Welsh Folk Lore

E >> Elias Owen >> Welsh Folk Lore

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Lately a legend of Lake Ogwen went the round of the papers, but the
writer, who lived many years in the neighbourhood of that lake, never
heard of it until he saw it in the papers in 1887. As it bears on the
subject under consideration, I will in part transcribe the story:--

"On one of these occasions a friend who had known something of the Welsh
gipsies repeated to Rossetti an anecdote which had been told him as a
'quite true fack' by a Romani girl--an anecdote touching another Romani
girl _whose wraith had been spirited away in the night from the_
'_camping place_' by the incantations of a wicked lover, had been seen
rushing towards Ogwen Lake in the moonlight, 'While all the while that
'ere same chavi wur asleep an' a-sobbin' in her daddy's livin'
waggin.'"--_Bye-Gones_, Ap. 13, 1887.

This tale resembles in many respects the one given on page 291, for there
is in both a lover and a sleeping girl, and the girl does not die, but
there are minor differences in the tales, as might be expected.

In Germany like tales are current. Baring-Gould, in his _Myths of the
Middle Ages_, pp. 423-4, says:--

"The soul in German mythology is supposed to bear some analogy to a
mouse. In Thuringia, at Saalfeld, a servant girl fell asleep whilst
her companions were shelling nuts. They observed _a little red mouse
creep out of her mouth_ and run out of the window. One of the
fellows present shook the sleeper but could not wake her, so he moved
her to another place. Presently the mouse ran back to the former
place and dashed about seeking the girl; not finding her, it
vanished; at the same moment the girl died."

One other tale on this subject I will give, which appeared in the _North
Wales Chronicle_ for April 22, 1883, where it is headed--

_A Spiritualistic Story from Wales_.

"In an article relating to spiritualism in the February number of the
_Fortnightly Review_, a story was told which is here shortened. The
anecdote is given on the authority of a Welsh gentleman named Roberts,
who resided at Cheetham, near Manchester, and the scene of the adventure
is Beaumaris, the date 184--. The narrator was then an apprentice in a
draper's shop. His master was strict, and allowed his apprentice but
half an hour for dinner, which he had to take at his lodgings, some
distance away from the shop. At whatever time he left the shop he had to
be back there punctually at half past twelve. One day he was late, and
while hastily swallowing his meat, his aunt being at the table, he looked
up and saw that the clock pointed to _half past_ twelve! He was
thunderstruck, and, with the fear of his master before him, all but lost
consciousness, and was indeed in a dazed state for a few minutes, as was
noticed by those at the table. Shaking this off by an effort, he again
looked at the clock, and, to his relief and astonishment, saw that the
hands only pointed to a _quarter past_ twelve. Then he quickly finished
his dinner and returned to the shop at the appointed time. There he was
told that at a _quarter past_ twelve he had returned to the shop, put up
his hat, moved about in an absent manner, had been scolded, and had
thereupon put on his hat again and walked out. Several persons on the
one hand corroborated this story, whilst on the other his aunt was
positive that, although at that moment he had fallen into a strange fit
of abstraction, he had never left the table. This is the narrative,
attested by a gentleman now living. The year 184-- is not so far back;
perhaps there are still those residing on the upper side of the turf at
Beaumaris who remember the circumstance."

This tale in its nature is not unlike the others herein given. It
belongs to the supernatural side of life.

However improbable these stories may appear, they point to the notion
that spirits can exist independently of the body. The Irish _fetch_, the
Scotch _wraith_, and the Welsh _Canwyll Corph_, are alike in their
teaching, but of this latter I shall speak more particularly when
treating of death portents.

_A Doctor called from his bed by a Voice_.

Mr. Hugh Lloyd, Llanfihangel-Glyn-Myfyr, who received the story from Dr.
Davies, the gentleman who figures in the tale, informed me of the
following curious incidents:--

