Welsh Folk Lore

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The boy frequently returned to our hemisphere, sometimes by the way he
had first gone, sometimes by another; at first in company with other
persons, and afterwards alone, and made himself known only to his mother,
declaring to her the manners, nature, and state of that people. Being
desired by her to bring a present of gold, with which that region
abounded, he stole, while at play with the king's son, the golden ball
with which he used to divert himself, and brought it to his mother in
great haste; and when he reached the door of his father's house, but not
unpursued, and was entering it in a great hurry, his foot stumbled on the
threshold, and falling down into the room where his mother was sitting,
the two pigmies seized the ball which had dropped from his hand and
departed, showing the boy every mark of contempt and derision. On
recovering from his fall, confounded with shame, and execrating the evil
counsel of his mother, he returned by the usual track to the
subterraneous road, but found no appearance of any passage, though he
searched for it on the banks of the river for nearly the space of a year.
But since those calamities are often alleviated by time, which reason
cannot mitigate, and length of time alone blunts the edge of our
afflictions and puts an end to many evils, the youth, having been brought
back by his friends and mother, and restored to his right way of
thinking, and to his learning, in process of time attained the rank of
priesthood.

Whenever David II., Bishop of St. David's, talked to him in his advanced
state of life concerning this event, he could never relate the
particulars without shedding tears. He had made himself acquainted with
the language of that nation, the words of which, in his younger days, he
used to recite, which, as the bishop often had informed me, were very
conformable to the Greek idiom. When they asked for water, they said
'Ydor ydorum,' which meant 'Bring water,' for Ydor in their language, as
well as in the Greek, signifies water, whence vessels for water are
called Adriai; and Dwr, also in the British language signifies water.
When they wanted salt they said 'Halgein ydorum,' 'Bring salt.' Salt is
called al in Greek, and Halen in British, for that language, from the
length of time which the Britons (then called Trojans and afterwards
Britons, from Brito, their leader) remained in Greece after the
destruction of Troy, became, in many instances, similar to the Greek."

This legend agrees in a remarkable degree with the popular opinion
respecting Fairies. It would almost appear to be the foundation of many
subsequent tales that are current in Wales.

The priest's testimony to Fairy temperance and love of truth, and their
reprobation of ambition, infidelities, and inconstancies, notwithstanding
that they had no form of public worship, and their abhorrence of theft
intimate that they possessed virtues worthy of all praise.

Their abode is altogether mysterious, but this ancient description of
Fairyland bears out the remarks--perhaps suggested the remarks, of the
Rev. Peter Roberts in his book called _The Cambrian Popular Antiquities_.
In this work, the author promulgates the theory that the Fairies were a
people existing distinct from the known inhabitants of the country and
confederated together, and met mysteriously to avoid coming in contact
with the stronger race that had taken possession of their land, and he
supposes that in these traditionary tales of the Fairies we recognize
something of the real history of an ancient people whose customs were
those of a regular and consistent policy. Roberts supposes that the
smaller race for the purpose of replenishing their ranks stole the
children of their conquerors, or slyly exchanged their weak children for
their enemies' strong children.

It will be observed that the people among whom Elidorus sojourned had a
language cognate with the Irish, Welsh, Greek, and other tongues; in
fact, it was similar to that language which at one time extended, with
dialectical differences, from Ireland to India; and the _Tylwyth Teg_, in
our legends, are described as speaking a language understood by those
with whom they conversed. This language they either acquired from their
conquerors, or both races must have had a common origin; the latter,
probably, being the more reasonable supposition, and by inference,
therefore, the Fairies and other nations by whom they were subdued were
descended from a common stock, and ages afterwards, by marriage, the
Fairies again commingled with other branches of the family from which
they had originally sprung.

Omitting many embellishments which the imagination has no difficulty in
bestowing, tradition has transmitted one fact, that the _Tylwyth Teg_
succeeded in inducing men through the allurements of music and the
attractions of their fair daughters to join their ranks. I will now give
instances of this belief.

The following tale I received from the mouth of Mr. Richard Jones,
Ty'n-y-wern, Bryneglwys, near Corwen. Mr. Jones has stored up in his
memory many tales of olden times, and he even thinks that he has himself
seen a Fairy. Standing by his farm, he pointed out to me on the opposite
side of the valley a Fairy ring still green, where once, he said, the
Fairies held their nightly revels. The scene of the tale which Mr. Jones
related is wild, and a few years ago it was much more so than at present.
At the time that the event is said to have taken place the mountain was
unenclosed, and there was not much travelling in those days, and
consequently the Fairies could, undisturbed, enjoy their dances. But to
proceed with the tale.

