Welsh Folk Lore

E >> Elias Owen >> Welsh Folk Lore

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About twenty years ago, when the writer was curate of Llanwnog,
Montgomeryshire, a Mrs. Hughes, a farmer's wife, who was a firm believer
in omens, charms, and spells, told me that she knew nothing would come of
the spell against so and so, and when asked to explain the matter, she
said that she had seen straw taken from that farm to kindle the fire in
the church, and thus, she said, the spell was broken.

12. A pin thrust into "Witch's Butter" would cause the witch to undo her
work.

"Witch's Butter" is the name given to a kind of fungus that grows on
decayed wood. The fungus resembles little lumps of butter, and hence its
name. Should anyone think himself witched, all that he has got to do is
to procure "witch's butter," and then thrust a pin into it. It was
thought that this pin penetrated the wicked witch, and every pin thrust
into the fungus went into her body, and thus she was forced to appear,
and undo her mischief, and be herself relieved from bodily pain by
relieving others.

13. A conjuror's charm could master a witch's spell.

It was thought that when a person was under a witch's spell he could get
relief and punish the witch by procuring a charm from a conjuror. This
charm was a bit of paper, often covered with illegible writing, but
whatever was on it made no great difference, for the persons who procured
the charms were usually illiterate. The process was as follows:--The
party cursed took the charm, and thrust a pin through it, and having
waited awhile to see whether the witch would appear or not, proceeded to
thrust another pin through the paper, and if the witch were tardy in
appearing, pin after pin was thrust into the paper, and every pin, it was
thought, went into the body of the spiteful hag, and brought her
ultimately to the house where her curse was being broken, in shocking
pain, and when there it was believed she would say--

"Duw gatto bobpeth ag a feddwch chwi."

God preserve everything which you possess.

14. Certain plants were supposed to possess the power of destroying
charms.

The Rev. D. James, Rector of Garthbeibio, was asked by Evan Williams, the
Voel, a parishioner, whether he feared witches, and when answered in the
negative, his interrogator appeared surprised; however, awhile
afterwards, Williams went to the Rectory, and told the rector that he
knew why he did not fear witches, and proceeded to tell him that he had
seen a plant in the front of the rectory that protected the house from
charms. This was what he called, _Meipen Fair_. In some parts of
England the snapdragon is supposed to possess a like virtue, and also the
elder tree.

Mr. Davies, schoolmaster, Llangedwyn, informed the writer that at one
time hyssop was hung on the inside of the house door to protect the
inmates from charms.

15. The seventh daughter could destroy charms. The seventh son was
thought to possess supernatural power, and so also was the seventh
daughter, but her influence seems to have been exerted against
witchcraft.

16. The sign of the cross on the door made the inmates invulnerable, and
when made with the finger on the breast it was a protection from evil.

The sign of the cross made on the person was once common in Wales, and
the advice given by the aged when a person was in any difficulty was
"_ymgroesa_," cross yourself. The custom of crossing the door on leaving
the house lingered long in many places, and, I think, it is not
altogether given up in our days.

17. Invoking the aid of the Holy Trinity. This was resorted to, as seen
in the charm given on page 270, when animals were witched.

_The way to find out whether a Hag is a Witch or not_.

It was generally supposed that a witch could not pray, and one way of
testing her guilty connection with the evil one was to ascertain whether
she could repeat the Lord's Prayer correctly. If she failed to do so,
she was pronounced to be a witch. This test, as everyone knows, must
have been a fallacious one, for there are good living illiterate people
who are incapable of saying their _Pader_; but such was the test, and
failure meant death.

Some fifty years ago, when the writer was a lad in school, he noticed a
crowd in Short Bridge Street, Llanidloes, around an aged decrepit woman,
apparently a stranger from the hill country, and on inquiring what was
going on, he was told that the woman was a suspected witch, and that they
were putting her to the test. I believe she was forced to go on her
knees, and use the name of God, and say the Lord's Prayer. However, the
poor frightened thing got successfully through the ordeal, and I saw her
walk away from her judges.

Another manner for discovering a witch was to weigh her against the
Church Bible; if the Bible went up, she was set at liberty, if, on the
other hand, she were lighter than the Bible, she was a witch, and
forfeited her life.

