# The King of Elfland's Daughter,

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [May 24, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531 "2023-05-24T18:35:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531/1 "2023-05-24T18:35:35Z")

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One of Lord Dunsany’s fantasy novels. First, is it satire or an allegory for something happening in England at the time? The phrase “These fields we know” is often mentioned, to be changed at the end of the novel as Elfland encroaches on the human village.

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**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531/2 "2023-05-24T18:37:00Z")

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neverind

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531/3 "2023-05-24T18:42:42Z")

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Let change that to “something happening in England or Ireland at the time, 1923”

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**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531/4 "2023-05-24T20:02:36Z")

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The full phrase is “the fields beyond the fields we know”, and refers to Elfland (the “we” being ordinary non-elvin people.) “The fields we know” by itself would refer to the mundane world (at least, I suppose, unless it’s being taken from the point of view of the elves; I don’t have the book either handy or memorized.)

I didn’t realize until just now that Dunsany had coined the term. At least, if this site’s correct:

> **[Fantasy Masterworks: The King of Elfland’s Daughter](https://ashsilverlock.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/fantasy-masterworks-the-king-of-elflands-daughter/)**
>
> Edward Plunkett, the 18th Lord Dunsany, is one of the most acclaimed names in the field of fantastic fiction, held in high esteem by many of today’s major writers. More than eighty books of h…

But I don’t think it was referring to anything in particular happening in the non-elven lands; it’s just making a really evocative distinction between the magical place and the mundane.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-elflands-daughter/984531/5 "2023-05-24T20:21:42Z")

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Thanks. I also wonder who his readers were. Did the average guy on the street read him?