Welsh Folk Lore

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Before concluding my remarks on Fairy Knockers I will give one more
quotation from Bingley, who sums up the matter in the following words:--

"I am acquainted with the subject only from report, but I can assure
my readers that I found few people in Wales that did not give full
credence to it. The elucidation of these extraordinary facts must be
left to those persons who have better opportunities of inquiring into
them than I have. I may be permitted to express a hope that the
subject will not be neglected, and that those who reside in any
neighbourhood where the noises are heard will carefully investigate
their cause, and, if possible, give to the world a more accurate
account of them than the present. In the year 1799 they were heard
in some mines in the parish of Llanvihangel Ysgeiviog, in Anglesea,
where they continued, at intervals, for some weeks."

Bingley's _North Wales_, vol. ii., p. 275.

In conclusion, I may remark that in living miners' days, as already
stated, Knockers have not been heard. Possibly Davy's Safety Lamp and
good ventilation have been their destruction. Their existence was
believed in when mining operations, such as now prevail, were unknown,
and their origin is to be sought for among the dim traditions that many
countries have of the existence of small cave men.

_The Pwka_, _or Pwca_.

Another imaginary being, closely allied to the Fairy family, was the
_Pwka_. He seems to have possessed many of the mischievous qualities of
Shakespeare's Puck, whom, also, he resembled in name, and it is said that
the _Pwka_, in common with the _Brownie_, was a willing worker.

The Rev. Edmund Jones in his _Book of Apparitions_ gives an account of
one of these goblins, which visited the house of Job John Harry, who
lived at a place called the Trwyn, and hence the visitor is called Pwka'r
Trwyn, and many strange tales are related of this spirit. The writer of
the _Apparitions_ states that the spirit stayed in Job's house from some
time before Christmas until Easter Wednesday. He writes:--"At first it
came knocking at the door, chiefly by night, which it continued to do for
a length of time, by which they were often deceived, by opening it. At
last it spoke to one who opened the door, upon which they were much
terrified, which being known, brought many of the neighbours to watch
with the family. T. E. foolishly brought a gun with him to shoot the
spirit, as he said, and sat in the corner. As Job was coming home that
night the spirit met him, and told him that there was a man come to the
house to shoot him, 'but,' said he, 'thou shalt see how I will beat him.'
As soon as Job was come to the house stones were thrown at the man that
brought the gun, from which he received severe blows. The company tried
to defend him from the blows of the stones, which did strike him and no
other person; but it was in vain, so that he was obliged to go home that
night, though it was very late; he had a great way to go. When the
spirit spoke, which was not very often, it was mostly out of the oven by
the hearth's side. He would sometimes in the night make music with Harry
Job's fiddle. One time he struck the cupboard with stones, the marks of
which were to be seen, if they are not there still. Another time he gave
Job a gentle stroke upon his toe, when he was going to bed, upon which
Job said, 'Thou art curious in smiting,' to which the spirit answered, 'I
can smite thee where I please.' They were at length grown fearless and
bold to speak to it, and its speeches and actions were a recreation to
them, seeing it was a familiar kind of spirit which did not hurt them,
and informed them of some things which they did not know. One old man,
more bold than wise, on hearing the spirit just by him, threatened to
stick him with his knife, to which he answered, 'Thou fool, how can thou
stick what thou cannot see with thine eyes.' The spirit told them that
he came from Pwll-y-Gaseg, _i.e_., Mare's Pit, a place so called in the
adjacent mountain, and that he knew them all before he came there. . . .
On Easter Wednesday he left the house and took his farewell in these
words:--'Dos yn iack, Job,' _i.e_., 'Farewell, Job,' to which Job said,
'Where goest thou?' He was answered, 'Where God pleases.'"

The Pwka was credited with maliciously leading benighted men astray. He
would appear with a lantern or candle in hand, some little distance in
front of the traveller, and without any exertion keep ahead of him, and
leading him through rocky and dangerous places, would suddenly, with an
ironical laugh blow out the candle, and disappear, and leave the man to
his fate.

