Sir John Rhys

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GEOGRAPHICAL LIST OF AUTHORITIES xxv

LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES xxxi

CHAPTER I

Undine’s Kymric Sisters 1

I.	The legend of ?yn y Fan Fach							2
II.	The legend of ?yn y Forwyn							23
III.	Some Snowdon lake legends							30
IV.	The heir of Ystrad							38
V.	?andegai and ?an?echid							50
VI.	Mapes’ story of ?yn Syfadon							70

CHAPTER II

The Fairies’ Revenge 75

I.	Bedgelert and its environs							75
II.	The Pennant Valley							107
III.	Glasynys’ yarns							109
IV.	An apple story							125
V.	The Conwy afanc							130
VI.	The Berwyn and Aran Fawdwy							135
VII.	The hinterland of Aberdovey							141
VIII.	Some more Merioneth stories							146
IX.	The Children of Rhys wfn							151
X.	Southey and the Green Isles of the Sea							169
XI.	The curse of Pantannas							173
XII.	More fairy displeasure							192

CHAPTER III

Fairy Ways and Words 197

I.	The folklore of Nant Conwy							197
II.	Scenes of the Mabinogi of Math							207
III.	Celynnog Fawr and ?anaelhaearn							214
IV.	The blind man’s folklore							219
V.	The old saddler’s recollections							222
VI.	Traces of Tom Tit Tot							226
VII.	March and his horse’s ears							231
VIII.	The story of the Marchlyn Mawr							234
IX.	The fairy ring of Cae ?eidr Dyfrydog							238
X.	A Cambrian kelpie							242
XI.	Sundry traits of fairy character							244
XII.	Ynys Geinon and its fairy treasures							251
XIII.	The aged infant							257
XIV.	Fairy speech							269

CHAPTER IV

Manx Folklore 284

	The fenodyree or Manx brownie							286
	The sleih beggey or little people							289
	The butches or witches and the hare							293
	Charmers and their methods							296
	Comparisons from the Channel Islands							301
	Magic and ancient modes of thought							302
	The efficacy of fire to detect the witch							304
	Burnt sacrifices							305
	Laa Boaldyn or May-day							308
	Laa Lhunys or the beginning of harvest							312
	Laa Houney or Hollantide beginning the year							315
	Sundry prognostications and the time for them							317

CHAPTER V

The Fenodyree and his Friends 323

	Lincolnshire parallels							323
	The brownie of Blednoch and Bwca’r Trwyn							325
	Prognostication parallels from Lincolnshire and Herefordshire							327
	The traffic in wind and the GallizenÆ							330
	Wells with rags and pins							332
	St. Catherine’s hen plucked at Colby							335
	The qualtagh or the first-foot and the question of race							336
	Sundry instances of things unlucky							342
	Manx reserve and the belief in the Enemy of Souls							346
	The witch of Endor’s influence and the respectability of the charmer’s vocation							349
	Public penance enforced pretty recently							350

CHAPTER VI

The Folklore of the Wells 354

	Rag wells in Wales							354
	The question of distinguishing between offerings and vehicles of disease							358
	Mr. Hartland’s decision							359
	The author’s view revised and illustrated							360
	T. E. Morris’ account of the pin well of ?anfaglan							362
	Other wishing and divining wells							364
	The sacred fish of ?anberis and ?angybi							366
	Ffynnon Grassi producing the Glasfryn lake							367
	The Morgan of that lake and his name							372
	Ffynnon Gywer producing Bala Lake							376
	Bala and other towns doomed to submersion							377
	The legend of ?yn ?ech Owen							379
	The parallels of Lough Neagh and Lough Ree							381
	Seithennin’s realm overwhelmed by the sea							382
	Seithennin’s name and its congeners							385
	Prof. Dawkins on the Lost Lands of Wales							388
	Certain Irish wells not visited with impunity							389
	The Lough Sheelin legend compared with that of Seithennin							393
	The priesthood of the wells of St. Elian and St. Teilo							395

CHAPTER VII

Triumphs of the Water-world 401

	The sea encroaching on the coast of Glamorgan							402
	The Kenfig tale of crime and vengeance							403
	The Crymlyn story and its touch of fascination							404
	Nennius’ description of Oper Linn Liguan compared							406
	The vengeance legend of Bala Lake							408
	Legends about the ?ynclys Pool							410
	The fate of Tyno Helig							414
	The belief in cities submerged intact							415
	The phantom city and the bells of Aberdovey							418
	The ethics of the foregoing legends discussed							419
	The limits of the delay of punishment							420
	Why the fairies delay their vengeance							423
	Non-ethical legends of the eruption of water							425
	Cutting the green sward a probable violation of ancient tabu avenged by water divinities							427
	The lake afanc’s rÔle in this connexion							428
	The pigmies of the water-world							432
	The Conwy afanc and the Highland water-horse							433
	The equine features of March and Labraid Lore							435
	Mider and the Mac Óc’s well horses							436
	The Gilla Decair’s horse and Du March Moro							437
	March ab Meirchion associated with Mona							439
	The Welsh deluge Triads							440
	Names of the Dee and other rivers in North Wales							441
	The Lydney god Nudons, Nuada, and ?ud							445
	The fairies associated in various ways with water							449
	The cyhiraeth and the Welsh banshee							452
	Ancestress rather than ancestor							454

