{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_8675/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_8675","id":"gutenberg_8675","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8675","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Fairy tales -- Wales","Tales -- Wales"],"text":"Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWELSH FAIRY-TALES AND OTHER STORIES\n\nBy Anonymous\n\n\nCollected And Edited By P. H. Emerson\n\n\nTo\n\nLeonard, Sybil, Gladys, And Zoe.\n\n\n\n\nAUTHOR\u2019S NOTE.\n\nThese tales were collected by me whilst living in Anglesea during the\nwinter 1891-2.\n\nWith the exception of the French story, they were told me and I took\nthem down at the time.\n\nParticulars respecting the narratives will be found in the Notes.\n\nIn most cases I have done but little \u201cediting\u201d, preferring to give the\nstories as told.\n\nThe old book referred to in the Notes I bought from a country\nbookseller, who knew neither its author, title, or date, but I have\nsince been informed the book is Williams\u2019 _Observations on the Snowdon\nMountains_, published in 1802, a book well known to students of Celtic\nliterature.\n\nP. H. E.\n\nCLARINGBOLD, BROADSTAIRS. _April 1894_.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n     THE FAIRIES OF CARAGONAN       Welsh\n     THE CRAIG-Y-DON BLACKSMITH     Welsh\n     OLD GWILYM                     Welsh\n     THE BABY-FARMER                Welsh\n     THE OLD MAN AND THE FAIRIES    Welsh\n     TOMMY PRITCHARD                Welsh\n     KADDY\u2019S LUCK                   Welsh\n     THE STORY OF GELERT            Welsh\n     ORIGIN OF THE WELSH            Welsh\n     THE CROWS                      Welsh\n     ROBERTS AND THE FAIRIES        Welsh\n     THE FAIRY OF THE DELL          Welsh\n     ELLEN\u2019S LUCK                   Welsh\n     THE FAIRIES\u2019 MINT              Welsh\n     THE PELLINGS                   Welsh\n     THE LONG-LIVED ANCESTORS       Welsh\n     THE GIANTESS\u2019S APRON-FULL      Welsh\n     A FABLE                        Welsh\n     THE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH    Irish\n     BILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL      Irish\n     JOHN O\u2019 GROATS                 Scotch\n     EVA\u2019S LUCK                     Jersey\n     THE FISHERMEN OF SHETLAND      Shetland\n     THE PASTOR\u2019S NURSE             French\n     NOTES\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRIES OF CARAGONAN.\n\n\nOnce upon a time a lot of fairies lived in Mona.\n\nOne day the queen fairy\u2019s daughter, who was now fifteen years of age,\ntold her mother she wished to go out and see the world.\n\nThe queen consented, allowing her to go for a day, and to change from a\nfairy to a bird, or from a bird to a fairy, as she wished.\n\nWhen she returned one night she said:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been to a gentleman\u2019s house, and as I stood listening, I heard the\ngentleman was witched: he was very ill, and crying out with pain.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I must look into that,\u201d said the queen.\n\nSo the next day she went through her process and found that he was\nbewitched by an old witch. So the following day she set out with six\nother fairies, and when they came to the gentleman\u2019s house she found he\nwas very ill.\n\nGoing into the room, bearing a small blue pot they had brought with\nthem, the queen asked him:\n\n\u201cWould you like to be cured?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, bless you; yes, indeed.\u201d\n\nWhereupon the queen put the little blue pot of perfume on the centre of\nthe table, and lit it, when the room was instantly filled with the most\ndelicious odour.\n\nWhilst the perfume was burning, the six fairies formed in line behind\nher, and she leading, they walked round the table three times, chanting\nin chorus:\n\n  \u201cRound and round three times three,\n  We have come to cure thee.\u201d\n\nAt the end of the third round she touched the burning perfume with her\nwand, and then touched the gentleman on the head, saying:\n\n\u201cBe thou made whole.\u201d\n\nNo sooner had she said the words than he jumped up hale and hearty, and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cOh, dear queen, what shall I do for you? I\u2019ll do anything you wish.\u201d\n\n\u201cMoney I do not wish for,\u201d said the queen, \u201cbut there\u2019s a little plot of\nground on the sea-cliff I want you to lend me, for I wish to make a ring\nthere, and the grass will die when I make the ring. Then I want you to\nbuild three walls round the ring, but leave the sea-side open, so that\nwe may be able to come and go easily.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith the greatest of pleasure,\u201d said the gentleman; and he built the\nthree stone walls at once, at the spot indicated.\n\n\n\nII.\n\nNear the gentleman lived the old witch, and she had the power of turning\nat will into a hare. The gentleman was a great hare hunter, but the\nhounds could never catch this hare; it always disappeared in a mill,\nrunning between the wings and jumping in at an open window, though they\nstationed two men and a dog at the spot, when it immediately turned into\nthe old witch. And the old miller never suspected, for the old woman\nused to take him a peck of corn to grind a few days before any hunt,\ntelling him she would call for it on the afternoon of the day of the\nhunt. So that when she arrived she was expected.\n\nOne day she had been taunting the gentleman as he returned from a hunt,\nthat he could never catch the hare, and he struck her with his whip,\nsaying \u201cGet away, you witchcraft!\u201d\n\nWhereupon she witched him, and he fell ill, and was cured as we have\nseen.\n\nWhen he got well he watched the old witch, and saw she often visited the\nhouse of an old miser who lived near by with his beautiful niece. Now\nall the people in the village touched their hats most respectfully to\nthis old miser, for they knew he had dealings with the witch, and they\nwere as much afraid of him as of her; but everyone loved the miser\u2019s\nkind and beautiful niece.\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nWhen the fairies got home the queen told her daughter:\n\n\u201cI have no power over the old witch for twelve months from to-day, and\nthen I have no power over her life. She must lose that by the arm of a\nman.\u201d\n\nSo the next day the daughter was sent out again to see whether she could\nfind a person suited to that purpose.\n\nIn the village lived a small crofter, who was afraid of nothing; he was\nthe boldest man thereabouts; and one day he passed the miser without\nsaluting him. The old fellow went off at once and told the witch.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019ll settle his cows to-night!\u201d said she, and they were taken sick,\nand gave no milk that night.\n\nThe fairy\u2019s daughter arrived at his croft-yard after the cows were taken\nill, and she heard him say to his son, a bright lad:\n\n\u201cIt must be the old witch!\u201d\n\nWhen she heard this, she sent him to the queen.\n\nSo next day the fairy queen took six fairies and went to the croft,\ntaking her blue pot of perfume. When she got there she asked the crofter\nif he would like his cows cured?\n\n\u201cGod bless you, yes!\u201d he said.\n\nThe queen made him bring a round table into the yard, whereon she placed\nthe blue pot of perfume, and having lit it, as before, they formed in\nline and walked round thrice, chanting the words:\n\n  \u201cRound and round three times three,\n  We have come to cure thee.\u201d\n\nThen she dipped the end of her wand into the perfume, and touched the\ncows on the forehead, saying to each one:\n\n\u201cBe thou whole.\u201d\n\nWhereupon they jumped up cured.\n\nThe little farmer was overjoyed, and cried:\n\n\u201cOh, what can I do for you? What can I do for you?\u201d\n\n\u201cMoney I care not for,\u201d said the queen, \u201call I want is your son to\navenge you and me.\u201d\n\nThe lad jumped up and said:\n\n\u201cWhat I can do I\u2019ll do it for you, my lady fairy.\u201d\n\nShe told him to be at the walled plot the following day at noon, and\nleft.\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nThe next day at noon, the queen and her daughter and three hundred other\nfairies came up the cliff to the green grass plot, and they carried a\npole, and a tape, and a mirror. When they reached the plot they planted\nthe pole in the ground, and hung the mirror on the pole. The queen took\nthe tape, which measured ten yards and was fastened to the top of the\npole, and walked round in a circle, and wherever she set her feet the\ngrass withered and died. Then the fairies followed up behind the queen,\nand each fairy carried a harebell in her left-hand, and a little blue\ncup of burning perfume in her right. When they had formed up the queen\ncalled the lad to her side, and told him to walk by her throughout. They\nthen started off, all singing in chorus:\n\n  \u201cRound and round three times three,\n  Tell me what you see.\u201d\n\nWhen they finished the first round, the queen and lad stopped before the\nmirror, and she asked the lad what he saw?\n\n  \u201cI see, I see, the mirror tells me,\n  It is the witch that I see,\u201d\n\nsaid the lad. So they marched round again, singing the same words as\nbefore, and when they stopped a second time before the mirror the queen\nagain asked him what he saw?\n\n  \u201cI see, I see, the mirror tells me,\n  It is a hare that I see,\u201d\n\nsaid the lad.\n\nA third time the ceremony and question were repeated.\n\n  \u201cI see, I see, the mirror tells me,\n  The hares run up the hill to the mill.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the queen, \u201cthere is to be a hare-hunting this day week; be\nat the mill at noon, and I will meet you there.\u201d\n\nAnd then the fairies, pole, mirror, and all, vanished and only the empty\nring on the green was left.\n\n\n\nV.\n\nUpon the appointed day the lad went to his tryst, and at noon the Fairy\nQueen appeared, and gave him a sling, and a smooth pebble from the\nbeach, saying:\n\n\u201cI have blessed your arms, and I have blessed the sling and the stone.\n\n  \u201cNow as the clock strikes three,\n  Go up the hill near the mill,\n  And in the ring stand still\n  Till you hear the click of the mill.\n  Then with thy arm, with power and might,\n  You shall strike and smite\n  The devil of a witch called Jezabel light,\n  And you shall see an awful sight.\u201d\n\nThe lad did as he was bidden, and presently he heard the huntsman\u2019s\nhorn and the hue and cry, and saw the hare running down the opposite\nhill-side, where the hounds seemed to gain on her, but as she breasted\nthe hill on which he stood she gained on them. As she came towards the\nmill he threw his stone, and it lodged in her skull, and when he ran\nup he found he had killed the old witch. As the huntsmen came up they\ncrowded round him, and praised him; and then they fastened the witch\u2019s\nbody to a horse by ropes, and dragged her to the bottom of the valley,\nwhere they buried her in a ditch. That night, when the miser heard of\nher death, he dropped down dead on the spot.\n\nAs the lad was going home the queen appeared to him, and told him to be\nat the ring the following day at noon.\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nNext day all the fairies came with the pole and mirror, each carrying\na harebell in her left-hand, and a blue cup of burning perfume in her\nright, and they formed up as before, the lad walking beside the queen.\nThey marched round and repeated the old words, when the queen stopped\nbefore the mirror, and said:\n\n\u201cWhat do you see?\u201d\n\n  \u201cI see, I see, the mirror tells me,\n  It is an old plate-cupboard that I see.\u201d\n\nA second time they went round, and the question, was repeated.\n\n  \u201cI see, I see, the mirror tells me,\n  The back is turned to me.\u201d\n\nA third time was the ceremony fulfilled, and the lad answered\n\n  \u201cI see, I see, the mirror tells me,\n  A spring-door is open to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBuy that plate-cupboard at the miser\u2019s sale,\u201d said the queen, and she\nand her companions disappeared as before.\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nUpon the day of the sale all the things were brought out in the road,\nand the plate-cupboard was put up, the lad recognising it and bidding up\nfor it till it was sold to him. When he had paid for it he took it\nhome in a cart, and when he got in and examined it, he found the secret\ndrawer behind was full of gold. The following week the house and land,\nthirty acres, was put up for sale, and the lad bought both, and married\nthe miser\u2019s niece, and they lived happily till they died.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CRAIG-Y-DON BLACKSMITH.\n\nOnce upon a time an old blacksmith lived in an old forge at Craig-y-don,\nand he used to drink a great deal too much beer.\n\nOne night he was coming home from an alehouse very tipsy, and as he\ngot near a small stream a lot of little men suddenly sprang up from the\nrocks, and one of them, who seemed to be older than the rest, came up to\nhim, and said,\n\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t alter your ways of living you\u2019ll die soon; but if you\nbehave better and become a better man you\u2019ll find it will be to your\nbenefit,\u201d and they all disappeared as quickly as they had come.