which in all probability are derived from French sources, containing
accounts of the visits to fairy-land made by Thomas of Erceldoune, Launfal,
and Orfeo. The first and last of these are also known in the form of
ballads; whether these ballads derive directly from the romances, or may be
supposed to have existed side by side with them in the fifteenth century,
is a question which must not delay us here. The romances and the ballads
may all have been known to Shakespeare in book-form or in tradition.

The romance of _Thomas of Erceldoune_ is a poem in three "fyttes" or
sections, which is preserved wholly or in part in five manuscripts, of
which the earliest may be dated about 1435. The poem tells us that Thomas
of Erceldoune's prophetic power was a gift from the queen of Elf-land, with
whom he paid a visit to her realm. The first "fytte" is occupied in
narrating his sojourn;[57] while the other two set forth the predictions
with which the queen supplied him. The romance is probably of Scottish
origin, as the prophecies treat mainly of Scottish history; but the first
"fytte" (which alone concerns us here, and indeed appears to be separate in
origin from the other two) refers to an "older story." This, Professor
Child says, "was undoubtedly a romance which narrated the adventure of
Thomas with the elf queen _simply_, without specification of his
prophecies."

Doubtless the older story was not originally attached to Thomas of
Erceldoune, who, as "Thomas Rymour of Ercildoune," is a historical
character. He lived, as is proved by contemporary documents, in the
thirteenth century, at Ercildoune (Earlstoun on the banks of the Leader in
Berwickshire), and gained a reputation as a "rymour," _i.e._ poet and
prophet--in which character he was venerated by the folk for centuries.

But the Rymour does not concern us; the tale of a mortal's visit to