Miko: annotations

a small hand operated mill for grinding grain

Pronounced as one syllable to maintain iambic pentameter.

“Changeling” usually refers to a fairy baby that has been left in place of a stolen human baby. In this case, however, it refers to the human baby with no implication that another baby was left in its place.

Fierce or angry. Our modern word “felon” descends from this word.

a derogatory term meaning a lout or an oaf

gifts of affection or loyalty

guards or attendants for a person of royalty

This phrase refers to “fairy rings” - circles of mushrooms, or circles of grass that are colored differently than the surrounding. These rings are caused by a fungus that grows outwards in a circle. They were believed to have been caused by fairies dancing in circles. Notice that at the beginning of Act II, scene 2, Titania calls for a roundel - a dance done in a circle.

These lines have been compared to a line from “The Faerie Queene” by Edmund Spenser, published around 1590: “Through hills and dales, through bushes and through breres”. It may be that one writer copied the other.

Pronounced with two syllables to preserve the meter.