\n\nThe old blacksmith thought a good deal about what the fairies had told\nhim, and he left off drinking, and became a sober, steady man.\n\nOne day, a few months after meeting the little people, a strange man\nbrought a horse to be shod. Nobody knew either the horse or the man.\n\nThe old blacksmith tied the horse to a hole in the lip of a cauldron\n(used for the purpose of cooling his hot iron) that he had built in some\nmasonry.\n\nWhen he had tied the horse up he went to shoe the off hind-leg, but\ndirectly he touched the horse the spirited animal started back with a\nbound, and dragged the cauldron from the masonry, and then it broke the\nhalter and ran away out of the forge, and was never seen again: neither\nthe horse nor its master.\n\nWhen the old blacksmith came to pull down the masonry to rebuild it, he\nfound three brass kettles full of money.\n\n\n\n\nOLD GWILYM.\n\nOld Gwilym Evans started off one fine morning to walk across the Eagle\nHills to a distant town, bent upon buying some cheese. On his way, in a\nlonely part of the hills, he found a golden guinea, which he quickly put\ninto his pocket.\n\nWhen he got to the town, instead of buying his provisions, he went\ninto an alehouse, and sat drinking and singing with some sweet-voiced\nquarrymen until dark, when he thought it was time to go home. Whilst he\nwas drinking, an old woman with a basket came in, and sat beside him,\nbut she left before him. After the parting glass he got up and reeled\nthrough the town, quite forgetting to buy his cheese; and as he got\namongst the hills they seemed to dance up and down before him, and he\nseemed to be walking on air. When he got near the lonely spot where he\nhad found the money he heard some sweet music, and a number of fairies\ncrossed his path and began dancing all round him, and then as he looked\nup he saw some brightly-lighted houses before him on the hill; and\nhe scratched his head, for he never remembered having seen houses\nthereabouts before. And as he was thinking, and watching the fairies,\none came and begged him to come into the house and sit down.\n\nSo he followed her in, and found the house was all gold inside it, and\nbrightly lighted, and the fairies were dancing and singing, and they\nbrought him anything he wanted for supper, and then they put him to bed.\n\nGwilym slept heavily, and when he awoke turned round, for he felt very\ncold, and his body seemed covered with prickles; so he sat up and rubbed\nhis eyes, and found that he was quite naked and lying in a bunch of\ngorse.\n\nWhen he found himself in this plight he hurried home, and told his wife,\nand she was very angry with him for spending all the money and bringing\nno cheese home, and then he told her his adventures.\n\n\u201cOh, you bad man!\u201d she said, \u201cthe fairies gave you money and you spent\nit wrongly, so they were sure to take their revenge.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE BABY-FARMER.\n\nOld Kaddy was a baby-farmer, and one day she went to the woods to gather\nsticks for her fire, and whilst she was gathering the sticks she found a\npiece of gold, and took it home; but she never told anyone she had found\nthe money, for she always pretended to be very poor.\n\nBut though she was so poor, she used to dress two of her children in\nfine clothes; but the others, whom she did not like, she kept in the\nfilthiest rags.\n\nOne day a man knocked at her door, and asked to see the children.\n\nHe sat down in her little room, and she went and brought the ragged\nlittle boy and girl, saying she was very poor, and couldn\u2019t afford to\ndress them better; for she had been careful to hide the well-dressed\nlittle boy and girl in a cockloft.\n\nAfter the stranger had gone she went to the cockloft to look for her\nwell-dressed favourites, but they had disappeared, and they were never\nseen afterwards, for they were turned into fairies.\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLD MAN AND THE FAIRIES.\n\nMany years ago the Welsh mountains were full of fairies. People used\nto go by moonlight to see them dancing, for they knew where they would\ndance by seeing green rings in the grass.\n\nThere was an old man living in those days who used to frequent the\nfairs that were held across the mountains. One day he was crossing the\nmountains to a fair, and when he got to a lonely valley he sat down, for\nhe was tired, and he dropped off to sleep, and his bag fell down by his\nside. When he was sound asleep the fairies came and carried him off,\nbag and all, and took him under the earth, and when he awoke he found\nhimself in a great palace of gold, full of fairies dancing and singing.\nAnd they took him and showed him everything, the splendid gold room and\ngardens, and they kept dancing round him until he fell asleep.\n\nWhen he was asleep they carried him back to the same spot where they\nhad found him, and when he awoke he thought he had been dreaming, so\nhe looked for his bag, and got hold of it, but he could hardly lift it.\nWhen he opened it he found it was nearly filled with gold.\n\nHe managed to pick it up, and turning round, he went home.\n\nWhen he got home, his wife Kaddy said: \u201cWhat\u2019s to do, why haven\u2019t you\nbeen to the fair?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve got something here,\u201d he said, and showed his wife the gold.\n\n\u201cWhy, where did you get that?\u201d\n\nBut he wouldn\u2019t tell her. Since she was curious, like all women, she\nkept worrying him all night--for he\u2019d put the money in a box under the\nbed--so he told her about the fairies.\n\nNext morning, when he awoke, he thought he\u2019d go to the fair and buy a\nlot of things, and he went to the box to get some of the gold, but found\nit full of cockle-shells.\n\n\n\n\nTOMMY PRITCHARD.\n\nTommy Pritchard was going to school one day, and on his way he thought\nhe heard somebody singing on the other side of a stone wall by the road,\nso he climbed up and looked over, and there underneath a stone he saw a\nsixpence, so he took it.\n\nEvery morning after that, when he went to school, he used to look in the\nsame place, and he always found a sixpence.\n\nHis father noticed he was always spending money in the sweet-shop, so\nhe began to think Tommy was stealing from somebody, and one day he asked\nhim where he got the money. Tommy wouldn\u2019t tell at first, but his father\nthreatened to beat him, so he told him where he got his sixpences.\n\nNext morning he went to look in the same place for his sixpence, and\nhe found nothing but a cockle-shell. And he never saw anything but a\ncockle-shell there afterwards.\n\n\n\n\nKADDY\u2019S LUCK.\n\nThere was a tall young woman whom the fairies used to visit, coming\nthrough the keyhole at night. She could hear them dancing and singing in\nher room, but in the morning they used to go the way they had come, only\nthey always left her some money.\n\nWhen she got married she chose a tall husband like herself, and they had\na fine big child.\n\nOne night they went to a fair, and they got to one side to hear the\nfairies; for some people could tell when the fairies were coming, for\nthey made a noise like the wind. Whilst they were waiting she told her\nhusband how the fairies used to leave her money at night.\n\nWhen they got home they found their baby all right, and went to bed. But\nnext morning the young mother found her child had been changed in the\nnight, and there was a very little baby in the cradle. And the child\nnever grew big, for the fairies had changed her child for spite.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF GELERT.\n\n(AS CURRENT IN ANGLESEA)\n\n\nIt was somewhere about 1200, Prince Llewellyn had a castle at Aber, just\nabreast of us here; indeed, parts of the towers remain to this day. His\nconsort was the Princess Joan; she was King John\u2019s daughter. Her coffin\nremains with us to this day. Llewellyn was a great hunter of wolves\nand foxes, for the hills of Carnarvonshire were infested with wolves in\nthose days, after the young lambs.\n\nNow the prince had several hunting-houses--sorts of farm houses, one of\nthem was at the place now called Beth-Gelert, for the wolves were very\nthick there at this time. Now the prince used to travel from farm-house\nto farm-house with his family and friends, when going on these hunting\nparties.\n\nOne season they went hunting from Aber, and stopped at the house where\nBeth-Gelert is now--it\u2019s about fourteen miles away. The prince had all\nhis hounds with him, but his favourite was Gelert, a hound who had never\nlet off a wolf for six years.\n\nThe prince loved the dog like a child, and at the sound of his horn\nGelert was always the first to come bounding up. There was company\nat the house, and one day they went hunting, leaving his wife and the\nchild, in a big wooden cradle, behind him at the farm-house.\n\nThe hunting party killed three or four wolves, and about two hours\nbefore the word passed for returning home, Llewellyn missed Gelert, and\nhe asked his huntsmen:\n\n\u201cWhere\u2019s Gelert? I don\u2019t see him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, indeed, master, I\u2019ve missed him this half-hour.\u201d\n\nAnd Llewellyn blew his horn, but no Gelert came at the sound.\n\nIndeed, Gelert had got on to a wolves\u2019 track which led to the house.\n\nThe prince sounded the return, and they went home, the prince lamenting\nGelert. \u201cHe\u2019s sure to have been slain--he\u2019s sure to have been slain!\nsince he did not answer the horn. Oh, my Gelert!\u201d And they approached\nthe house, and the prince went into the house, and saw Gelert lying by\nthe overturned cradle, and blood all about the room.\n\n\u201cWhat! hast thou slain my child?\u201d said the prince, and ran his sword\nthrough the dog.\n\nAfter that he lifted up the cradle to look for his child, and found the\nbody of a big wolf underneath that Gelert had slain, and his child was\nsafe. Gelert had capsized the cradle in the scuffle.\n\n\u201cOh, Gelert! Oh, Gelert!\u201d said the prince, \u201cmy favourite hound, my\nfavourite hound! Thou hast been slain by thy master\u2019s hand, and in death\nthou hast licked thy master\u2019s hand!\u201d He patted the dog, but it was too\nlate, and poor Gelert died licking his master\u2019s hand.\n\nNext day they made a coffin, and had a regular funeral, the same as if\nit were a human being; all the servants in deep mourning, and everybody.\nThey made him a grave, and the village was called after the dog,\nBeth-Gelert--Gelert\u2019s Grave; and the prince planted a tree, and put a\ngravestone of slate, though it was before the days of quarries. And they\nare to be seen to this day.\n\n\n\n\nORIGIN OF THE WELSH.\n\nMany years ago there lived several wild tribes round the King of\nPersia\u2019s city, and the king\u2019s men were always annoying and harassing\nthem, exacting yearly a heavy tribute. Now these tribes, though very\nbrave in warfare, could not hold their own before the Persian army\nwhen sent out against them, so that they paid their yearly tribute\ngrudgingly, but took revenge, whenever they could, upon travellers to or\nfrom the city, robbing and killing them.\n\nAt last one of the tribesmen, a clever old chieftain, thought of a\ncunning plan whereby to defeat the Persians, and free themselves from\nthe yearly tribute. And this was his scheme:\n\nThe wild wastes where these tribes lived were infested with large\nbirds called \u201cRohs\u201d, [Footnote: Pronounced softly.] which were very\ndestructive to human beings--devouring men, women, and children greedily\nwhenever they could catch them. Such a terror were they that the tribes\nhad to protect their village with high walls, [Footnote: Can this have\nanything to do with the idea of walling-in the cuckoo?] and then\nthey slept securely, for the Roh hunted by night. This old chieftain\ndetermined to watch the birds, and find out their nesting-places; so he\nhad a series of towers built, in which the watchmen could sleep securely\nby night. These towers were advanced in whatever direction the birds\nwere seen to congregate by night. The observers reported that the Roh\ncould not fly, but ran very swiftly, being fleeter than any horse.\n\nAt length, by watching, their nesting-places were found in a sandy\nplain, and it was discovered that those monstrous birds stole sheep and\ncattle in great numbers.\n\nThe chieftain then gave orders for the watchmen to keep on guard until\nthe young birds were hatched, when they were commanded to secure fifty,\nand bring them into the walled town. The order was carried out, and one\nnight they secured fifty young birds just out of the egg, and brought\nthem to the town.\n\nThe old chieftain then told off fifty skilful warriors, a man to each\nbird, to his son being allotted the largest bird. These warriors were\nordered to feed the birds on flesh, and to train them for battle. The\nbirds grew up as tame as horses. Saddles and bridles were made for them,\nand they were trained and exercised just like chargers.\n\nWhen the next tribute day came round, the King of Persia sent his\nemissaries to collect the tax, but the chieftains of the tribes insulted\nand defied them, so that they returned to the king, who at once sent\nforward his army.