In The King of Elf Lands Daughter, Lord Dunsany puts forth the contention that Christianity, an organized religion, was responsible for destroying the "magic" of Ireland and England, the myths, folklore and legends which represented a harmonious relationship with nature, that in Dunsany's view was so essential to the English and Irish peoples; "He, [Dunsany], saw the grandeur of creation and the doom of men who forget their relation to it.", [Littlefield, pg89]. This folklore of England and Ireland was harmonious with, and indeed part of the natural world of England and Ireland. Pre Christian Era in England and Ireland, there existed a nature based pagan religion overseen by priests called Druids. Much of this Pre Christian Era pagan based religion consisted of the worship of gods and spirits of the earth or nature. For example there would be a gods of rivers and streams, of trees and wind. And much of the folklore of England and Ireland grew from this pagan religion, which was so harmonious with nature. Elves and leprechauns for example were originally earth or nature based spirits. The Church, in the Early Middle Ages, to firmly establish Christianity suppressed this folklore, which came from the old pagan natural world, based religion. Thus it was the Church, Dunsany argued who was responsible for this suppression of the special relationship that man had with nature in Pre Christian times, the time of the Druids. Hazel Littlefield, who personally knew Dunsany during the last five years of his life, had this to state abut Lord Dunsany:"whereas most men think in time passing in terms of days and hours, Dunsany thought in centuries", [Littlefield, pg 124]. To establish its own control, the Church would, in the Middle Ages, try to put as much distance as possible between its constituents and this worship or reverence of the natural world. But to Dunsany, cutting oneself off from nature, the natural world of the wonderful folklore of these spirits of the earth, was to bring disharmony and turmoil to one's soul. In a review by Greenwood Publishing group on Lord Dunsany's work, Greenwood stataes;"His, [Dunsany], entire works were unified by a single overriding theme-the need for human reunification with the natural world…", [www.info.greenwood.com/books/]. The Church's highhanded treatment of England and Ireland's folklore, the myths and legends of this pre Christian world that was so harmonious with nature was to Dunsany a sacrilege of the highest order. " To Dunsany, the Church and organized religion were responsible for the suppression and destructions of this natural world: the myths, legends of the earthly spirits, mountains, and streams, of elves and leprechaun's, trolls and goblins. The Church, Dunsany implies in the King of Elf land's Daughter is responsible for the present disharmonious relationship of Man with Nature, which is a distant relationship. How can one be in tune with nature, which was so important to Dunsany, when the natural world was not to be acknowledged and held in reverence as the Druids of Ancient England had held nature in reverence? Instead, according to the Church, myths and legends of elves and fairies are to be ignored, Nature is to be conquered, bent to Man's will, animals are to be treated like slaves, trees to be torn out for crops, marshes and wetlands, [the mythical dwelling place of Fairies and other magical creatures], to be drained and cultivated. The Church represented by the "Freer", would have the people of Ireland and England with their noses buried in the scriptures, not contemplating flocks of geese passing overhead at sunset or other wonderful and magical events of nature like hovering hummingbirds and butterflies. In many ways this folklore and old pagan based religion of England and Ireland, was similar to the North American Indians legends and myths of their nature based religion. Thus, for this destruction of a previous harmonious relationship that the people of Ireland and England had had with nature, Dunsany felt that Christianity and organized religion were to be regarded with contempt. Dunsany's sarcastic tone of contempt for Christianity was evident in his portrayal of the "Freer", [a play on the word friar], the slaying of the Unicorn, [representing Christ], and description of the Church doctrines or rules that the people are meant to follow, "our holy rites", [Dunsany, pg, Dr Stitt, Lecture Notes]. Dunsany's example of Orion slaying the Unicorn, [representing Christ], was a portrayal of Christianity as a contemptible religion worthy of death. " Indeed, the rigid doctrine of the Church especially in Medieval Age forbade creative story telling or "singular flights of fancy."[Dunsany, PG]. As one monk exclaimed to his peers upon learning of epic story telling such as Beowulf at their dinners, "What has Ingeld to do with Christ?" [Lecture, Dr Stiit]. Fairytales legends and other fantastic stories based in the natural world seemed to the Church to have little to do with Christ and more to do with pagan beliefs, the old religion of the Druids. Thus, in the Middle Ages, for the Church to establish control over the local populations this folklore needed to be to be suppressed. In the King of Elf lands Daughter and other works, Dunsany poses the question; what would this world be without imagination, nature, without fanciful legends and fantastic stories of the natural world: "For what is it to be a poet? It is to see at a glance the glory of the earth, to see beauty in all its forms and manifestations…to know nature as botanists would know a flower…to resent the wrongs of others, [the Church] as bitterly as ones own…"[Littlefield, pg 98]. " To Dunsany a world without these wonderful myths, fairytales of magic was dead and lifeless. Dunsany speaking through the character of Zirondel the Witch, voices his opinion about what a world would be like without magic, the wonderful myths, folklore, which ignorant, represented by the Freer would have gone. ."Would you rob Earth of her heirloom, [myths, fairytales and folklore], from the olden time? Poor indeed were we without magic…"[Dunsany, pg 212]. In Medieval times, unicorns were representative of purity and thus Christ. Thus Dunsany's contempt for Christianity and the Church is symbolized in this story by the slaying of the Unicorn. But it is not just the example of the unicorn, which is used