Swimming a witch was another method, and this was the one generally
resorted to. The suspected person was taken to a river or pool of water,
her feet and hands were tied, and she was thrown in; if she sank she was
innocent, if she floated she was a witch, and never reached the bank
alive.

Such as the preceding were some of the ridiculous trials to which poor,
badly clad, aged, toothless, and wrinkled women were put by their
superstitious neighbours to ascertain whether these miserable women were
in league with the devil.

CONJURORS.

1. It was formerly believed that men could sell themselves to the devil,
and thus become the possessors of supernatural power. These men were
looked upon as malicious conjurors.

2. Another species of conjurors practised magical arts, having obtained
their knowledge from the study of books. These were accounted able to
thwart the designs of evil workers of every description.

3. There was another class of men supposed to have obtained strange
power from their ancestors. They were looked upon as charmers and
conjurors by descent.

1. Those who belonged to the first-mentioned class were not in communion
with the Church, and the first step taken by them to obtain their object
was to unbaptize themselves. The process was as follows:--The person who
wished to sell himself to the devil went to a Holy Well, took water
therefrom three times into his mouth, and spurted it out in a derisive
manner, and thus having relieved himself, as it was thought, of his
baptismal vow, he was ready and fit to make a contract with the evil one.

2. The second kind of conjurors obtained their knowledge of the occult
science from the study of books. Generally learned men were by the
ignorant supposed to possess uncanny power. When the writer lived in
Carnarvonshire he was informed that Owen Williams, Waenfawr, had magical
books kept in a box under lock and key, and that he never permitted
anyone to see them. Poor Owen Williams, I wonder whether he knew of the
popular rumour!

The following tale of Huw Llwyd's books I obtained from the Rev. R.
Jones, rector of Llanycil.

_Huw Llwyd and his Magical Books_.

The story, as it has reached our days, is as follows:--It is said that
Huw Llwyd had two daughters; one of an inquisitive turn of mind, like
himself, while the other resembled her mother, and cared not for books.
On his death bed he called his learned daughter to his side, and directed
her to take his books on the dark science, and throw them into a pool,
which he named, from the bridge that spanned the river. The girl went to
Llyn Pont Rhyd-ddu with the books, and stood on the bridge, watching the
whirlpool beneath, but she could not persuade herself to throw them over,
and thus destroy her father's precious treasures. So she determined to
tell him a falsehood, and say that she had cast them into the river. On
her return home her father asked her whether she had thrown the books
into the pool, and on receiving an answer in the affirmative, he,
inquiring whether she had seen anything strange when the books reached
the river, was informed that she had seen nothing. "Then," said he, "you
have not complied with my request. I cannot die until the books are
thrown into the pool." She took the books a second time to the river,
and now, very reluctantly, she hurled them into the pool, and watched
their descent. They had not reached the water before two hands appeared,
stretched upward, out of the pool, and these hands caught the books
before they touched the water and, clutching them carefully, both the
books and the hands disappeared beneath the waters. She went home
immediately, and again appeared before her father, and in answer to his
question, she related what had occurred. "Now," said he, "I know you
have thrown them in, and I can now die in peace," which he forthwith did.

3. Hereditary conjurors, or charmers, were thought to be beneficial to
society. They were charmers rather than conjurors. In this category is
to be reckoned:--

(a) The seventh son of a family of sons, born the one after the other.

(b) The seventh daughter in a family of daughters, born in succession,
without a brother between. This person could undo spells and curses, but
she could not herself curse others.

(c) The descendants of a person, who had eaten eagles' flesh could, for
nine generations, charm for the shingles, or, as it is called in Welsh,
_Swyno'r 'Ryri_.

Conjurors were formerly quite common in Wales; when I say common, I mean
that there was no difficulty in obtaining their aid when required, and
they were within easy reach of those who wished to consult them. Some
became more celebrated than others, and consequently their services were
in greater requisition; but it may be said, that each district had its
wise man.

The office of the conjuror was to counteract the machinations of witches,
and to deliver people from their spells. They were looked upon as the
natural enemies of witches. Instances have already been given of this
antagonism.

But conjurors could act on their own account, and if they did not show
the same spiteful nature as witches, they, nevertheless, were credited
with possessing great and dangerous power. They dealt freely in charms
and spells, and obtained large sums of money for their talismanic papers.
They could, it was believed, by their incantations reveal the future, and
oblige light-fingered people to restore the things they had stolen.

