The Midnight Folk by John Masefield

First published: 1927; illustrated

Type of work: Fantasy

Themes: The supernatural, animals, crime, and travel

Time of work: The beginning of the twentieth century, with flashbacks to 1811

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: The west of England, and the Caribbean

Principal Characters:

• Kay Harker, an orphan, living at his ancestral family home, Seekings, under the supervision of his governess
• Sylvia Daisy Pouncer, Kay’s governess, who is in reality one of a coven of witches engaged in occult activities to find the Harker treasure
• Abner Brown, whose grandfather found the Harker treasure at one stage only to lose it and who is the leader of the coven taking up the hunt
• Twiney Pricker, alias
• Benito Saurez, alias
• Sir Piney Trigger, who first stole the treasure by mutineering against Captain Harker, then lost it only to die while hiding the treasure after having regained it
• Nibbins, the only one of the three Seekings cats (the other two being
• Greymalkin, and
• Lackmalkin, who is loyal to Kay, whom he introduces to the other Midnight Folk
• Bitem, a fox, one of the many Midnight Folk who help Kay on his quest

The Story

The Midnight Folk opens with Kay Harker, a small boy under the regime of his governess, Sylvia Daisy Pouncer, and two domestic servants at the family home of Seekings, somewhere in the west of England. His guardian, Sir Theopompus, on a rare visit, challenges Kay to find the treasure that his great-grandfather had lost at sea in 1811. Kay immediately feels the slight on his family honor. That night begins a series of fantastic adventures, which lead to the discovery of the treasure. One of the cats, Nibbins, wakens him, both to introduce him to the Midnight Folk and to show him that the house is used regularly by a coven of witches. Borrowing two of the witches’ broomsticks, they eavesdrop on the coven’s meeting nearby. Under the leadership of Abner Brown, whose grandfather was involved in the loss of the treasure, the witches swear to take up the quest for the treasure in order to regain it for themselves.

The Midnight Folk are the toys and animals with whom Kay has been friendly and who now become his helpers. Yet, those humans—the witches, smugglers, poachers, and highwaymen—who work against Kay are also, in a sense, “midnight folk.” In the beginning, the fantasy adventures take place at night, occurring apparently as dreams and working through many magical ways, such as secret passageways and pictures coming alive. As the pace quickens, however, the quest is continued throughout the day, once Kay’s boring lessons are over.

Even before he sets off for the first time to seek the treasure, Kay learns that his discarded toys, put away at his governess’ arrival, have left, determined to find its hiding place. Kay meets them briefly at King Arthur’s court, which, legend has it, is held on a nearby hill. The toys have come to ask for help in their task, which Arthur grants. Kay himself has been bidden to take up the quest by his great-grandfather, whose portrait comes alive at one stage. Yet, Kay, for all the help that comes readily to him, is able to keep only one step ahead of the witches, who use occult powers of revelation. He discovers that his governess is one of the witches and that the other two cats at Seekings are their accomplices. He has inadvertently let them have important clues, though he is also able to overhear or intercept clues meant for them.

What is discovered piece by piece as the past becomes literally alive is that the treasure of the Cathedral of Santa Barbara on the Spanish Main, entrusted to Captain Harker, was lost in his ship The Plunderer through a series of mutinies involving crewmen Roper Bilges and Twiney Pricker, both of whose descendants feature in the present story. The ship sank in the Caribbean, with Captain Harker spending the rest of his life trying to find the treasure. In fact, Pricker’s accomplice, Abner Brown, had found it only to have it lost again in an earthquake. Brown and Pricker, who tries to become respectable, also spend the rest of their lives trying to regain the treasure. Pricker eventually finds it and hides it in caves near Seekings only to be murdered by Brown, who then drowns in a huge flood. The knowledge of the treasure’s whereabouts is thus lost.

In the end, it is neither Kay nor the witches who rescue the treasure but Kay’s toys. The treasure is then restored to the archbishop of Santa Barbara. The witches’ coven is exposed, and Pouncer leaves. Family honor is restored, and Kay is now to be looked after by one of his human helpers, Caroline Louisa, a close friend of his late mother.

Context

The Midnight Folk shares the best features of the fantasy of the period 1865-1945, considered to be the “golden age” of children’s literature in English. Author John Masefield does actually set the story around 1900, the central year of this golden age, and it expresses a strong sense of nostalgia, typical of much of Masefield’s work. The fantasy type of the primary or real world existing side by side with the secondary world is difficult to maintain convincingly in itself, let alone in combination with an adventure story of smugglers and treasure seeking, which is usually told in the realistic mode. In fact, Masefield has combined toy and animal fantasy, dream fantasy, and historical fantasy with adventure tale in one of the most unified examples of children’s fantasy literature that has ever been attempted. His sense of timing and control and the sheer complexity and originality of his inventiveness (for example, concerning points of entry into the secondary world) show him working at his best both as a storyteller and as a poet (he was later to become Great Britain’s poet laureate). His attempt to repeat the feat in The Box of Delights (1935) is not usually considered quite as successful.

As a poet, Masefield seems able to recapture the magic world of a boy’s imagination, with its midnight adventures, pirates, smugglers, and talking animals, and to make certain episodes into very powerful images, especially of underground or underwater travels and places of concealment, such as holes, caves, and tunnels. He also conveys a deep sense of the tradition of the English countryside and can combine his own sea travels and adventures with his love of the countryside to produce an evocative prose that works for children as much as for adults, tied as it is to a fast-moving plot. Masefield’s richly imaginative prose is close to the poetry of his contemporary, Walter de la Mare, especially as seen in Peacock Pie (1913). The passage that describes Kay swimming with the mermaids through the sunken city is wonderfully lyrical and has the sense of amazing beauty and magic of de la Mare at his best.