During the American Civil War, the Ives' home became a social center for prominent Confederates, including CSA President Jefferson Davis.

In 1874, she and her two youngest sons made a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and visited Einsiedeln Abbey and the stigmatic Louise Lateau.

[5] The Fairy of the Moon summons dragons to drive off the Yankee balloonists, who drop the silverware they looted from Randolph's plantation as they flee.

The Fairy bestows on Randolph a new Confederate uniform complete with a sword and he lives happily ever after with the Princess, while the carpetbaggers must resort to selling Central Park balloon rides to newlyweds.

[5] Wetta and Novelli write that "the story... is imperfectly imagined; the writing is awkward" but is "revealing" as a demonstration of the Lost Cause narrative: "The fairy tale as metaphor reveals the magic thinking that turned Southern military defeat into a moral victory – shifting the burden of history from the shoulders of the Southerners to the Northerners and the newly freed slaves".