2. _A Bryneglwys Man inveigled by the Fairies_.

Two waggoners were sent from Bryneglwys for coals to the works over the
hill beyond Minera. On their way they came upon a company of Fairies
dancing with all their might. The men stopped to witness their
movements, and the Fairies invited them to join in the dance. One of the
men stoutly refused to do so, but the other was induced to dance awhile
with them. His companion looked on for a short time at the antics of his
friend, and then shouted out that he would wait no longer, and desired
the man to give up and come away. He, however, turned a deaf ear to the
request, and no words could induce him to forego his dance. At last his
companion said that he was going, and requested his friend to follow him.
Taking the two waggons under his care he proceeded towards the coal pits,
expecting every moment to be overtaken by his friend; but he was
disappointed, for he never appeared. The waggons and their loads were
taken to Bryneglwys, and the man thought that perhaps his companion,
having stopped too long in the dance, had turned homewards instead of
following him to the coal pit. But on enquiry no one had heard or seen
the missing waggoner. One day his companion met a Fairy on the mountain
and inquired after his missing friend. The Fairy told him to go to a
certain place, which he named, at a certain time, and that he should
there see his friend. The man went, and there saw his companion just as
he had left him, and the first words that he uttered were "Have the
waggons gone far." The poor man never dreamt that months and months had
passed away since they had started together for coal.

A variant of the preceding story appears in the _Cambrian Magazine_, vol.
ii., pp. 58-59, where it is styled the Year's Sleep, or "The Forest of
the Yewtree," but for the sake of association with like tales I will call
it by the following title:--

3. _Story of a man who spent twelve months in Fairyland_.

"In Mathavarn, in the parish of Llanwrin, and the Cantrev of Cyveilioc,
there is a wood which is called _Ffridd yr Ywen_ (the Forest of the Yew);
it is supposed to be so called because there is a yew tree growing in the
very middle of it. In many parts of the wood are to be seen green
circles, which are called 'the dancing places of the goblins,' about
which, a considerable time ago, the following tale was very common in the
neighbourhood:--

Two servants of John Pugh, Esq., went out one day to work in the 'Forest
of the Yew.' Pretty early in the afternoon the whole country was so
covered with dark vapour, that the youths thought night was coming on;
but when they came to the middle of the 'Forest' it brightened up around
them and the darkness seemed all left behind; so, thinking it too early
to return home for the night, they lay down and slept. One of them, on
waking, was much surprised to find no one there but himself; he wondered
a good deal at the behaviour of his companion, but made up his mind at
last that he had gone on some business of his own, as he had been talking
of it some time before; so the sleeper went home, and when they inquired
after his companion, he told them he was gone to the cobbler's shop. The
next day they inquired of him again about his fellow-servant, but he
could not give them any account of him; but at last confessed how and
where they had both gone to sleep. Alter searching and searching many
days, he went to a '_gwr cyvarwydd_' (a conjuror), which was a very
common trade in those days, according to the legend; and the conjuror
said to him, 'Go to the same place where you and the lad slept; go there
exactly a year after the boy was lost; let it be on the same day of the
year, and at the same time of the day, but take care that you do not step
inside the Fairy ring, stand on the border of the green circles you saw
there, and the boy will come out with many of the goblins to dance, and
when you see him so near to you that you may take hold of him, snatch him
out of the ring as quickly as you can.' He did according to this advice,
and plucked the boy out, and then asked him, 'if he did not feel hungry,'
to which he answered 'No,' for he had still the remains of his dinner
that he had left in his wallet before going to sleep, and he asked 'if it
was not nearly night, and time to go home,' not knowing that a year had
passed by. His look was like a skeleton, and as soon as he had tasted
food he was a dead man."

A story in its main features similar to that recorded in the _Cambrian
Magazine_ was related to me by my friend, the Rev. R. Jones, Rector of
Llanycil. I do not think Mr. Jones gave me the locality where the
occurrence is said to have taken place; at least, if he did so, I took no
note of it. The story is as follows:--

4. _A man who spent twelve months and a day with the Fairies_.

