Set your heart at rest:
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votaress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip’d by my side…
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake do I rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 1. Titania tells how the changeling’s mother who died in childbirth was her friend and she undertook the rearing of her boy. A strong and principled Fairy Queen, Titania makes clear to Oberon that she intends to make good on her promise and refuses to hand over the boy to her husband.