\n\nThe chieftain then marshalled his men, and forty-six of the Rohs were\ndrawn up in front of the army, the chief getting on the strongest bird.\nThe remaining four were placed on the right flank, and ordered at a\nsignal to advance and cut off the army, should they retreat.\n\nThe Rohs had small scales, like those of a fish, on their necks and\nbodies, the scales being hidden under a soft hair, except on the upper\nhalf of the neck. They had no feathers except on their wings. So they\nwere invulnerable except as to the eyes--for in those days the Persians\nonly had bows and arrows, and light javelins. When the Persian army\nadvanced, the Rohs advanced at lightning speed, and made fearful havoc,\nthe birds murdering and trampling the soldiers under foot, and beating\nthem down with their powerful wings. In less than two hours half the\nPersian army was slain, and the rest had escaped. The tribes returned to\ntheir walled towns, delighted with their victory.\n\nWhen the news of his defeat reached the King of Persia he was wroth\nbeyond expression, and could not sleep for rage. So the next morning he\ncalled for his magician.\n\n\u201cWhat are you going to do with the birds?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ve been thinking the matter over,\u201d replied the magician.\n\n\u201cCannot you destroy all of them?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, your majesty; I cannot destroy them, for I have not the power; but\nI can get rid of them in one way; for though I cannot put out life, I\nhave the power of turning one life into some other living creature.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, what will you turn them into?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll consider to-night, your majesty,\u201d replied the magician.\n\n\u201cWell, mind and be sure to do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019ll be sure to do it, your majesty.\u201d\n\n        *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe next day, at ten, the magician appeared before the king, who asked:\n\n\u201cHave you considered well?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, your majesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, how are you going to act?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty, I\u2019ve thought and thought during the night, and the best\nthing we can do is to turn all the birds into fairies.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat are fairies?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve planned it all out, and I hope your majesty will agree.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! I\u2019ll agree, as long as they never molest us more.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, your majesty, I\u2019m going to turn them to fairies--small living\ncreatures to live in caves in the bowels of the earth, and they shall\nonly visit people living on the earth once a year. They shall be\nharmless, and hurt nothing; they shall be fairies, and do nothing\nbut dance and sing, and I shall allow them to go about on earth for\ntwenty-four hours once a year and play their antics, but they shall do\nno mischief.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow long are the birds to remain in that state?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give them 2,000 years, your majesty; and at the end of that time\nthey are to go back into birds, as they were before. And after the birds\nchange from the fairy state back into birds, they shall never breed\nmore, but die a natural death.\u201d\n\nSo the tribes lost their birds, and the King of Persia made such fearful\nhavoc amongst them that they decided to leave the country.\n\nThey travelled, supporting themselves by robbery; until they came to\na place where they built a city, and called it Troy, where they were\nbesieged for a long time.\n\nAt length the besiegers built a large caravan, with a large man\u2019s\nhead in front; the head was all gilded with gold. When the caravan was\nfinished they put 150 of the best warriors inside, provided with food,\nand one of them had a trumpet. Then they pulled the caravan, which ran\nupon eight broad wheels, up to the gates of the city, and left it there,\ntheir army being drawn up in a valley near by. It was, agreed that\nwhen the caravan got inside the gates the bugler should blow three loud\nblasts to warn, the army, who would immediately advance into the city.\n\nThe men on the ramparts saw this curious caravan, and they began\nwondering what it was, and for two or three days they left it alone.\n\nAt last an old chieftain said, \u201cIt must be their food.\u201d\n\nOn the third day they opened the gates, and attaching ropes, began to\nhaul it into the city; then the warriors leaped out, and the horn blew,\nand the army hurried up, and the town was taken after great slaughter;\nbut a number escaped with their wives and children, and fled on to the\nCrimea, whence they were driven by the Russians, so they marched away\nalong the sea to Spain, and bearing up through France, they stopped.\nSome wanted to go across the sea, and some stayed in the heart of\nFrance: they were the Bretoons. [Footnote: Bretons.] The others came\non over in boats, and landed in England, and they were the first people\nsettled in Great Britain: they were the Welsh.\n\n\n\n\nCROWS.\n\n\n  One black crow, bad luck for me.\n  Two black crows, good luck for me.\n  Three black crows, a son shall be born in the family.\n  Four black crows, a daughter shall be born in the family.\n  Five black crows shall be a funeral in the family.\n  Six black crows, if they fly head on, a sudden death.\n  Seven black crows with their tails towards you, death within seven\n  years.\n\n\nThere was a young man, not so very long ago, who had been to sea for\nyears. He was married, but had no children. He was one of the most\nspirited men you ever saw. He used to complain of his dreams. He said,\n\u201cAll at once last Sunday I was up in the air, and I saw the vessel I was\nin going at great speed, making for a mountain, and I tried as hard as\nI could to keep her from the mountain. I don\u2019t believe I was asleep\nat all, I could see it so plainly. I went along in the air, looking at\nseven black crows all the time. I got dizzy, and the vessel seemed to\nlower on to the earth. The vessel lowered within a few hundred feet of\nthe earth, and I saw what I thought were fairies. I thought I had been\nthere for days; in truth, it seemed to me I had been up there for three\ndays, and that I could hear the fairies with mournful sounds drawing\na coffin. I watched and watched, and saw seven crows on the coffin.\nIt seemed as if they were going to bury someone. Whilst the coffin\nwas going the seven crows flew up and bursted, and the heavens were\nilluminated more strongly than by the sun. Then I lost sight of the\nfairies, but saw some big giants in white walking about, and there was\na big throne with a roof to it. And all at once I was in total darkness,\nbut I could hear things flapping about, flying through the air. Then I\nsaw the moon rising and all the stars, and all sorts of objects flying\nthrough the air. And one came to me, and put his hand upon my shoulder,\nsaying: _\u2018Prepare to meet us to-morrow.\u2019_ After that everything went\ndark again. The first thing I knew I was in a ship steering, and the\nseven black crows were in front of me. I had a great trouble to steer my\nvessel. And as I went on the vessel struck a steeple, and exploded, and\nI awoke. Whereupon I jumped out of bed, looking very pale.\u201d\n\nI left him on the beach at 11.30, after he told me this, when he went\nhome. When he got home he could see seven black crows on the house.\nOther people could see the crows, but could not count them. He saw them\nall perched head on. He went into the house, and said,\n\n\u201cThere is something in these crows, Jane; see them on the roof.\u201d\n\nShe cried out and ran out and looked, but could not see the seven. After\nthat he didn\u2019t seem to be himself, though there was nothing the matter\nwith him. A week afterwards, I went out on the Sunday morning after\nbreakfast, and there was a seat on the beach, and on it sat this man,\nJohnny, and another man.\n\n\u201cWhy, Johnny, you look very pale,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cDo I?\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cYes! indeed you do,\u201d I replied.\n\n\u201cWell, I don\u2019t know, I have had such dreams.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will they have been, then?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cThat I was in a full-rigged ship, with all sails set; I was all alone,\nbut could see nothing, only seven black crows. I counted them, but my\nwife could see nothing, but she could hear something.\u201d\n\nThat same day, when he went home, he said to his wife:\n\n\u201cAh, Jane, there is something coming over me,\u201d and he fell down dead.\n\n\n\n\nROBERT ROBERTS AND THE FAIRIES.\n\nRobert Roberts was a carpenter who worked hard and well; but he could\nnever keep his tongue still. One day, as he was crossing a brook, a\nlittle man came up to him and said:\n\n\u201cRobert Roberts, go up to the holly tree that leans over the road on the\nRed-hill, and dig below it, and you shall be rewarded.\u201d\n\nThe very next morning, at daybreak, Robert Roberts set out for the spot,\nand dug a great hole, before anyone was up, when he found a box of gold.\nHe went to the same place twice afterwards, and dug, and found gold\neach time. But as he grew rich, he began to boast and hint that he had\nmysterious friends. One day, when the talk turned on the fairies, he\nsaid that he knew them right well, and that they gave him money. Robert\nRoberts thought no more of the matter until he went to the spot a week\nafterwards, one evening at dusk. When he got to the tree, and began to\ndig as usual, big stones came rolling down the bank, just missing him,\nso that he ran for his life, and never went near the place again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRY OF THE DELL.\n\nIn olden times fairies were sent to oppose the evil-doings of witches,\nand to destroy their power. About three hundred years ago a band of\nfairies, sixty in number, with their queen, called Queen of the Dell,\ncame to Mona to oppose the evil works of a celebrated witch. The fairies\nsettled by a spring, in a valley. After having blessed the spring, or\n\u201cwell\u201d, as they called it, they built a bower just above the spring for\nthe queen, placing a throne therein. Near by they built a large bower\nfor themselves to live in.\n\nAfter that, the queen drew three circles, one within the other, on a\nnice flat grassy place by the well. When they were comfortably settled,\nthe queen sent the fairies about the country to gather tidings of\nthe people. They went from house to house, and everywhere heard great\ncomplaints against an old witch; how she had made some blind, others\nlame, and deformed others by causing a horn to grow out of their\nforeheads. When they got back to the well and told the queen, she said:\n\n\u201cI must do something for these old people, and though the witch is very\npowerful, we must break her power.\u201d So the next day the queen fairy sent\nword to all the bewitched to congregate upon a fixed day at the sacred\nwell, just before noon.\n\nWhen the day came, several ailing people collected at the well. The\nqueen then placed the patients in pairs in the inner ring, and the sixty\nfairies in pairs in the middle ring. Each little fairy was three feet\nand a half high, and carried a small wand in her right hand, and a bunch\nof fairy flowers--cuckoo\u2019s boots, baby\u2019s bells, and day\u2019s-eyes--in her\nleft hand. Then the queen, who was four feet and a half in height, took\nthe outside ring. On her head was a crown of wild flowers, in her right\nhand she carried a wand, and in her left a posy of fairy flowers. At a\nsignal from the queen they began marching round the rings, singing in\nchorus:\n\n  \u201cWe march round by two and two\n  The circles of the sacred well\n  That lies in the dell.\u201d\n\nWhen they had walked twice round the ring singing, the queen took her\nseat upon the throne, and calling each patient to her, she touched him\nwith her wand and bade him go down to the sacred well and dip his body\ninto the water three times, promising that all his ills should be cured.\nAs each one came forth from the spring he knelt before the queen, and\nshe blessed him, and told him to hurry home and put on dry clothes. So\nthat all were cured of their ills.\n\n\n\nII.\n\nNow the old witch who had worked all these evils lived near the well\nin a cottage. She had first learned witchcraft from a book called _The\nBlack Art_, which a gentleman farmer had lent her when a girl. She\nprogressed rapidly with her studies, and being eager to learn more, sold\nherself to the devil, who made compact with her that she should have\nfull power for seven years, after which she was to become his. He gave\nher a wand that had the magic power of drawing people to her, and she\nhad a ring on the grass by her house just like the fairy\u2019s ring. As the\nseven years were drawing to a close, and her heart was savage against\nthe farmer who first led her into the paths of evil knowledge, she\ndetermined to be revenged. One day, soon after the Fairy of the Dell\ncame to live by the spring, she drew the farmer to her with her wand,\nand, standing in her ring, she lured him into it. When he crossed the\nline, she said:\n\n  \u201cCursed be he or she\n  That crosses my circle to see me,\u201d\n\nand, touching him on the head and back, a horn and a tail grew from\nthe spots touched. He went off in a terrible rage, but she only laughed\nmaliciously. Then, as she heard of the Queen of the Dell\u2019s good deeds,\nshe repented of her evil deeds, and begged her neighbour to go to the\nqueen fairy and ask her if she might come and visit her. The queen\nconsented, and the old witch went down and told her everything--of the\nbook, of the magic wand, of the ring, and of all the wicked deeds she\nhad done.