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Mopsa The Fairy
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1869
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 23, 2021
This reminded me of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass and also a bit of The Princess and the Goblin. There was a dash of Goblin Market too.
February 23, 2016
I read this because it was mentioned at the end of Gene Wolfe's novel The Sorcerer's House. Not surprisingly, Mopsa tells Jack something similar to what Martha tells Bax: “'It’s the same world that you call yours,' continued Mopsa; 'and when I’m a little older, I’ll explain it all to you.'” This is a great fairy story in the great tradition of George MacDonald, so thank you to Gene Wolfe for the mention!
May 9, 2025
Review and Summary:
To meet Goodreads' word limit, I put the chapter-by-chapter summary through chatgpt to condense it. I reviewed it and verify it is accurate to what happened.
The story effectively shows the exploration and discovery of a fairy-fantasy world full of interesting sights and sounds, not all of them friendly. I also appreciated the repeated inclusion of rude behavior between the characters which isn't always addressed; though always labelled as "rude", so as not to mislead any young readers, the narrative never stops to repair the character's relationships. It just makes the characters and the world feel much more real, and avoids the common problem with fairy stories like this of everything feeling ephemeral and relentlessly happy. And like the best fairy tales, it maintains some of the dark, sadder streak that grounds the story in reality, though here the darkness is not very pronounced; it is still enough to make it feel real. By the end when Jack had to leave the fairy world behind, I did genuinely feel sad for him, and when he met his parents again and laid his head on his father's lap I was touched. Although, one big issue I have is the lack of explanation for tons of things. My God, there are so many confusing moments in this story. Not that the narrative is hard to follow, but it's sometimes just hard to understand what the world is doing. Especially that first island Jack goes to with all the robots. The culture and inhabitants of that island is clearly supposed to be based around a central idea, but what is it? It isn't really explained, I don't think. And some things like the fairy queen's story near the end, it took me some thinking to figure out when it took place and what the point was. At least for some of these confusing moments the reader can figure it out through some good old fashioned thinking, but sometimes it feels like the narrative is just throwing thing after thing at you, which is effective for the confusing Alice In Wonderland feeling, but it also can be overwhelming. I must say, a lot of things happen in every chapter. This book is densely packed. It's only about 37,000 words, but it still took me almost two weeks to finish, partially because I felt so full of information by the end of every chapter, I could only read one or two a day. That makes this perfectly written to be read aloud at bedtime over the course of a week or two. I find this intentional part of the book to be one of its big strengths. Its packed world that's fit into such a small space. This was a pretty good story, and if people ever talk about the victorian fairy story, I'll definitely cite this is an example of a minor classic in that genre.
Summary
Jack begins his journey while on a picnic with his sister and governess. He investigates a bird's nest in a hollow tree and discovers tiny, hairless people—fairies. A storm forces him to take shelter with them in his pockets, where they grow clothes and shrink him in return. A bird then carries him off to fairyland.
In Chapter II, now called Captain Jack, he sails a self-propelling boat past fairy warships and mysterious fish. The fairies chastise him for disturbing “fishing vessels” (nautiluses), but he drifts on, enjoying food and dreamlike imagery. He eventually arrives at a river guarded by flamingo soldiers.
In Chapter III, Jack comes ashore in a bizarre land where wrongs are righted. A talking horse-lady, once an abused racehorse, lives happily here but is traumatized by reminders of her past. Another lady turns out to be an automaton. Jack is led to a castle where robots are wound up each night. When told he'll be fitted with a key, he escapes back to the boat—confused, fascinated, and slightly disturbed by this mechanical, justice-tinged society.
In Chapter IV, ravens try to trick Jack into handing over a fairy, whom they promptly kill and eat. Jack weeps. Later, he visits a fairy market run by gipsies wearing bees in turbans. Here he meets sad parrots in a cage—once fairies—who plead for freedom. Jack believes them and offers aid.
Chapter V has Jack freeing the parrots with enchanted handkerchiefs. They shed their disguises, revealing themselves as fairies. The gipsy vendor, enraged, is revealed to be a magpie in disguise and flies away. Jack, once again overwhelmed, escapes.
In Chapter VI, Jack discovers a town with invisible, wooden-footed people and meets an old woman who knits him socks that would make him her slave. She begs him to buy her freedom at a local market. In Chapter VII, he does—spending just half a crown, which proves powerful in fairyland. She restores her beauty with magical items and offers to grant him a wish; he asks only for a ribbon.
In Chapter VIII, the apple-woman tells her backstory: she was the fairy queen, turned into a slave. Now in fairyland proper, Jack witnesses enchanted towers and magical ceremonies. When Jack lets Mopsa out of his pocket, the queen is moved to tears, as fairies cry only when mortals do.
