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diff --git a/8675-8.txt b/8675-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0632e1d --- /dev/null +++ b/8675-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2778 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Welsh Fairy-Tales And Other Stories, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Welsh Fairy-Tales And Other Stories + +Author: Anonymous + +Editor: P. H. Emerson + + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8675] +This file was first posted on July 31, 2003 +Last Updated: May 14, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELSH FAIRY-TALES AND OTHER *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP + + + + + + + +WELSH FAIRY-TALES AND OTHER STORIES + +By Anonymous + + +Collected And Edited By P. H. Emerson + + +To + +Leonard, Sybil, Gladys, And Zoe. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE. + +These tales were collected by me whilst living in Anglesea during the +winter 1891-2. + +With the exception of the French story, they were told me and I took +them down at the time. + +Particulars respecting the narratives will be found in the Notes. + +In most cases I have done but little "editing", preferring to give the +stories as told. + +The old book referred to in the Notes I bought from a country +bookseller, who knew neither its author, title, or date, but I have +since been informed the book is Williams' _Observations on the Snowdon +Mountains_, published in 1802, a book well known to students of Celtic +literature. + +P. H. E. + +CLARINGBOLD, BROADSTAIRS. _April 1894_. + + + +CONTENTS. + + THE FAIRIES OF CARAGONAN Welsh + THE CRAIG-Y-DON BLACKSMITH Welsh + OLD GWILYM Welsh + THE BABY-FARMER Welsh + THE OLD MAN AND THE FAIRIES Welsh + TOMMY PRITCHARD Welsh + KADDY'S LUCK Welsh + THE STORY OF GELERT Welsh + ORIGIN OF THE WELSH Welsh + THE CROWS Welsh + ROBERTS AND THE FAIRIES Welsh + THE FAIRY OF THE DELL Welsh + ELLEN'S LUCK Welsh + THE FAIRIES' MINT Welsh + THE PELLINGS Welsh + THE LONG-LIVED ANCESTORS Welsh + THE GIANTESS'S APRON-FULL Welsh + A FABLE Welsh + THE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH Irish + BILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL Irish + JOHN O' GROATS Scotch + EVA'S LUCK Jersey + THE FISHERMEN OF SHETLAND Shetland + THE PASTOR'S NURSE French + NOTES + + + + + +THE FAIRIES OF CARAGONAN. + + +Once upon a time a lot of fairies lived in Mona. + +One day the queen fairy's daughter, who was now fifteen years of age, +told her mother she wished to go out and see the world. + +The queen consented, allowing her to go for a day, and to change from a +fairy to a bird, or from a bird to a fairy, as she wished. + +When she returned one night she said: + +"I've been to a gentleman's house, and as I stood listening, I heard the +gentleman was witched: he was very ill, and crying out with pain." + +"Oh, I must look into that," said the queen. + +So the next day she went through her process and found that he was +bewitched by an old witch. So the following day she set out with six +other fairies, and when they came to the gentleman's house she found he +was very ill. + +Going into the room, bearing a small blue pot they had brought with +them, the queen asked him: + +"Would you like to be cured?" + +"Oh, bless you; yes, indeed." + +Whereupon the queen put the little blue pot of perfume on the centre of +the table, and lit it, when the room was instantly filled with the most +delicious odour. + +Whilst the perfume was burning, the six fairies formed in line behind +her, and she leading, they walked round the table three times, chanting +in chorus: + + "Round and round three times three, + We have come to cure thee." + +At the end of the third round she touched the burning perfume with her +wand, and then touched the gentleman on the head, saying: + +"Be thou made whole." + +No sooner had she said the words than he jumped up hale and hearty, and +said: + +"Oh, dear queen, what shall I do for you? I'll do anything you wish." + +"Money I do not wish for," said the queen, "but there's a little plot of +ground on the sea-cliff I want you to lend me, for I wish to make a ring +there, and the grass will die when I make the ring. Then I want you to +build three walls round the ring, but leave the sea-side open, so that +we may be able to come and go easily." + +"With the greatest of pleasure," said the gentleman; and he built the +three stone walls at once, at the spot indicated. + + + +II. + +Near the gentleman lived the old witch, and she had the power of turning +at will into a hare. The gentleman was a great hare hunter, but the +hounds could never catch this hare; it always disappeared in a mill, +running between the wings and jumping in at an open window, though they +stationed two men and a dog at the spot, when it immediately turned into +the old witch. And the old miller never suspected, for the old woman +used to take him a peck of corn to grind a few days before any hunt, +telling him she would call for it on the afternoon of the day of the +hunt. So that when she arrived she was expected. + +One day she had been taunting the gentleman as he returned from a hunt, +that he could never catch the hare, and he struck her with his whip, +saying "Get away, you witchcraft!" + +Whereupon she witched him, and he fell ill, and was cured as we have +seen. + +When he got well he watched the old witch, and saw she often visited the +house of an old miser who lived near by with his beautiful niece. Now +all the people in the village touched their hats most respectfully to +this old miser, for they knew he had dealings with the witch, and they +were as much afraid of him as of her; but everyone loved the miser's +kind and beautiful niece. + + + +III. + +When the fairies got home the queen told her daughter: + +"I have no power over the old witch for twelve months from to-day, and +then I have no power over her life. She must lose that by the arm of a +man." + +So the next day the daughter was sent out again to see whether she could +find a person suited to that purpose. + +In the village lived a small crofter, who was afraid of nothing; he was +the boldest man thereabouts; and one day he passed the miser without +saluting him. The old fellow went off at once and told the witch. + +"Oh, I'll settle his cows to-night!" said she, and they were taken sick, +and gave no milk that night. + +The fairy's daughter arrived at his croft-yard after the cows were taken +ill, and she heard him say to his son, a bright lad: + +"It must be the old witch!" + +When she heard this, she sent him to the queen. + +So next day the fairy queen took six fairies and went to the croft, +taking her blue pot of perfume. When she got there she asked the crofter +if he would like his cows cured? + +"God bless you, yes!" he said. + +The queen made him bring a round table into the yard, whereon she placed +the blue pot of perfume, and having lit it, as before, they formed in +line and walked round thrice, chanting the words: + + "Round and round three times three, + We have come to cure thee." + +Then she dipped the end of her wand into the perfume, and touched the +cows on the forehead, saying to each one: + +"Be thou whole." + +Whereupon they jumped up cured. + +The little farmer was overjoyed, and cried: + +"Oh, what can I do for you? What can I do for you?" + +"Money I care not for," said the queen, "all I want is your son to +avenge you and me." + +The lad jumped up and said: + +"What I can do I'll do it for you, my lady fairy." + +She told him to be at the walled plot the following day at noon, and +left. + + + +IV. + +The next day at noon, the queen and her daughter and three hundred other +fairies came up the cliff to the green grass plot, and they carried a +pole, and a tape, and a mirror. When they reached the plot they planted +the pole in the ground, and hung the mirror on the pole. The queen took +the tape, which measured ten yards and was fastened to the top of the +pole, and walked round in a circle, and wherever she set her feet the +grass withered and died. Then the fairies followed up behind the queen, +and each fairy carried a harebell in her left-hand, and a little blue +cup of burning perfume in her right. When they had formed up the queen +called the lad to her side, and told him to walk by her throughout. They +then started off, all singing in chorus: + + "Round and round three times three, + Tell me what you see." + +When they finished the first round, the queen and lad stopped before the +mirror, and she asked the lad what he saw? + + "I see, I see, the mirror tells me, + It is the witch that I see," + +said the lad. So they marched round again, singing the same words as +before, and when they stopped a second time before the mirror the queen +again asked him what he saw? + + "I see, I see, the mirror tells me, + It is a hare that I see," + +said the lad. + +A third time the ceremony and question were repeated. + + "I see, I see, the mirror tells me, + The hares run up the hill to the mill." + +"Now," said the queen, "there is to be a hare-hunting this day week; be +at the mill at noon, and I will meet you there." + +And then the fairies, pole, mirror, and all, vanished and only the empty +ring on the green was left. + + + +V. + +Upon the appointed day the lad went to his tryst, and at noon the Fairy +Queen appeared, and gave him a sling, and a smooth pebble from the +beach, saying: + +"I have blessed your arms, and I have blessed the sling and the stone. + + "Now as the clock strikes three, + Go up the hill near the mill, + And in the ring stand still + Till you hear the click of the mill. + Then with thy arm, with power and might, + You shall strike and smite + The devil of a witch called Jezabel light, + And you shall see an awful sight." + +The lad did as he was bidden, and presently he heard the huntsman's +horn and the hue and cry, and saw the hare running down the opposite +hill-side, where the hounds seemed to gain on her, but as she breasted +the hill on which he stood she gained on them. As she came towards the +mill he threw his stone, and it lodged in her skull, and when he ran +up he found he had killed the old witch. As the huntsmen came up they +crowded round him, and praised him; and then they fastened the witch's +body to a horse by ropes, and dragged her to the bottom of the valley, +where they buried her in a ditch. That night, when the miser heard of +her death, he dropped down dead on the spot. + +As the lad was going home the queen appeared to him, and told him to be +at the ring the following day at noon. + + + +VI. + +Next day all the fairies came with the pole and mirror, each carrying +a harebell in her left-hand, and a blue cup of burning perfume in her +right, and they formed up as before, the lad walking beside the queen. +They marched round and repeated the old words, when the queen stopped +before the mirror, and said: + +"What do you see?" + + "I see, I see, the mirror tells me, + It is an old plate-cupboard that I see." + +A second time they went round, and the question, was repeated. + + "I see, I see, the mirror tells me, + The back is turned to me." + +A third time was the ceremony fulfilled, and the lad answered + + "I see, I see, the mirror tells me, + A spring-door is open to me." + +"Buy that plate-cupboard at the miser's sale," said the queen, and she +and her companions disappeared as before. + + + +VII. + +Upon the day of the sale all the things were brought out in the road, +and the plate-cupboard was put up, the lad recognising it and bidding up +for it till it was sold to him. When he had paid for it he took it +home in a cart, and when he got in and examined it, he found the secret +drawer behind was full of gold. The following week the house and land, +thirty acres, was put up for sale, and the lad bought both, and married +the miser's niece, and they lived happily till they died. + + + + +THE CRAIG-Y-DON BLACKSMITH. + +Once upon a time an old blacksmith lived in an old forge at Craig-y-don, +and he used to drink a great deal too much beer. + +One night he was coming home from an alehouse very tipsy, and as he +got near a small stream a lot of little men suddenly sprang up from the +rocks, and one of them, who seemed to be older than the rest, came up to +him, and said, + +"If you don't alter your ways of living you'll die soon; but if you +behave better and become a better man you'll find it will be to your +benefit," and they all disappeared as quickly as they