When an influx of fairy fruit creates havoc in Lud-in-the-Mist, a merchant village situated where the rivers the Dawl and the Dapple meet in the Free State of Dorimare, the conventional, rule-abiding citizens must grapple with a previously unthinkable solution. The Dapple springs from the bordering land of Faerie-a country of fantastic inhabitants viewed by the tradition-bound people of Lud-in-the-Mist with fear and suspicion. When the effects of fairy fruit and the creatures of Faerie can no longer be ignored, the stolid mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, Nathaniel Chanticleer, undergoes radical rethinking and emerges as an unlikely leader of change. A classic of fantasy fiction, Lud-in-the-Mist has had a diffuse but indelible influence on the genre and has inspired such authors as Neil Gaiman, Mary Gentle, Elizabeth Hand, Johanna Russ, and Tim Powers. This Warbler Classics edition includes a detailed biographical timeline.

Contents

I. Master Nathaniel Chanticleer1

II. The Duke Who Laughed Himself Off a Throne and Other Traditions of Dorimare7

III. The Beginning of Trouble14

IV. Endymion Leer Prescribes for Ranulph25

V. Ranulph Goes to the Widow Gibberty's Farm36

VI. The Wind in the Crabapple Blossoms47

VII .Master Ambrose Chases a Wild Goose and Has a Vision56

VIII. Endymion Leer Looks Frightened, and a Breach Is Made in an Old 

Friendship63

IX. Panic and the Silent People72

X. Hempie's Song77

XI. A Stronger Antidote Than Reason83

XII. Dame Marigold Hears the Tap of a Woodpecker87

XIII. What Master Nathaniel and Master Ambrose Found in the Guildhall95

XIV. Dead in the Eye of the Law104

XV. "Ho, Ho, Hoh!"107

XVI. The Widow Gibberty's Trial111

XVII. The World-in-Law115

XVIII. Mistress Ivy Peppercorn120

XIX. The Berries of Merciful Death129

XX. Watching the Cows133

XXI. The Old Goatherd141

XXII. Who Is Portunus?145

XXIII. The Northern Firebox and Dead Men's Tales153

XXIV. Belling the Cat159

XXV. The Law Crouches and Springs164

XXVI. "Neither Trees Nor Men"167

XXVII. The Fair in the Elfin Marches173

XXVIII. "By the Sun, Moon and Stars and the Golden Apples of the West"180

XXIX. A Message Comes to Hazel and the First Swallow to Dame Marigold183

XXX. Master Ambrose Keeps His Vow189

XXXI. The Initiate193

XXXII. Conclusion195

Biographical Timeline197