In Chapter IX, the apple-woman warns Jack against the fairy queen’s stories, which trap mortals in sleep. Jack shelters with Mopsa and learns from a fairy prophecy that Mopsa will grow larger—potentially into a queen. The next morning, she has indeed grown, making Jack anxious about their changing dynamic.
Chapter X shows Mopsa still unlettered, so Jack plays with her instead of teaching. He learns fairyland exists in the distant past—Jack flew backward in time. He dreams vividly of mammoths, battles, and sea monsters, before waking up beside Mopsa. The queen absolves herself of causing his sleep, and Jack finally teaches Mopsa her letters.
In Chapter XI, during a riverside lunch, Mopsa calls the queen “sister”—a shocking breach of protocol. The queen warns that “two queens may not share the same hive,” implying conflict is coming. The apple-woman says fairies bury themselves in rings during winter, returning in spring as mushrooms or toadstools depending on their nature—an odd, haunting ritual that raises more questions than it answers.
Chapter XII sees Mopsa summoned to become queen of another kingdom. But this queenship requires being locked in a castle forever to avoid dooming the land’s people to become deer. Mopsa refuses, and she and Jack flee. They receive magical gifts from flowers, but are pursued. They reach a rocky country where Mopsa revives stone people. These ancient beings direct them over the purple mountains, but Jack's boat is gone.
In Chapter XIII, Jack and Mopsa climb the mountains using glowworms and melon seeds for light and energy. Mopsa is almost as tall as Jack—nearly queen height. Wind fairies lift them across. In Chapter XIV, Mopsa senses a joyful castle, but they arrive only to find it’s the deer-curse kingdom. She’s taken inside. Jack sneaks in, finding a strange copy of himself created by Mopsa to be her king. Resigned, Jack accepts his role, reluctantly.
Chapter XV sees Mopsa testing her queenship by melting metal painlessly in her hand. She turns the fourpence into a wand that can guide her to what she wants. A story follows: a kingdom that mistreated the odd-looking fairies and hoarded resources suffers a curse—becoming deer—only to be saved by a foreign queen: Mopsa. Her wand leads them to a keyhole.
Chapter XVI, “Failure,” brings resolution. Jack and his double meet the black fairy and fall into the earth. They emerge with the cursed kingdom’s rightful king and knights. Joy returns, but Jack realizes his time in fairyland is ending. Mopsa giveshim a final kiss before returning to her palace. The magical castle fades into nature. Jack returns to his world, only six hours gone. His parents greet him kindly, and he ends the story with strawberries and sleep.
To meet Goodreads' word limit, I put the chapter-by-chapter summary through chatgpt to condense it. I reviewed it and verify it is accurate to what happened.
The story effectively shows the exploration and discovery of a fairy-fantasy world full of interesting sights and sounds, not all of them friendly. I also appreciated the repeated inclusion of rude behavior between the characters which isn't always addressed; though always labelled as "rude", so as not to mislead any young readers, the narrative never stops to repair the character's relationships. It just makes the characters and the world feel much more real, and avoids the common problem with fairy stories like this of everything feeling ephemeral and relentlessly happy. And like the best fairy tales, it maintains some of the dark, sadder streak that grounds the story in reality, though here the darkness is not very pronounced; it is still enough to make it feel real. By the end when Jack had to leave the fairy world behind, I did genuinely feel sad for him, and when he met his parents again and laid his head on his father's lap I was touched. Although, one big issue I have is the lack of explanation for tons of things. My God, there are so many confusing moments in this story. Not that the narrative is hard to follow, but it's sometimes just hard to understand what the world is doing. Especially that first island Jack goes to with all the robots. The culture and inhabitants of that island is clearly supposed to be based around a central idea, but what is it? It isn't really explained, I don't think. And some things like the fairy queen's story near the end, it took me some thinking to figure out when it took place and what the point was. At least for some of these confusing moments the reader can figure it out through some good old fashioned thinking, but sometimes it feels like the narrative is just throwing thing after thing at you, which is effective for the confusing Alice In Wonderland feeling, but it also can be overwhelming. I must say, a lot of things happen in every chapter. This book is densely packed. It's only about 37,000 words, but it still took me almost two weeks to finish, partially because I felt so full of information by the end of every chapter, I could only read one or two a day. That makes this perfectly written to be read aloud at bedtime over the course of a week or two. I find this intentional part of the book to be one of its big strengths. Its packed world that's fit into such a small space. This was a pretty good story, and if people ever talk about the victorian fairy story, I'll definitely cite this is an example of a minor classic in that genre.