The following tale, taken from Croker's _Fairy Legends of Ireland_, vol.
ii., pp. 231-3, well illustrates this mischievous trait in the character
of the Pwka. The writer has seen the tale elsewhere, but as it differs
only slightly from that recorded by Croker, he gives it in the words of
this author. His words are as follows:--

"Cwm Pwcca, or the Pwcca's Valley, forms part of the deep and romantic
glen of the Clydach, which, before the establishment of the iron works of
Messrs. Frere and Powell, was one of the most secluded spots in Wales,
and therefore well calculated for the haunt of goblins and fairies; but
the bustle of a manufactory has now in a great measure scared these
beings away, and of late it is very rarely that any of its former
inhabitants, the Pwccas, are seen. Such, however, is their attachment to
their ancient haunt, that they have not entirely deserted it, as there
was lately living near this valley a man who used to assert that he had
seen one, and had a narrow escape of losing his life, through the
maliciousness of the goblin. As he was one night returning home over the
mountain from his work, he perceived at some distance before him a light,
which seemed to proceed from a candle in a lantern, and upon looking more
attentively, he saw what he took to be a human figure carrying it, which
he concluded to be one of his neighbours likewise returning from his
work. As he perceived that the figure was going the same way with
himself, he quickened his pace in order that he might overtake him, and
have the benefit of his light to descend the steep and rocky path which
led into the valley; but he rather wondered that such a short person as
appeared to carry the lantern should be able to walk so fast. However,
he re-doubled his exertions, determined to come up with him, and although
he had some misgivings that he was not going along the usual track, yet
he thought that the man with the lantern must know better than himself,
and he followed the direction taken by him without further hesitation.
Having, by dint of hard walking, overtaken him, he suddenly found himself
on the brink of one of the tremendous precipices of Cwm Pwcca, down which
another step would have carried him headlong into the roaring torrent
beneath. And, to complete his consternation, at the very instant he
stopped, the little fellow with the lantern made a spring right across
the glen to the opposite side, and there, holding up the light above his
head, turned round and uttered with all his might a loud and most
malicious laugh, upon which he blew out his candle, and disappeared up
the opposite hill."

This spirit is also said to have assisted men in their labours, and
servant girls and servant men often had their arduous burdens lightened
by his willing hands. But he punished those who offended him in a
vindictive manner. The Pwka could hide himself in a jug of barm or in a
ball of yarn, and when he left a place, it was for ever.

In the next chapter I will treat of another phase of legendary lore,
which, although highly imaginative, seems to intimate that the people who
transmitted these tales had some knowledge, though an exaggerated one, of
a people and system which they supplanted.

FAIRY, OR MYTHIC ANIMALS.

From the Myddvai Legend it would appear that the Fairies possessed sheep,
cattle, goats, and horses, and from other tales we see that they had
dogs, etc. Their stock, therefore, was much like that of ordinary
farmers in our days. But Fairy animals, like their owners, have, in the
course of ages, been endowed with supernatural powers. In this chapter
shall be given a short history of these mythical animals.

_Cwn Annwn_, _or Dogs of the Abyss_.

The words _Cwn Annwn_ are variously translated as Dogs of Hell, Dogs of
Elfinland. In some parts of Wales they are called _Cwn Wybir_, Dogs of
the Sky, and in other places _Cwn Bendith Y Mamau_. We have seen that
"_Bendith y Mamau_" is a name given to the Fairies, and in this way these
dogs become Fairy Dogs.

A description of these Fairy dogs is given in _Y Brython_, vol. iii p.
22. Briefly stated it is as follows:--_Cwn Bendith y Mamau_ were a pack
of small hounds, headed by a large dog. Their howl was something
terrible to listen to, and it foretold death. At their approach all
other dogs ceased barking, and fled before them in terror, taking refuge
in their kennels. The birds of the air stopped singing in the groves
when they heard their cry, and even the owl was silent when they were
near. The laugh of the young, and the talk at the fireside were hushed
when the dreadful howl of these Hell hounds was heard, and pale and
trembling with fear the inmates crowded together for mutual protection.
And what was worse than all, these dogs often foretold a death in some
particular family in the neighbourhood where they appeared, and should a
member of this family be in a public-house, or other place of amusement,
his fright would be so great that he could not move, believing that
already had death seized upon some one in his house.

The Fairy dogs howled more at Cross-roads, and such like public places,
than elsewhere. And woe betide any one who stood in their way, for they
bit them, and were likely even to drag a man away with them, and their
bite was often fatal. They collected together in huge numbers in the
churchyard where the person whose death they announced was to be buried,
and, howling around the place that was to be his grave, disappeared on
that very spot, sinking there into the earth, and afterwards they were
not to be seen.