A young man, a farm labourer, and his sweetheart were sauntering along
one evening in an unfrequented part of the mountain, when there appeared
suddenly before them two Fairies, who proceeded to make a circle. This
being done, a large company of Fairies accompanied by musicians appeared,
and commenced dancing over the ring; their motions and music were
entrancing, and the man, an expert dancer, by some irresistible power was
obliged to throw himself into the midst of the dancers and join them in
their gambols. The woman looked on enjoying the sight for several hours,
expecting every minute that her lover would give up the dance and join
her, but no, on and on went the dance, round and round went her lover,
until at last daylight appeared, and then suddenly the music ceased and
the Fairy band vanished; and with them her lover. In great dismay, the
young woman shouted the name of her sweetheart, but all in vain, he came
not to her. The sun had now risen, and, almost broken-hearted, she
returned home and related the events of the previous night. She was
advised to consult a man who was an adept in the black art. She did so,
and the conjuror told her to go to the same place at the same time of the
night one year and one day from the time that her lover had disappeared
and that she should then and there see him. She was farther instructed
how to act. The conjuror warned her from going into the ring, but told
her to seize her lover by the arm as he danced round, and to jerk him out
of the enchanted circle. Twelve months and a day passed away, and the
faithful girl was on the spot where she lost her lover. At the very
moment that they had in the first instance appeared the Fairies again
came to view, and everything that she had witnessed previously was
repeated. With the Fairy band was her lover dancing merrily in their
midst. The young woman ran round and round the circle close to the young
man, carefully avoiding the circle, and at last she succeeded in taking
hold of him and desired him to come away with her. "Oh," said he, "do
let me alone a little longer, and then I will come with you." "You have
already been long enough," said she. His answer was, "It is so
delightful, let me dance on only a few minutes longer." She saw that he
was under a spell, and grasping the young man's arm with all her might
she followed him round and round the circle, and an opportunity offering
she jerked him out of the circle. He was greatly annoyed at her conduct,
and when told that he had been with the Fairies a year and a day he would
not believe her, and affirmed that he had been dancing only a few
minutes; however, he went away with the faithful girl, and when he had
reached the farm, his friends had the greatest difficulty in persuading
him that he had been so long from home.

The next Fairy tale that I shall give akin to the preceding stories is to
be found in _Y Brython_, vol. iii., pp. 459-60. The writer of the tale
was the Rev. Benjamin Williams, whose bardic name was Gwynionydd. I do
not know the source whence Mr. Williams derived the story, but most
likely he obtained it from some aged person who firmly believed that the
tale was a true record of what actually occurred. In the _Brython_ the
tale is called: "Y Tylwyth Teg a Mab Llech y Derwydd," and this title I
will retain, merely translating it. The introduction, however, I will
not give, as it does not directly bear on the subject now under
consideration.

5. _The Son of Llech y Derwydd and the Fairies_.

The son of Llech y Derwydd was the only son of his parents and heir to
the farm. He was very dear to his father and mother, yea, he was as the
very light of their eyes. The son and the head servant man were bosom
friends, they were like two brothers, or rather twins. As they were such
close friends the farmer's wife was in the habit of clothing them exactly
alike. The two friends fell in love with two young handsome women who
were highly respected in the neighbourhood. This event gave the old
people great satisfaction, and ere long the two couples were joined in
holy wedlock, and great was the merry-making on the occasion. The
servant man obtained a convenient place to live in on the grounds of
Llech y Derwydd. About six months after the marriage of the son, he and
the servant man went out to hunt. The servant penetrated to a ravine
filled with brushwood to look for game, and presently returned to his
friend, but by the time he came back the son was nowhere to be seen. He
continued awhile looking about for his absent friend, shouting and
whistling to attract his attention, but there was no answer to his calls.
By and by he went home to Llech y Derwydd, expecting to find him there,
but no one knew anything about him. Great was the grief of the family
throughout the night, but it was even greater the next day. They went to
inspect the place where the son had last been seen. His mother and his
wife wept bitterly, but the father had greater control over himself,
still he appeared as half mad. They inspected the place where the
servant man had last seen his friend, and, to their great surprise and
sorrow, observed a Fairy ring close by the spot, and the servant
recollected that he had heard seductive music somewhere about the time
that he parted with his friend. They came to the conclusion at once that
the man had been so unfortunate as to enter the Fairy ring, and they
conjectured that he had been transported no one knew where. Weary weeks
and months passed away, and a son was born to the absent man. The little
one grew up the very image of his father, and very precious was he to his
grandfather and grandmother. In fact, he was everything to them. He
grew up to man's estate and married a pretty girl in the neighbourhood,
but her people had not the reputation of being kind-hearted. The old
folks died, and also their daughter-in-law.

