Toadstool did not mind it much, but Peaseblossom did.
THE SHADOWS
Old Ralph Rinkelmann made his living by comic sketches, and all but
lost it again by tragic poems. So he was just the man to be chosen king
of the fairies, for in Fairyland the sovereignty is elective.
It is no doubt very strange that fairies should desire to have a mortal
king; but the fact is, that with all their knowledge and power, they
cannot get rid of the feeling that some men are greater than they are,
though they can neither fly nor play tricks. So at such times as there
happens to be twice the usual number of sensible electors, such a man
as Ralph Rinkelmann gets to be chosen.
They did not mean to insist on his residence; for they needed his
presence only on special occasions. But they must get hold of him
somehow, first of all, in order to make him king. Once he was crowned,
they could get him as often as they pleased; but before this ceremony
there was a difficulty. For it is only between life and death that the
fairies have power over grown-up mortals, and can carry them off to
their country. So they had to watch for an opportunity.
Nor had they to wait long. For old Ralph was taken dreadfully ill; and
while hovering between life and death, they carried him off, and
crowned him king of Fairyland. But after he was crowned, it was no
wonder, considering the state of his health, that he should not be able
to sit quite upright on the throne of Fairyland; or that, in
consequence, all the gnomes and goblins, and ugly, cruel things that
live in the holes and corners of the kingdom, should take advantage of
his condition, and run quite wild, playing him, king as he was, all
sorts of tricks; crowding about his throne, climbing up the steps, and
actually scrambling and quarrelling like mice about his ears and eyes,
so that he could see and think of nothing else.
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