“The Lady Mole.” Fairy Gold : A Book of Old English Fairy Tales Chosen by Ernest Rhys, Ernest Rhys, London: J.M. Dent & Co.; New York : E.P. Dutton & co., 1907, pp. 41-44.
Tale Summary
In Cornwall, the first mole was once a beautiful woman. She was an only child; her family was lordly, and her father dead. Her name was Anne of the Combe, and she was very lovely, and most striking of all her features were her big blue eyes. Every man wanted her, but she had her heart set on Sir Beville of Stowe - a valorous knight. One day, a banquet was held at Stowe, and Anne was invited. She dressed herself magnificently, in luxurious velvet fabrics and jewels, and stood with her mother in front of the mirror and adored herself. The girl’s mother said a prayer that her daughter would bend the heart of Sir Beville and make him fall in love with her, and Anne haughtily replied that with such beautiful eyes as her, she needed no prayer. Suddenly, she shrieked, and in a beam of light she was gone forever. Years went by without any sign of the girl, until a gardener saw a small hill of dirt, and upon it, the ring she had worn when she disappeared. The ring had a Cornish inscription, which read:
“Beryan erde Ayn und perde!”
A priest from Morwenna was called, and interpreted the legend of the ring:
“The earth must hide
Both eyes and pride!”
Those there beheld a small creature with dark velvet skin very much like Anne of the Combe’s robe, and watched how it crawled along the ground without eyes. The ancient priest wept, because he knew that this animal was a maiden who was doomed because of pride.
Fairy Tale Title
The Lady Mole
Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)
Ernest Rhys
Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)
Common Tale Type
Tale Classification
Page Range of Tale
pp. 41-44
Full Citation of Tale
“The Lady Mole.” Fairy Gold : A Book of Old English Fairy Tales Chosen by Ernest Rhys, Ernest Rhys, London: J.M. Dent & Co.; New York : E.P. Dutton & co., 1907, pp. 41-44.
Original Source of the Tale
Tale Notes
This tale opens with a solemn description of the life of a mole. The narrator tells us that the mole is born into her own grave, is an exile from the light of the world, and her existence is a type of doom. The tale ends with an explicit warning to “damsels of the west,” reminding them of Alice of Combe’s fate, and that they should not be vain under the same penalty.
Research and Curation
Kaeli Waggener, 2023
Book Title
Fairy Gold : A Book of Old English Fairy Tales Chosen by Ernest Rhys
Book Author/Editor(s)
Ernest Rhys
Illustrator(s)
None listed
Publisher
J.M. Dent & Co., E.P. Dutton & co.
Date Published
1907
Decade Published
1900-1909
Publisher City
London, New York
Publisher Country
United Kingdom, United States
Language
English
Rights
Public Domain
Digital Copy
Available at the Internet Archive
Book Notes
A collection of stories split up into three categories: "Fairy Tales and Romances," "Mother Jack's Fairy Book," and "Later Fairy Tales and Rhymes"