Doctor Davies, of Cerrig-y-drudion, had gone to bed and slept, but in the
night he heard someone under his bedroom window shout that he was wanted
in a farmhouse called Craigeirchan, which was three miles from the
doctor's abode, and the way thereto was at all times beset with
difficulties, such as opening and shutting the many gates; but of a night
the journey to this mountain farm was one that few would think of taking,
unless called to do so by urgent business. The doctor did not pay much
attention to the first request, but he lay quietly on the bed listening,
and almost immediately he heard the same voice requesting him to go at
once to Craigeirchan, as he was wanted there. He now got up to the
window, but could not see anyone; he therefore re-entered his bed, but
for the third time he heard the voice telling him to go to the farm
named, and now he opened the window and said that he would follow the
messenger forthwith. The doctor got up, went to the stable, saddled the
horse, and off he started for a long dismal ride over a wild tract of
mountain country; such a journey he had often taken. He was not
surprised that he could not see, nor hear, anyone in advance, for he knew
that Welsh lads are nimble of foot, and could, by cutting across fields,
etc., outstrip a rider. At last he neared the house where he was wanted,
and in the distance he saw a light, and by this sign he was convinced
that there was sickness in the house. He drove up to the door and
entered the abode, to the surprise but great joy of the inmates. To his
inquiry after the person who had been sent for him, he was told that no
one had left the house, nor had anyone been requested by the family to go
to the doctor. But he was told his services were greatly wanted, for the
wife was about to become a mother, and the doctor was instrumental in
saving both the life of the child and mother.

What makes this tale all the more curious is the fact, that the doctor
was an unbeliever in such things as ghosts, etc., and he had often
enjoyed a quiet laugh over the tales he heard of a supernatural kind.
Mr. Lloyd asked the doctor whether he had heard of the woman's condition,
but he affirmed he was ignorant of everything connected with the place
and family.

_Another Tale of a Doctor_.

I received the following tale from the Rev. Philip Edwards, formerly
curate at Selattyn, near Oswestry:--

There was, or perhaps is--for my informant says he believes the lady is
still alive--in a place called Swyddffynnon, Cardiganshire, a Mrs. Evans,
who had a strange vision. Mr. Edwards's father called one evening upon
Mrs. Evans, and found her sitting by the fire in company with a few
female friends, greatly depressed. On enquiring as to the cause of her
distress, she stated that she had had a strange sight that very evening.
She saw, she said, in the unoccupied chamber at the further end of the
house, a light, and, whilst she was wondering what light it was, she
observed a tall, dark, stranger gentleman, who had a long, full beard,
enter the house and go straight to the room where the light was, but
before going in he took off his hat and placed it on the table; then he
took off his gloves and threw them into the hat, and then he placed his
riding whip across the hat, and without uttering a single word he entered
the lit-up room. Shortly afterwards she saw the stranger emerge from the
room and leave the house, and on looking again towards the room she saw
that the light had disappeared. It was, she said, this apparition that
had disconcerted her. Some time after this vision Mrs. Evans was in a
critical state, and as she lived far away from a doctor my informant's
father was requested to ride to Aberystwyth for one. He found, however,
that the two doctors who then resided in that town were from home. But
he was informed at the inn that there was a London doctor staying at
Hafod. He determined, whether he could or could not, induce this
gentleman to accompany him to Swyddffynnon, to go there. The gentleman,
on hearing the urgency of the case, consented to visit the sick woman.
Mr. Edwards and the doctor rode rapidly to their destination, and Mr.
Edwards was surprised to find that the doctor did everything exactly as
had been stated by Mrs. Evans. There was also a light in the chamber,
for there the neighbours had placed the still-born child, and it was the
providential help of the London doctor that saved Mrs. Evans's life. I
may add that the personal appearance of this gentleman corresponded with
the description given of him by Mrs. Evans.

DEATH PORTENTS.

These are common, in one form or other, to all nations. I will give a
list of those which were formerly in high repute in Wales.

_The Corpse Bird_, _or Deryn Corph_.

This was a bird that came flapping its wings against the window of the
room in which lay a sick person, and this visit was considered a certain
omen of that person's death. The bird not only fluttered about the
lighted window, but also made a screeching noise whilst there, and also
as it flew away. The bird, singled out for the dismal honour of being a
death prognosticator, was the tawny, or screech owl. Many are the
instances, which have been told me by persons who heard the bird's noise,
of its having been the precursor of death. This superstition is common
to all parts of Wales.

_A Crowing Hen_.

This bird, too, is supposed to indicate the death of an inmate of the
house which is its home; or, if not the death, some sore disaster to one
or other of the members of that family. The poor hen, though, as soon as
it is heard crowing, certainly foretells its own death, for no one will
keep such an uncanny bird on the premises, and consequently the crowing
hen loses its life.