had come. + +The old blacksmith thought a good deal about what the fairies had told +him, and he left off drinking, and became a sober, steady man. + +One day, a few months after meeting the little people, a strange man +brought a horse to be shod. Nobody knew either the horse or the man. + +The old blacksmith tied the horse to a hole in the lip of a cauldron +(used for the purpose of cooling his hot iron) that he had built in some +masonry. + +When he had tied the horse up he went to shoe the off hind-leg, but +directly he touched the horse the spirited animal started back with a +bound, and dragged the cauldron from the masonry, and then it broke the +halter and ran away out of the forge, and was never seen again: neither +the horse nor its master. + +When the old blacksmith came to pull down the masonry to rebuild it, he +found three brass kettles full of money. + + + + +OLD GWILYM. + +Old Gwilym Evans started off one fine morning to walk across the Eagle +Hills to a distant town, bent upon buying some cheese. On his way, in a +lonely part of the hills, he found a golden guinea, which he quickly put +into his pocket. + +When he got to the town, instead of buying his provisions, he went +into an alehouse, and sat drinking and singing with some sweet-voiced +quarrymen until dark, when he thought it was time to go home. Whilst he +was drinking, an old woman with a basket came in, and sat beside him, +but she left before him. After the parting glass he got up and reeled +through the town, quite forgetting to buy his cheese; and as he got +amongst the hills they seemed to dance up and down before him, and he +seemed to be walking on air. When he got near the lonely spot where he +had found the money he heard some sweet music, and a number of fairies +crossed his path and began dancing all round him, and then as he looked +up he saw some brightly-lighted houses before him on the hill; and +he scratched his head, for he never remembered having seen houses +thereabouts before. And as he was thinking, and watching the fairies, +one came and begged him to come into the house and sit down. + +So he followed her in, and found the house was all gold inside it, and +brightly lighted, and the fairies were dancing and singing, and they +brought him anything he wanted for supper, and then they put him to bed. + +Gwilym slept heavily, and when he awoke turned round, for he felt very +cold, and his body seemed covered with prickles; so he sat up and rubbed +his eyes, and found that he was quite naked and lying in a bunch of +gorse. + +When he found himself in this plight he hurried home, and told his wife, +and she was very angry with him for spending all the money and bringing +no cheese home, and then he told her his adventures. + +"Oh, you bad man!" she said, "the fairies gave you money and you spent +it wrongly, so they were sure to take their revenge." + + + + +THE BABY-FARMER. + +Old Kaddy was a baby-farmer, and one day she went to the woods to gather +sticks for her fire, and whilst she was gathering the sticks she found a +piece of gold, and took it home; but she never told anyone she had found +the money, for she always pretended to be very poor. + +But though she was so poor, she used to dress two of her children in +fine clothes; but the others, whom she did not like, she kept in the +filthiest rags. + +One day a man knocked at her door, and asked to see the children. + +He sat down in her little room, and she went and brought the ragged +little boy and girl, saying she was very poor, and couldn't afford to +dress them better; for she had been careful to hide the well-dressed +little boy and girl in a cockloft. + +After the stranger had gone she went to the cockloft to look for her +well-dressed favourites, but they had disappeared, and they were never +seen afterwards, for they were turned into fairies. + + + + +THE OLD MAN AND THE FAIRIES. + +Many years ago the Welsh mountains were full of fairies. People used +to go by moonlight to see them dancing, for they knew where they would +dance by seeing green rings in the grass. + +There was an old man living in those days who used to frequent the +fairs that were held across the mountains. One day he was crossing the +mountains to a fair, and when he got to a lonely valley he sat down, for +he was tired, and he dropped off to sleep, and his bag fell down by his +side. When he was sound asleep the fairies came and carried him off, +bag and all, and took him under the earth, and when he awoke he found +himself in a great palace of gold, full of fairies dancing and singing. +And they took him and showed him everything, the splendid gold room and +gardens, and they kept dancing round him until he fell asleep. + +When he was asleep they carried him back to the same spot where they +had found him, and when he awoke he thought he had been dreaming, so +he looked for his bag, and got hold of it, but he could hardly lift it. +When he opened it he found it was nearly filled with gold. + +He managed to pick it up, and turning round, he went home. + +When he got home, his wife Kaddy said: "What's to do, why haven't you +been to the fair?" + +"I've got something here," he said, and showed his wife the gold. + +"Why, where did you get that?" + +But he wouldn't tell her. Since she was curious, like all women, she +kept worrying him all night--for he'd put the money in a box under the +bed--so he told her about the fairies. + +Next morning, when he awoke, he thought he'd go to the fair and buy a +lot of things, and he went to the box to get some of the gold, but found +it full of cockle-shells. + + + + +TOMMY PRITCHARD. + +Tommy Pritchard was going to school one day, and on his way he thought +he heard somebody singing on the other side of a stone wall by the road, +so he climbed up and looked over, and there underneath a stone he saw a +sixpence, so he took it. + +Every morning after that, when he went to school, he used to look in the +same place, and he always found a sixpence. + +His father noticed he was always spending money in the sweet-shop, so +he began to think Tommy was stealing from somebody, and one day he asked +him where he got the money. Tommy wouldn't tell at first, but his father +threatened to beat him, so he told him where he got his sixpences. + +Next morning he went to look in the same place for his sixpence, and +he found nothing but a cockle-shell. And he never saw anything but a +cockle-shell there afterwards. + + + + +KADDY'S LUCK. + +There was a tall young woman whom the fairies used to visit, coming +through the keyhole at night. She could hear them dancing and singing in +her room, but in the morning they used to go the way they had come, only +they always left her some money. + +When she got married she chose a tall husband like herself, and they had +a fine big child. + +One night they went to a fair, and they got to one side to hear the +fairies; for some people could tell when the fairies were coming, for +they made a noise like the wind. Whilst they were waiting she told her +husband how the fairies used to leave her money at night. + +When they got home they found their baby all right, and went to bed. But +next morning the young mother found her child had been changed in the +night, and there was a very little baby in the cradle. And the child +never grew big, for the fairies had changed her child for spite. + + + + +THE STORY OF GELERT. + +(AS CURRENT IN ANGLESEA) + + +It was somewhere about 1200, Prince Llewellyn had a castle at Aber, just +abreast of us here; indeed, parts of the towers remain to this day. His +consort was the Princess Joan; she was King John's daughter. Her coffin +remains with us to this day. Llewellyn was a great hunter of wolves +and foxes, for the hills of Carnarvonshire were infested with wolves in +those days, after the young lambs. + +Now the prince had several hunting-houses--sorts of farm houses, one of +them was at the place now called Beth-Gelert, for the wolves were very +thick there at this time. Now the prince used to travel from farm-house +to farm-house with his family and friends, when going on these hunting +parties. + +One season they went hunting from Aber, and stopped at the house where +Beth-Gelert is now--it's about fourteen miles away. The prince had all +his hounds with him, but his favourite was Gelert, a hound who had never +let off a wolf for six years. + +The prince loved the dog like a child, and at the sound of his horn +Gelert was always the first to come bounding up. There was company +at the house, and one day they went hunting, leaving his wife and the +child, in a big wooden cradle, behind him at the farm-house. + +The hunting party killed three or four wolves, and about two hours +before the word passed for returning home, Llewellyn missed Gelert, and +he asked his huntsmen: + +"Where's Gelert? I don't see him." + +"Well, indeed, master, I've missed him this half-hour." + +And Llewellyn blew his horn, but no Gelert came at the sound. + +Indeed, Gelert had got on to a wolves' track which led to the house. + +The prince sounded the return, and they went home, the prince lamenting +Gelert. "He's sure to have been slain--he's sure to have been slain! +since he did not answer the horn. Oh, my Gelert!" And they approached +the house, and the prince went into the house, and saw Gelert lying by +the overturned cradle, and blood all about the room. + +"What! hast thou slain my child?" said the prince, and ran his sword +through the dog. + +After that he lifted up the cradle to look for his child, and found the +body of a big wolf underneath that Gelert had slain, and his child was +safe. Gelert had capsized the cradle in the scuffle. + +"Oh, Gelert! Oh, Gelert!" said the prince, "my favourite hound, my +favourite hound! Thou hast been slain by thy master's hand, and in death +thou hast licked thy master's hand!" He patted the dog, but it was too +late, and poor Gelert died licking his master's hand. + +Next day they made a coffin, and had a regular funeral, the same as if +it were a human being; all the servants in deep mourning, and everybody. +They made him a grave, and the village was called after the dog, +Beth-Gelert--Gelert's Grave; and the prince planted a tree, and put a +gravestone of slate, though it was before the days of quarries. And they +are to be seen to this day. + + + + +ORIGIN OF THE WELSH. + +Many years ago there lived several wild tribes round the King of +Persia's city, and the king's men were always annoying and harassing +them, exacting yearly a heavy tribute. Now these tribes, though very +brave in warfare, could not hold their own before the Persian army +when sent out against them, so that they paid their yearly tribute +grudgingly, but took revenge, whenever they could, upon travellers to or +from the city, robbing and killing them. + +At last one of the tribesmen, a clever old chieftain, thought of a +cunning plan whereby to defeat the Persians, and free themselves from +the yearly tribute. And this was his scheme: + +The wild wastes where these tribes lived were infested with large +birds called "Rohs", [Footnote: Pronounced softly.] which were very +destructive to human beings--devouring men, women, and children greedily +whenever they could catch them. Such a terror were they that the tribes +had to protect their village with high walls, [Footnote: Can this have +anything to do with the idea of walling-in the cuckoo?] and then +they slept securely, for the Roh hunted by night. This old chieftain +determined to watch the birds, and find out their nesting-places; so he +had a series of towers built, in which the watchmen could sleep securely +by night. These towers were advanced in whatever direction the birds +were seen to congregate by night. The observers reported that the Roh +could not fly, but ran very swiftly, being fleeter than any horse. + +At length, by watching, their nesting-places were found in a sandy +plain, and it was discovered that those monstrous birds stole sheep and +cattle in great numbers. + +The chieftain then gave orders for the watchmen to keep on guard until +the young birds were hatched, when they were commanded to secure fifty, +and bring them into the walled town. The order was carried out, and one +night they secured fifty young birds just out of the egg, and brought +them to the town. + +The old chieftain then told off fifty skilful warriors, a man to each +bird, to his son being allotted the largest bird. These warriors were +ordered to feed the birds on flesh, and to train