by Dunsany for making remarks of contempt against the Church. There are other examples in this story, which will be examined. " Unicorns in medieval times were regarded as embodiments of purity. Thus, no doubt due to the influence of the Church which was very powerful in the middle ages, Unicorns came to associated with Christ, symbolizing his purity. Alberuts Magus, a significant theologian of the 13th century said of unicorns, "The Unicorn is Christ whose might typified by its horn, is irresistible.", [Megged, pg 54]. To have one of his characters slay the unicorn, representing Christ or Christianity is a Dunsany statement that this religion Christianity is worthy of contempt. English. Dunsany uses the "Freer", a similar word for friar as his example representing the contemptible Church. In Dunsany's sarcastic portrayal the " Freer" condemns magic, the wonderful folklore of myths and legends, "And still he saw in their eyes a lingering love for all things he forbade and therefore he ceased not…'Curst be everything that walks by enchanted streams… curst be trolls, elves, goblins and fairies…our holy rites forbid them. And curst be all doubts, all singular dreams, and all fancies. And from magic may all true folk be turned away. Amen." [Dunsany, pg 136-137]. " But perhaps it was also the many hypocrisies of the Church especially in medieval times, that bought forth contempt from Dunsany towards the Church. The buying and selling of indulgences, church offices and other favors in the Middle Ages, the extravagant lifestyle of bishops which existed even in Dunsany's time, [early 1900's], demonstrated to Dunsany the corruptness of the Church and organized religion. The Church's dis-acknlowledgement and disregard for reverence for the natural world of which the ancient folklore of England and Ireland were so much an intricate part proved to Dunsany that the Church as organized religion, was to be worthy of contempt. Dunsany's contempt for Christianity and the Church is evident in the contemptible, sarcastic tone that Dunsany used to portray the character of the "Freer", in this description, "the Freer on his homeward heard that cry of Magic, he gathered his sacred robe more closely around him and clutched his holy things, and said a spell that kept him from the sudden demons and the doubtful things of the mist.", [Dunsany, pg 137]. " Magical to Dunsany does not just mean fairies and elves but is inclusive of all the wonders of life on earth, from the sounds of streams and birds to the myths and folklore of in Dunsany's case his native Ireland. Magic means to Dunsany harmony with the earth, and an important link to the heritage of the past. Magic is the pulse of the earth, it is wonder in and harmony with nature, and it is the wonderful stuff of myths and legends and folklore. "Magic in the natural world is all around Dunsany seems to imply, if only the ignorant, [like the freer], lift up there heads from being buried in the scriptures and instead look around. Dunsany gives an example of this thesis, the wonder surrounding us, in this quote from his character the Witch Zirondel defying the ignorant contemptible like the free and council of Erl, "the song of streams that evening hears faintly…the magic of wheat that haunts the golden hollows in moonlight in July…I would make you spells against comfort and clothing …sooner than tear from these poor fields of earth that magic that is …an ample cloak against the chill of space, and a gay rainment against the sneers of nothingness.",[Dunsany, pg212]. Without these things called "magic by Dunsany, this world would be dull, dead, lifeless. Before the coming of the Church Ireland and Britain had religions based on a natural world, similar in respects to the relationship the Indians of North America had with their environment. " There were gods of the earth, sky and fire. Fairies and elves were creatures of spirit of the earths and skies. But when the Church came to the British Isles worship and belief in these mythic and legends were forbidden, as an affront to Christianity belief in one god. It would probably have seemed to Dunsany that the wonderful folklore past and harmonious relationship with nature had been usurped and destroyed by the Church. The Church, myopic, narrow-minded and thus ignorant is a foe worthy of contempt and disgust, sarcastically written about with a poison pen by Lord Dunsany. The Church in Dunsany's view is responsible for the destruction of the wonderful past, myths, and legends being lost or usurped. The Freer would have the inhabitants of Erl turn away from the wonder and awe of magical things and instead bury their eyes downward in the scriptures and thus be "saved". Throughout the King of Elf Lands Daughter and indeed throughout his work Dunsany contended that appreciation of the "magic" of nature, myths and legends of England and Ireland, was essential to harmony with the natural world; "I can only guess that our minds, which are strangely different from that …we call facts, are created in harmony with many ancient things, like ripples on water, or wind passing over trees…to the voice of the woods and the hills", [myths, legends and fairytales of England and Ireland], [ Littlefield, pg 96]. Harmony with England and Ireland's ancient relationship with nature, which was represented by the old myths, legends and fairytales of these countries, was, Dunsany believed a relationship to be treasured and nourished. Not as Christianity would have, this special relationship with, this wonderful natural world of enchanting streams, soaring trolls, flying witches and goblins, condemned and destroyed: "Pray to those hard gods still, for those that have loved the earth with all its gardens and woods and singing streams will love earth still when it is old and cold with all its gardens gone …and nought but memories.", [Littlefield, pg 126].
Note: quote marks were just used to start paragraphs, on hard copy these marks are usually white out. Unfortunately the UNLV Library only had 2 books about Dunsany, and one was checked out.
Sources. Dunsany, Lord. The King of Elf Lands Daughter. Ballantine Publishing. New York. 1999. Greenwood Publishing website; http//info.greenwood.com/books/0313294/0313294038.html Littlefield, Hazel. Lord Dunsany: King of Dreams. Exposition Press. 1959. New York. Stitt, Michael. Lecture Notes. UNLV. 2004.