It is a common saying that--

A whistling woman, and a _crowing hen_,
Are neither good for God nor men.

Should a hen lay a small egg it was to be thrown over the head, and over
the roof of the house, or a death would follow.

_A Cock Crowing in the Night_.

This, too, was thought to foretell a death, but whose death, depended on
the direction of the bird's head whilst crowing. As soon as the crowing
was heard someone went to ascertain the position of the cock's head, and
when it was seen that his head was turned from their own house towards
someone else's abode, the dwellers in that house slept in peace,
believing that a neighbour, and not one of themselves, was about to die.
It was supposed, that to make the prognostication sure, the cock would
have to crow three times in succession before or about midnight, and in
the same direction.

_The Corpse Candle--Canwyll Corph_.

The corpse candle, or _canwyll corph_, was a light like that of a candle,
which was said to issue from the house where a death was about to occur,
and take the course of the funeral procession to the burial place. This
was the usual way of proceeding, but this mysterious light was also
thought to wend its way to the abode of a person about to die. Instances
could be given of both kinds of appearances.

I have met with persons in various parts of Wales who told me that they
had seen a corpse candle. They described it as a pale bluish light
moving slowly along a short distance above the ground. Strange tales are
told of the course the light has taken. Once it was seen to go over
hedges and to make straight for the churchyard wall. This was not then
understood, but when the funeral actually took place the ground was
covered with snow, and the drift caused the procession to proceed along
the fields and over the hedges and churchyard wall, as indicated by the
corpse candle.

It was ill jesting with the corpse candle. The Rev. J. Jenkins, Vicar of
Hirnant, told me that a drunken sailor at Borth said he went up to a
corpse candle and attempted to light his pipe at it, but he was whisked
away, and when he came to himself he discovered that he was far off the
road in the bog.

The Rev. Edmund Jones, in his book entitled _A Relation of Ghosts and
Apparitions_, _etc_., states:--

"Some have seen the resemblance of a skull carrying the candle;
others the shape of the person that is to die carrying the candle
between his fore-fingers, holding the light before his face. Some
have said that they saw the shape of those who were to be at the
burying."

Those who have followed the light state that it proceeded to the church,
lit up the building, emerged therefrom, and then hovered awhile over a
certain spot in the churchyard, and then sank into the earth at the place
where the deceased was to be buried.

There is a tradition that St. David, by prayer, obtained the corpse
candle as a sign to the living of the reality of another world, and that
originally it was confined to his diocese. This tradition finds no place
in the Life of the Saint, as given in the _Cambro-British Saints_, and
there are there many wonderful things recorded of that saint.

It was thought possible for a man to meet his own Candle. There is a
tale of a person who met a Candle and struck it with his walking-stick,
when it became sparks, which, however, re-united. The man was greatly
frightened, became sick, and died. At the spot where he had struck the
candle the bier broke and the coffin fell to the ground, thus
corroborating the man's tale.

I will now record one tale not of the usual kind, which was told me by a
person who is alive.

_Tale of a Corpse Candle_.

My informant told me that one John Roberts, Felin-y-Wig, was in the habit
of sitting up a short time after his family had retired to rest to smoke
a quiet pipe, and the last thing he usually did before retiring for the
night was to take a peep into the night. One evening, whilst peering
around, he saw in the distance a light, where he knew there was no house,
and on further notice he observed that it was slowly going along the road
from Bettws-Gwerfil-Goch towards Felin-y-Wig. Where the road dipped the
light disappeared, only, however, to appear again in such parts of the
road as were visible from John Roberts's house. At first Roberts thought
that the light proceeded from a lantern, but this was so unusual an
occurrence in those parts that he gave up this idea, and intently
followed the motions of the light. It approached Roberts's house, and
evidently this was its destination. He endeavoured to ascertain whether
the light was carried by a man or woman, but he could see nothing save
the light. When, therefore, it turned into the lane approaching
Roberts's house, in considerable fear he entered the house and closed the
door, awaiting, with fear, the approach of the light. To his horror, he
perceived the light passing through the shut door, and it played in a
quivering way underneath the roof, and then vanished. That very night
the servant man died, and his bed was right above the spot where the
light had disappeared.

_Spectral Funerals_, _or Drychiolaeth_.

This was a kind of shadowy funeral which foretold the real one. In South
Wales it goes by the name _toilu_, _toili_, or _y teulu_ (the family)
_anghladd_, unburied; in Montgomeryshire it is called _Drychiolaeth_,
spectre.

