies
ride out to the riverside for falconry, each with her falcon
on her bare hand, and in the very midst of them (oh wonder!)
rode his lost queen, Heurodis. He determined at once to follow
them.
After flying their falcons they returned through
the forest at evening to a wild, rocky place, where they rode
into the rock through a rude cleft overhung with brambles. They
rode in, a league and more, until they came to the fairest country
ever seen, where it is high midsummer and broad daylight. In
its midst stood a palace of a hundred towers, with walls of crystal
and windows coped and arched with gold. All that land was light,
because when the night should come, the precious stones in the
palace walls gave out a light as noonday.
Into this palace hall Orfeo entered in the
train of the ladies, and saw there the King of Faerie on his
throne. The king was enraged at first when he saw the strange
man enter with his harp. But Orfeo offered to play upon it, and
Heurodis, when she heard this, was filled with longing. The Faerie
King was so enchanted that he promised Orfeo any gift he would
like to ask for out of all the riches of the faerie regions.
But Orfeo, to this, had only one word to reply:
"Heurodis!"
And the King of Faerie thereupon gave her
back to Orfeo, and they returned in great joy, hand in hand together
through the wilderness to Winchester, where they lived and reigned
together forever afterwards in peace and happiness.
But let none who would not be carried away
like Heurodis to the Faerie King's country dare to sleep in the
undertide beneath the Imp Tree.
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Notes:
This fairy tale is a good example of how stories get retold
and modified into new ones over time. The original Greek myth
had Orpheus search out Eurydice, who had died and gone to the
underworld instead of being abducted by fairies like Heurodis.
In many stories, fairies stand in for ghosts or gods of the afterlife.
The happy ending in this version is also new, turning a classic
tragedy into a dramatic love story. You can read the myth
of Orpheus and Eurydice on our sister site, MythologyWeb.
Comments on specific parts of the story follow:
The Imp Tree: An imp is an offshoot or cutting. In
this case, the imp tree would either be one grown from a cutting
of another tree instead of a seed, or, as Ernest Rhys explained
in the book Fairy Gold, one with the branch of another
tree grafted onto it.
Dressed in pure white: White Lady is a popular term
for both ghosts and fairies, showing the mythic connection between
the two concepts.
Snow-white steeds: Fairy animals are often white, such
as the horses in this example, but sometimes also cattle, dogs
or cats.
Palfrey: A horse fit for riding but not strong and
suited for battles.
Guisers: People dressed up for a masked ball or mummer's
play. The word comes from the same root as disguise and geezer.
Tabors: Small drums.
League: There was more than one unit of distance called
a league, and they ranged from about 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 miles.
Coped: Notched or fitted.
Train of ladies: In case it needs to be said, this
refers to them walking in a row, not a vehicle running on tracks.
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