Summary
Jack begins his journey while on a picnic with his sister and governess. He investigates a bird's nest in a hollow tree and discovers tiny, hairless people—fairies. A storm forces him to take shelter with them in his pockets, where they grow clothes and shrink him in return. A bird then carries him off to fairyland.
In Chapter II, now called Captain Jack, he sails a self-propelling boat past fairy warships and mysterious fish. The fairies chastise him for disturbing “fishing vessels” (nautiluses), but he drifts on, enjoying food and dreamlike imagery. He eventually arrives at a river guarded by flamingo soldiers.
In Chapter III, Jack comes ashore in a bizarre land where wrongs are righted. A talking horse-lady, once an abused racehorse, lives happily here but is traumatized by reminders of her past. Another lady turns out to be an automaton. Jack is led to a castle where robots are wound up each night. When told he'll be fitted with a key, he escapes back to the boat—confused, fascinated, and slightly disturbed by this mechanical, justice-tinged society.
In Chapter IV, ravens try to trick Jack into handing over a fairy, whom they promptly kill and eat. Jack weeps. Later, he visits a fairy market run by gipsies wearing bees in turbans. Here he meets sad parrots in a cage—once fairies—who plead for freedom. Jack believes them and offers aid.
Chapter V has Jack freeing the parrots with enchanted handkerchiefs. They shed their disguises, revealing themselves as fairies. The gipsy vendor, enraged, is revealed to be a magpie in disguise and flies away. Jack, once again overwhelmed, escapes.
In Chapter VI, Jack discovers a town with invisible, wooden-footed people and meets an old woman who knits him socks that would make him her slave. She begs him to buy her freedom at a local market. In Chapter VII, he does—spending just half a crown, which proves powerful in fairyland. She restores her beauty with magical items and offers to grant him a wish; he asks only for a ribbon.
In Chapter VIII, the apple-woman tells her backstory: she was the fairy queen, turned into a slave. Now in fairyland proper, Jack witnesses enchanted towers and magical ceremonies. When Jack lets Mopsa out of his pocket, the queen is moved to tears, as fairies cry only when mortals do.
In Chapter IX, the apple-woman warns Jack against the fairy queen’s stories, which trap mortals in sleep. Jack shelters with Mopsa and learns from a fairy prophecy that Mopsa will grow larger—potentially into a queen. The next morning, she has indeed grown, making Jack anxious about their changing dynamic.
Chapter X shows Mopsa still unlettered, so Jack plays with her instead of teaching. He learns fairyland exists in the distant past—Jack flew backward in time. He dreams vividly of mammoths, battles, and sea monsters, before waking up beside Mopsa. The queen absolves herself of causing his sleep, and Jack finally teaches Mopsa her letters.
In Chapter XI, during a riverside lunch, Mopsa calls the queen “sister”—a shocking breach of protocol. The queen warns that “two queens may not share the same hive,” implying conflict is coming. The apple-woman says fairies bury themselves in rings during winter, returning in spring as mushrooms or toadstools depending on their nature—an odd, haunting ritual that raises more questions than it answers.
Chapter XII sees Mopsa summoned to become queen of another kingdom. But this queenship requires being locked in a castle forever to avoid dooming the land’s people to become deer. Mopsa refuses, and she and Jack flee. They receive magical gifts from flowers, but are pursued. They reach a rocky country where Mopsa revives stone people. These ancient beings direct them over the purple mountains, but Jack's boat is gone.
In Chapter XIII, Jack and Mopsa climb the mountains using glowworms and melon seeds for light and energy. Mopsa is almost as tall as Jack—nearly queen height. Wind fairies lift them across. In Chapter XIV, Mopsa senses a joyful castle, but they arrive only to find it’s the deer-curse kingdom. She’s taken inside. Jack sneaks in, finding a strange copy of himself created by Mopsa to be her king. Resigned, Jack accepts his role, reluctantly.
Chapter XV sees Mopsa testing her queenship by melting metal painlessly in her hand. She turns the fourpence into a wand that can guide her to what she wants. A story follows: a kingdom that mistreated the odd-looking fairies and hoarded resources suffers a curse—becoming deer—only to be saved by a foreign queen: Mopsa. Her wand leads them to a keyhole.
Chapter XVI, “Failure,” brings resolution. Jack and his double meet the black fairy and fall into the earth. They emerge with the cursed kingdom’s rightful king and knights. Joy returns, but Jack realizes his time in fairyland is ending. Mopsa giveshim a final kiss before returning to her palace. The magical castle fades into nature. Jack returns to his world, only six hours gone. His parents greet him kindly, and he ends the story with strawberries and sleep.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2016
Excellent. But even more so if you are a Gene Wolf fan.