them for battle. The +birds grew up as tame as horses. Saddles and bridles were made for them, +and they were trained and exercised just like chargers. + +When the next tribute day came round, the King of Persia sent his +emissaries to collect the tax, but the chieftains of the tribes insulted +and defied them, so that they returned to the king, who at once sent +forward his army. + +The chieftain then marshalled his men, and forty-six of the Rohs were +drawn up in front of the army, the chief getting on the strongest bird. +The remaining four were placed on the right flank, and ordered at a +signal to advance and cut off the army, should they retreat. + +The Rohs had small scales, like those of a fish, on their necks and +bodies, the scales being hidden under a soft hair, except on the upper +half of the neck. They had no feathers except on their wings. So they +were invulnerable except as to the eyes--for in those days the Persians +only had bows and arrows, and light javelins. When the Persian army +advanced, the Rohs advanced at lightning speed, and made fearful havoc, +the birds murdering and trampling the soldiers under foot, and beating +them down with their powerful wings. In less than two hours half the +Persian army was slain, and the rest had escaped. The tribes returned to +their walled towns, delighted with their victory. + +When the news of his defeat reached the King of Persia he was wroth +beyond expression, and could not sleep for rage. So the next morning he +called for his magician. + +"What are you going to do with the birds?" asked the king. + +"Well, I've been thinking the matter over," replied the magician. + +"Cannot you destroy all of them?" + +"No, your majesty; I cannot destroy them, for I have not the power; but +I can get rid of them in one way; for though I cannot put out life, I +have the power of turning one life into some other living creature." + +"Well, what will you turn them into?" asked the king. + +"I'll consider to-night, your majesty," replied the magician. + +"Well, mind and be sure to do it." + +"Yes, I'll be sure to do it, your majesty." + + * * * * * + +The next day, at ten, the magician appeared before the king, who asked: + +"Have you considered well?" + +"Yes, your majesty." + +"Well, how are you going to act?" + +"Your majesty, I've thought and thought during the night, and the best +thing we can do is to turn all the birds into fairies." + +"What are fairies?" asked the king. + +"I've planned it all out, and I hope your majesty will agree." + +"Oh! I'll agree, as long as they never molest us more." + +"Well, your majesty, I'm going to turn them to fairies--small living +creatures to live in caves in the bowels of the earth, and they shall +only visit people living on the earth once a year. They shall be +harmless, and hurt nothing; they shall be fairies, and do nothing +but dance and sing, and I shall allow them to go about on earth for +twenty-four hours once a year and play their antics, but they shall do +no mischief." + +"How long are the birds to remain in that state?" asked the king. + +"I'll give them 2,000 years, your majesty; and at the end of that time +they are to go back into birds, as they were before. And after the birds +change from the fairy state back into birds, they shall never breed +more, but die a natural death." + +So the tribes lost their birds, and the King of Persia made such fearful +havoc amongst them that they decided to leave the country. + +They travelled, supporting themselves by robbery; until they came to +a place where they built a city, and called it Troy, where they were +besieged for a long time. + +At length the besiegers built a large caravan, with a large man's +head in front; the head was all gilded with gold. When the caravan was +finished they put 150 of the best warriors inside, provided with food, +and one of them had a trumpet. Then they pulled the caravan, which ran +upon eight broad wheels, up to the gates of the city, and left it there, +their army being drawn up in a valley near by. It was, agreed that +when the caravan got inside the gates the bugler should blow three loud +blasts to warn, the army, who would immediately advance into the city. + +The men on the ramparts saw this curious caravan, and they began +wondering what it was, and for two or three days they left it alone. + +At last an old chieftain said, "It must be their food." + +On the third day they opened the gates, and attaching ropes, began to +haul it into the city; then the warriors leaped out, and the horn blew, +and the army hurried up, and the town was taken after great slaughter; +but a number escaped with their wives and children, and fled on to the +Crimea, whence they were driven by the Russians, so they marched away +along the sea to Spain, and bearing up through France, they stopped. +Some wanted to go across the sea, and some stayed in the heart of +France: they were the Bretoons. [Footnote: Bretons.] The others came +on over in boats, and landed in England, and they were the first people +settled in Great Britain: they were the Welsh. + + + + +CROWS. + + + One black crow, bad luck for me. + Two black crows, good luck for me. + Three black crows, a son shall be born in the family. + Four black crows, a daughter shall be born in the family. + Five black crows shall be a funeral in the family. + Six black crows, if they fly head on, a sudden death. + Seven black crows with their tails towards you, death within seven + years. + + +There was a young man, not so very long ago, who had been to sea for +years. He was married, but had no children. He was one of the most +spirited men you ever saw. He used to complain of his dreams. He said, +"All at once last Sunday I was up in the air, and I saw the vessel I was +in going at great speed, making for a mountain, and I tried as hard as +I could to keep her from the mountain. I don't believe I was asleep +at all, I could see it so plainly. I went along in the air, looking at +seven black crows all the time. I got dizzy, and the vessel seemed to +lower on to the earth. The vessel lowered within a few hundred feet of +the earth, and I saw what I thought were fairies. I thought I had been +there for days; in truth, it seemed to me I had been up there for three +days, and that I could hear the fairies with mournful sounds drawing +a coffin. I watched and watched, and saw seven crows on the coffin. +It seemed as if they were going to bury someone. Whilst the coffin +was going the seven crows flew up and bursted, and the heavens were +illuminated more strongly than by the sun. Then I lost sight of the +fairies, but saw some big giants in white walking about, and there was +a big throne with a roof to it. And all at once I was in total darkness, +but I could hear things flapping about, flying through the air. Then I +saw the moon rising and all the stars, and all sorts of objects flying +through the air. And one came to me, and put his hand upon my shoulder, +saying: _'Prepare to meet us to-morrow.'_ After that everything went +dark again. The first thing I knew I was in a ship steering, and the +seven black crows were in front of me. I had a great trouble to steer my +vessel. And as I went on the vessel struck a steeple, and exploded, and +I awoke. Whereupon I jumped out of bed, looking very pale." + +I left him on the beach at 11.30, after he told me this, when he went +home. When he got home he could see seven black crows on the house. +Other people could see the crows, but could not count them. He saw them +all perched head on. He went into the house, and said, + +"There is something in these crows, Jane; see them on the roof." + +She cried out and ran out and looked, but could not see the seven. After +that he didn't seem to be himself, though there was nothing the matter +with him. A week afterwards, I went out on the Sunday morning after +breakfast, and there was a seat on the beach, and on it sat this man, +Johnny, and another man. + +"Why, Johnny, you look very pale," I said. + +"Do I?" he said. + +"Yes! indeed you do," I replied. + +"Well, I don't know, I have had such dreams." + +"What will they have been, then?" I asked. + +"That I was in a full-rigged ship, with all sails set; I was all alone, +but could see nothing, only seven black crows. I counted them, but my +wife could see nothing, but she could hear something." + +That same day, when he went home, he said to his wife: + +"Ah, Jane, there is something coming over me," and he fell down dead. + + + + +ROBERT ROBERTS AND THE FAIRIES. + +Robert Roberts was a carpenter who worked hard and well; but he could +never keep his tongue still. One day, as he was crossing a brook, a +little man came up to him and said: + +"Robert Roberts, go up to the holly tree that leans over the road on the +Red-hill, and dig below it, and you shall be rewarded." + +The very next morning, at daybreak, Robert Roberts set out for the spot, +and dug a great hole, before anyone was up, when he found a box of gold. +He went to the same place twice afterwards, and dug, and found gold +each time. But as he grew rich, he began to boast and hint that he had +mysterious friends. One day, when the talk turned on the fairies, he +said that he knew them right well, and that they gave him money. Robert +Roberts thought no more of the matter until he went to the spot a week +afterwards, one evening at dusk. When he got to the tree, and began to +dig as usual, big stones came rolling down the bank, just missing him, +so that he ran for his life, and never went near the place again. + + + + +THE FAIRY OF THE DELL. + +In olden times fairies were sent to oppose the evil-doings of witches, +and to destroy their power. About three hundred years ago a band of +fairies, sixty in number, with their queen, called Queen of the Dell, +came to Mona to oppose the evil works of a celebrated witch. The fairies +settled by a spring, in a valley. After having blessed the spring, or +"well", as they called it, they built a bower just above the spring for +the queen, placing a throne therein. Near by they built a large bower +for themselves to live in. + +After that, the queen drew three circles, one within the other, on a +nice flat grassy place by the well. When they were comfortably settled, +the queen sent the fairies about the country to gather tidings of +the people. They went from house to house, and everywhere heard great +complaints against an old witch; how she had made some blind, others +lame, and deformed others by causing a horn to grow out of their +foreheads. When they got back to the well and told the queen, she said: + +"I must do something for these old people, and though the witch is very +powerful, we must break her power." So the next day the queen fairy sent +word to all the bewitched to congregate upon a fixed day at the sacred +well, just before noon. + +When the day came, several ailing people collected at the well. The +queen then placed the patients in pairs in the inner ring, and the sixty +fairies in pairs in the middle ring. Each little fairy was three feet +and a half high, and carried a small wand in her right hand, and a bunch +of fairy flowers--cuckoo's boots, baby's bells, and day's-eyes--in her +left hand. Then the queen, who was four feet and a half in height, took +the outside ring. On her head was a crown of wild flowers, in her right +hand she carried a wand, and in her left a posy of fairy flowers. At a +signal from the queen they began marching round the rings, singing in +chorus: + + "We march round by two and two + The circles of the sacred well + That lies in the dell." + +When they had walked twice round the ring singing, the queen took her +seat upon the throne, and calling each patient to her, she touched him +with her wand and bade him go down to the sacred well and dip his body +into the water three times, promising that all his ills should be cured. +As each one came forth from the spring he knelt before the queen, and +she blessed him, and told him to hurry home and put on dry clothes. So +that all were cured of their ills. + + + +II. + +Now the old witch who had worked all these evils lived near the well +in a cottage. She had first learned witchcraft from a book called _The +Black Art_, which a gentleman farmer had lent her when a girl. She +progressed rapidly with her studies, and being eager to learn more, sold +herself to the devil, who made compact with her that she should have +full power for seven years, after which she was to become his. He gave +her a wand that had