I cannot do better than quote from Mr. Hamer's _Parochial Account of
Llanidloes (Montgomeryshire Collections_, vol. x., p. 256), a description
of one of these phantom funerals. All were much alike. He writes:--

"It is only a few years ago that some excitement was caused amongst
the superstitious portion of the inhabitants by the statement of a
certain miner, who at the time was working at the Brynpostig mine.
On his way to the mine one dark night, he said that he was thoroughly
frightened in China Street on seeing a spectral funeral leaving the
house of one Hoskiss, who was then very ill in bed. In his fright
the miner turned his back on the house, with the intention of going
home, but almost fainting he could scarcely move out of the way of
the advancing procession, which gradually approached, at last
surrounded him, and then passed on down Longbridge Street, in the
direction of the church. The frightened man managed with difficulty
to drag himself home, but he was so ill that he was unable to go to
work for several days."

The following weird tale I received from the Rev. Philip Edwards, whom I
have already mentioned (p. 282). I may state that I have heard variants
of the story from other sources.

While the Manchester and Milford Railway was in course of construction
there was a large influx of navvies into Wales, and many a frugal farmer
added to his incomings by lodging and boarding workmen engaged on the
line. Several of these men were lodged at a farm called Penderlwyngoch,
occupied by a man named Hughes.

One evening when the men were seated round the fire, which burned
brightly, they heard the farm dogs bark, as they always did at the
approach of strangers. This aroused the attention of the men, and they
perceived from the furious barking of the dogs that someone was coming
towards the house. By-and-by they heard the tramp of feet, mingled with
the howling of the frightened dogs, and then the dogs ceased barking,
just as if they had slunk away in terror. Before many minutes had
elapsed the inmates heard the back door opened, and a number of people
entered the house, carrying a heavy load resembling a dead man, which
they deposited in the parlour, and all at once the noise ceased. The men
in great dread struck a light, and proceeded to the parlour to ascertain
what had taken place. But they could discover nothing there, neither
were there any marks of feet in the room, nor could they find any
footprints outside the house, but they saw the cowering dogs in the yard
looking the picture of fright. After this fruitless investigation of the
cause of this dread sound, the Welsh people present only too well knew
the cause of this visit. On the very next day one of the men who sat by
the fire was killed, and his body was carried by his fellow-workmen to
the farm house, in fact everything occurred as rehearsed the previous
night. Most of the people who witnessed the vision are, my informant
says, still alive.

_Cyhyraeth--Death Sound_.

This was thought to be a sound made by a crying spirit. It was
plaintive, yet loud and terrible. It made the hair stand on end and the
blood become cold; and a whole neighbourhood became depressed whenever
the awful sound was heard. It was unlike all other voices, and it could
not be mistaken. It took in its course the way the funeral procession
was to go, starting from the house of the dead, and ending in the
churchyard where the deceased was to be buried. It was supposed to
announce a death the morning before it occurred, or, at most, a few days
before. It was at one time thought to belong to persons born in the
Diocese of Llandaff, but it must have travelled further north, for it is
said to have been heard on the Kerry Hills in Montgomeryshire. The
function of the _Cyhyraeth_ was much the same as that of the Corpse
Candle, but it appealed to the sense of sound instead of to the sense of
sight. Dogs, when they heard the distressing sound of the _Cyhyraeth_,
showed signs of fear and ran away to hide.

_Lledrith--Spectre of a Person_.

This apparition of a friend has in the Scotch wraith, or Irish fetch its
counterpart. It has been said that people have seen friends walking to
meet them, and that, when about to shake hands with the approaching
person, it has vanished into air. This optical illusion was considered
to be a sign of the death of the person thus seen.

_Tolaeth--Death Rapping or Knocking_.

The death rappings are said to be heard in carpenters' workshops, and
that they resembled the noise made by a carpenter when engaged in
coffin-making. A respectable miner's wife told me that a female friend
told her, she had often heard this noise in a carpenter's shop close by
her abode, and that one Sunday evening this friend came and told her that
the _Tolaeth_ was at work then, and if she would come with her she should
hear it. She complied, and there she heard this peculiar sound, and was
thoroughly frightened. There was no one in the shop at the time, the
carpenter and his wife being in chapel. Sometimes this noise was heard
by the person who was to die, but generally by his neighbours. The
sounds were heard in houses even, and when this was the case the noise
resembled the noise made as the shroud is being nailed to the coffin.