Even a fishing rod made by a conjuror was sure to bring luck to the
fisherman. Lovers and haters alike resorted to the wise man to attain
through his aid their object.

There were but few, if any, matters beyond their comprehension, and hence
the almost unbounded confidence placed in these impostors by the
superstitious and credulous.

Strange as it may seem, even in this century there are many who still
consult these deceivers, but more of this by and by.

I will now relate a few tales of the doings of these conjurors, and from
them the reader can infer how baneful their influence was upon the rustic
population of Wales.

_The Magician's Glass_.

This glass, into which a person looked when he wished to solve the
future, or to ascertain whom he or she was to marry, was used by Welsh,
as well as other magicians. The glass gave back the features of the
person sought after, and reflected the future career of the seeker after
the hidden future. It was required that the spectator should concentrate
all his attention on the glass, and, on the principle that they who gazed
long should not gaze in vain, he obtained the desired glimpse. _Cwrt
Cadno_, already referred to, professed to have such a glass.

But, the magician's glass is an instrument so often mentioned in
connection with necromancy in all parts of the world, that more need not
be said of it.

I will now give a few stories illustrative of the conjuror's power.

_A Conjuror's Punishment of an Innkeeper for his exorbitant charges_.

A famous conjuror, Dick Spot, was on his way to Llanrwst, and he turned
into a public house at Henllan for refreshments. He called for a glass
of beer and bread and cheese, and was charged tenpence for the same,
fourpence for the beer, and sixpence for the bread and cheese. This
charge he considered outrageous, but he paid the demand, and before
departing he took a scrap of paper and wrote on it a spell, and hid it
under the table, and then went on his way. That evening, soon after the
landlord and landlady had retired for the night, leaving the servant girl
to clear up, they were surprised to hear in the kitchen an unaccountable
noise; shouting and jumping was the order of the day, or rather night, in
that room. The good people heard the girl shout at the top of her
voice--

"Six and four are ten,
Count it o'er again,"

and then she danced like mad round and round the kitchen. They sternly
requested the girl to cease yelling, and to come to bed, but the only
answer they received was--

"Six and four are ten,
Count it o'er again,"

and with accelerated speed she danced round and round the kitchen.

The thought now struck the landlord that the girl had gone out of her
mind, and so he got up, and went to see what was the matter with her,
with the intention of trying to get her away from the kitchen. But the
moment he placed his foot in the kitchen, he gave a jump, and joined the
girl in her mad dance, and with her he shrieked out--

"Six and four are ten,
Count it o'er again."

So now the noise was doubled, and the good wife, finding that her husband
did not return to her, became very angry, if not jealous. She shouted to
them to cease their row, but all to no purpose, for the dancing and the
shouting continued. Then she left her bed and went to the kitchen door,
and greatly disgusted she was to see her husband and maid dancing
together in that shameless manner. She stood at the door a moment or two
observing their frantic behaviour, and then she determined forcibly to
put a stop to the proceedings, so into the room she bounded, but with a
hop and a jump she joined in the dance, and sang out in chorus with the
other two--

"Six and four are ten,
Count it o'er again."

The uproar now was great indeed, and roused the neighbours from their
sleep. They from outside heard the mad dance and the words, and guessed
that Dick Spot had been the cause of all this. One of those present
hurried after the conjuror, who, fortunately, was close at hand, and
desired him to return to the inn to release the people from his spell.
"Oh," said Dick, "take the piece of paper that is under the table and
burn it, and they will then stop their row." The man returned to the
inn, pushed open the door, rushed to the table, and cast the paper into
the fire, and then the trio became quiet. But they had nearly exhausted
themselves by their severe exertions ere they were released from the
power of the spell.

_A Conjuror and Robbers_.