the magic power of drawing people to her, and she +had a ring on the grass by her house just like the fairy's ring. As the +seven years were drawing to a close, and her heart was savage against +the farmer who first led her into the paths of evil knowledge, she +determined to be revenged. One day, soon after the Fairy of the Dell +came to live by the spring, she drew the farmer to her with her wand, +and, standing in her ring, she lured him into it. When he crossed the +line, she said: + + "Cursed be he or she + That crosses my circle to see me," + +and, touching him on the head and back, a horn and a tail grew from +the spots touched. He went off in a terrible rage, but she only laughed +maliciously. Then, as she heard of the Queen of the Dell's good deeds, +she repented of her evil deeds, and begged her neighbour to go to the +queen fairy and ask her if she might come and visit her. The queen +consented, and the old witch went down and told her everything--of the +book, of the magic wand, of the ring, and of all the wicked deeds she +had done. + +"O, you have been a bad witch," said the queen, "but I will see what I +can do; but you must bring me the book and the wand;" and she told the +old witch to come on the following day a little before noon. When the +witch came the next day with her wand and book, she found the fairies +had built a fire in the middle ring. The queen then took her and stood +her by the fire, for she could not trust her on the outer circle. + +"Now I must have more power," said the queen to the fairies, and she +went and sat on the throne, leaving the witch by the fire in the middle +ring. After thinking a little, the queen said, "Now I have it," and +coming down from her throne muttering, she began walking round the outer +circle, waiting for the hour of one o'clock, when all the fairies got +into the middle circle and marched round, singing: + + "At the hour of one + The cock shall crow one, + Goo! Goo! Goo! + I am here to tell + Of the sacred well + That lies in the dell, + And will conquer hell." + +On the second round, they sang: + + "At the hour of two + The cock crows two, + Goo! Goo! Goo! + I am here to tell + Of the sacred well + That lies in the dell; + We will conquer hell." + +At the last round, they sang: + + "At the hour of three + The cock crows three, + Goo! Goo! Goo! + I am here to tell + Of the sacred well + That lies in the dell; + Now I have conquered hell." + +Then the queen cast the book and wand into the fire, and immediately +the vale was rent by a thundering noise, and numbers of devils came from +everywhere, and encircled the outer ring, but they could not pass the +ring. Then the fairies began walking round and round, singing their +song. When they had finished the song they heard a loud screech from +the devils that frightened all the fairies except the queen. She was +unmoved, and going to the fire, stirred the ashes with her wand, and saw +that the book and wand were burnt, and then she walked thrice round the +outer ring by herself, when she turned to the devils, and said: + +"I command you to be gone from our earthly home, get to your own abode. +I take the power of casting you all from here. Begone! begone! begone!" +And all the devils flew up, and there was a mighty clap as of thunder, +and the earth trembled, and the sky became overcast, and all the devils +burst, and the sky cleared again. + +After this the queen put three fairies by the old witch's side, and +they constantly dipped their wands in the sacred spring, and touched her +head, and she was sorely troubled and converted. + +"Bring the mirror," said the queen. + +And the fairies brought the mirror and laid it in the middle circle, and +they all walked round three times, chanting again the song beginning +"At the hour of one." When they had done this the queen stood still, and +said: + +"Stand and watch to see what you can see." + +And as she looked she said: + + "The mirror shines unto me + That the witch we can see + Has three devils inside of she." + +Immediately the witch had a fit, and the three fairies had a hard job to +keep the three devils quiet; indeed, they could not do so, and the queen +had to go herself with her wand, for fear the devils should burst the +witch asunder, and she said, "Come out three evil spirits, out of thee." + +And they came gnashing their teeth, and would have killed all the +fairies, but the queen said: + +"Begone, begone, begone! you evil spirits, to the place of your abode," +and suddenly the sky turned bright as fire, for the evil spirits were +trying their spleen against the fairies, but the queen said, "Collect, +collect, collect, into one fierce ball," and the fiery sky collected +into one ball of fire more dazzling than the sun, so that none could +look at it except the queen, who wore a black silk mask to protect +her eyes. Suddenly the ball burst with a terrific noise, and the earth +trembled. + +"Enter into your abode, and never come down to our abode on earth any +more," said the queen. + +And the witch was herself again, and she and the queen fairy were +immediately great friends. The witch, when she came out of the ring, +dropped on her knee and asked the queen if she might call her the Lady +of the Dell, and how she could serve her. + +"We will see about that," said the queen. + +"Well, how do you live?" asked the woman who had been a witch. + +"Well, I'll tell you," said the queen. "We go at midnight and milk the +cows, and we keep the milk, and it never grows less so long as we leave +some in the bottom of the vessel; we must not use it all. After milking +the cow, we rub the cow's purse and bless it, and she gives double the +amount of milk." + +"Well, how do you get corn?" + +"Well, we were at the mill playing one day, and the miller came in and +saw us, and spoke kindly to us, and offered us some flour. 'We never +take nothing for nothing,' I said, so I blessed the bin: so in a few +minutes the bin was full to the brim with flour, and I said to the +miller, 'Now don't you empty the bin, but always leave a peck in it, and +for twelve months, no matter how much you use the bin, it will always +be full in the morning.' Now I have told you this much, and I will tell +further, 'You must love your neighbour, you must love all mankind.' Now +here is a purse of gold, go and buy what you want, eggs, bacon, cheese, +and get a flagon of wine and use these things freely, giving freely to +the aged poor, and if you never finish these things, there will always +be as much the next morning as you started with. And I shall make a +salve for you, and you must use the water from the sacred well. That +will be as a medicine, and people shall come from far and wide to be +cured by you, and you shall be loved by all, and you shall be known to +the poorest of the poor as Madame Dorothy." + +And the woman did as she was told, and she became renowned for her +medical skill, especially in childbirth, for her salve eased the pains, +and her waters brought milk. By-and-by, she got known all over the +island, and rich people came to her from afar, and she always made the +rich pay, and the poor were treated free. + +Madame Dorothy used to see the queen fairy at times, and one day she +asked her, "Shall we meet again?" + +"We cannot tell," said the queen, "but I will give you a ring--let me +place it on your finger--it is a magic ring worked by fairies. Whenever +you seek to know of me, make a ring of your own, and walk round three +times and rub the ring; if it turns bright I am alive, but if you see +blood I am dead." + +"But how can that be? You are much younger than I am." + +"Oh, no! we fairies look young to the day of our death; we live to a +great age, but die naturally of old age, for we never have any ailments, +but still our power fades. Men fade in the flesh and power, but we fade +only in power. I am over seventy now." + +"But you look to be thirty." + +"Well, we will shake hands and part, for I must go elsewhere; as I have +no king, I do not stop in one place." + +And they shook hands and parted. + + + + +ELLEN'S LUCK. + +Ellen was a good girl, and beautiful to look upon. One Sunday she was +walking by an open gutter in a town in North Wales when she found a +copper. After that day Ellen walked every Sunday afternoon by the same +drain, and always found a copper. She was a careful girl, and used to +hoard her money. + +One day her old mother found her pile of pennies, and wished to know +where she got them. + +Ellen told her, but though she walked by the gutter for many a Sunday +after, she never found another copper. + + + + +THE FAIRIES' MINT. + +Once upon a time there was a miller, who lived in Anglesey. One day +he noticed that some of his sacks had been moved during the night. The +following day he felt sure that some of his grain had been disturbed, +and, lastly, he was sure someone had been working his mill in the night +during his absence. He confided his suspicions to a friend, and they +determined to go the next night and watch the mill. The following night, +at about midnight, as they approached the mill, that stood on a bare +stony hill, they were surprised to find the mill all lit up and at work, +the great sails turning in the black night. Creeping up softly to +a small window, the miller looked in, and saw a crowd of little men +carrying small bags, and emptying them into the millstones. He could not +see, however, what was in the bags, so he crept to another window, when +he saw golden coins coming from the mill, from the place where the flour +usually ran out. + +Immediately the miller went to the mill door, and, putting his key into +the lock, he unlocked the door; and as he did so the lights went out +suddenly, and the mill stopped working. As he and his friend went into +the dark mill they could hear sounds of people running about, but by +the time they lit up the mill again there was nobody to be seen, but +scattered all about the millstones and on the floor were cockle-shells. + +After that, many persons who passed the mill at midnight said they saw +the mill lit up and working; but the old miller left the fairies alone +to coin their money. + + + + +THE PELLINGS. + +In a meadow belonging to Ystrad, bounded by the river which falls from +Cwellyn Lake, they say the fairies used to assemble, and dance in fair +moonlight nights. One evening a young man, who was the heir and occupier +of this farm, hid himself in a thicket close to the spot where they used +to gambol. Presently they appeared, and when in their merry mood, out +he bounced from his covert, and seized one of their females; the rest +of the company dispersed themselves, and disappeared in an instant. +Disregarding her struggles and screams, he hauled her to his home, where +he treated her so very kindly that she became contented to live with him +as his maid-servant, but he could not prevail upon her to tell him her +name. Some time after, happening again to see the fairies upon the same +spot, he heard one of them saying, "The last time we met here our sister +Penelope was snatched away from us by one of the mortals." Rejoiced at +knowing the name of his incognita, he returned home; and as she was +very beautiful and extremely active, he proposed to marry her, which she +would not for a long time consent to; at last, however, she complied, +but on this condition, "That if ever he should strike her with iron, she +would leave him, and never return to him again." They lived happy for +many years together, and he had by her a son and a daughter; and by +her industry and prudent management as a housewife he became one of the +richest men in the country. He farmed, besides his own freehold, all the +lands on the north side of Nant y Bettws to the top of Snowdon, and +all Cwm brwynog in Llanberis, an extent of about five thousand acres or +upwards. + +Unfortunately, one day Penelope followed her husband into the field to +catch a horse, and he, being in a rage at the animal as he ran away from +him, threw at him the bridle that was in his hand, which unluckily fell +on poor Penelope. She disappeared in an instant, and he never saw her +afterwards, but heard her voice in the window of his room one night +after, requesting him to take care of the children, in these words:-- + + "Rhag bod anwyd ar fy mâb, + Yn rhodd rhowch arno gôb ei dâd: + Rhag bod anwyd ar liw'r cann, + Rhoddwch arni bais ei mam." + +That is, + + "Oh! lest my son should suffer cold, + Him in his father's coat infold: + Lest cold should seize my darling fair, + For her, her mother's robe prepare." + +These children and their descendants they say were called Pellings [1], +a word corrupted from their mother's name Penelope. + +[1] In England we frequently meet with the surname Pilling and Billing; +it might have happened, that a man had met with an English woman of that +name, and had married her, and, as is usual in brides, she might have +been, though married, called by her maiden name, and the appellation +might have been continued to her posterity.