\n\n\u201cO, you have been a bad witch,\u201d said the queen, \u201cbut I will see what I\ncan do; but you must bring me the book and the wand;\u201d and she told the\nold witch to come on the following day a little before noon. When the\nwitch came the next day with her wand and book, she found the fairies\nhad built a fire in the middle ring. The queen then took her and stood\nher by the fire, for she could not trust her on the outer circle.\n\n\u201cNow I must have more power,\u201d said the queen to the fairies, and she\nwent and sat on the throne, leaving the witch by the fire in the middle\nring. After thinking a little, the queen said, \u201cNow I have it,\u201d and\ncoming down from her throne muttering, she began walking round the outer\ncircle, waiting for the hour of one o\u2019clock, when all the fairies got\ninto the middle circle and marched round, singing:\n\n  \u201cAt the hour of one\n  The cock shall crow one,\n  Goo! Goo! Goo!\n  I am here to tell\n  Of the sacred well\n  That lies in the dell,\n  And will conquer hell.\u201d\n\nOn the second round, they sang:\n\n  \u201cAt the hour of two\n  The cock crows two,\n  Goo! Goo! Goo!\n  I am here to tell\n  Of the sacred well\n  That lies in the dell;\n  We will conquer hell.\u201d\n\nAt the last round, they sang:\n\n  \u201cAt the hour of three\n  The cock crows three,\n  Goo! Goo! Goo!\n  I am here to tell\n  Of the sacred well\n  That lies in the dell;\n  Now I have conquered hell.\u201d\n\nThen the queen cast the book and wand into the fire, and immediately\nthe vale was rent by a thundering noise, and numbers of devils came from\neverywhere, and encircled the outer ring, but they could not pass the\nring. Then the fairies began walking round and round, singing their\nsong. When they had finished the song they heard a loud screech from\nthe devils that frightened all the fairies except the queen. She was\nunmoved, and going to the fire, stirred the ashes with her wand, and saw\nthat the book and wand were burnt, and then she walked thrice round the\nouter ring by herself, when she turned to the devils, and said:\n\n\u201cI command you to be gone from our earthly home, get to your own abode.\nI take the power of casting you all from here. Begone! begone! begone!\u201d\n And all the devils flew up, and there was a mighty clap as of thunder,\nand the earth trembled, and the sky became overcast, and all the devils\nburst, and the sky cleared again.\n\nAfter this the queen put three fairies by the old witch\u2019s side, and\nthey constantly dipped their wands in the sacred spring, and touched her\nhead, and she was sorely troubled and converted.\n\n\u201cBring the mirror,\u201d said the queen.\n\nAnd the fairies brought the mirror and laid it in the middle circle, and\nthey all walked round three times, chanting again the song beginning\n\u201cAt the hour of one.\u201d When they had done this the queen stood still, and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cStand and watch to see what you can see.\u201d\n\nAnd as she looked she said:\n\n  \u201cThe mirror shines unto me\n  That the witch we can see\n  Has three devils inside of she.\u201d\n\nImmediately the witch had a fit, and the three fairies had a hard job to\nkeep the three devils quiet; indeed, they could not do so, and the queen\nhad to go herself with her wand, for fear the devils should burst the\nwitch asunder, and she said, \u201cCome out three evil spirits, out of thee.\u201d\n\nAnd they came gnashing their teeth, and would have killed all the\nfairies, but the queen said:\n\n\u201cBegone, begone, begone! you evil spirits, to the place of your abode,\u201d\n and suddenly the sky turned bright as fire, for the evil spirits were\ntrying their spleen against the fairies, but the queen said, \u201cCollect,\ncollect, collect, into one fierce ball,\u201d and the fiery sky collected\ninto one ball of fire more dazzling than the sun, so that none could\nlook at it except the queen, who wore a black silk mask to protect\nher eyes. Suddenly the ball burst with a terrific noise, and the earth\ntrembled.\n\n\u201cEnter into your abode, and never come down to our abode on earth any\nmore,\u201d said the queen.\n\nAnd the witch was herself again, and she and the queen fairy were\nimmediately great friends. The witch, when she came out of the ring,\ndropped on her knee and asked the queen if she might call her the Lady\nof the Dell, and how she could serve her.\n\n\u201cWe will see about that,\u201d said the queen.\n\n\u201cWell, how do you live?\u201d asked the woman who had been a witch.\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ll tell you,\u201d said the queen. \u201cWe go at midnight and milk the\ncows, and we keep the milk, and it never grows less so long as we leave\nsome in the bottom of the vessel; we must not use it all. After milking\nthe cow, we rub the cow\u2019s purse and bless it, and she gives double the\namount of milk.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, how do you get corn?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, we were at the mill playing one day, and the miller came in and\nsaw us, and spoke kindly to us, and offered us some flour. \u2018We never\ntake nothing for nothing,\u2019 I said, so I blessed the bin: so in a few\nminutes the bin was full to the brim with flour, and I said to the\nmiller, \u2018Now don\u2019t you empty the bin, but always leave a peck in it, and\nfor twelve months, no matter how much you use the bin, it will always\nbe full in the morning.\u2019 Now I have told you this much, and I will tell\nfurther, \u2018You must love your neighbour, you must love all mankind.\u2019 Now\nhere is a purse of gold, go and buy what you want, eggs, bacon, cheese,\nand get a flagon of wine and use these things freely, giving freely to\nthe aged poor, and if you never finish these things, there will always\nbe as much the next morning as you started with. And I shall make a\nsalve for you, and you must use the water from the sacred well. That\nwill be as a medicine, and people shall come from far and wide to be\ncured by you, and you shall be loved by all, and you shall be known to\nthe poorest of the poor as Madame Dorothy.\u201d\n\nAnd the woman did as she was told, and she became renowned for her\nmedical skill, especially in childbirth, for her salve eased the pains,\nand her waters brought milk. By-and-by, she got known all over the\nisland, and rich people came to her from afar, and she always made the\nrich pay, and the poor were treated free.\n\nMadame Dorothy used to see the queen fairy at times, and one day she\nasked her, \u201cShall we meet again?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe cannot tell,\u201d said the queen, \u201cbut I will give you a ring--let me\nplace it on your finger--it is a magic ring worked by fairies. Whenever\nyou seek to know of me, make a ring of your own, and walk round three\ntimes and rub the ring; if it turns bright I am alive, but if you see\nblood I am dead.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how can that be? You are much younger than I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no! we fairies look young to the day of our death; we live to a\ngreat age, but die naturally of old age, for we never have any ailments,\nbut still our power fades. Men fade in the flesh and power, but we fade\nonly in power. I am over seventy now.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you look to be thirty.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, we will shake hands and part, for I must go elsewhere; as I have\nno king, I do not stop in one place.\u201d\n\nAnd they shook hands and parted.\n\n\n\n\nELLEN\u2019S LUCK.\n\nEllen was a good girl, and beautiful to look upon. One Sunday she was\nwalking by an open gutter in a town in North Wales when she found a\ncopper. After that day Ellen walked every Sunday afternoon by the same\ndrain, and always found a copper. She was a careful girl, and used to\nhoard her money.\n\nOne day her old mother found her pile of pennies, and wished to know\nwhere she got them.\n\nEllen told her, but though she walked by the gutter for many a Sunday\nafter, she never found another copper.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRIES\u2019 MINT.\n\nOnce upon a time there was a miller, who lived in Anglesey. One day\nhe noticed that some of his sacks had been moved during the night. The\nfollowing day he felt sure that some of his grain had been disturbed,\nand, lastly, he was sure someone had been working his mill in the night\nduring his absence. He confided his suspicions to a friend, and they\ndetermined to go the next night and watch the mill. The following night,\nat about midnight, as they approached the mill, that stood on a bare\nstony hill, they were surprised to find the mill all lit up and at work,\nthe great sails turning in the black night. Creeping up softly to\na small window, the miller looked in, and saw a crowd of little men\ncarrying small bags, and emptying them into the millstones. He could not\nsee, however, what was in the bags, so he crept to another window, when\nhe saw golden coins coming from the mill, from the place where the flour\nusually ran out.\n\nImmediately the miller went to the mill door, and, putting his key into\nthe lock, he unlocked the door; and as he did so the lights went out\nsuddenly, and the mill stopped working. As he and his friend went into\nthe dark mill they could hear sounds of people running about, but by\nthe time they lit up the mill again there was nobody to be seen, but\nscattered all about the millstones and on the floor were cockle-shells.\n\nAfter that, many persons who passed the mill at midnight said they saw\nthe mill lit up and working; but the old miller left the fairies alone\nto coin their money.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PELLINGS.\n\nIn a meadow belonging to Ystrad, bounded by the river which falls from\nCwellyn Lake, they say the fairies used to assemble, and dance in fair\nmoonlight nights. One evening a young man, who was the heir and occupier\nof this farm, hid himself in a thicket close to the spot where they used\nto gambol. Presently they appeared, and when in their merry mood, out\nhe bounced from his covert, and seized one of their females; the rest\nof the company dispersed themselves, and disappeared in an instant.\nDisregarding her struggles and screams, he hauled her to his home, where\nhe treated her so very kindly that she became contented to live with him\nas his maid-servant, but he could not prevail upon her to tell him her\nname. Some time after, happening again to see the fairies upon the same\nspot, he heard one of them saying, \u201cThe last time we met here our sister\nPenelope was snatched away from us by one of the mortals.\u201d Rejoiced at\nknowing the name of his incognita, he returned home; and as she was\nvery beautiful and extremely active, he proposed to marry her, which she\nwould not for a long time consent to; at last, however, she complied,\nbut on this condition, \u201cThat if ever he should strike her with iron, she\nwould leave him, and never return to him again.\u201d They lived happy for\nmany years together, and he had by her a son and a daughter; and by\nher industry and prudent management as a housewife he became one of the\nrichest men in the country. He farmed, besides his own freehold, all the\nlands on the north side of Nant y Bettws to the top of Snowdon, and\nall Cwm brwynog in Llanberis, an extent of about five thousand acres or\nupwards.\n\nUnfortunately, one day Penelope followed her husband into the field to\ncatch a horse, and he, being in a rage at the animal as he ran away from\nhim, threw at him the bridle that was in his hand, which unluckily fell\non poor Penelope. She disappeared in an instant, and he never saw her\nafterwards, but heard her voice in the window of his room one night\nafter, requesting him to take care of the children, in these words:--\n\n  \u201cRhag bod anwyd ar fy m\u00e2b,\n  Yn rhodd rhowch arno g\u00f4b ei d\u00e2d:\n  Rhag bod anwyd ar liw\u2019r cann,\n  Rhoddwch arni bais ei mam.\u201d\n\nThat is,\n\n  \u201cOh! lest my son should suffer cold,\n  Him in his father\u2019s coat infold:\n  Lest cold should seize my darling fair,\n  For her, her mother\u2019s robe prepare.\u201d\n\nThese children and their descendants they say were called Pellings [1],\na word corrupted from their mother\u2019s name Penelope.\n\n[1] In England we frequently meet with the surname Pilling and Billing;\nit might have happened, that a man had met with an English woman of that\nname, and had married her, and, as is usual in brides, she might have\nbeen, though married, called by her maiden name, and the appellation\nmight have been continued to her posterity.