The plot of Iolanthe is well put by Mary Holtby*:
When your mother's a fay someone's certain to say, on observing her looks and agility:
'Your assertion that this is your Ma we dismiss; such a statement has no credibility';
When your filial embrace is pronounced a disgrace by the girl you're expecting to marry you,
And she flirts with the peers, and together their jeers are combining to mock you and harry you;
You may feel some relief from your fury and grief when the Queen of the Fairies enlightens them;
And, a Member 'elected', at last you're respected - nay more, your omnipotence frightens them -
You've regained your lost bride, and the fairies decide they will after those nobly-born gentry go,
While the Queen of them all is in amorous thrall to the private she's spotted on sentry-go ...
But you haven't won through for though Phyllis loves you,
The Lord Chancellor's scored - he will marry his ward,
And is deaf if not dumb to the pleas of your mum
Till she's forced to unveil the astonishing tale
That the husband she had is this Lord - he's your Dad!
So he can't marry Phyl but your mother is still
As a mere mortal's wife under threat of her life
Till the Queen mends the flaw in this Fairyland law
And makes weddings that were disallowed, de rigeur,
So the peers will explore terra nova
And with wings on their backs make immediate tracks for the Chamber Above -
And this triumph of love is the sign that the opera's over.
* In How to be Tremendously Tuned in to Opera