--_Authors Note_. + +The name Billing and Belling is the family name of one of the oldest +Cornish (Keltic) families--a fact that suggests other possibilities.--P. +H. E. + + + + +THE LONG-LIVED ANCESTORS. + +The Eagle of Gwernabwy had been long married to his female, and had by +her many children; she died, and he continued a long time a widower; but +at length be proposed a marriage with the Owl of Cwm Cwmlwyd; but afraid +of her being young, so as to have children by her, and thereby degrade +his own family, he first of all went to inquire about her age amongst +the aged of the world. Accordingly he applied to the Stag of Rhedynfre, +whom he found lying close to the trunk of an old oak, and requested to +know the Owl's age. + +"I have seen," said the Stag, "this oak an acorn, which is now fallen +to the ground through age, without either bark or leaves, and never +suffered any hurt or strain except from my rubbing myself against it +once a day, after getting up on my legs; but I never remember to have +seen the Owl you mention younger or older than she seems to be at +this day. But there is one older than I am, and that is the Salmon of +Glynllifon." + +The Eagle then applied to the Salmon for the age of the Owl. The Salmon +answered, "I am as many years old as there are scales upon my skin, and +particles of spawn within my belly; yet never saw I the Owl you mention +but the same in appearance. But there is one older than I am, and that +is the Blackbird of Cilgwri." + +The Eagle next repaired to the Blackbird of Cilgwri, whom he found +perched upon a small stone, and enquired of him the Owl's age. + +"Dost thou see this stone upon which I sit," said the Blackbird, "which +is now no bigger than what a man can carry in his hand? I have seen this +very stone of such weight as to be a sufficient load for a hundred oxen +to draw, which has suffered neither rubbing nor wearing, save that I rub +my bill on it once every evening, and touch the tips of my wings on it +every morning, when I expand them to fly; yet I have not seen the Owl +either older or younger than she appears to be at this day. But there is +one older than I am, and that is the Frog of Mochno Bog, and if he does +not know her age, there is not a creature living that does know it." + +The Eagle went last of all to the Frog and desired to know the Owl's +age. He answered, "I never ate anything but the dust from the spot which +I inhabit, and that very sparingly, and dost thou see these great hills +that surround and overawe this bog where I lie? They are formed only +of the excrements from my body since I have inhabited this place, yet I +never remember to have seen the Owl but an old hag, making that +hideous noise, Too, hoo, hoo! always frightening the children in the +neighbourhood." + +So the Eagle of Gwernabwy, the Stag of Rhedynfre, the Salmon of +Glynllifon, the Blackbird of Cilgwri, the Frog of Mochno Bog, and the +Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd are the oldest creatures in the whole world! + + + + +THE GIANTESS'S APRON-FULL. + +A huge giant, in company with his wife, travelling towards the island of +Mona, with an intention of settling amongst the first inhabitants that +had removed there, and having been informed that there was but a narrow +channel which divided it from the continent, took up two large stones, +one under each arm, to carry with him as a preparatory for making a +bridge over this channel, and his lady had her apron filled with small +stones for the same purpose; but, meeting a man on this spot with a +large parcel of old shoes on his shoulders, the giant asked him how far +it was to Mona. The man replied, that it was so far, that he had worn +out those shoes in travelling from Mona to that place. The giant on +hearing this dropped down the stones, one on each side of him, where +they now stand upright, about a hundred yards or more distant from each +other; the space between them was occupied by this Goliah's body. +His mistress at the same time opened her apron, and dropped down the +contents of it, which formed this heap. + + + + +GWRGAN FARFDRWCH'S FABLE. + +Hear me, O ye Britons! On the top of a high rock in Arvon there stood +a goat, which a lion perceiving from the valley below, addressed her in +this manner:-- + +"My dearest neighbour, why preferrest thou that dry barren rock to +feed on? Come down to this charming valley, where thou mayest feed +luxuriously upon all sorts of dainties, amongst flowers in shady groves, +made fruitful by meandering brooks." + +"I am much obliged to you, master," replied the goat; "perhaps you mean +well, and tell me the truth, but you have very bad neighbours, whom I +do not like to trust, and those are your teeth, so, with your leave, I +prefer staying where I am." + + + + +THE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH. + +In the beginning of the century, Hughes went as military substitute for +a farmer's son. He got £80, a watch, and a suit of clothes. His mother +was loath to let him go, and when he joined his regiment, she followed +him from Amlych to Pwlheli to try and buy him off. He would not hear of +it. "Mother," he said, "the whole of Anglesey would not keep me, I want +to be off, and see the world." + +The regiment was quartered in Edinboro', and Hughes married the daughter +of the burgess with whom he was billeted. Thence, leaving a small son, +as hostage to the grandparents, they went to Ireland, and Hughes and his +wife were billeted on a pork-butcher's family in Dublin. One day, the +mother of the pork-butcher, an old granny, told them she had seen the +fairies. + +"Last night, as I was abed, I saw a bright, bright light come in, and +afterwards a troop of little angels. They danced all over my bed, and +they played and sang music--oh! the sweetest music ever I heard. I lay +and watched them and listened. By-and-bye the light went out and the +music stopped, and I saw them no more. I regretted the music very much. +But directly after another smaller light appeared, and a tall dark man +came up to my bed, and with something in his hand he tapped me on the +temple; it felt like some one drawing a sharp pin across my temple then +he went too. In the morning my pillow was covered with blood. I thought +and thought, and then I knew I had moved the pig's trough and must have +put it in the fairies' path and the fairies were angered, and the king +of the fairies had punished me for it." She moved the trough back to its +old place the next day, and received no more visits from the wee folk. + + + + +BILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL. + +Billy Duffy was an Irishman, a blacksmith, and a drunkard. He had the +Keltic aversion from steady work, and stuck to his forge only long +enough to get money for drink; when that was spent, he returned to work. + +Billy was coming home one day after one of these drinking-bouts, soberer +than usual, when he exclaimed to himself, for the thirst was upon him, +"By God! I would sell myself to the devil if I could get some more +drink." + +At that moment a tall gentleman in black stepped up to him, and said, +"What did you say?" + +"I said I would sell myself to the devil if I could get a drink." + +"Well, how much do you want for seven years, and the devil to get you +then?" + +"Well, I can't tell exactly, when it comes to the push." + +"Will £700 do you?" + +"Yes; I'd take £700." + +"And the devil to get you then?" + +"Oh, yes; I don't care about that." + +When Billy got home he found the money in his smithy. He at once shut +the smithy, and began squandering the money, keeping open house. + +Amongst the people who flocked to get what they could out of Billy came +an old hermit, who said, "I am very hungry, and nearly starved. Will you +give me something to eat and drink?" + +"Oh, yes; come in and get what you like." + +The hermit disappeared, after eating and drinking, and did not reappear +for several months, when he received the same kindly welcome, again +disappearing. A few months afterwards he again appeared. + +"Come in, come in!" said Billy. + +After he had eaten and drunk his full, the hermit said to Billy: "Well, +three times have you been good and kind to me. I'll give you three +wishes, and whatever you wish will be sure to come true." + +"I must have time to consider," said Billy. + +"Oh, you shall have plenty of time to consider, and mind they are good +wishes." + +Next morning Billy told the hermit he was ready. "Well, go on; be sure +they're good wishes," said the hermit. + +"Well, I've got a big sledge-hammer in the smithy, and I wish whoever +gets hold of that hammer shall go on striking the anvil, and never break +it, till I tell him to stop." + +"Oh, that's a bad wish, Billy." + +"Oh, no; you'll see it's good. Next thing I wish for is a purse so that +no one can take out whatever I put into it." + +"Oh, Billy, Billy! that's a bad wish. Be careful now about the third +wish," said the hermit. + +"Well, I have got an armchair upstairs, and I wish that whoever may sit +in that armchair will never be able to get up till I let them." + +"Well, well, indeed; they are not very good wishes." + +"Oh, yes; I've got my senses about me. I think I'll make them good +wishes, after all." + +The seven years, all but three days, had passed, and Billy was back +working at his forge, for all his money was gone, when the dark +gentleman stepped in and said: + +"Now, Billy, during these last three days you may have as much money as +you like," and he disappeared. + +On the last day of his seven years Billy was penniless, and he went to +the taproom of his favourite inn, which was full. + +"Well, boys," said Billy, "we must have some money to-night. I'll treat +you, and give you a pound each," and rising, he placed his tumbler in +the middle of the table, and wished for twenty pounds. No sooner had +he wished than a ball of fire came through the ceiling, and the twenty +sovereigns fell into the tumbler. Everyone was taken aback, and there +was a noise as if a bomb had burst, and the fireball disappeared, and +rolled down the garden path, the landlord following it. After this +they each drank what they liked, and Billy gave them a sovereign apiece +before he went home. + +The next morning he was in his smithy making a pair of horseshoes, when +the devil came in and said: + +"Well, Billy, I'll want you this morning." + +"Yes; all right. Take hold of this sledge-hammer, and give me a few +hammers till I finish this job before I go." + +So the devil seized the hammer and began striking the anvil, but he +couldn't stop. + +So Billy laughed, and locked him in, and was away three days. During +this time the people collected round the smithy, and peeped through the +cracks in the shutter, for they could hear the hammer going night and +day. + +At the end of three days Billy returned and opened the door, and the +devil said, "Oh, Billy, you've played a fine trick to me; let me go." + +"What are you going to give me if I let you go?" + +"Seven years more, twice the money, and two days' grace for wishing for +what you like." + +The devil paid his money and disappeared, and Billy shut the smithy and +took to gambling and drinking, so that at the end of seven years he was +without a penny, and working again in his smithy. + +On the last night of the seven years he went to his favourite +public-house again, and wished for five pounds. + +After he wished, a little man entered and spat the sovereigns into the +tumbler, and they all drank all night. + +Next morning Billy went back to his smithy. The devil, who had grown +suspicious, turned himself into a sovereign and appeared on the floor. +Billy seized the sovereign and clapped it into his purse. Then he took +his purse and lay it upon the anvil, and began to beat it with his +sledge-hammer, when the devil began to call out, "Spare my poor limbs, +spare my poor limbs!" + +"How much now if I let you go?" asked Billy + +"Seven more years, three times the money, and one day in which to wish +for