THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

190 THE FAIRIES OF SHAKESPEARE
with whom he was familiar, and the race of men of
1L
staturae minimae " whom he visited, were elves or
fairies rather than a race of pigmies. Beyond the fact
that they lived underground, they possessed no other
traits characteristic of either fairies or elves, and could
not have been evil or infernal spirits - in which cate-
gory the fairies and elves were placed - since it is par-
ticularly emphasized that
Quoties de superiori hemisphaerio revertebantur, ambitiones nostras,
infidelitates et inconstantias expuebant. Cultus eis religionis palarn
nullus: veritatis solum, ut videbatur, amatores praecipui et cul-
tore^.^"
The being, '' qui pigmeus videbatur modicitate staturae,
que non excedebat simiam," described by Walter Map,Q'
may have been the king of pigmies. Except for two
characteristic features which his nation possessed in
common with the fairies and elves - dwellings under-
ground and a derivation as fallen angels" - there is
nothing to indicate that he belonged to the fairy race.
The stature and measurements of these beings of
Giraldus Cambrensis, Gervase of Tilbury and Walter
Map, could not have been regarded as the typical racial
proportions of the elves or the fairies during this period
since the author of the legend of Saint Michael in the
Early South-English Legendary described the elves as
appearing in the form of women:
And ofte in fourme of wommane: In many derne weye
grete compaygnie men i-seoth of heom: bope hoppie and pleise,
pat Eluene beoth i-cleopede; 96
g3 Itin. Camb., p. 66.
94 De Nugis Curialium, James ed., 1914, p. 13.
g5 Ibid., p, 80.
g6 Page 307,11. 253-255.