When you take this book in isolation, then you are given a children's tale, like Enid Blyton, full of fantasy, and world that only the best of us could have imagined.
Ok, so the book has mistakes, and errors, that could put off the grammatical police amongst us, but otherwise you'd be a liar if you weren't in another world.
If you have read Gene Wolf, and become a fan, then this a worthy read. A glimpse into how he writes, where he comes from, and what makes him magnificent.
I read this after reading 'The Sorcerer's House' (my first Gene Wolf), and I feel as though I have stepped into the author's roots. 'The Borrowed Man' came second, prompting this review.
Your choice, and, I'm going to be honest, not for all of us. I thought it was amazing.
When you take this book in isolation, then you are given a children's tale, like Enid Blyton, full of fantasy, and world that only the best of us could have imagined.
Ok, so the book has mistakes, and errors, that could put off the grammatical police amongst us, but otherwise you'd be a liar if you weren't in another world.
If you have read Gene Wolf, and become a fan, then this a worthy read. A glimpse into how he writes, where he comes from, and what makes him magnificent.
I read this after reading 'The Sorcerer's House' (my first Gene Wolf), and I feel as though I have stepped into the author's roots. 'The Borrowed Man' came second, prompting this review.
Your choice, and, I'm going to be honest, not for all of us. I thought it was amazing.
May 5, 2017
Originally written in 1869.
March 14, 2026
1869. 1.5/5 Mopsa the Fairy is a fairy tale from another era. While it's simple yet descriptive tone is beautiful, it hasn't aged well, and the plot is not engaging or inventive enough to amuse most readers, much less divert them from the more objectionable aspects. The constant conflation of gypsies, POC, and fairies permeates the story, and the author's choice to imbue all three with inhuman traits is difficult to overlook. While it may be magical as a nostalgic read if the reader grew up with it, I would not read it now, especially to young children when there are other, better, fairy stories available.
March 2, 2019
I don't remember all that much about this book as I read it a long time ago, but I remember being enraptured when I read it at age 11 or 12 after finding it in an obscure book store.
Some how I often find myself thinking about it, and about Mopsa. I'd love to reread it one day and see what I think of it now that I'm older.
Some how I often find myself thinking about it, and about Mopsa. I'd love to reread it one day and see what I think of it now that I'm older.
May 19, 2020
Oh, the story is so cute! I loved it very much. All the fairy stuff, the magic, and the world Ingelow built is just so cute! I loved Mopsa: she’s interesting and lovable. I read the google pdf of the book, and it had several grammatical and punctuation related mistakes but that is not comparable to how much I enjoyed the overall story. I definitely recommend that you read it!
December 28, 2016
Despite its faults I give this book 5 stars because of its visionary brilliance and its incomparable insights into the Faery relams. If you are ever going to take Faeries seriously this is a book to read.
And if you dont believe in Faeries after this, you NEVER will!!!
Lol
And if you dont believe in Faeries after this, you NEVER will!!!
Lol
August 29, 2025
Mopsa the Fairy is a fairy tale from another era. While it's simple yet descriptive tone is beautiful, it hasn't aged well, and the plot is not engaging or inventive enough to amuse most readers, much less divert them from the more objectionable aspects. The constant conflation of gypsies, POC, and fairies permeates the story, and the author's choice to imbue all three with inhuman traits is difficult to overlook. While it may be magical as a nostalgic read if the reader grew up with it, I would not read it now, especially to young children when there are other, better, fairy stories available.
August 9, 2010
It was hard for me to rate this little-known work of 19th-century children's literature. Gene Wolfe called it an underappreciated gem, and I can see that it was an obvious influence on some of his later fantasy novels. I found it charming and a joy to read, but, ultimately, it was little more than a quick palate cleanser between more ambitious novels for me. Still, it had surprising amount of emotional depth and allegory, and I enjoyed the Tolkien-like songs.
read-to-nephew
November 1, 2007Here is another book illustrated by Dugald Stewart Walker but as far as I can see all on line versions do not have his fab illustrations
September 16, 2010
Enjoyable, lovely and certainly worth reading, but not the deepest nor the most wonderfully composed fantasy.
September 29, 2012
Terrible, no sense and no point, no fun.
Want to Read
December 21, 2010I'd like to read this because I think my great-grandma was named after this author.
Read
December 13, 2017boy meets faerie; faery takes boy to faery land; faery becomes queen - doesn't need boy anymore; boy goes home life back to normal
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews