The San Francisco Fairy: A Tale of Early Times

In Short

This curious, rhyming narrative reimagines the geological origins of the San Francisco Bay as a mythological event. In this tale, an indigenous woman named Li-Lamboni is whisked away to an underwater realm by a magical fish to be rewarded by a Fairy Queen for a past kindness. As the Fairy drains the great lake to make room for a future metropolis, she bestows immense wealth upon Li-Lamboni, ensuring her romantic happiness. It serves as a whimsical, localized piece of nineteenth-century folklore that blends indigenous archetypes with the boosterism of a developing city.

The Story

Long before the arrival of Spanish settlers, California is home to an enormous inland sea. Living along its banks is Li-Lamboni, a spirited young woman of the Digger tribe, who is deeply in love with a Chieftain’s son. Though she is beautiful, she lacks the wampum wealth required to secure his hand in marriage, leaving her in a state of melancholy as she paddles her canoe. Her fortunes change when a giant, anthropomorphic fish leaps from the water, balances on its tail, and invites her into its mouth. Fearless, Li-Lamboni complies and is transported to an opulent underwater kingdom.

Inside this aquatic realm, she is guided by a Sea-Lion and a Water-Lily through a palace of gold, jasper, and diamonds. She eventually reaches the throne of the San Francisco Fairy, a regal being who resembles gold refined by fire. The Fairy reveals that she has long sought to repay Li-Lamboni for saving her life years earlier, when the Fairy was in the form of a rabbit being chased by wolves. The Fairy explains that the inland sea is soon to be drained to make way for a great city—the future San Francisco—which will eventually eclipse London and Canton in importance.

To reward her, the Fairy gives Li-Lamboni enough wampum to line a palace, along with a regal wampum chair. Li-Lamboni returns to her village, where the sudden display of riches transforms her Chieftain suitor from a distant admirer into a desperate, lovesick husband. They marry and start a family, becoming wealthier than the famous financier J.J. Astor. Eventually, the promised cataclysm arrives: the earth trembles, the rock damming the lake is removed, and the waters rush toward the ocean. From her home, Li-Lamboni watches her aquatic friends—the Fish, the Sea-Lion, and the Fairy—swim out toward the Farallone Islands to establish a new home. As the floodwaters clear, the modern San Francisco Bay is revealed, leaving Li-Lamboni to mourn the departure of her magical benefactor while reflecting on the vibrant city rising in the Fairy’s wake.

How It Unfolds

The call to the water Li-Lamboni, troubled by her poverty and longing for the Chieftain’s son, is interrupted by a giant talking fish. The creature invites her to travel into its mouth, a request she accepts with total confidence.

The descent into wonder The fish carries her into an underwater palace where she encounters a Sea-Lion and a Water-Lily. She is led through a series of opulent, gem-encrusted rooms before finally reaching the Fairy’s golden throne.

The prophecy of the city The Fairy explains that she is vacating the inland sea to clear the land for a future metropolis. She grants Li-Lamboni a fortune in wampum, linking the maiden’s personal prosperity to the coming of a great commercial center.

The wedding and the deluge Back in her village, Li-Lamboni uses her new wealth to win the hand of the Chieftain. Shortly after her marriage, the earth shakes and the great lake drains, leaving behind the geography of the modern Bay.

The final farewell The Fairy and her companions depart for the Farallone Islands, waving a final goodbye to the mortal world. Li-Lamboni watches the waters recede, satisfied with her life but saddened by the loss of her extraordinary friend.

The People

Li-Lamboni is the heart of the tale, characterized by her quick wit and fearlessness. Her primary motivation is the desire to marry her beloved, a goal hindered only by her lack of material wealth. Her character arc is one of transformation from a struggling, humble villager to a woman of immense prosperity and social standing.

The San Francisco Fairy acts as an omniscient, benevolent deity of the region. She is defined by her gratitude and her vision for the future, serving as the bridge between the prehistoric, mystical past and the bustling, commercial future of the city. She does not change throughout the story, but rather directs the change in others.

The Chieftain’s son serves as the object of Li-Lamboni’s affection. Initially distant, he is governed by traditional values and the importance of status. His transformation is purely external; once Li-Lamboni displays her vast wealth, his hesitation vanishes, and he becomes entirely devoted to her, highlighting the transactional nature of the romantic expectations placed upon them.

In Its Own Voice

At such a sight she fainted, yet still she did not fall, / But straightway told her sorrows, she told him of them all.

Upon meeting the giant talking fish, the protagonist finds herself both overwhelmed by the spectacle and eager to share her woes.

The water will be drained away--a City here will rise, / Here will be marts of commerce, and wealth which men do prize.

The Fairy reveals her plan to transform the inland sea into the site of a future, world-renowned commercial hub.

What It's Really About

At its core, this work is a mythic justification for the rapid transformation of the California landscape. By linking the geological draining of the valley to the rise of San Francisco, the narrative frames the city’s development as both inevitable and divinely ordained. It explores the tension between the "old times" of indigenous tradition and the "new times" of commercial prosperity. The Fairy functions as a personification of the land itself—a power that must depart or recede for the modern world of "marts of commerce" and "temples" to take root. It asks whether progress is a replacement of the magical with the material, or merely a continuation of the same spirit under a different guise.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the history of local lore or the evolution of American mythmaking will find this book an engaging curiosity. It offers a rare, albeit stylized, glimpse into how nineteenth-century writers attempted to reconcile the deep geological past of the West with the sudden, explosive growth of its cities. The writing style is unapologetically rhythmic, relying on a singsong, ballad-like meter that gives the entire story a dreamlike quality.

However, a modern reader must be prepared for the specific constraints of the text. The author employs the nomenclature and stereotypes common to 1868, which can feel jarring or reductive when viewing the indigenous characters. The poem is not a deep, psychological character study, but rather a piece of narrative boosterism written in a simplistic, rhyming fashion. It does not provide a faithful anthropological account of the people it claims to portray, but rather uses them as vessels for a fairy-tale adventure. Those who enjoy "period pieces"—artifacts that reveal the earnest, imaginative, and sometimes provincial mindset of a specific time and place—will appreciate the warmth of the storytelling and the sheer boldness of its premise. It is a brief, strange, and ultimately hopeful document of a city imagining its own legendary beginnings.