what you like." + +Billy took the sovereign out of his purse and threw it away, when he +found his money in the smithy. + +Billy carried on worse than ever; gambled and drank and raced, +squandering it all before his seven years was gone. On the last day of +his term he went to his favourite inn as usual and wished for a tumbler +full of sovereigns. A little man with a big head, a big nose, and big +mouth, a little body, and little legs, with clubbed feet and a forked +tail, brought them in and put them in the tumbler. The drunkards in the +room got scared when they saw the little man, for he looked all glowing +with fire as he danced on the table. When he finished, he said, "Billy, +to-morrow morning our compact is up." + +"I know it, old boy, I know it, old boy!" said Billy. Then the devil ran +out and disappeared, and the people began to question Billy: + +"What is that? I think it is you, Mister Duffy, he is after." + +"Oh, it is nothing at all," said Billy. + +"I should think there was something," said the man. + +"I am afraid my house will get a bad name," croaked the landlord. + +"Not in the least! You are only a coward," said Billy. + +"But in the name of God, what is it all about?" asked an old man. + +"Oh, you'll see by-and-bye," said Billy; "it is nothing at all." + +Next morning Billy went to his smithy, but the devil would not come near +it. + +So he went to his house, and began to quarrel with his wife, and whilst +he was quarrelling the devil walked in and said: + +"Well, Mr. Duffy, I am ready for you." + +"Ah, yes; just sit down and wait a minute or two. I have some papers I +want to put to rights before I go." + +So the devil sat down in the arm-chair, and Billy went to the smithy and +heated a pair of tongs red-hot, and coming back, he got the devil by the +nose, and pulled it out as though it had been soft iron. And the devil +began yelling, but he could not move, and Billy kept drawing the nose +out till it was long enough to reach over the window, when he put an +old bell-topper on the end of it. And the devil yelled, and snorted fire +from his nose. + +The whole of the village crowded round Billy's, house--at a safe +distance--calling out, "Billy and the devil! The devil and Billy Duffy!" + +The devil got awful savage, and blackguarded Billy Duffy terribly; but +it was useless. Billy kept him there for days, till he got civil and +said: + +"Mr. Duffy, what will you let me go for?" + +"Only one thing: I am to live the rest of my life without you, and have +as much gold as I like." + +The devil agreed, so Billy let him go; and immediately he grew rich. He +lived to a good old age squandering money all the time, but at last he +died and when he got to the gates of hell the clerk said "Who are you?" +"Billy Duffy," said he. And when the devil, who was standing near, +heard, he said: + +"Good God! bar the gates and double-lock them for if this Billy Duffy +the blacksmith gets in he will ruin us all." + +Old Billy saw a pair of red-hot tongs, which he picked up, and seized +the devil by the nose. When the devil pulled back his head he left a +red-hot bit of his nose in the tongs. + +Then Billy Duffy went up to the gates of heaven and St. Peter asked him +who he was. + +"Billy Duffy the blacksmith," he answered. + +"No admittance! You are a bold, bad man," said St. Peter. + +"Good God! what will I do?" said Billy, and he went back to the earth, +where he and the piece of the devil's nose melted into a ball of fire, +and he roves the earth till this day as a will-o'-the-wisp. + + + + +THE STORY OF JOHN 0' GROATS. + +He was an old seaman, with weather-beaten face and black eyes, that had +looked upon many lands and many sights. + +"Well, indeed, I'll tell you about Johnny Groats as it was told to me +one night in the trades," he said, blowing a whiff of smoke from his +wheezy pipe. + +"Well, in olden times there was a rich lord, who owned all the property +looking on to the Pentlands--an awful place in bad weather; indeed, in +any weather. + +"He was a lone man, for his wife was dead, and his son had turned out to +be a rake and a spendthrift, spending all his substance upon harlots and +entertainments. + +"Now this lord had a factor, by name John o' Scales, a stingy, cunning +man, who robbed his master all he could during the week, and prayed hard +for forgiveness on the Sabbath. + +"The lord, who was getting very old, was much grieved on account of his +son's behaviour. 'He'll spend everything when I am gone, and the estates +will go into other hands,' the old man said to himself." + + * * * * * + +"One fine morning in summer the factor received orders to build a hut by +the sea, and plant bushes and trees round about it. 'But don't make +the door to fit close; leave the space of a foot at the bottom, so the +leaves can blow in, for I want the hut to shoot sea-fowl as they flight, +and it is cold standing on the bare ground,' said the old man. + +"The factor carried out his master's instructions, but not without +suspicion of ulterior motives on his master's part. However, when he saw +my lord shooting the birds and stuffing many of them his suspicions +were allayed, and the factor thought that, after all, though his master +wanted the hut for flight-shooting, still he must be getting softening +of the brain, for it was very eccentric that he should take up this new +hobby in his old age. + +"So the old lord was never disturbed in his hut by curious and ill-timed +visits. + +"After a time the lord died, and was laid with his fathers, the prodigal +inheriting the property. + +"The old castle was then the scene of perpetual feastings and card +parties, so that in a few years the property was heavily mortgaged, the +old factor advancing the money. + +"Things went apace, until one day the factor informed the young +spendthrift that he had spent everything, and the estates were no longer +his, so he gave him a few pounds, and turned him out. + +"When the news spread round the countryside his old friends began to +drop off, until at last the spendthrift found every door closed against +him. + +"When he had spent his last penny, the prodigal thought of the key which +his father had given him, saying, 'When you have spent everything, take +this key, and go to the hut.' + +"But he had lost the key long before. + +"Nevertheless, he went to the hut. It had a deserted appearance, being +overgrown with moss and lichens. + +"He managed to squeeze himself under the door, and when he stood up he +saw a rope, with a noose hanging from the centre of the roof. Pursuing +his investigations, he found a parchment nailed to the back of the door, +and in one corner stood an old three-legged stool. There was nothing +else in the damp, mouldy room, so he began to read the parchment. + +"'Thou art come to beggary; end thy miserable existence, for it is thy +father's wish,' he read. + +"He was dazed, and looked from the parchment to the rope, and from the +rope to the parchment, saying to himself: 'Well, I have come to that, I +must follow my father's wish.' + +"So he got the stool and put it under the noose, and standing upon it, +adjusted the rope with trembling fingers round his neck, when he said, +hoarsely: 'Father, I do thy bidding,' and he kicked the stool from under +him. + +"Immediately he heard a crash, and found himself lying upon the leaves, +with a feeling that his neck had been jerked off. However, he soon +recovered, and, taking the noose from his neck, he looked up and saw an +open trap-door in the ceiling. Placing the stool beneath the opening, +he got on to it, and lifted himself through the trap-door, when he found +himself in a loft, a parchment nailed to the wall facing him, and on +the parchment was written, 'This has been prepared, for your end was +foreseen, and your foolish father buried three chests of gold one foot +below the surface of the floor of the hut. Go and take it and buy back +your estate: marry, and beget an heir.' + +"'Good God! is this a ghastly joke?' said the prodigal. But the words +looked truthful; so he tore down the parchment, dropped through the +trap-door, shut it, and readjusted the rope. He left the hut and +borrowed a pick and shovel, and returning to the hut, he began to dig, +and found one chest full of gold. When he made this discovery he closed +the chest, filled in the hole, and spread leaves over the spot. He then +ran off to his father's best friend, and told him of his good luck. They +then called in two other friends, and consulted together how the old +lord's wish was best to be carried out. 'I'll tell you,' said his +father's oldest friend. 'Mr. John o' Scales gives a great dinner party +once a month, and three of us here are invited as usual. You must come +in in the middle of dinner in your ordinary beggar clothes and beg +humbly for some food, when he will give orders to have you turned out. +Then you must begin to call him a liar and a thief, and accuse him of +robbing your father and yourself of your inheritance. You'll see he'll +get angry, and offer to let you have it back.' + +"So the prodigal dug up the chests, and carted the money away in canvas +bags, storing it at his friend's house." + + * * * * * + +"When the night of the dinner party came, the prodigal drove up to the +castle in a cart filled with canvas bags. Jumping off his seat by the +driver, he went into the feast in his beggar's clothes, and going up to +the host, he begged humbly for some food. + +"'Go from this house! What business have you here?' asked the host. + +"Most of the gentlemen and ladies began to frown upon him, and murmur +against him, as he walked to the lady of the house and begged her to +give him some food, but she replied: + +"'Oh, thou spendthrift! thou fool of fools! if all fools were hanged, as +they ought to be, you'd be the first.' + +"Then the beggar's countenance changed, a deep flush of anger overspread +his features, and drawing himself up to his full height, he said, with +solemn voice, addressing the host: + +"'Thou hast robbed my father all the days of his life, and thou hast +robbed the orphan. May the curse of God be upon you!' + +"The host grew furious; then he looked ashamed, and shouted angrily: + +"'Bring me £40,000, and you shall have your estate back. I never robbed +you, but you lost your inheritance by your own follies.' + +"'Gentlemen,' said the beggar, 'I take you all to witness that this +thief says I can have my estate back for £40,000.' + +"The people murmured, and the three friends said: 'We are witnesses.' + +"The beggar ran out into the night, and returned with a man laden with +sacks, and they began to count out £40,000 upon a side-table, where a +haunch of venison still smoked. + +"When they had counted out the money, the beggar said: + +"'There is your £40,000; sign this receipt.' + +"The amazed factor drew back, when the three friends said: + +"'You must sign; you are a gentleman of your word, of course.' + +"Mechanically John o' Scales signed the paper. + +"'And now,' said the former beggar, 'leave my house at once, with your +wife--you coward! you cur! You robbed my father, and then cheated me +when I was a spendthrift. Begone, and may your name be accursed in the +land!' + +"And the son turned all out except his three friends. + +"In a few months he married the daughter of one of his friends; but +he never gambled again, only entertaining his three friends and their +families, who came and went as they liked. + +"And from that day John o' Scales was called John o' Groats." + + + + +EVA'S LUCK. + +As black-eyed, black-haired Eva Sauvet was walking one day in Jersey she +saw a lozenge-marked snake, whereupon she ran away frightened. + +When she got home and told her mother, the old woman said: + +"Well, child, next time you see the snake give it your handkerchief." + +The next day Eva went out with beating heart, and ere long she saw +the snake come gliding out from the bushes, so she threw down her +handkerchief, for she was too frightened to hand it to the snake. + +The snake's eyes gleamed and twinkled, and taking the handkerchief into +his fangs, he made off to an old ruin, whither Eva followed. + +But when they got to the ruin the snake disappeared, and Eva ran home to +tell her mother. + +Next day, Père Sauvet and some men went to the ruin, where Eva showed +the hole where the snake had disappeared. + +Old Père Sauvet lit a fire, and smoked the snake out, killing it with a +stick as it glided over the stones. + +After that they dug out the hole, when they found the