A somewhat different description of _Cwn Annwn_ is given in the
_Cambro-Briton_, vol. i., p. 350. Here we are told that "these terrific
animals are supposed to be devils under the semblance of hunting dogs . .
. and they are usually accompanied by fire in some form or other. Their
appearance is supposed to indicate the death of some friend or relative
of the person to whom they shew themselves. They have never been known
to commit any mischief on the persons of either man or woman, goat,
sheep, or cow, etc."

In Motley's _Tales of the Cymry_, p. 58, that author says:--"I have met
with but a few old people who still cherished a belief in these infernal
hounds which were supposed after death to hunt the souls of the wretched
to their allotted place of torment."

It was, however, once firmly and generally believed, that these awful
creatures could be heard of a wild stormy night in full cry pursuing the
souls of the unbaptized and unshriven. Mr. Chapman, Dolfor, near
Newtown, Montgomeryshire, writes to me thus:--"These mysterious animals
are never seen, only heard. A whole pack were recently heard on the
borders of Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire. They went from the Kerry
hills towards the Llanbadarn road, and a funeral quickly followed the
same route. The sound was similar to that made by a pack of hounds in
full cry, but softer in tone."

The Rev. Edmund Jones, in his work entitled "An Account of Apparitions of
Spirits in the county of Monmouth," says that, "The nearer these dogs are
to a man, the less their voice is, and the farther the louder, and
sometimes, like the voice of a great hound, or like that of a blood
hound, a deep hollow voice." It is needless to say that this gentleman
believed implicitly in the existence of _Cwn Annwn_, and adduces
instances of their appearance.

The following is one of his tales:--

"As Thomas Andrews was coming towards home one night with some
persons with him, he heard, as he thought, the sound of hunting. He
was afraid it was some person hunting the sheep, so he hastened on to
meet, and hinder them; he heard them coming towards him, though he
saw them not. When they came near him, their voices were but small,
but increasing as they went from him; they went down the steep
towards the river _Ebwy_, dividing between this parish and
_Mynyddislwyn_, whereby he knew they were what are called _Cwn wybir_
(Sky dogs), but in the inward part of Wales _Cwn Annwn_ (Dogs of
Hell). I have heard say that these spiritual hunting-dogs have been
heard to pass by the eaves of several houses before the death of
someone in the family. Thomas Andrews was an honest, religious man,
and would not have told an untruth either for fear or for favour."

The colour of these dogs is variously given, as white, with red ears, and
an old man informed Mr. Motley that their colour was blood-red, and that
they always were dripping with gore, and that their eyes and teeth were
of fire. This person confessed that he had never seen these dogs, but
that he described them from what he had heard.--_Tales of the Cymry_, p.
60. There is in _The Cambro-Briton_, vol. ii., p. 271, another and more
natural description of _Cwn Annwn_. It is there stated that Pwyll,
prince of Dyved, went out to hunt, and:--

"He sounded his horn and began to enter upon the chase, following his
dogs and separating from his companions. And, as he was listening to
the cry of his pack, he could distinctly hear the cry of another
pack, different from that of his own, and which was coming in an
opposite direction. He could also discern an opening in the wood
towards a level plain; and as his pack was entering the skirt of the
opening, he perceived a stag before the other pack, and about the
middle of the glade the pack in the rear coming up and throwing the
stag on the ground; upon this be fixed his attention on the colour of
the pack without recollecting to look at the stag; and, of all the
hounds in the world he had ever seen, he never saw any like them in
colour. Their colour was a shining clear white, with red ears; and
the whiteness of the dogs, and the redness of their ears, were
equally conspicuous."

We are informed that these dogs belonged to Arawn, or the silver-tongued
King of Annwn, of the lower or southern regions. In this way these dogs
are identified with the creatures treated of in this chapter. But their
work was less weird than soul-hunting.

A superstition akin to that attached to _Cwn Annwn_ prevails in many
countries, as in Normandy and Bretagne. In Devonshire, the Wish, or
Wisked Hounds, were once believed in, and certain places on Dartmoor were
thought to be their peculiar resort, and it was supposed that they hunted
on certain nights, one of which was always St. John's Eve. These
terrible creations of a cruel mind indicate a phase of faith antagonistic
to, and therefore more ancient than, Christianity.

