256 



♦ KNO^WLEDGE ♦ 



[September 1, 1888. 



tance. Presently he came to a band of little folks who 

 were feasting merrily, and who persuaded the farmer to join 

 them. He did so, and was much surprised when a little 

 man plucked him by the sleeve, and warned him not to 

 taste anything that was placed before him. " For if you 

 do," said the little man, "you will be as I am, and return 

 no more to your fcimily." The farmer followed his advice, 

 and when a .silver goblet was handed to him, he spilled the 

 contents on the ground. At daybreak the music ceased, 

 and the faii-ies vanished, leaving the farmer with the silver 

 goblet in his hand. He returned home, feeling very tired, 

 and next day he went to the parish priest for advice with 

 regard to the silver goblet. The latter told him that he had 

 better give it to the church, and it is still to be seen in 

 Kii'k Merlugh. 



Fairies and hobgoblins are firmly believed in still by the 

 peasantry in the southern counties of Glamorgan, Car- 

 marthen, and Pembroke. The fairies are called y Dynon 

 Bach Teg, i.e. The Little Fair People. The bells of the fox- 

 glove are called elves-gloves, and the mushroom, elves-food. 

 These little beings ai-e supposed to be the souls of the 

 ancient Druids, who were not quite good enough to go to 

 heaven, nor bad enough to go to the other place ; so they 

 are allowed to wander about till the Day of Judgment, 

 when they will join the ranks of the elect, and "read their 

 title clear to mansions in the skies." 



They are very fond of music and dancing, especially on 

 bright moonlight nights. A story is told about two farm- 

 servants, called Rhys and Llewellyn, who were returning 

 home from their work in the twilight. Hearing strains of 

 music, Ehys could not resist dancing, and in a moment had 

 danced far ahead of his companion. The latter, on arriving 

 home without Rhys, was suspected of murder, and thrown 

 into prison. Luckily, a farmer who was well acquainted 

 with fairy- lore, believed Llewellyn's story, and told him to 

 lead him to the place where he had heard the music. They 

 came to the spot, which was "green as mounl.ain-ash," and, 

 as Llewellyn stepped within the magic-circle, he heard the 

 most enchanting strains, and beheld Rhys amid a merry 

 band of dancers. His friends had to use all their strength 

 to pull him out of the ling and force him to return home. 

 He was not at all pleased at their interference, insisting that 

 he had only been dancing for five minutes, and was not 

 ready to go home yet. He became melancholy mad, and 

 died a short time afterwards, it is said ; and the next morn- 

 ing one of the villagers, who passed near the fairy-circle, 

 " found the edge of the ring quite red, as if trodden down," 

 and the marks of little heels the size of a thumbnail. 



These fairies are fond of hunting, and have been seen 

 riding on little white horses no bigger than dogs, whilst 

 the sound of a bugle-horn and the huntsman's halloo could 

 be plainly heai-d. A man who was crossing over Bedwellty 

 Mountains one night heard sounds of music, and in a 

 moment was surrounded by fairies. Having heard that 

 they will disappear at the sight of cold steel, the man drew 

 out a knife and they instantly vanished. In the same way 

 feiries who have married mortals have been known to 

 disappear on being touched with iron. A man who had 

 married a fairy tossed a bridle to his bride, and, the bit 

 touching her, she flew through the air at once, and plunged 

 headlong into Corwriou Lake. 



A similar legend is told about a most romantic spot 

 among the mountains of Carmai-then It is called " The Van 

 Pools," and is said to be haunted by " the spirit of the Van." 

 She appears at midnight on New Year's Eve, and is said to 

 be " dressed in a white robe, bound by a golden girdle. Her 

 hair is long and golden, her face is pale and melancholy ; she 

 sits in a golden boat, and manages a golden oar." She had 

 married a farmer on condition that he should never know 



her name, or strike her, especially with iron, for he would 

 then lose her for ever. After a little while he forgot his 

 promise, and on two occasions, when she had vexed him, he 

 struck her. The thii'd time they were ploughing together, 

 he guiding the plough and she driving the horses. The 

 horses going wrong, the farmer threw something at them 

 which hit his wife, and in a moment she disappeared 

 beneath the waters of the Lake Van Pool. 



A man who wished to see the fairies made an appoint- 

 ment with an old gipsy to meet her by moonlight on the top 

 of Craig y Dinis. She washed his eyes with a wonderful 

 lotion, helping him to see thousands of little beings all 

 dressed in white, and dancing to the sound of harps. 



" They then placed themselves on the edge of the hill, 

 and, sitting down and putting their hands round their knees, 

 they tumbled down one after another, rolling head over 

 heels, till they disappeared in the valley." For some time 

 the sound of their harps could be heard, gradually dying 

 away in the distance. 



A mischievous little being called Pwcca, resembling our 

 English Puck, used to haunt Wales ; and in Brecon there 

 is a spot called Cwm Pwcca, or Puck's Glen, where he is 

 still to be seen. 



A man who was returning home late one night saw a 

 little wee man a few j-ards ahead of him carrying a light. 

 He followed him, and Pwcca (for it was he) led him to the 

 very edge of the precipice Cwm Pwcca, when, holding the 

 light high above his head, he gave an impish laugh and 

 vanished in the valley below, leaving the man in utter 

 darkness. 



The Welsh foiries are like the Irish with regard to stealing 

 babies out of their cradles, leaving ugly little changelings in 

 their place. In Brittany a similar belief prevails. There 

 was constant intercourse at one time between the inhabit- 

 ants of Wales and those of Lesser Britain, as it was then 

 called ; in fact, the Bretons and British were of one blood, 

 so that their fairy folk-loi-e is almost the same. 



In Glamorganshire a legend is told which is not irnlike 

 the following related in Brittany : — 



A mother whose child had been stolen by the fairies 

 prayed to the Virgin for help. She was advised to " i)re- 

 pare a meal for ten farm-servants in an egg-shell," which 

 will make the Korrid speak; she is then to whip him till he 

 cries, and when he does his mother will come and take him 

 away. The mother did as she was told, and when the 

 changeling saw the strange meal prepared he exclaimed : 

 " I have seen the egg before I saw the white hen ; I have 

 seen the acorn before I saw the tree ; I have seen the oak 

 in the wood of Bruzal, but never saw I such a thing as this." 

 " Thou hast seen too many things, my son," replied the 

 mother, and she began to whip him, when his mother came 

 to her crying : " Do not beat him, give him back to me ; I 

 have not done yours any injury. He is king in his own 

 country." When the mother went home she was rejoiced 

 at finding her own child asleep in the cradle. 



The Breton fairies are divided into two classes — the Fays 

 or Koi'rigans, and the Dwarfs or Korreds. The Korrigans 

 are beings two feet high, with long flowing hair, which they 

 are always coml)ing carefully. They wind a long white veil 

 around their bodies, and at night their beauty is ravishing ; 

 but in the daytime their eyes appear red, their hair white, and 

 their f\ices wrinkled [even such tales have been told of some 

 ladies of the corps de hallel]. The Korrigans, though fond 

 of music, do not care much about dancing. Once a year, 

 on the first of May, they have a great feast, during which 

 a crystal goblet is passed around, and those who drink the 

 magic potion it contains become all-wise and can foretell 

 the future. 



The Korrigan is like the Elle-maid of Scandinavia, and 