_A Raven's Croaking_.

A raven croaking hoarsely as it flew through the air became the angel of
death to some person over whose house it flew. It was a bird of ill
omen.

_The Owl_.

This bird's dismal and persistent screeching near an abode also foretold
the death of an inmate of that house.

_A Solitary Crow_.

The cawing of a solitary crow on a tree near a house indicates a death in
that house.

_The Dog's Howl_.

A dog howling on the doorsteps or at the entrance of a house also
foretold death. The noise was that peculiar howling noise which dogs
sometimes make. It was in Welsh called _yn udo_, or crying.

_Missing a Butt_.

Should a farmer in sowing wheat, or other kind of corn, or potatoes, or
turnips, miss a row or butt, it was a token of death.

_Stopping of a Clock_.

The unaccountable stopping of the kitchen clock generally created a
consternation in a family, for it was supposed to foretell the death of
one of the family.

_A Goose Flying over a House_.

This unusual occurrence prognosticated a death in that house.

_Goose or Hen Laying a Small Egg_.

This event also was thought to be a very bad omen, if not a sign of
death.

_Hen laying Two Eggs in the same day_.

Should a hen lay two eggs in the same day, it was considered a sign of
death. I have been told that a hen belonging to a person who lived in
Henllan, near Denbigh, laid an egg early in the morning, and another
about seven o'clock p.m. in the same day, and the master died.

_Thirteen at a Table_.

Should thirteen sit at a table it was believed that the first to leave
would be buried within the year.

_Heather_.

Should any person bring heather into a house, he brought death to one or
other of the family by so doing.

_Death Watch_.

This is a sound, like the ticking of a watch, made by a small insect. It
is considered a sign of death, and hence its name, _Death Watch_.

A working man's wife, whose uncle was ill in bed, told the writer, that
she had no hopes of his recovery, because death ticks were heard night
and day in his room. The man, who was upwards of eighty years old, died.

_Music and Bird Singing heard before Death_.

The writer, both in Denbighshire and Carnarvonshire, was told that the
dying have stated that they heard sweet voices singing in the air, and
they called the attention of the watchers to the angelic sounds, and
requested perfect stillness, so as not to lose a single note of the
heavenly music.

A young lad, whom the writer knew--an intelligent and promising
boy--whilst lying on his death-bed, told his mother that he heard a bird
warbling beautifully outside the house, and in rapture he listened to the
bird's notes.

His mother told me of this, and she stated further, that she had herself
on three different occasions previously to her eldest daughter's death,
in the middle of the night, distinctly heard singing of the most lovely
kind, coming, as she thought, from the other side of the river. She went
to the window and opened it, but the singing immediately ceased, and she
failed to see anyone on the spot where she had imagined the singing came
from. My informant also told me that she was not the only person who
heard lovely singing before the death of a friend. She gave me the name
of a nurse, who before the death of a person, whose name was also given
me, heard three times the most beautiful singing just outside the sick
house. She looked out into the night, but failed to see anyone. Singing
of this kind is expected before the death of every good person, and it is
a happy omen that the dying is going to heaven.

In the _Life of Tegid_, which is given in his _Gwaith Barddonawl_, p. 20,
it is stated:--

"Yn ei absenoldeb o'r Eglwys, pan ar wely angeu, ar fore dydd yr
Arglwydd, tra yr oedd offeiriad cymmydogaethol yn darllen yn ei le yn
Llan Nanhyfer, boddwyd llais y darllenydd gan fwyalchen a darawai drwy yr
Eglwys accen uchel a pherseiniol yn ddisymwth iawn. . . . Ar ol dyfod
o'r Eglwys cafwyd allan mai ar yr amser hwnw yn gywir yr ehedodd enaid
mawr Tegid o'i gorph i fyd yr ysprydoedd."

Which translated is as follows:--

In his absence from Church, when lying on his deathbed, in the morning of
the Lord's Day, whilst a neighbouring clergyman was taking the service
for him in Nanhyfer Church, the voice of the reader was suddenly drowned
by the beautiful song of a thrush, that filled the whole Church. . . .
It was ascertained on leaving the church that at that very moment the
soul of Tegid left his body for the world of spirits.

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