With another quotation from _Tales of the Cymry_ (p. 61-62), I will
conclude my remarks:--

"In the north of Devon the spectral pack are called Yesh hounds and
Yell hounds. There is another legend, evidently of Christian origin,
which represents them in incessant pursuit of a lost spirit. In the
northern quarter of the moor the Wish hounds, in pursuit of the
spirit of a man who had been well known in the country, entered a
cottage, the door of which had been incautiously left open, and ran
round the kitchen, but quietly, without their usual cry. The Sunday
after the same man appeared in church, and the person whose house the
dogs had entered, made bold by the consecrated place in which they
were, ventured to ask why he had been with the Wish hounds. 'Why
should not my spirit wander,' he replied, 'as well as another man's?'
Another version represents the hounds as following the spirit of a
beautiful woman, changed into the form of a hare; and the reader will
find a similar legend, with some remarkable additions, in the
Disquisitiones Magicae of the Jesuit Delrio, lib. vi., c.2."

The preceding paragraph is from the pen of "R.J.K.," and appears in the
_Athenaeum_, March 27, 1847, Art. Folk-lore.

_The Fairy Cow_.

There are many traditions afloat about a wonderful cow, that supplied
whole neighbourhoods with milk, which ceased when wantonly wasted. In
some parts of England this is called the Dun Cow; in Shropshire she
becomes also the _White Cow_; in Wales she is, _Y Fuwch Frech_, or _Y
Fuwch Gyfeiliorn_. This mystic cow has found a home in many places. One
of these is the wild mountain land between Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr and a
hamlet called Clawdd Newydd about four miles from Ruthin. About midway
between these two places is a bridge called Pontpetrual, and about half a
mile from the bridge to the north is a small mountain farm called _Cefn
Bannog_, and near this farm, but on the unenclosed mountain, are traces
of primitive abodes, and it was here that, tradition says, the _Fuwch
Frech_ had her home. But I will now give the history of this strange cow
as I heard it from the mouth of Thomas Jones, Cefn Bannog.

_Y Fuwch Frech_. _The Freckled Cow_.

In ages long gone by, my informant knew not how long ago, a wonderful cow
had her pasture land on the hill close to the farm, called Cefn Bannog,
after the mountain ridge so named. It would seem that the cow was
carefully looked after, as indicated by the names of places bearing her
name. The site of the cow house is still pointed out, and retains its
name, _Preseb y Fuwch Frech_--the Crib of the Freckled Cow. Close to
this place are traces of a small enclosure called _Gwal Erw y Fuwch
Frech_, or the Freckled Cow's Meadow. There is what was once a track way
leading from the ruins of the cow house to a spring called _Ffynon y
Fuwch Frech_, or the Freckled Cow's Well, and it was, tradition says, at
this well that the cow quenched her thirst. The well is about 150 yards
from the cow house. Then there is the feeding ground of the cow called,
_Waen Banawg_, which is about half a mile from the cow house. There are
traces of walls several feet thick in these places. The spot is a lonely
one, but ferns and heather flourish luxuriantly all about this ancient
homestead. It is also said that this cow was the mother of the _Ychain
Banawg_, or large-horned oxen. But now to proceed to the tradition that
makes the memory of this cow dear to the inhabitants of the Denbighshire
moorland.

Old people have transmitted from generation to generation the following
strange tale of the Freckled Cow. Whenever any one was in want of milk
they went to this cow, taking with them a vessel into which they milked
the cow, and, however big this vessel was, they always departed with the
pail filled with rich milk, and it made no difference, however often she
was milked, she could never be milked dry. This continued for a long
time, and glad indeed the people were to avail themselves of the
inexhaustible supply of new milk, freely given to them all. At last a
wicked hag, filled with envy at the people's prosperity, determined to
milk the cow dry, and for this purpose she took a riddle with her, and
milked and milked the cow, until at last she could get no more milk from
her. But, sad to say, the cow immediately, upon this treatment, left the
country, and was never more seen. Such is the local history of the
Freckled Cow.

Tradition further states that she went straight to a lake four miles off,
bellowing as she went, and that she was followed by her two children the
_Dau Eidion Banawg_, the two long-horned oxen, to _Llyn dau ychain_, the
Lake of the Two Oxen, in the parish of Cerrig-y-drudion, and that she
entered the lake and the two long-horned oxen, bellowing horribly, went,
one on either side the lake, and with their mother disappeared within its
waters, and none were ever afterwards seen.