--_Authors Note_.\n\nThe name Billing and Belling is the family name of one of the oldest\nCornish (Keltic) families--a fact that suggests other possibilities.--P.\nH. E.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LONG-LIVED ANCESTORS.\n\nThe Eagle of Gwernabwy had been long married to his female, and had by\nher many children; she died, and he continued a long time a widower; but\nat length be proposed a marriage with the Owl of Cwm Cwmlwyd; but afraid\nof her being young, so as to have children by her, and thereby degrade\nhis own family, he first of all went to inquire about her age amongst\nthe aged of the world. Accordingly he applied to the Stag of Rhedynfre,\nwhom he found lying close to the trunk of an old oak, and requested to\nknow the Owl\u2019s age.\n\n\u201cI have seen,\u201d said the Stag, \u201cthis oak an acorn, which is now fallen\nto the ground through age, without either bark or leaves, and never\nsuffered any hurt or strain except from my rubbing myself against it\nonce a day, after getting up on my legs; but I never remember to have\nseen the Owl you mention younger or older than she seems to be at\nthis day. But there is one older than I am, and that is the Salmon of\nGlynllifon.\u201d\n\nThe Eagle then applied to the Salmon for the age of the Owl. The Salmon\nanswered, \u201cI am as many years old as there are scales upon my skin, and\nparticles of spawn within my belly; yet never saw I the Owl you mention\nbut the same in appearance. But there is one older than I am, and that\nis the Blackbird of Cilgwri.\u201d\n\nThe Eagle next repaired to the Blackbird of Cilgwri, whom he found\nperched upon a small stone, and enquired of him the Owl\u2019s age.\n\n\u201cDost thou see this stone upon which I sit,\u201d said the Blackbird, \u201cwhich\nis now no bigger than what a man can carry in his hand? I have seen this\nvery stone of such weight as to be a sufficient load for a hundred oxen\nto draw, which has suffered neither rubbing nor wearing, save that I rub\nmy bill on it once every evening, and touch the tips of my wings on it\nevery morning, when I expand them to fly; yet I have not seen the Owl\neither older or younger than she appears to be at this day. But there is\none older than I am, and that is the Frog of Mochno Bog, and if he does\nnot know her age, there is not a creature living that does know it.\u201d\n\nThe Eagle went last of all to the Frog and desired to know the Owl\u2019s\nage. He answered, \u201cI never ate anything but the dust from the spot which\nI inhabit, and that very sparingly, and dost thou see these great hills\nthat surround and overawe this bog where I lie? They are formed only\nof the excrements from my body since I have inhabited this place, yet I\nnever remember to have seen the Owl but an old hag, making that\nhideous noise, Too, hoo, hoo! always frightening the children in the\nneighbourhood.\u201d\n\nSo the Eagle of Gwernabwy, the Stag of Rhedynfre, the Salmon of\nGlynllifon, the Blackbird of Cilgwri, the Frog of Mochno Bog, and the\nOwl of Cwm Cawlwyd are the oldest creatures in the whole world!\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANTESS\u2019S APRON-FULL.\n\nA huge giant, in company with his wife, travelling towards the island of\nMona, with an intention of settling amongst the first inhabitants that\nhad removed there, and having been informed that there was but a narrow\nchannel which divided it from the continent, took up two large stones,\none under each arm, to carry with him as a preparatory for making a\nbridge over this channel, and his lady had her apron filled with small\nstones for the same purpose; but, meeting a man on this spot with a\nlarge parcel of old shoes on his shoulders, the giant asked him how far\nit was to Mona. The man replied, that it was so far, that he had worn\nout those shoes in travelling from Mona to that place. The giant on\nhearing this dropped down the stones, one on each side of him, where\nthey now stand upright, about a hundred yards or more distant from each\nother; the space between them was occupied by this Goliah\u2019s body.\nHis mistress at the same time opened her apron, and dropped down the\ncontents of it, which formed this heap.\n\n\n\n\nGWRGAN FARFDRWCH\u2019S FABLE.\n\nHear me, O ye Britons! On the top of a high rock in Arvon there stood\na goat, which a lion perceiving from the valley below, addressed her in\nthis manner:--\n\n\u201cMy dearest neighbour, why preferrest thou that dry barren rock to\nfeed on? Come down to this charming valley, where thou mayest feed\nluxuriously upon all sorts of dainties, amongst flowers in shady groves,\nmade fruitful by meandering brooks.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am much obliged to you, master,\u201d replied the goat; \u201cperhaps you mean\nwell, and tell me the truth, but you have very bad neighbours, whom I\ndo not like to trust, and those are your teeth, so, with your leave, I\nprefer staying where I am.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH.\n\nIn the beginning of the century, Hughes went as military substitute for\na farmer\u2019s son. He got \u00a380, a watch, and a suit of clothes. His mother\nwas loath to let him go, and when he joined his regiment, she followed\nhim from Amlych to Pwlheli to try and buy him off. He would not hear of\nit. \u201cMother,\u201d he said, \u201cthe whole of Anglesey would not keep me, I want\nto be off, and see the world.\u201d\n\nThe regiment was quartered in Edinboro\u2019, and Hughes married the daughter\nof the burgess with whom he was billeted. Thence, leaving a small son,\nas hostage to the grandparents, they went to Ireland, and Hughes and his\nwife were billeted on a pork-butcher\u2019s family in Dublin. One day, the\nmother of the pork-butcher, an old granny, told them she had seen the\nfairies.\n\n\u201cLast night, as I was abed, I saw a bright, bright light come in, and\nafterwards a troop of little angels. They danced all over my bed, and\nthey played and sang music--oh! the sweetest music ever I heard. I lay\nand watched them and listened. By-and-bye the light went out and the\nmusic stopped, and I saw them no more. I regretted the music very much.\nBut directly after another smaller light appeared, and a tall dark man\ncame up to my bed, and with something in his hand he tapped me on the\ntemple; it felt like some one drawing a sharp pin across my temple then\nhe went too. In the morning my pillow was covered with blood. I thought\nand thought, and then I knew I had moved the pig\u2019s trough and must have\nput it in the fairies\u2019 path and the fairies were angered, and the king\nof the fairies had punished me for it.\u201d She moved the trough back to its\nold place the next day, and received no more visits from the wee folk.\n\n\n\n\nBILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL.\n\nBilly Duffy was an Irishman, a blacksmith, and a drunkard. He had the\nKeltic aversion from steady work, and stuck to his forge only long\nenough to get money for drink; when that was spent, he returned to work.\n\nBilly was coming home one day after one of these drinking-bouts, soberer\nthan usual, when he exclaimed to himself, for the thirst was upon him,\n\u201cBy God! I would sell myself to the devil if I could get some more\ndrink.\u201d\n\nAt that moment a tall gentleman in black stepped up to him, and said,\n\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d\n\n\u201cI said I would sell myself to the devil if I could get a drink.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, how much do you want for seven years, and the devil to get you\nthen?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I can\u2019t tell exactly, when it comes to the push.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill \u00a3700 do you?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; I\u2019d take \u00a3700.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd the devil to get you then?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes; I don\u2019t care about that.\u201d\n\nWhen Billy got home he found the money in his smithy. He at once shut\nthe smithy, and began squandering the money, keeping open house.\n\nAmongst the people who flocked to get what they could out of Billy came\nan old hermit, who said, \u201cI am very hungry, and nearly starved. Will you\ngive me something to eat and drink?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes; come in and get what you like.\u201d\n\nThe hermit disappeared, after eating and drinking, and did not reappear\nfor several months, when he received the same kindly welcome, again\ndisappearing. A few months afterwards he again appeared.\n\n\u201cCome in, come in!\u201d said Billy.\n\nAfter he had eaten and drunk his full, the hermit said to Billy: \u201cWell,\nthree times have you been good and kind to me. I\u2019ll give you three\nwishes, and whatever you wish will be sure to come true.\u201d\n\n\u201cI must have time to consider,\u201d said Billy.\n\n\u201cOh, you shall have plenty of time to consider, and mind they are good\nwishes.\u201d\n\nNext morning Billy told the hermit he was ready. \u201cWell, go on; be sure\nthey\u2019re good wishes,\u201d said the hermit.\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ve got a big sledge-hammer in the smithy, and I wish whoever\ngets hold of that hammer shall go on striking the anvil, and never break\nit, till I tell him to stop.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that\u2019s a bad wish, Billy.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no; you\u2019ll see it\u2019s good. Next thing I wish for is a purse so that\nno one can take out whatever I put into it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Billy, Billy! that\u2019s a bad wish. Be careful now about the third\nwish,\u201d said the hermit.\n\n\u201cWell, I have got an armchair upstairs, and I wish that whoever may sit\nin that armchair will never be able to get up till I let them.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well, indeed; they are not very good wishes.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes; I\u2019ve got my senses about me. I think I\u2019ll make them good\nwishes, after all.\u201d\n\nThe seven years, all but three days, had passed, and Billy was back\nworking at his forge, for all his money was gone, when the dark\ngentleman stepped in and said:\n\n\u201cNow, Billy, during these last three days you may have as much money as\nyou like,\u201d and he disappeared.\n\nOn the last day of his seven years Billy was penniless, and he went to\nthe taproom of his favourite inn, which was full.\n\n\u201cWell, boys,\u201d said Billy, \u201cwe must have some money to-night. I\u2019ll treat\nyou, and give you a pound each,\u201d and rising, he placed his tumbler in\nthe middle of the table, and wished for twenty pounds. No sooner had\nhe wished than a ball of fire came through the ceiling, and the twenty\nsovereigns fell into the tumbler. Everyone was taken aback, and there\nwas a noise as if a bomb had burst, and the fireball disappeared, and\nrolled down the garden path, the landlord following it. After this\nthey each drank what they liked, and Billy gave them a sovereign apiece\nbefore he went home.\n\nThe next morning he was in his smithy making a pair of horseshoes, when\nthe devil came in and said:\n\n\u201cWell, Billy, I\u2019ll want you this morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; all right. Take hold of this sledge-hammer, and give me a few\nhammers till I finish this job before I go.\u201d\n\nSo the devil seized the hammer and began striking the anvil, but he\ncouldn\u2019t stop.\n\nSo Billy laughed, and locked him in, and was away three days. During\nthis time the people collected round the smithy, and peeped through the\ncracks in the shutter, for they could hear the hammer going night and\nday.\n\nAt the end of three days Billy returned and opened the door, and the\ndevil said, \u201cOh, Billy, you\u2019ve played a fine trick to me; let me go.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat are you going to give me if I let you go?\u201d\n\n\u201cSeven years more, twice the money, and two days\u2019 grace for wishing for\nwhat you like.\u201d\n\nThe devil paid his money and disappeared, and Billy shut the smithy and\ntook to gambling and drinking, so that at the end of seven years he was\nwithout a penny, and working again in his smithy.\n\nOn the last night of the seven years he went to his favourite\npublic-house again, and wished for five pounds.\n\nAfter he wished, a little man entered and spat the sovereigns into the\ntumbler, and they all drank all night.\n\nNext morning Billy went back to his smithy. The devil, who had grown\nsuspicious, turned himself into a sovereign and appeared on the floor.\nBilly seized the sovereign and clapped it into his purse. Then he took\nhis purse and lay it upon the anvil, and began to beat it with his\nsledge-hammer, when the devil began to call out, \u201cSpare my poor limbs,\nspare my poor limbs!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow much now if I let you go?\u201d asked Billy\n\n\u201cSeven more years, three times the money, and one day in which to wish\nfor what you like.\u201d\n\nBilly took the sovereign out of his purse and threw it away, when he\nfound his money in the smithy.