A conjuror, or _Gwr Cyfarwydd_, was travelling over the Denbighshire
hills to Carnarvonshire; being weary, he entered a house that he saw on
his way, and he requested refreshments, which were given him by a young
woman. "But," said she, "you must make haste and depart, for my brothers
will soon be here, and they are desperate men, and they will kill you."
But no, the stranger was in no hurry to move on, and though repeatedly
besought to depart, he would not do so. To the great dread and fear of
the young woman, her brothers came in, and, in anger at finding a
stranger there, bade him prepare for death. He requested a few minutes'
respite, and took out a book and commenced reading it. When he was thus
engaged a horn began growing in the centre of the table, and on this the
robbers were obliged to gaze, and they were unable even to move. The
stranger went to bed, and found the robbers in the morning still gazing
at the horn, as he knew they would be, and he departed leaving them thus
engaged, and the tale goes, that they were arrested in that position,
being unable to offer any resistance to their captors.

There are several versions of the Horn Tale afloat; instead of being made
to grow out of a table, it was made to grow out of a person's head or
forehead. There is a tradition that Huw Llwyd was able to do this
wonderful thing, and that he actually did it.

_The Conjuror and the Cattle_.

R. H., a farmer in Llansilin parish, who lost several head of cattle,
sent or went to Shon Gyfarwydd, who lived in Llanbrynmair, a well-known
conjuror, for information concerning their death, and for a charm against
further loss. Both were obtained, and the charm worked so well that the
grateful farmer sent a letter to Shon acknowledging the benefit he had
derived from him.

This Shon was a great terror to thieves, for he was able to spot them and
mark them in such a way that they were known to be culprits. I am
indebted to Mr. Jones, Rector of Bylchau, near Denbigh, for the three
following stories, in which the very dread of being marked by Shon was
sufficient to make the thieves restore the stolen property.

_Stolen property discovered through fear of applying to the Llanbrynmair
Conjuror_.

Richard Thomas, Post Office, Llangadfan, lost a coat and waistcoat, and
he suspected a certain man of having stolen them. One day this man came
to the shop, and Thomas saw him there, and, speaking to his wife from the
kitchen in a loud voice, so as to be heard by his customer in the shop,
he said that he wanted the loan of a horse to go to Llanbrynmair.
Llanbrynmair was, as we know, the conjuror's place of abode. Thomas,
however, did not leave his house, nor did he intend doing so, but that
very night the stolen property was returned, and it was found the next
morning on the door sill.

_Reclaiming stolen property through fear of the Conjuror_.

A mason engaged in the restoration of Garthbeibio Church placed a trowel
for safety underneath a stone, but by morning it was gone. Casually in
the evening he informed his fellow workmen that he had lost his trowel,
and that someone must have stolen it, but that he was determined to find
out the thief by taking a journey to Llanbrynmair. He never went, but
the ruse was successful, for the next morning he found, as he suspected
would be the case, the trowel underneath the very stone where he had
himself placed it.

_Another similar Tale_.

Thirty pounds were stolen from Glan-yr-afon, Garthbeibio. The owner made
known to his household that he intended going to Shon the conjuror, to
ascertain who had taken his money, but the next day the money was
discovered, being restored, as was believed, by the thief the night
before.

These stories show that the ignorant and superstitious were influenced
through fear, to restore what they had wrongfully appropriated, and their
faith in the conjuror's power thus resulted, in some degree, in good to
the community. The _Dyn Hyspys_ was feared where no one else was feared,
and in this way the supposed conjuror was not altogether an unimportant
nor unnecessary member of society. At a time, particularly when people
are in a low state of civilization, or when they still cling to the pagan
faith of their forefathers, transmitted to them from remote ages, then
something can be procured for the good of a benighted people even through
the medium of the _Gwr Cyfarwydd_.

Events occurred occasionally by a strange coincidence through which the
fame of the _Dyn Hyspys_ became greatly increased. An event of this kind
is related by Mr. Edward Hamer. He states that:--

"Two respectable farmers, living in the upper Vale of the Severn (Cwm
Glyn Hafren), and standing in relationship to each other of uncle and
nephew, a few years ago purchased each a pig of the same litter, from
another farmer. When bought, both animals were, to all appearance,
in excellent health and condition, and for a short time after their
removal to their new homes both continued to improve daily. It was
not long, however, before both were taken ill very suddenly. As
there appeared something very strange in the behaviour of his animal,
the nephew firmly believed that he was 'witched,' and acting upon
this belief, set out for the neighbouring conjuror. Having received
certain injunctions from the 'wise man,' he returned home, carried
them out, and had the satisfaction of witnessing the gradual recovery
of his pig. The uncle paid no attention to the persuasions and even
entreaties of his nephew; he would not believe that his pig was
'witched,' and refused to consult the conjuror. The pig died after
an illness of three weeks; _and many thought the owner deserved
little sympathy for manifesting so much obstinacy and scepticism_.
These events occurred in the spring of the year 1870, and were much
talked of at the time."--_Montgomeryshire Collections_, vol. x., p.
240.