Notwithstanding that tradition buries these celebrated cattle in this
lake, I find in a book published by Dr. John Williams, the father of the
Rev. John Williams, M.A., Vicar of Llanwddyn, in the year 1830, on the
"Natural History of Llanrwst," the following statement. The author in
page 17, when speaking of _Gwydir_, says:--

"In the middle court (which was once surrounded by the house), there is a
large bone, which appears to be the rib of some species of whale, but
according to the vulgar opinion, it is the rib of the Dun Cow (_y Fuwch
Frech_), killed by the Earl of Warwick."

It may be stated that Llanrwst is not many miles distant from
Cerrig-y-drudion and yet we have in these places conflicting traditions,
which I will not endeavour to reconcile.

The Shropshire tale of the Fairy Cow is much the same as the preceding.
There she is known as _The White Cow of __Mitchell's Fold_. This place
is situated on the Corndon Hill, a bare moorland in the extreme west of
Shropshire. To this day there is to be seen there a stone circle known
as Mitchell's Fold.

The story of the Shropshire Cow is this. There was a dire famine in
those parts, and the people depended for support on a beautiful white
cow, a Fairy cow, that gave milk to everybody, and it mattered not how
many came, there was always enough for all, and it was to be so, so long
as every one who came only took one pailful. The cow came night and
morning to be milked, and it made no difference what size the vessel was
that was brought by each person, for she always gave enough milk to fill
it, and all the other pails. At last, there came an old witch to
Mitchell's Fold, and in spite and malice she brought a riddle and milked
the cow into it; she milked and milked, and at last she milked her dry,
and after that the cow was never seen. Folk say she was turned into a
stone.

I am indebted to Miss Burne's _Shropshire Folk-Lore_ for the particulars
above given.

A like tale is to be heard in Warwickshire, and also in Lancashire, near
Preston, where the Dun cow gave freely her milk to all in time of
drought, and disappeared on being subjected to the treatment of the Welsh
and Shropshire cow.

Mr. Lloyd, Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, gave me a different tale of the _Dau
ychain Banawg_ to that already related. His story is as follows:--

_The Legend of Llyn y ddau ychain_.

The speckled cow had two calves, which, when they grew up, became strong
oxen. In those days there was a wicked spirit that troubled
Cerrig-y-drudion Church, and the people greatly feared this spirit, and
everybody was afraid, even in the day-time, to pass the church, for
there, day after day, they saw the evil one looking out of the church
windows and grinning at them. They did not know what to do to get rid of
this spirit, but at last they consulted a famous conjuror, who told them
that no one could dislodge their enemy but the _Dau ychain Banawg_. They
knew of the two long-horned cattle which fed on Waen Banawg. There,
therefore, they went, and brought the powerful yoke to the church. After
considerable difficulty they succeeded in dislodging the spirit, and in
securing it to a sledge to which these oxen were yoked, and now
struggling to get free, he was dragged along by the powerful oxen towards
a lake on Hiraethog Mountain, but so ponderous was their load and so
fearful was the spirit's contentions that the sledge ploughed the land
between the church and the lake as they went along, leaving in the course
that they took deep furrows, and when they came to the hill so terrible
were the struggles of the oxen to get along that the marks of their hoofs
were left in the rocks where they may still be seen. When at last they
reached the lake the spirit would not yield, and therefore oxen, sledge,
and spirit were driven into the lake, and thus was the country rid of the
evil one, and hence the name of the lake--the Lake of the Two Oxen--for
the oxen likewise perished in the lake.

The foregoing legend is evidently founded on the older and more obscure
story of Hu Gardarn, or Hu the Mighty, who with his _Dau ychain Banawg_
drew to land the _avanc_ out of _Llyn Llion_, so that the lake burst out
no more to deluge the earth. For, be it known, it was this _avanc_ that
had occasioned the flood. However, there is a rival claimant for the
honour of having destroyed the _avanc_, whatever that might have been,
for, in Hindu Mythology, Vishnu is credited with having slain the monster
that had occasioned the Deluge.

This last bit of Folk-lore about Hu Gadarn, which is found in the
_Triads_, shows how widespread, and how very ancient, Welsh tales are.
Hu Gadarn is by some writers identified with Noah. He was endowed, it
would seem, with all the qualities of the gods of the Greeks, Egyptians,
and Orientals, and his name is applied by the Welsh poets of the middle
ages to the Supreme Being.

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