\n\nBilly carried on worse than ever; gambled and drank and raced,\nsquandering it all before his seven years was gone. On the last day of\nhis term he went to his favourite inn as usual and wished for a tumbler\nfull of sovereigns. A little man with a big head, a big nose, and big\nmouth, a little body, and little legs, with clubbed feet and a forked\ntail, brought them in and put them in the tumbler. The drunkards in the\nroom got scared when they saw the little man, for he looked all glowing\nwith fire as he danced on the table. When he finished, he said, \u201cBilly,\nto-morrow morning our compact is up.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know it, old boy, I know it, old boy!\u201d said Billy. Then the devil ran\nout and disappeared, and the people began to question Billy:\n\n\u201cWhat is that? I think it is you, Mister Duffy, he is after.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, it is nothing at all,\u201d said Billy.\n\n\u201cI should think there was something,\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cI am afraid my house will get a bad name,\u201d croaked the landlord.\n\n\u201cNot in the least! You are only a coward,\u201d said Billy.\n\n\u201cBut in the name of God, what is it all about?\u201d asked an old man.\n\n\u201cOh, you\u2019ll see by-and-bye,\u201d said Billy; \u201cit is nothing at all.\u201d\n\nNext morning Billy went to his smithy, but the devil would not come near\nit.\n\nSo he went to his house, and began to quarrel with his wife, and whilst\nhe was quarrelling the devil walked in and said:\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. Duffy, I am ready for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, yes; just sit down and wait a minute or two. I have some papers I\nwant to put to rights before I go.\u201d\n\nSo the devil sat down in the arm-chair, and Billy went to the smithy and\nheated a pair of tongs red-hot, and coming back, he got the devil by the\nnose, and pulled it out as though it had been soft iron. And the devil\nbegan yelling, but he could not move, and Billy kept drawing the nose\nout till it was long enough to reach over the window, when he put an\nold bell-topper on the end of it. And the devil yelled, and snorted fire\nfrom his nose.\n\nThe whole of the village crowded round Billy\u2019s, house--at a safe\ndistance--calling out, \u201cBilly and the devil! The devil and Billy Duffy!\u201d\n\nThe devil got awful savage, and blackguarded Billy Duffy terribly; but\nit was useless. Billy kept him there for days, till he got civil and\nsaid:\n\n\u201cMr. Duffy, what will you let me go for?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly one thing: I am to live the rest of my life without you, and have\nas much gold as I like.\u201d\n\nThe devil agreed, so Billy let him go; and immediately he grew rich. He\nlived to a good old age squandering money all the time, but at last he\ndied and when he got to the gates of hell the clerk said \u201cWho are you?\u201d\n \u201cBilly Duffy,\u201d said he. And when the devil, who was standing near,\nheard, he said:\n\n\u201cGood God! bar the gates and double-lock them for if this Billy Duffy\nthe blacksmith gets in he will ruin us all.\u201d\n\nOld Billy saw a pair of red-hot tongs, which he picked up, and seized\nthe devil by the nose. When the devil pulled back his head he left a\nred-hot bit of his nose in the tongs.\n\nThen Billy Duffy went up to the gates of heaven and St. Peter asked him\nwho he was.\n\n\u201cBilly Duffy the blacksmith,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cNo admittance! You are a bold, bad man,\u201d said St. Peter.\n\n\u201cGood God! what will I do?\u201d said Billy, and he went back to the earth,\nwhere he and the piece of the devil\u2019s nose melted into a ball of fire,\nand he roves the earth till this day as a will-o\u2019-the-wisp.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF JOHN 0\u2019 GROATS.\n\nHe was an old seaman, with weather-beaten face and black eyes, that had\nlooked upon many lands and many sights.\n\n\u201cWell, indeed, I\u2019ll tell you about Johnny Groats as it was told to me\none night in the trades,\u201d he said, blowing a whiff of smoke from his\nwheezy pipe.\n\n\u201cWell, in olden times there was a rich lord, who owned all the property\nlooking on to the Pentlands--an awful place in bad weather; indeed, in\nany weather.\n\n\u201cHe was a lone man, for his wife was dead, and his son had turned out to\nbe a rake and a spendthrift, spending all his substance upon harlots and\nentertainments.\n\n\u201cNow this lord had a factor, by name John o\u2019 Scales, a stingy, cunning\nman, who robbed his master all he could during the week, and prayed hard\nfor forgiveness on the Sabbath.\n\n\u201cThe lord, who was getting very old, was much grieved on account of his\nson\u2019s behaviour. \u2018He\u2019ll spend everything when I am gone, and the estates\nwill go into other hands,\u2019 the old man said to himself.\u201d\n\n        *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u201cOne fine morning in summer the factor received orders to build a hut by\nthe sea, and plant bushes and trees round about it. \u2018But don\u2019t make\nthe door to fit close; leave the space of a foot at the bottom, so the\nleaves can blow in, for I want the hut to shoot sea-fowl as they flight,\nand it is cold standing on the bare ground,\u2019 said the old man.\n\n\u201cThe factor carried out his master\u2019s instructions, but not without\nsuspicion of ulterior motives on his master\u2019s part. However, when he saw\nmy lord shooting the birds and stuffing many of them his suspicions\nwere allayed, and the factor thought that, after all, though his master\nwanted the hut for flight-shooting, still he must be getting softening\nof the brain, for it was very eccentric that he should take up this new\nhobby in his old age.\n\n\u201cSo the old lord was never disturbed in his hut by curious and ill-timed\nvisits.\n\n\u201cAfter a time the lord died, and was laid with his fathers, the prodigal\ninheriting the property.\n\n\u201cThe old castle was then the scene of perpetual feastings and card\nparties, so that in a few years the property was heavily mortgaged, the\nold factor advancing the money.\n\n\u201cThings went apace, until one day the factor informed the young\nspendthrift that he had spent everything, and the estates were no longer\nhis, so he gave him a few pounds, and turned him out.\n\n\u201cWhen the news spread round the countryside his old friends began to\ndrop off, until at last the spendthrift found every door closed against\nhim.\n\n\u201cWhen he had spent his last penny, the prodigal thought of the key which\nhis father had given him, saying, \u2018When you have spent everything, take\nthis key, and go to the hut.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut he had lost the key long before.\n\n\u201cNevertheless, he went to the hut. It had a deserted appearance, being\novergrown with moss and lichens.\n\n\u201cHe managed to squeeze himself under the door, and when he stood up he\nsaw a rope, with a noose hanging from the centre of the roof. Pursuing\nhis investigations, he found a parchment nailed to the back of the door,\nand in one corner stood an old three-legged stool. There was nothing\nelse in the damp, mouldy room, so he began to read the parchment.\n\n\u201c\u2018Thou art come to beggary; end thy miserable existence, for it is thy\nfather\u2019s wish,\u2019 he read.\n\n\u201cHe was dazed, and looked from the parchment to the rope, and from the\nrope to the parchment, saying to himself: \u2018Well, I have come to that, I\nmust follow my father\u2019s wish.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo he got the stool and put it under the noose, and standing upon it,\nadjusted the rope with trembling fingers round his neck, when he said,\nhoarsely: \u2018Father, I do thy bidding,\u2019 and he kicked the stool from under\nhim.\n\n\u201cImmediately he heard a crash, and found himself lying upon the leaves,\nwith a feeling that his neck had been jerked off. However, he soon\nrecovered, and, taking the noose from his neck, he looked up and saw an\nopen trap-door in the ceiling. Placing the stool beneath the opening,\nhe got on to it, and lifted himself through the trap-door, when he found\nhimself in a loft, a parchment nailed to the wall facing him, and on\nthe parchment was written, \u2018This has been prepared, for your end was\nforeseen, and your foolish father buried three chests of gold one foot\nbelow the surface of the floor of the hut. Go and take it and buy back\nyour estate: marry, and beget an heir.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Good God! is this a ghastly joke?\u2019 said the prodigal. But the words\nlooked truthful; so he tore down the parchment, dropped through the\ntrap-door, shut it, and readjusted the rope. He left the hut and\nborrowed a pick and shovel, and returning to the hut, he began to dig,\nand found one chest full of gold. When he made this discovery he closed\nthe chest, filled in the hole, and spread leaves over the spot. He then\nran off to his father\u2019s best friend, and told him of his good luck. They\nthen called in two other friends, and consulted together how the old\nlord\u2019s wish was best to be carried out. \u2018I\u2019ll tell you,\u2019 said his\nfather\u2019s oldest friend. \u2018Mr. John o\u2019 Scales gives a great dinner party\nonce a month, and three of us here are invited as usual. You must come\nin in the middle of dinner in your ordinary beggar clothes and beg\nhumbly for some food, when he will give orders to have you turned out.\nThen you must begin to call him a liar and a thief, and accuse him of\nrobbing your father and yourself of your inheritance. You\u2019ll see he\u2019ll\nget angry, and offer to let you have it back.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo the prodigal dug up the chests, and carted the money away in canvas\nbags, storing it at his friend\u2019s house.\u201d\n\n        *       *       *       *       *\n\n\u201cWhen the night of the dinner party came, the prodigal drove up to the\ncastle in a cart filled with canvas bags. Jumping off his seat by the\ndriver, he went into the feast in his beggar\u2019s clothes, and going up to\nthe host, he begged humbly for some food.\n\n\u201c\u2018Go from this house! What business have you here?\u2019 asked the host.\n\n\u201cMost of the gentlemen and ladies began to frown upon him, and murmur\nagainst him, as he walked to the lady of the house and begged her to\ngive him some food, but she replied:\n\n\u201c\u2018Oh, thou spendthrift! thou fool of fools! if all fools were hanged, as\nthey ought to be, you\u2019d be the first.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen the beggar\u2019s countenance changed, a deep flush of anger overspread\nhis features, and drawing himself up to his full height, he said, with\nsolemn voice, addressing the host:\n\n\u201c\u2018Thou hast robbed my father all the days of his life, and thou hast\nrobbed the orphan. May the curse of God be upon you!\u2019\n\n\u201cThe host grew furious; then he looked ashamed, and shouted angrily:\n\n\u201c\u2018Bring me \u00a340,000, and you shall have your estate back. I never robbed\nyou, but you lost your inheritance by your own follies.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Gentlemen,\u2019 said the beggar, \u2018I take you all to witness that this\nthief says I can have my estate back for \u00a340,000.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe people murmured, and the three friends said: \u2018We are witnesses.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe beggar ran out into the night, and returned with a man laden with\nsacks, and they began to count out \u00a340,000 upon a side-table, where a\nhaunch of venison still smoked.\n\n\u201cWhen they had counted out the money, the beggar said:\n\n\u201c\u2018There is your \u00a340,000; sign this receipt.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe amazed factor drew back, when the three friends said:\n\n\u201c\u2018You must sign; you are a gentleman of your word, of course.\u2019\n\n\u201cMechanically John o\u2019 Scales signed the paper.\n\n\u201c\u2018And now,\u2019 said the former beggar, \u2018leave my house at once, with your\nwife--you coward! you cur! You robbed my father, and then cheated me\nwhen I was a spendthrift. Begone, and may your name be accursed in the\nland!\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd the son turned all out except his three friends.\n\n\u201cIn a few months he married the daughter of one of his friends; but\nhe never gambled again, only entertaining his three friends and their\nfamilies, who came and went as they liked.\n\n\u201cAnd from that day John o\u2019 Scales was called John o\u2019 Groats.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nEVA\u2019S LUCK.\n\nAs black-eyed, black-haired Eva Sauvet was walking one day in Jersey she\nsaw a lozenge-marked snake, whereupon she ran away frightened.\n\nWhen she got home and told her mother, the old woman said:\n\n\u201cWell, child, next time you see the snake give it your handkerchief.\u201d\n\nThe next day Eva went out with beating heart, and ere long she saw\nthe snake come gliding out from the bushes, so she threw down her\nhandkerchief, for she was too frightened to hand it to the snake.