At midnight, the appointed hour;
And for the Queen a fitting bow'r,
(Quoth he) is that fair cowslip flow'r,
On Hipcut-hill that groweth.
In all your train there's not a Fay
That ever went to gather May,
But she hath made[1] it in her way,
The tallest there that groweth!"
This missive he entrusted to a fairy page Tom Thumb, promising him "a mighty wage" for its safe delivery. This nursery hero we may remember[2] was carried into Faerie by his godmother after death; he spent two centuries there (during which the Pigwiggen episode must have occurred), and then returned to earth to go through more adventures. On due receipt of the note, Mab called her maids and bade them prepare to go with her to her summer-hall:
"Her chariot ready strait is made,
Each thing therein is fitting laid,
That she by nothing might be stay'd
For naught must her be letting [hindering].
Four nimble gnats the horses were,
Their harnesses of gossamere,
Fly Cranion her chariotteer,
Upon the coach-box getting.
Her chariot of a snail's fine shell,
Which for the colours did excel;
The fair Queen Mab becoming well,
So lively was the limning.
The seat the soft wool of the bee,
The cover (gallantly to see)
The wing of a py'd butterflee,
I trow, 'twas simple trimming.
The wheels compos'd of crickets' bones,
And daintily made for the nonce.
For fear of rattling on the stones,
With thistle-down they shod it:
For all her maidens much did fear,
If Oberon had chanc'd to hear,
That Mab his Queen should have been there,
He would not have abode it."