Conjurors retained their repute by much knavery and collusion with
others.

Tales are not wanted that expose their impostures. The Rev. Meredith
Hamer, late of Berse, told me of the following exposure of a conjuror. I
know not where the event occurred, but it is a typical case.

_A Conjuror's Collusion exposed_.

This man's house consisted of but few rooms. Between the kitchen and his
study, or consulting room, was a slight partition. He had a servant
girl, whom he admitted as a partner in his trade. This girl, when she
saw a patient approach the house, which she was able to do, because there
was only one approach to it, and only one entrance, informed her master
of the fact that someone was coming, and he immediately disappeared, and
he placed himself in a position to hear the conversation of the girl with
the person who had come to consult him. The servant by questioning the
party adroitly obtained that information respecting the case which her
master required, and when she had obtained the necessary information, he
would appear, and forthwith tell the stranger that he knew hours before,
or days ago, that he was to have the visit now paid him, and then he
would relate all the particulars which he had himself heard through the
partition, to the amazement of the stranger, who was ignorant of this
means of communication.

At other times, if a person who wished to consult him came to the house
when the conjuror was in the kitchen, he would disappear as before,
stating that he was going to consult his books, and then his faithful
helper would proceed to extort the necessary information from the
visitor. On this, he would re-appear and exhibit his wonderful knowledge
to the amazed dupe.

On one occasion, though, a knowing one came to the conjuror with his arm
in a sling, and forthwith the wise man disappeared, leaving the maid to
conduct the necessary preliminary examination, and her visitor minutely
described how the accident had occurred, and how he had broken his arm in
two places, etc.

All this the conjuror heard, and he came into the room and rehearsed all
that he had heard; but the biter was bitten, for the stranger, taking his
broken arm out of the sling, in no very polite language accused the
conjuror of being an impostor, and pointed out the way in which the
collusion had been carried out between him and his maid.

This was an exposure the conjuror had not foreseen!

_The Conjuror's Dress_.

Conjurors, when engaged in their uncanny work, usually wore a grotesque
dress and stood within a circle of protection. I find so graphic a
description of a doctor who dealt in divination in Mr. Hancock's "History
of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant" that I will transcribe it:--"He" (the raiser
of the devils) "was much resorted to by the friends of parties mentally
deranged, many of whom he cured. Whenever he assumed to practise the
'black art,' he put on a most grotesque dress, a cap of sheepskin with a
high crown, bearing a plume of pigeons' feathers, and a coat of unusual
pattern, with broad hems, and covered with talismanic characters. In his
hand he had a whip, the thong of which was made of the skin of an eel,
and the handle of bone. With this he drew a circle around him, outside
of which, at a proper distance, he kept those persons who came to him,
whilst he went through his mystic sentences and
performances."--_Montgomeryshire Collections_, vol. vi, pp. 329-30.

CHARMS.

The cure of diseases by charms is generally supposed to be a kind of
superstition antagonistic to common sense, and yet there are undoubted
cases of complete cures through the instrumentality of charms. Warts
are, undoubtedly, removed by the faith of those persons who suffer from
them in the power of the charmer and his charms. The writer has had
innumerable instances of the efficacy of wart charms, but it is not his
intention to endeavour to trace the effect of charms on highly sensitive
people, but only to record those charms that he has seen or heard of as
having been used.

_Swyno'r 'Ryri_ (_Charming the Shingles_).

The shingles is a skin disease, which encircles the body like a girdle,
and the belief was that if it did so the patient died. However, there
was a charm for procuring its removal, which was generally resorted to
with success; but the last person who could charm this disease in
Montgomeryshire lies buried on the west side of the church at
Penybontfawr, and consequently there is no one now in those parts able to
charm the shingles. The inscription on his tombstone informs us that
Robert Davies, Glanhafon Fawr, died March 13th, 1864, aged 29, so that
faith in this charm has reached our days.

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