The End of Elfintown

A poetic narrative follows an Elfin king who, shown by a witch a gleaming human-like city in a mirror, becomes obsessed and compels his folk to build grand streets and towers until their lives are hollowed by labour. When the enchantment is broken he recognizes the harm: the urban splendor has mocked their freedom and corrupted their joy, so he orders the city dismantled and every trace erased. The verses examine the tension between fascination with manufactured grandeur and devotion to native wildness, recording regret, communal effort, and a deliberate repudiation of artificial progress. It closes with the summoning of magical aerial chariots that will carry the Faeries away from the ruined settlement.