One windy afternoon in the month of October, the family of Llech y
Derwydd saw a tall thin old man with beard and hair as white as snow, who
they thought was a Jew, approaching slowly, very slowly, towards the
house. The servant girls stared mockingly through the window at him, and
their mistress laughed unfeelingly at the "old Jew," and lifted the
children up, one after the other, to get a sight of him as he neared the
house. He came to the door, and entered the house boldly enough, and
inquired after his parents. The mistress answered him in a surly and
unusually contemptuous manner, and wished to know "What the drunken old
Jew wanted there," for they thought he must have been drinking or he
would never have spoken in the way he did. The old man looked at
everything in the house with surprise and bewilderment, but the little
children about the floor took his attention more than anything else. His
looks betrayed sorrow and deep disappointment. He related his whole
history, that, yesterday he had gone out to hunt, and that he had now
returned. The mistress told him that she had heard a story about her
husband's father, which occurred before she was born, that he had been
lost whilst hunting, but that her father had told her that the story was
not true, but that he had been killed. The woman became uneasy and angry
that the old "Jew" did not depart. The old man was roused and said that
the house was his, and that he would have his rights. He went to inspect
his possessions, and shortly afterwards directed his steps to the
servant's house. To his surprise he saw that things there were greatly
changed. After conversing awhile with an aged man who sat by the fire,
they carefully looked each other in the face, and the old man by the fire
related the sad history of his lost friend, the son of Llech y Derwydd.
They conversed together deliberately on the events of their youth, but
all seemed like a dream. However, the old man in the corner came to the
conclusion that his visitor was his dear friend, the son of Llech y
Derwydd, returned from the land of the Fairies after having spent there
half a hundred years. The old man with the white beard believed the
story related by his friend, and long was the talk and many were the
questions which the one gave to the other. The visitor was informed that
the master of Llech y Derwydd was from home that day, and he was
persuaded to eat some food; but, to the horror of all, when he had done
so, he instantly fell down dead.

Such is the story. The writer adds that the tale relates that the cause
of this man's sudden death was that he ate food after having been so long
in the land of the Fairies, and he further states that the faithful old
servant insisted on his dead friend's being buried with his ancestors,
and the rudeness of the mistress of Llech y Derwydd to her father-in-law
brought a curse upon the place and family, and her offence was not
expiated until the farm had been sold nine times.

The next tale that I shall relate is recorded by _Glasynys_ in _Cymru
Fu_, pp. 177-179. Professor Rhys in his _Welsh Fairy Tales_, _Y
Cymmrodor_, vol. v., pp. 81-84, gives a translation of this story. The
Professor prefaces the tale with a caution that _Glasynys_ had elaborated
the story, and that the proper names were undoubtedly his own. The
reverend author informs his readers that he heard his mother relate the
tale many times, but it certainly appears that he has ornamented the
simple narrative after his own fashion, for he was professedly a believer
in words; however, in its general outline, it bears the impress of
antiquity, and strongly resembles other Welsh Fairy tales. It belongs to
that species of Fairy stories which compose this chapter, and therefore
it is here given as translated by Professor Rhys. I will for the sake of
reference give the tale a name, and describe it under the following
heading.

6. _A young man marries a Fairy Lady in Fairy Land, and brings her to
live with him among his own people_.