\n\nThe snake\u2019s eyes gleamed and twinkled, and taking the handkerchief into\nhis fangs, he made off to an old ruin, whither Eva followed.\n\nBut when they got to the ruin the snake disappeared, and Eva ran home to\ntell her mother.\n\nNext day, P\u00e8re Sauvet and some men went to the ruin, where Eva showed\nthe hole where the snake had disappeared.\n\nOld P\u00e8re Sauvet lit a fire, and smoked the snake out, killing it with a\nstick as it glided over the stones.\n\nAfter that they dug out the hole, when they found the handkerchief.\nDigging still further along, they came upon a hollow place, at the\nbottom of which they found a lot of gold.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FISHERMEN OF SHETLAND.\n\nThere was a snug little cove in one of the Shetland Islands. At the\nhead of the cove stood a fishing hamlet, containing some twenty huts. In\nthese huts lived the fisher-folk, ruled by one man--the chief--who was\nthe father of two beautiful daughters.\n\nNow these fishermen for some years had been very lucky, for a fairy\nqueen and her fairies had settled there, and she had given her power\nover to a merman, who was the chief of a large family of mermaids. The\nfairy queen had made the merman a belt of sea-weed, which he always wore\nround his body. The merman used to turn the water red, green, and white,\nat noon each day, so that the fishermen knew that if they cast their\nnets into the coloured waters they would make good hauls.\n\nAmongst these fishermen were two brave brothers, who courted the chief\u2019s\ndaughters, but the old man would not let them get married until they\nbecame rich men.\n\nWhenever the fishermen went off in the boats the merman was used to sit\non a rock, and watch them fishing.\n\nClose by the hamlet was a great wood, in which lived a wicked old witch\nand a dwarf.\n\nNow this witch wished to get possession of the merman\u2019s belt, and so\ngain the fairy\u2019s power. Telling her scheme to the dwarf, she said to\nhim:\n\n\u201cNow you must trap the merman when he is sitting on the rocks watching\nthe fishing fleet. But I must change you into a bee, when you must\nsuck of the juice in this magic basin, then fly off and alight on the\nmerman\u2019s head, when he will fall asleep.\u201d\n\nSo the dwarf agreed, and it happened as she had said; and the merman\nfell asleep, and the dwarf stole the belt and brought it to the witch.\n\n\u201cNow you must wear the belt,\u201d said the witch to the dwarf, \u201cand you will\nhave the power and the fairy will lose her power.\u201d\n\nThey then translated the sleeping merman to the forest and laid him\nbefore the hut, when the witch got a copper vessel, saying:\n\n\u201cWe must bury him in this.\u201d\n\nThen she got the magic pot, and told the dwarf to take a ladleful of\nthe fluid in the pot, and pour it over the merman, which he did, and\nimmediately the merman turned into smoke, that settled in the copper\nvessel. Then they sealed the copper vessel tightly.\n\n\u201cNow take this vessel, and heave it into the sea fifty miles from the\nland,\u201d said the witch, and the dwarf did as he was bid.\n\n\u201cNow we\u2019ll starve those old fishermen out this winter,\u201d said the witch;\nand it happened as she had said--they could catch nothing.\n\nIn the spring the queen fairy came to one of the young fishermen who was\ncourting one of the chief\u2019s daughters, and said:\n\n\u201cYou must venture for the sake of your love, and for the lives of the\nfishermen, or you will all starve--but I will be with you. Will you run\nthe risk?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said the brave fisherman.\n\n\u201cWell, the dwarf has got my belt, he stole it from the merman, and so I\nhave lost power over the world for twelve months and a day; but if you\nget back the belt I can settle the witch; if not, you will all starve\nand catch no fish.\u201d\n\nSo the bold fisherman agreed to try.\n\n\u201cNow I must transform you into a bear, and you\u2019ll have to watch the\nwitch and the dwarf, and take your chance of getting the belt; and you\nmust watch where he hides his treasure, for he is using the belt as a\nmeans to get gold, which he hides in a cave.\u201d\n\nAnd so the sailor was turned into a bear, and he went to the wood and\nwatched the dwarf, and saw that he hid his treasure in a cave in some\ncrags.\n\nThe bear had been given the power of making himself invisible, by\nsitting on his haunches and rubbing his ears with his paws.\n\nOne night, when it was very boisterous, the bear felt like going to see\nhis sweetheart. So he went, and knocked at the door. The girl opened the\ndoor, and shrieked when she saw the bear.\n\n\u201cOh, let him in,\u201d said her old mother.\n\nSo the bear came in and asked for shelter from the storm, for he could\nspeak.\n\nAnd he went and sat by the fire, and asked his sweetheart to brush the\nsnow from his coat, which she did.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t do you any harm,\u201d he said; \u201clet me sleep by the fire.\u201d\n\nHe came again the next night, and they gave him some gruel, and played\nwith him; for he was just like a dog.\n\nSo he came every night until the springtime, when, one morning, as he\nwas going away, he said:\n\n\u201cYou mustn\u2019t expect me any more. Spring has come, and the snows have\nmelted. I can\u2019t come again till the summer is over.\u201d\n\nSo he returned to the wood and watched the dwarf, but he could never\ncatch him without his belt, until one day he saw him fishing for salmon\nwithout the belt, and at the same time his sweetheart and her sister\ncame by picking flowers.\n\nSo the bear went up to the dwarf, and the dwarf, when he saw him coming,\nsaid:\n\n\u201cAh! good bear! good bear! let me go. These two girls will be a more\ndainty morsel for you.\u201d\n\nBut the bear smote him with his paw and killed him, and immediately the\nbear was turned into his former self, and the girls ran up and kissed\nhim, and talked.\n\nThen he took the two girls to the dwarf\u2019s cave, and gave each of them a\nbag of treasure, keeping one for himself. And taking the belt, he put it\non, and they all walked back to the hamlet, when he told the fishermen\nthat their troubles would soon be over--but that he must kill the witch\nfirst.\n\nThen he turned the belt three times, and said:\n\n\u201cI wish for the queen fairy.\u201d\n\nAnd she came, and was delighted, and said: \u201cNow you must come and slay\nthe witch,\u201d and she handed him a bow and arrow, telling him to use it\nright and tight when he got to the hut.\n\nSo he went off to the wood, and found the witch in her hut, and she\nbegged for mercy.\n\n\u201cOh no, you have done too much mischief,\u201d he said, and he shot her.\n\nThen the queen fairy appeared, and sent him to gather dry wood to make\na fire. When the fire was made she sent him to fetch the witch\u2019s wand,\nwhich she cast into the flames, saying:\n\n\u201cNow, mark my word, all the devils of hell will be here.\u201d\n\nAnd when the wand began to burn all the devils came and tried to snatch\nit from the fire, but the queen raised her wand, saying:\n\n  \u201cThrough this powerful wand\n  that I hold in my hand,\n  Through this bow and arrow\n  I have caused her to be slain,\n  That she may leave our domain.\n  Now take her up high\n  into the sky,\n  And let her burst asunder\n  as a clap of thunder.\n  Then take her to hell\n  and there let her dwell,\n  To all eternity.\u201d\n\nAnd the wand was burnt, and the devils carried the witch off in a noise\nlike thunder.\n\nThe twelve months were up on that day, and the fairy said to the\nfisherman:\n\n\u201cTake your chief and your brother, and put out to sea half-a-mile, where\nyou\u2019ll see a red spot, bright as the sun on the water; cast in your net\non the sea-side of the spot, and pull to the shore.\u201d\n\nThey did as the queen commanded, and when they pulled the net on the\nshore they found the copper vessel.\n\n\u201cNow open it,\u201d said the queen to the fisherman with the belt, \u201cbut cover\nyour belt with your coat first.\u201d\n\nAnd he did so, and when he opened the copper a ball of smoke rose into\nthe air, and suddenly the merman stood before them, and said:\n\n  \u201cThe first four months that I was in prison,\n  I swore I\u2019d make the man as rich as a king,\n  The man who released me.\n  But there was no release, no release, no release.\n\n  The second four months that I was in prison,\n  I swore I\u2019d make the water run red,\n  But there was no release, no release, no release.\n\n  The last four months that I was in prison,\n  I swore in my wrath I\u2019d take my deliverer\u2019s life,\n  Whoever he might be.\u201d\n\nWhereupon the fisherman opened his coat and showed him the belt. Then\nthe merman immediately cooled down, and said:\n\n\u201cOh, that\u2019s how I came into this trouble.\u201d\n\nThen he asked the fisherman with the belt what had happened, and he told\nhim the whole story.\n\nThen the queen told the fisherman to take the girdle off and put it back\non the merman, and he did so; and suddenly the merman took to the sea,\nand began to sing from a rock:\n\n  _\u201cAs I sit upon the rock,\n  I am like a statue block,\n  And I straighten my hair,\n  That is so long and fair.\n  And now my eyes look bright,\n  For I am in great delight,\n  Because I am free in glee,\n  To roam over the sea.\u201d_\n\nAfter that the hamlet was joyful again, for the fishermen began to catch\nplenty of fish; for the merman showed them where to cast their nets, by\ncolouring the water as of old.\n\nAnd the two brothers married the chief\u2019s two beautiful daughters, and\nthey lived happily ever afterwards.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PASTOR\u2019S NURSE.\n\nMon p\u00e8re \u00e9tait tr\u00e8s jeune encore quand il est entr\u00e9 au saint minist\u00e8re\net qu\u2019il fut nomm\u00e9 pasteur \u00e0 Hambach, village de la Lorraine. L\u2019endroit\n\u00e9tait assez grand, mais de peu de ressources, et il \u00e9tait heureux de\ntrouver quelqu\u2019un qui, dans son inexp\u00e9rience et loin de sa famille,\nfut capable de lui aider \u00e0 fonder sa maison, selon les usages et les\ntraditions d\u2019un bon presbyt\u00e8re.\n\nC\u2019est Madame Catherine Reeb, personne d\u2019un \u00e2ge m\u00fbr, dont le mari avait\n\u00e9t\u00e9 instituteur, mais qui d\u2019une nature m\u00e9contente et orgueilleuse, se\ncroyait au-dessus de sa sph\u00e8re, et faisait sentir \u00e0 sa pauvre femme, qui\nl\u2019aimait d\u2019un d\u00e9vouement admirable, toutes les tortures que l\u2019\u00e9go\u00efsme\npeut inventer. Elle se donna \u00e0 peine le n\u00e9cessaire pour procurer \u00e0 son\nseigneur et m\u00e2itre tous les soins que sa sup\u00e9riorit\u00e9 imaginaire pouvait\nexiger, et pourtant il ne fut jamais content, et un beau jour\ndisparut, sans qu\u2019on p\u00fbt retrouver ses traces. La pauvre Catherine fut\ninconsolable, mais ne perdit pas l\u2019espoir qu\u2019un jour son mari ne rev\u00eent,\ncharg\u00e9 de tous les honneurs, qu\u2019elle aussi, bonne \u00e2me cr\u00e9dule, lui\ncroyait d\u00fbs.\n\nC\u2019est dans ces conditions qu\u2019elle vint tenir le m\u00e9nage de mon p\u00e8re, elle\nle fit avec beaucoup de tact et de douceur, mais tout en elle respirait\nla tristesse, l\u2019abandon. Quand, apr\u00e8s quelques ann\u00e9es, mon p\u00e8re se\nmaria, Catherine continua son activit\u00e9 dans la maison, mais avec son bon\nsens naturel, en r\u00e9f\u00e9ra la responsabilit\u00e9 \u00e0 sa jeune ma\u00eetresse, qu\u2019elle\naimait beaucoup.\n\nMa m\u00e8re chercha par bien des moyens \u00e0 la distraire de son chagrin. Elle\ndevint plus gaie, quand elle nous raconta des histoires et fit des jeux\navec nous. Nos parents se faisaient un plaisir de l\u2019observer parfois\nquand elle ne s\u2019endouta pas, se disant: \u201cVoil\u00e0 ce qu\u2019il fallait \u00e0 notre\nvieille Catherine, ce sont les enfants qui lui ont port\u00e9 l\u2019oubli.\u201d\n\nMais cela ne devait pas durer bien longtemps. Elle redevint peu \u00e0 peu\nsilencieuse, et ses profonds soupirs ne prouv\u00e8rent que trop que l\u2019oubli\ndu triste pass\u00e9 n\u2019\u00e9tait qu\u2019\u00e0 la surfa\u00e7e; ses mani\u00e8res taciturnes et les\nmanifestations d\u2019une secr\u00e8te inqui\u00e9tude commen\u00e7aient m\u00eame \u00e0 troubler\nmes parents, et mon p\u00e8re essaya par beaucoup de bont\u00e9 \u00e0 la persuader\nd\u2019accepter les \u00e9preuves de sa vie comme venant de Dieu. Elle pleura\nbeaucoup et s\u2019effor\u00e7a de se gagner un peu de calme, mais sans fruit.\n\nUn beau jour elle vint trouver mon p\u00e8re et lui dit: \u201cMon cher ma\u00eetre,\naidez-moi a ex\u00e9cuter mon projet, et surtout n\u2019essayez pas de m\u2019en\ndissuader. Je suis d\u00e9cid\u00e9e \u00e0 aller \u00e0 la recherche de mon mari; je sais\nqu\u2019il a besoin de moi, il m\u2019appelle, et je vais partir. Procurez-moi les\npapiers et certificats n\u00e8cessaires \u00e0 cette entreprise, afin que je ne\nsois pas inqui\u00e9t\u00e9e par le police. J\u2019irai o\u00f9 mes pieds me conduiront,\nje ne sais o\u00f9 je le retrouverai, mais je sais que je le reverrai. Je\nmarcherai de jour, et de nuit je me logerai dans une auberge ou une\nferme, et je vous donnerai de mes nouvelles.\u201d\n\nMon p\u00e8re voyait qu\u2019il ne pouvait \u00e9branler sa r\u00e9solution, fit ce qu\u2019elle\nlui demanda, pourvoyant tant que possible aux besoins de la route, et\nc\u2019est le coeur gros de sinistres pr\u00e9sages que mes parents virent partir\nleur bonne et fid\u00e8le servante. Quand je lui dis: \u201cTu ne nous aimes\ndonc plus, puisque tu pars?