handkerchief. +Digging still further along, they came upon a hollow place, at the +bottom of which they found a lot of gold. + + + + +THE FISHERMEN OF SHETLAND. + +There was a snug little cove in one of the Shetland Islands. At the +head of the cove stood a fishing hamlet, containing some twenty huts. In +these huts lived the fisher-folk, ruled by one man--the chief--who was +the father of two beautiful daughters. + +Now these fishermen for some years had been very lucky, for a fairy +queen and her fairies had settled there, and she had given her power +over to a merman, who was the chief of a large family of mermaids. The +fairy queen had made the merman a belt of sea-weed, which he always wore +round his body. The merman used to turn the water red, green, and white, +at noon each day, so that the fishermen knew that if they cast their +nets into the coloured waters they would make good hauls. + +Amongst these fishermen were two brave brothers, who courted the chief's +daughters, but the old man would not let them get married until they +became rich men. + +Whenever the fishermen went off in the boats the merman was used to sit +on a rock, and watch them fishing. + +Close by the hamlet was a great wood, in which lived a wicked old witch +and a dwarf. + +Now this witch wished to get possession of the merman's belt, and so +gain the fairy's power. Telling her scheme to the dwarf, she said to +him: + +"Now you must trap the merman when he is sitting on the rocks watching +the fishing fleet. But I must change you into a bee, when you must +suck of the juice in this magic basin, then fly off and alight on the +merman's head, when he will fall asleep." + +So the dwarf agreed, and it happened as she had said; and the merman +fell asleep, and the dwarf stole the belt and brought it to the witch. + +"Now you must wear the belt," said the witch to the dwarf, "and you will +have the power and the fairy will lose her power." + +They then translated the sleeping merman to the forest and laid him +before the hut, when the witch got a copper vessel, saying: + +"We must bury him in this." + +Then she got the magic pot, and told the dwarf to take a ladleful of +the fluid in the pot, and pour it over the merman, which he did, and +immediately the merman turned into smoke, that settled in the copper +vessel. Then they sealed the copper vessel tightly. + +"Now take this vessel, and heave it into the sea fifty miles from the +land," said the witch, and the dwarf did as he was bid. + +"Now we'll starve those old fishermen out this winter," said the witch; +and it happened as she had said--they could catch nothing. + +In the spring the queen fairy came to one of the young fishermen who was +courting one of the chief's daughters, and said: + +"You must venture for the sake of your love, and for the lives of the +fishermen, or you will all starve--but I will be with you. Will you run +the risk?" + +"I will," said the brave fisherman. + +"Well, the dwarf has got my belt, he stole it from the merman, and so I +have lost power over the world for twelve months and a day; but if you +get back the belt I can settle the witch; if not, you will all starve +and catch no fish." + +So the bold fisherman agreed to try. + +"Now I must transform you into a bear, and you'll have to watch the +witch and the dwarf, and take your chance of getting the belt; and you +must watch where he hides his treasure, for he is using the belt as a +means to get gold, which he hides in a cave." + +And so the sailor was turned into a bear, and he went to the wood and +watched the dwarf, and saw that he hid his treasure in a cave in some +crags. + +The bear had been given the power of making himself invisible, by +sitting on his haunches and rubbing his ears with his paws. + +One night, when it was very boisterous, the bear felt like going to see +his sweetheart. So he went, and knocked at the door. The girl opened the +door, and shrieked when she saw the bear. + +"Oh, let him in," said her old mother. + +So the bear came in and asked for shelter from the storm, for he could +speak. + +And he went and sat by the fire, and asked his sweetheart to brush the +snow from his coat, which she did. + +"I won't do you any harm," he said; "let me sleep by the fire." + +He came again the next night, and they gave him some gruel, and played +with him; for he was just like a dog. + +So he came every night until the springtime, when, one morning, as he +was going away, he said: + +"You mustn't expect me any more. Spring has come, and the snows have +melted. I can't come again till the summer is over." + +So he returned to the wood and watched the dwarf, but he could never +catch him without his belt, until one day he saw him fishing for salmon +without the belt, and at the same time his sweetheart and her sister +came by picking flowers. + +So the bear went up to the dwarf, and the dwarf, when he saw him coming, +said: + +"Ah! good bear! good bear! let me go. These two girls will be a more +dainty morsel for you." + +But the bear smote him with his paw and killed him, and immediately the +bear was turned into his former self, and the girls ran up and kissed +him, and talked. + +Then he took the two girls to the dwarf's cave, and gave each of them a +bag of treasure, keeping one for himself. And taking the belt, he put it +on, and they all walked back to the hamlet, when he told the fishermen +that their troubles would soon be over--but that he must kill the witch +first. + +Then he turned the belt three times, and said: + +"I wish for the queen fairy." + +And she came, and was delighted, and said: "Now you must come and slay +the witch," and she handed him a bow and arrow, telling him to use it +right and tight when he got to the hut. + +So he went off to the wood, and found the witch in her hut, and she +begged for mercy. + +"Oh no, you have done too much mischief," he said, and he shot her. + +Then the queen fairy appeared, and sent him to gather dry wood to make +a fire. When the fire was made she sent him to fetch the witch's wand, +which she cast into the flames, saying: + +"Now, mark my word, all the devils of hell will be here." + +And when the wand began to burn all the devils came and tried to snatch +it from the fire, but the queen raised her wand, saying: + + "Through this powerful wand + that I hold in my hand, + Through this bow and arrow + I have caused her to be slain, + That she may leave our domain. + Now take her up high + into the sky, + And let her burst asunder + as a clap of thunder. + Then take her to hell + and there let her dwell, + To all eternity." + +And the wand was burnt, and the devils carried the witch off in a noise +like thunder. + +The twelve months were up on that day, and the fairy said to the +fisherman: + +"Take your chief and your brother, and put out to sea half-a-mile, where +you'll see a red spot, bright as the sun on the water; cast in your net +on the sea-side of the spot, and pull to the shore." + +They did as the queen commanded, and when they pulled the net on the +shore they found the copper vessel. + +"Now open it," said the queen to the fisherman with the belt, "but cover +your belt with your coat first." + +And he did so, and when he opened the copper a ball of smoke rose into +the air, and suddenly the merman stood before them, and said: + + "The first four months that I was in prison, + I swore I'd make the man as rich as a king, + The man who released me. + But there was no release, no release, no release. + + The second four months that I was in prison, + I swore I'd make the water run red, + But there was no release, no release, no release. + + The last four months that I was in prison, + I swore in my wrath I'd take my deliverer's life, + Whoever he might be." + +Whereupon the fisherman opened his coat and showed him the belt. Then +the merman immediately cooled down, and said: + +"Oh, that's how I came into this trouble." + +Then he asked the fisherman with the belt what had happened, and he told +him the whole story. + +Then the queen told the fisherman to take the girdle off and put it back +on the merman, and he did so; and suddenly the merman took to the sea, +and began to sing from a rock: + + _"As I sit upon the rock, + I am like a statue block, + And I straighten my hair, + That is so long and fair. + And now my eyes look bright, + For I am in great delight, + Because I am free in glee, + To roam over the sea."_ + +After that the hamlet was joyful again, for the fishermen began to catch +plenty of fish; for the merman showed them where to cast their nets, by +colouring the water as of old. + +And the two brothers married the chief's two beautiful daughters, and +they lived happily ever afterwards. + + + + +THE PASTOR'S NURSE. + +Mon père était très jeune encore quand il est entré au saint ministère +et qu'il fut nommé pasteur à Hambach, village de la Lorraine. L'endroit +était assez grand, mais de peu de ressources, et il était heureux de +trouver quelqu'un qui, dans son inexpérience et loin de sa famille, +fut capable de lui aider à fonder sa maison, selon les usages et les +traditions d'un bon presbytère. + +C'est Madame Catherine Reeb, personne d'un âge mûr, dont le mari avait +été instituteur, mais qui d'une nature mécontente et orgueilleuse, se +croyait au-dessus de sa sphère, et faisait sentir à sa pauvre femme, qui +l'aimait d'un dévouement admirable, toutes les tortures que l'égoïsme +peut inventer. Elle se donna à peine le nécessaire pour procurer à son +seigneur et mâitre tous les soins que sa supériorité imaginaire pouvait +exiger, et pourtant il ne fut jamais content, et un beau jour +disparut, sans qu'on pût retrouver ses traces. La pauvre Catherine fut +inconsolable, mais ne perdit pas l'espoir qu'un jour son mari ne revînt, +chargé de tous les honneurs, qu'elle aussi, bonne âme crédule, lui +croyait dûs. + +C'est dans ces conditions qu'elle vint tenir le ménage de mon père, elle +le fit avec beaucoup de tact et de douceur, mais tout en elle respirait +la tristesse, l'abandon. Quand, après quelques années, mon père se +maria, Catherine continua son activité dans la maison, mais avec son bon +sens naturel, en référa la responsabilité à sa jeune maîtresse, qu'elle +aimait beaucoup. + +Ma mère chercha par bien des moyens à la distraire de son chagrin. Elle +devint plus gaie, quand elle nous raconta des histoires et fit des jeux +avec nous. Nos parents se faisaient un plaisir de l'observer parfois +quand elle ne s'endouta pas, se disant: "Voilà ce qu'il fallait à notre +vieille Catherine, ce sont les enfants qui lui ont porté l'oubli." + +Mais cela ne devait pas durer bien longtemps. Elle redevint peu à peu +silencieuse, et ses profonds soupirs ne prouvèrent que trop que l'oubli +du triste passé n'était qu'à la surfaçe; ses manières taciturnes et les +manifestations d'une secrète inquiétude commençaient même à troubler +mes parents, et mon père essaya par beaucoup de bonté à la persuader +d'accepter les épreuves de sa vie comme venant de Dieu. Elle pleura +beaucoup et s'efforça de se gagner un peu de calme, mais sans fruit. + +Un beau jour elle vint trouver mon père et lui dit: "Mon cher maître, +aidez-moi a exécuter mon projet, et surtout n'essayez pas de m'en +dissuader. Je suis décidée à aller à la recherche de mon mari; je sais +qu'il a besoin de moi, il m'appelle, et je vais partir. Procurez-moi les +papiers et certificats nècessaires à cette entreprise, afin que je ne +sois pas inquiétée par le police. J'irai où mes pieds me conduiront, +je ne sais où je le retrouverai, mais je sais que je le reverrai. Je +marcherai de jour, et de nuit je me logerai dans une auberge ou une +ferme, et je vous donnerai de mes nouvelles." + +Mon père voyait qu'il ne pouvait ébranler sa résolution, fit ce qu'elle +lui demanda, pourvoyant tant que possible aux besoins de la route, et +c'est le coeur gros de sinistres présages que mes parents virent partir +leur bonne et fidèle servante. Quand je lui dis: "Tu ne nous aimes +donc plus, puisque tu pars?" elle m'embrassa en pleurant, et dit, "Je +reviendrai!" Il y avait alors vingt ans depuis la disparition de son +mari, pendant lesquel elle avait soigneusement entretenu son ménage dans +une petite maison qui lui, appartenait. + +Elle partit donc, ainsi qu'elle l'avait dit; marchant de jour et se +reposant de nuit, se dirigeant vers la Prusse. + +Elle fut absente sans que nous eussions de ses nouvelles pendant au-delà +d'un mois quand un jour le facteur apporte une lettre à mon père de la +part d'un collègue inconnu