"Once on a time a shepherd boy had gone up the mountain. That day, like
many a day before and after, was exceedingly misty. Now, though he was
well acquainted with the place, he lost his way, and walked backwards and
forwards for many a long hour. At last he got into a low rushy spot,
where he saw before him many circular rings. He at once recalled the
place, and began to fear the worst. He had heard, many hundreds of
times, of the bitter experiences in those rings of many a shepherd who
had happened to chance on the dancing-place or the circles of the Fair
Family. He hastened away as fast as ever he could, lest he should be
ruined like the rest; but though he exerted himself to the point of
perspiring, and losing his breath, there he was, and there he continued
to be, a long time. At last he was met by a little fat old man with
merry blue eyes, who asked him what he was doing. He answered that he
was trying to find his way homeward. 'Oh,' said he, 'come after me, and
do not utter a word until I bid thee.' This he did, following him on and
on until they came to an oval stone, and the little old fat man lifted
it, after tapping the middle of it three times with his walking stick.
There was there a narrow path with stairs to be seen here and there, and
a sort of whitish light, inclining to grey and blue, was to be seen
radiating from the stones. 'Follow me fearlessly,' said the fat man, 'no
harm will be done thee.' So on the poor youth went, as reluctantly as a
dog to be hanged; but presently a fine-wooded, fertile country spread
itself out before them, with well arranged mansions dotting it over,
while every kind of apparent magnificence met the eye, and seemed to
smile in its landscape; the bright waters of its rivers meandered in
twisted streams, and its hills were covered with the luxuriant verdure of
their grassy growth, and the mountains with a glossy fleece of smooth
pasture. By the time they had reached the stout gentleman's mansion, the
young man's senses had been bewildered by the sweet cadence of the music
which the birds poured forth from the groves, then there was gold there
to dazzle his eyes and silver flashing on his sight. He saw there all
kinds of musical instruments and all sorts of things for playing, but he
could discern no inhabitant in the whole place; and when he sat down to
eat, the dishes on the table came to their places of themselves and
disappeared when one had done with them. This puzzled him beyond
measure; moreover, he heard people talking together around him, but for
the life of him he could see no one but his old friend. At length the
fat man said to him, 'Thou canst now talk as much as it may please thee;'
but when he attempted to move his tongue it would no more stir than if it
had been a lump of ice, which greatly frightened him. At this point, a
fine old lady, with health and benevolence beaming in her face, came to
them and slightly smiled at the shepherd. The mother was followed by her
three daughters, who were remarkably beautiful. They gazed with somewhat
playful looks at him, and at length began to talk to him, but his tongue
would not wag. Then one of the girls came to him, and, playing with his
yellow and curly locks, gave him a smart kiss on his ruddy lips. This
loosened the string that bound his tongue, and he began to talk freely
and eloquently. There he was, under the charm of that kiss, in the bliss
of happiness, and there he remained a year and a day without knowing that
he had passed more than a day among them, for he had got into a country
where there was no reckoning of time. But by and by he began to feel
somewhat of a longing to visit his old home, and asked the stout man if
he might go. 'Stay a little yet,' said he, 'and thou shalt go for a
while.' That passed, he stayed on; but Olwen, for that was the name of
the damsel that had kissed him, was very unwilling that he should depart.
She looked sad every time he talked of going away, nor was he himself
without feeling a sort of a cold thrill passing through him at the
thought of leaving her. On condition, however, of returning, he obtained
leave to go, provided with plenty of gold and silver, of trinkets and
gems. When he reached home, nobody knew who he was; it had been the
belief that he had been killed by another shepherd, who found it
necessary to betake himself hastily far away to America, lest he should
be hanged without delay. But here is Einion Las at home, and everybody
wonders especially to see that the shepherd had got to look like a
wealthy man; his manners, his dress, his language, and the treasure he
had with him, all conspired to give him the air of a gentleman. He went
back one Thursday night, the first of the moon that month, as suddenly as
he had left the first time, and nobody knew whither. There was great joy
in the country below when Einion returned thither, and nobody was more
rejoiced at it than Olwen, his beloved. The two were right impatient to
get married, but it was necessary to do that quietly, for the family
below hated nothing more than fuss and noise; so, in a sort of a
half-secret fashion, they were wedded. Einion was very desirous to go
once more among his own people, accompanied, to be sure, by his wife.
After he had been long entreating the old man for leave, they set out on
two white ponies, that were, in fact, more like snow than anything else
in point of colour; so he arrived with his consort in his old home, and
it was the opinion of all that Einion's wife was the handsomest person
they had anywhere seen. Whilst at home, a son was born to them, to whom
they gave the name of Taliesin. Einion was now in the enjoyment of high
repute, and his wife received proper respect. Their wealth was immense,
and soon they acquired a large estate; but it was not long till people
began to inquire after the pedigree of Einion's wife--the country was of
opinion that it was not the right thing to be without a pedigree. Einion
was questioned about it, without his giving any satisfactory answer, and
one came to the conclusion that she was one of the Fair Family (_Tylwyth
Teg_). 'Certainly,' replied Einion, 'there can be no doubt that she
comes from a very fair family, for she has two sisters who are as fair as
she, and if you saw them together, you would admit that name to be a
capital one.' This, then, is the reason why the remarkable family in the
land of charm and phantasy (_Hud a Lledrith_) are called the Fair
Family."

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