\u201d elle m\u2019embrassa en pleurant, et dit, \u201cJe\nreviendrai!\u201d Il y avait alors vingt ans depuis la disparition de son\nmari, pendant lesquel elle avait soigneusement entretenu son m\u00e9nage dans\nune petite maison qui lui, appartenait.\n\nElle partit donc, ainsi qu\u2019elle l\u2019avait dit; marchant de jour et se\nreposant de nuit, se dirigeant vers la Prusse.\n\nElle fut absente sans que nous eussions de ses nouvelles pendant au-del\u00e0\nd\u2019un mois quand un jour le facteur apporte une lettre \u00e0 mon p\u00e8re de la\npart d\u2019un coll\u00e8gue inconnu d\u2019un village de la Prusse, qui lui dit: \u201cUne\nfemme de respectable apparence, munie de certificats identifiant ses\ndires, est venue me prier de proc\u00e9der \u00e0 l\u2019humation de son mari qu\u2019elle\na trouv\u00e9 mort dans un bois du village voisin. L\u2019autorit\u00e9 municipale a\ncompar\u00e9 les papiers trouv\u00e9s dans les poches de l\u2019inconnu et a constat\u00e9\nqu\u2019ils sont en rapport avec ceux que la femme Reeb porte sur elle, et\nsur ce fait, et voyant que l\u2019homme \u00e9tait mort sans violence, a laiss\u00e9\nses restes \u00e0 elle qui se dit sa veuve et qui lui a rendu les derniers\nhonneurs au cimeti\u00e8re de notre village.\u201d\n\nInutile de d\u00e9crire la surprise de mes parents \u00e0 la reception de cette\nlettre, qui fut bient\u00f4t suivie par le retour de Catherine. Elle compl\u00e9ta\nle r\u00e9cit du pasteur en disant qu\u2019un matin en sortant de ce village, elle\nalla trouver un petit bois, quand elle vit au bord du chemin un homme\n\u00e9tendu mort, mais qui venait seulement de cesser de vivre. Elle le\nregarda, l\u2019examina et reconnut son mari; il lui parut \u00e9vident qu\u2019il\nfaisait son retour vers la patrie et elle, mais que la mort l\u2019avait\nsurpris en route. Catherine fut bien plus calme apr\u00e8s ces \u00e9v\u00e9nements,\nmais ses forces d\u00e9clin\u00e8rent et dans la m\u00eame ann\u00e9e on creusa pour elle\nune tombe au cimeti\u00e8re de Hambach. Elle n\u2019avait plus de famille que\ncelle qu\u2019elle avait si fid\u00e8lement servie, et les larmes de deux jeunes\nenfants prouv\u00e8rent que quoique abandonn\u00e9e elle avait \u00e9t\u00e9 aim\u00e9e.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n(1) THE FAIRIES OF CARAGONAN.\n\nSource: This story came from a Welsh pedlar--a woman. Its genuineness\nmay be relied upon. I find it a common belief that fairies have power\nover witches, and the witch-hare is commonly believed in; also a\nwitch-fox. I have heard of no evil fairies in Wales; all the mischief\nseems to be the work of witches. I have heard several variants of the\nwitch-hare.\n\n\n\n(2) THE CRAIG-Y-DON BLACKSMITH.\n\nThis story I have heard from four different persons.\n\n\n\n(3) OLD GWILYM.\n\nSource: This story came from an old Welshman who says he knew Gwilym,\nand heard the story from his lips. The narrator may be relied upon.\n\n\n\n(4) THE BABY-FARMER.\n\nSame source.\n\n\n\n(5) THE OLD MAN AND THE FAIRIES.\n\nSame source as 2. In Wales, so far as I have heard, the disappointed\nalways find _cockle-shells_.\n\n\n\n(6) TOMMY PRITCHARD.\n\nSame source as 2.\n\n\n\n(7) KADDY\u2019S LUCK.\n\nSame source as 2.\n\n\n\n(8) STORY OF GELERT.\n\nAs told by an old fisherman. The variant of this well-known story may\nprove useful. Borrow\u2019s \u201ctent\u201d theory is, I think, an invention of his\nown. I was fortunate enough to get possession of an old book (without\ntitle-page, title, or author\u2019s name), in which the following remarks on\nthis story occur:--\n\n\u201cSome say this should be written Bedd Gelert, or Gilert, signifying\nGelert\u2019s, or Gilert\u2019s Grave. To this name is annexed a traditional\nstory, which it is hardly worth while to mention. However, the substance\nof the tradition is, that Prince Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, in a fit of\npassion, killed a favourite greyhound in this place, named Gelert, or\nGilert, and that, repenting of the deed, he caused a tomb to be erected\nover his grave, where afterwards the parish church was built. See the\nstory at large in Mr. Edw. Jones\u2019s _Welsh Music_. But we may reasonably\nconclude that this is all a fable, both when we consider the impiety of\nbuilding a church for divine worship over the grave of a dog, an impiety\nnot consistent with the genius of that age; and when we consider, also,\nthat the establishment of parochial cures, and the building of our\ncountry churches in Wales, began soon after the dispersion of the\nBritish clergy, which happened at the time of the massacre at Bangor\nIscoed, A.D. 603, at the instigation of Augustine the Monk, employed\nfor that purpose by the See of Rome. Llewelyn ap Iorwerth governed Wales\nfrom A.D. 1194 to 1240, when he died; so that parish churches were built\nbetween five and six hundred years before the time of this prince.\n\n\u201cThis Gelert, or Gilert, must, in all probability, have been some old\nmonk or saint of that name, who was interred here, and was either the\nfirst founder of this church, or one to whose memory it was dedicated,\nif built after his time. Bethgelert, before the Reformation, was a\npriory. Lewis Dwnn, a bard of the fifteenth century, in a poem (the\npurport of which is to solicit David, the Prior of Bethgelert, to bestow\non John Wynne, of Gwydwr, Esq., a fine bay horse which he possessed)\nextols the Prior for his liberality and learning. Hence we are led to\nsuppose that this monk was very opulent, and a popular character in his\ntime.\u201d\n\nThe stories of a hunter killing his favourite greyhound (always a\ngreyhound) are common to many districts. The book quoted is said to be\nwritten by a Mr. Williams, in 1800.\n\n\n\n(9) ORIGIN OF THE WELSH.\n\nSource: An old seaman, who avers he heard it on a ship, on the way home\nfrom Calcutta. I look with suspicion on the story. However, the Welsh\nalways believed they were descended from the Trojans, and the author of\nthe book cited says on this point:--\n\n\u201cElen was a very common name among the ancient British ladies, and it\nseems to have been often bestowed out of compliment upon genteel and\nbeautiful women; as we sometimes hear at this day _Ei Elen O--his\nElen_ when a man has a young and beautiful wife; and there is hardly\na love-song but the woman is called or compared in it to the Trojan\nHelena, or Elen, as the Welsh write and pronounce the word. The Welsh\nhave had amongst them, time out of mind, a tradition that the first\ncolony of Bretons came to these islands from Troy after the destruction\nof that city.\u201d\n\n\n\n(10) THE STORY OF THE CROWS.\n\nSource: Told me by an old man, who knew the defunct.\n\n\n\n(11) ROBERTS AND THE FAIRIES.\n\nSource: Told me by another old man, and I believe it to be genuine.\n\nThere is another story of the same kind, of a man who was searching for\ntreasure in Beaumaris Castle, and after he had told of his luck a stone\nfell on him, so that he had to go away.\n\n\n\n(12) THE QUEEN OF THE DELL.\n\nCame from the same old pedlar as No. 1. A genuine story. The narrator\nsays you seldom hear a fairy story in Anglesea unless there is a witch\nin it.\n\n\n\n(13) ELLEN\u2019S LUCK.\n\nSource: Told me by the same old man as No. 11. I believe it to be\ngenuine, and the narrator trustworthy.\n\n\n\n(14) THE PELLINGS.\n\nSource: Taken _verbatim_ from the old book referred to. In the context\nthe author says these people inhabited the districts about the foot of\nSnowdon, and were known by the nickname of Pellings, which is not yet\nextinct; and he says they tell the tale as given. After telling\nthe story, which he entitles a fairy story, he makes the following\nsuggestive comments:--\n\n\u201cBefore the Reformation, when the Christian world was enveloped in\nPopish darkness and superstition, when the existence of fairies and\nother spectres was not questioned, and when such a swarm of idle\npeople, under the names of minstrels, poets, begging friars, etc., were\npermitted to ramble about, it may be supposed that these vagrants had\namongst themselves some kind of rule or government, if I may so term\nit, as we are assured those that now-a-days go under the name of gypsies\nhave. Such people might, at appointed times on fine moonlight nights,\nassemble in some sequestered spot, to regulate their dark affairs and\ndivide the spoil; and then perform their nightly _orgies_, so as to\nterrify people from coming near them, lest their tricks and cheats\nshould be discovered. It is possible the men of Ystrad might have less\nsuperstition, and somewhat more courage, than their neighbours, and\nsupposing such a one to come suddenly on these nightly revellers, he\nwould of course cause great consternation amongst them; and, on finding\na comely female in the group, it is not unnatural to imagine that he\nmight, as the heroes of old have done before him, seize on a beauteous\nHelen, carry her home, and in process of time marry her--for many\nvalorous knights have done the latter; but she, on account of some\ndomestic jars, might afterwards have eloped from him, and returned to\nher former companions and occupation.\u201d\n\nThe author makes the following remarks in a foot-note:--\n\n\u201cThe English writers of romances feign the fairies to be of a smaller\nsize than even the fabled pigmies; the Welsh people ever supposed them\nto be of the same stature with mankind. Shakespeare describes his fairy\nas less than a mite, riding through people\u2019s brains to make the chase.\nThis has not been my experience. I have had them described to me of all\nsizes, varying from a woman to little people two feet high. They have\nbeen described, when large, as dressed like ordinary ladies, when small,\nwith short dresses; no hats, and hair in a plaited pigtail down the\nback.\u201d\n\nFinally, the writer says:\n\n\u201cWhat other interpretation can be given to this tale I know not. This,\nand such other tales, the material of which one might collect a volume,\nmust, it may reasonably be supposed, have something of reality for their\norigin and foundation, before they were dressed out in the familiar garb\ngiven them by their authors.\u201d\n\nSo our author is a \u201crealist\u201d as regards the origin of fairies.\n\n\n\n(15) THE LONG-LIVED ANCESTORS.\n\nSource: Taken _verbatim_ from the book quoted. This fable refers to the\nplace, _Cwm Caw Lwyd_, regarding which the writer says:\n\n\u201cWith regard to the _Cwm Caw Lwyd_, there is a still extant fable\nentitled _Creaduriaid Hir Hoedlog_ (i.e., the long-lived ancestors),\nwhich seems to be a composition of no modern date. At present the moral\nof it cannot be elucidated; but it seems that, in one respect, it was\nintended to represent the solitariness of this place, inhabited only\nby the weeping owl from remote antiquity; and certainly it is the most\nsolitary and romantic retreat that the mind of man could imagine.\u201d The\nwriter says his is a \u201cliteral translation of the story, according to the\nWelsh phraseology\u201d.\n\n\n\n(16) THE GIANTESS\u2019S APRON-FULL.\n\nSource: _Verbatim_ from the same book. Referring to the heaps of stone\nfound on the hill-tops, he gives the fable of the heap found\nupon _Bwlchy Ddeufaen_, which he says is called _Ban Clodidd y\nGawres_--literally, the giantess\u2019s apron-full.\n\n\u201cThe writer regards such tales as originally intended as hyperboles, to\nmagnify the prowess and magnanimity of renowned persons.\u201d\n\n\n\n(17) A FABLE.\n\nSource: Taken _verbatim_ from the same book. The writer quotes it\napropos of the Roman custom of bribing the Britons on the mountain tops.\nWe are told the fable was delivered by one of the Britons, named _Gwrgan\nFarfdrwch_, who spoke to this effect, and then follows the fable.\n\n\n\n(18) THE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH.\n\nSource: Told by Hugh\u2019s daughter. Genuine.\n\n\n\n(19) BILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL.\n\nSource: Told me by the old man who told me of the origin of the Welsh.\nVague.\n\n\n\n(20) JOHN O\u2019 GROATS.\n\nSame source. Vague.\n\n\n\n(21) EVA\u2019S LUCK.\n\nSource: A Jersey fisherman. Reliable. He also informed me that large\nstones, supported on others, were called \u201cFairy Stones\u201d in Jersey.\n\n\n\n(22) THE FISHERMEN OF SHETLAND.\n\nSource: Told me by a yachting hand, who heard it from a Shetlander named\nAbernethy who was serving in the same yacht with him. Not many years\nago, some volunteers at Beaumaris swore they saw a mermaid there,\nand fired several shots at it. I think this story to be genuine and\nbeautiful.\n\n\n\n(23) THE PASTOR\u2019S NURSE.\n\nSource: Reliable. Written for me by the Pastor\u2019s mother in French. Given\n_verbatim_.\n\n\n\nFINAL.\n\nThe book I have quoted is in my possession, and was written, I am told,\nby a Mr. Williams, a Welshman, of Llandegai in Anglesea. That he was\nshrewd, reasonable, and knew the people of North Wales thoroughly, is\nevident from the context. The book has no date, but appears to have been\nwritten in 1800.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u2019s Welsh Fairy-Tales And Other Stories, by Anonymous","title":"Welsh Fairy-Tales and Other Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":18137}