d'un village de la Prusse, qui lui dit: "Une +femme de respectable apparence, munie de certificats identifiant ses +dires, est venue me prier de procéder à l'humation de son mari qu'elle +a trouvé mort dans un bois du village voisin. L'autorité municipale a +comparé les papiers trouvés dans les poches de l'inconnu et a constaté +qu'ils sont en rapport avec ceux que la femme Reeb porte sur elle, et +sur ce fait, et voyant que l'homme était mort sans violence, a laissé +ses restes à elle qui se dit sa veuve et qui lui a rendu les derniers +honneurs au cimetière de notre village." + +Inutile de décrire la surprise de mes parents à la reception de cette +lettre, qui fut bientôt suivie par le retour de Catherine. Elle compléta +le récit du pasteur en disant qu'un matin en sortant de ce village, elle +alla trouver un petit bois, quand elle vit au bord du chemin un homme +étendu mort, mais qui venait seulement de cesser de vivre. Elle le +regarda, l'examina et reconnut son mari; il lui parut évident qu'il +faisait son retour vers la patrie et elle, mais que la mort l'avait +surpris en route. Catherine fut bien plus calme après ces événements, +mais ses forces déclinèrent et dans la même année on creusa pour elle +une tombe au cimetière de Hambach. Elle n'avait plus de famille que +celle qu'elle avait si fidèlement servie, et les larmes de deux jeunes +enfants prouvèrent que quoique abandonnée elle avait été aimée. + + + + +NOTES. + +(1) THE FAIRIES OF CARAGONAN. + +Source: This story came from a Welsh pedlar--a woman. Its genuineness +may be relied upon. I find it a common belief that fairies have power +over witches, and the witch-hare is commonly believed in; also a +witch-fox. I have heard of no evil fairies in Wales; all the mischief +seems to be the work of witches. I have heard several variants of the +witch-hare. + + + +(2) THE CRAIG-Y-DON BLACKSMITH. + +This story I have heard from four different persons. + + + +(3) OLD GWILYM. + +Source: This story came from an old Welshman who says he knew Gwilym, +and heard the story from his lips. The narrator may be relied upon. + + + +(4) THE BABY-FARMER. + +Same source. + + + +(5) THE OLD MAN AND THE FAIRIES. + +Same source as 2. In Wales, so far as I have heard, the disappointed +always find _cockle-shells_. + + + +(6) TOMMY PRITCHARD. + +Same source as 2. + + + +(7) KADDY'S LUCK. + +Same source as 2. + + + +(8) STORY OF GELERT. + +As told by an old fisherman. The variant of this well-known story may +prove useful. Borrow's "tent" theory is, I think, an invention of his +own. I was fortunate enough to get possession of an old book (without +title-page, title, or author's name), in which the following remarks on +this story occur:-- + +"Some say this should be written Bedd Gelert, or Gilert, signifying +Gelert's, or Gilert's Grave. To this name is annexed a traditional +story, which it is hardly worth while to mention. However, the substance +of the tradition is, that Prince Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, in a fit of +passion, killed a favourite greyhound in this place, named Gelert, or +Gilert, and that, repenting of the deed, he caused a tomb to be erected +over his grave, where afterwards the parish church was built. See the +story at large in Mr. Edw. Jones's _Welsh Music_. But we may reasonably +conclude that this is all a fable, both when we consider the impiety of +building a church for divine worship over the grave of a dog, an impiety +not consistent with the genius of that age; and when we consider, also, +that the establishment of parochial cures, and the building of our +country churches in Wales, began soon after the dispersion of the +British clergy, which happened at the time of the massacre at Bangor +Iscoed, A.D. 603, at the instigation of Augustine the Monk, employed +for that purpose by the See of Rome. Llewelyn ap Iorwerth governed Wales +from A.D. 1194 to 1240, when he died; so that parish churches were built +between five and six hundred years before the time of this prince. + +"This Gelert, or Gilert, must, in all probability, have been some old +monk or saint of that name, who was interred here, and was either the +first founder of this church, or one to whose memory it was dedicated, +if built after his time. Bethgelert, before the Reformation, was a +priory. Lewis Dwnn, a bard of the fifteenth century, in a poem (the +purport of which is to solicit David, the Prior of Bethgelert, to bestow +on John Wynne, of Gwydwr, Esq., a fine bay horse which he possessed) +extols the Prior for his liberality and learning. Hence we are led to +suppose that this monk was very opulent, and a popular character in his +time." + +The stories of a hunter killing his favourite greyhound (always a +greyhound) are common to many districts. The book quoted is said to be +written by a Mr. Williams, in 1800. + + + +(9) ORIGIN OF THE WELSH. + +Source: An old seaman, who avers he heard it on a ship, on the way home +from Calcutta. I look with suspicion on the story. However, the Welsh +always believed they were descended from the Trojans, and the author of +the book cited says on this point:-- + +"Elen was a very common name among the ancient British ladies, and it +seems to have been often bestowed out of compliment upon genteel and +beautiful women; as we sometimes hear at this day _Ei Elen O--his +Elen_ when a man has a young and beautiful wife; and there is hardly +a love-song but the woman is called or compared in it to the Trojan +Helena, or Elen, as the Welsh write and pronounce the word. The Welsh +have had amongst them, time out of mind, a tradition that the first +colony of Bretons came to these islands from Troy after the destruction +of that city." + + + +(10) THE STORY OF THE CROWS. + +Source: Told me by an old man, who knew the defunct. + + + +(11) ROBERTS AND THE FAIRIES. + +Source: Told me by another old man, and I believe it to be genuine. + +There is another story of the same kind, of a man who was searching for +treasure in Beaumaris Castle, and after he had told of his luck a stone +fell on him, so that he had to go away. + + + +(12) THE QUEEN OF THE DELL. + +Came from the same old pedlar as No. 1. A genuine story. The narrator +says you seldom hear a fairy story in Anglesea unless there is a witch +in it. + + + +(13) ELLEN'S LUCK. + +Source: Told me by the same old man as No. 11. I believe it to be +genuine, and the narrator trustworthy. + + + +(14) THE PELLINGS. + +Source: Taken _verbatim_ from the old book referred to. In the context +the author says these people inhabited the districts about the foot of +Snowdon, and were known by the nickname of Pellings, which is not yet +extinct; and he says they tell the tale as given. After telling +the story, which he entitles a fairy story, he makes the following +suggestive comments:-- + +"Before the Reformation, when the Christian world was enveloped in +Popish darkness and superstition, when the existence of fairies and +other spectres was not questioned, and when such a swarm of idle +people, under the names of minstrels, poets, begging friars, etc., were +permitted to ramble about, it may be supposed that these vagrants had +amongst themselves some kind of rule or government, if I may so term +it, as we are assured those that now-a-days go under the name of gypsies +have. Such people might, at appointed times on fine moonlight nights, +assemble in some sequestered spot, to regulate their dark affairs and +divide the spoil; and then perform their nightly _orgies_, so as to +terrify people from coming near them, lest their tricks and cheats +should be discovered. It is possible the men of Ystrad might have less +superstition, and somewhat more courage, than their neighbours, and +supposing such a one to come suddenly on these nightly revellers, he +would of course cause great consternation amongst them; and, on finding +a comely female in the group, it is not unnatural to imagine that he +might, as the heroes of old have done before him, seize on a beauteous +Helen, carry her home, and in process of time marry her--for many +valorous knights have done the latter; but she, on account of some +domestic jars, might afterwards have eloped from him, and returned to +her former companions and occupation." + +The author makes the following remarks in a foot-note:-- + +"The English writers of romances feign the fairies to be of a smaller +size than even the fabled pigmies; the Welsh people ever supposed them +to be of the same stature with mankind. Shakespeare describes his fairy +as less than a mite, riding through people's brains to make the chase. +This has not been my experience. I have had them described to me of all +sizes, varying from a woman to little people two feet high. They have +been described, when large, as dressed like ordinary ladies, when small, +with short dresses; no hats, and hair in a plaited pigtail down the +back." + +Finally, the writer says: + +"What other interpretation can be given to this tale I know not. This, +and such other tales, the material of which one might collect a volume, +must, it may reasonably be supposed, have something of reality for their +origin and foundation, before they were dressed out in the familiar garb +given them by their authors." + +So our author is a "realist" as regards the origin of fairies. + + + +(15) THE LONG-LIVED ANCESTORS. + +Source: Taken _verbatim_ from the book quoted. This fable refers to the +place, _Cwm Caw Lwyd_, regarding which the writer says: + +"With regard to the _Cwm Caw Lwyd_, there is a still extant fable +entitled _Creaduriaid Hir Hoedlog_ (i.e., the long-lived ancestors), +which seems to be a composition of no modern date. At present the moral +of it cannot be elucidated; but it seems that, in one respect, it was +intended to represent the solitariness of this place, inhabited only +by the weeping owl from remote antiquity; and certainly it is the most +solitary and romantic retreat that the mind of man could imagine." The +writer says his is a "literal translation of the story, according to the +Welsh phraseology". + + + +(16) THE GIANTESS'S APRON-FULL. + +Source: _Verbatim_ from the same book. Referring to the heaps of stone +found on the hill-tops, he gives the fable of the heap found +upon _Bwlchy Ddeufaen_, which he says is called _Ban Clodidd y +Gawres_--literally, the giantess's apron-full. + +"The writer regards such tales as originally intended as hyperboles, to +magnify the prowess and magnanimity of renowned persons." + + + +(17) A FABLE. + +Source: Taken _verbatim_ from the same book. The writer quotes it +apropos of the Roman custom of bribing the Britons on the mountain tops. +We are told the fable was delivered by one of the Britons, named _Gwrgan +Farfdrwch_, who spoke to this effect, and then follows the fable. + + + +(18) THE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH. + +Source: Told by Hugh's daughter. Genuine. + + + +(19) BILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL. + +Source: Told me by the old man who told me of the origin of the Welsh. +Vague. + + + +(20) JOHN O' GROATS. + +Same source. Vague. + + + +(21) EVA'S LUCK. + +Source: A Jersey fisherman. Reliable. He also informed me that large +stones, supported on others, were called "Fairy Stones" in Jersey. + + + +(22) THE FISHERMEN OF SHETLAND. + +Source: Told me by a yachting hand, who heard it from a Shetlander named +Abernethy who was serving in the same yacht with him. Not many years +ago, some volunteers at Beaumaris swore they saw a mermaid there, +and fired several shots at it. I think this story to be genuine and +beautiful. + + + +(23) THE PASTOR'S NURSE. + +Source: Reliable. Written for me by the Pastor's mother in French. Given +_verbatim_. + + + +FINAL. + +The book I have quoted is in my possession, and was written, I am told, +by a Mr. Williams, a Welshman, of Llandegai in Anglesea. That he was +shrewd, reasonable, and knew the people of North Wales thoroughly, is +evident from the context. The book has no date, but appears to have been +written in 1800. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Welsh Fairy-Tales And Other Stories, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELSH FAIRY-TALES AND OTHER *** + +***** This file should be named 8675-8.txt or 8675-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/6/7/8675/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Charles Franks and the people at DP + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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