CHAPTER VIII

Welsh Cave Legends 456

	The question of classification							456
	The fairy cave of the Arennig Fawr							456
	The cave of Mynyd y Cnwc							457
	Waring’s version of Iolo’s legend of Craig y inas							458
	Craigfryn Hughes’ Monmouthshire tale							462
	The story of the cave occupied by Owen Lawgoch							464
	How London Bridge came to figure in that story							466
	Owen Lawgoch in Ogo’r inas							467
	Dinas Emrys with the treasure hidden by Merlin							469
	Snowdonian treasure reserved for the Goidel							470
	Arthur’s death on the side of Snowdon							473
	The graves of Arthur and Rhita							474
	Elis o’r Nant’s story of ?anciau Eryri’s cave							476
	The top of Snowdon named after Rhita							477
	Drystan’s cairn							480
	The hairy man’s cave							481
	Returning heroes for comparison with Arthur and Owen Lawgoch							481
	The baledwyr’s Owen to return as Henry the Ninth							484
	Owen a historical man = Froissart’s Yvain de Gales							487
	Froissart’s account of him and the questions it raises							488
	Owen ousting Arthur as a cave-dweller							493
	Arthur previously supplanting a divinity of the class of the sleeping Cronus of Demetrius							493
	Arthur’s original sojourn located in Faery							495

CHAPTER IX

Place-name Stories 498

	The Triad of the Swineherds of the Isle of Prydain							499
	The former importance of swine’s flesh as food							501
	The Triad clause about Co?’s straying sow							503
	Co?’s wanderings arranged to explain place-names							508
	The Kulhwch account of Arthur’s hunt of Twrch Trwyth in Ireland							509
	A parley with the boars							511
	The hunt resumed in Pembrokeshire							512
	The boars reaching the Loughor Valley							514
	Their separation							515
	One killed by the Men of ?ydaw in Ystrad Yw							516
	Ystrad Yw defined and its name explained							516
	Twrch Trwyth escaping to Cornwall after an encounter in the estuary of the Severn							519
	The comb, razor, and shears of Twrch Trwyth							519
	The name Twrch Trwyth							521
	Some of the names evidence of Goidelic speech							523
	The story about Gwydion and his swine compared							525
	Place-name explanations blurred or effaced							526
	Enumeration of Arthur’s losses in the hunt							529
	The Men of ?ydaw’s identity and their Syfadon home							531
	Further traces of Goidelic names							536
	A Twrch Trwyth incident mentioned by Nennius							537
	The place-name Carn Cabal discussed							538
	Duplicate names with the Goidelic form preferred in Wales							541
	The same phenomenon in the Mabinogion							543
	The relation between the families of ?yr, DÔn, and Pwy?							548
	The elemental associations of ?yr and Lir							549
	Matthew Arnold’s idea of Medieval Welsh story							551
	BrÂn, the Tricephal, and the Letto-Slavic Triglaus							552
	Summary remarks as to the Goidels in Wales							553

CHAPTER X

Difficulties of the Folklorist 556

	The terrors of superstition and magic							557
	The folklorist’s activity no fostering of superstition							558
	Folklore a portion of history							558
	The difficulty of separating story and history							559
	Arthur and the Snowdon Goidels as an illustration							559
	Rhita Gawr and the mad kings Nynio and Peibio							560
	Malory’s version and the name Rhita, Ritho, Ryons							562
	Snowdon stories about Owen Ymhacsen and Cai							564
	Goidelic topography in Gwyned							566
	The Goidels becoming Compatriots or Kymry							569
	The obscurity of certain superstitions a difficulty							571
	Difficulties arising from their apparent absurdity illustrated by the March and Labraid stories							571
	Difficulties from careless record illustrated by Howells’ Ychen Bannog							575
	Possible survival of traditions about the urus							579
	A brief review of the lake legends and the iron tabu							581
	The scrappiness of the Welsh Tom Tit Tot stories							583
	The story of the widow of Kittlerumpit compared							585
	Items to explain the names SÌli Ffrit and SÌli go Dwt							590
	Bwca’r Trwyn both brownie and bogie in one							593
	That bwca a fairy in service, like the Pennant nurse							597
	The question of fairies concealing their names							597
	Magic identifying the name with the person							598
	Modryb Mari regarding cheese-baking as disastrous to the flock							599
	Her story about the reaper’s little black soul							601
	Gwenogvryn Evans’ lizard version							603
	Diseases regarded as also material entities							604
	The difficulty of realizing primitive modes of thought							605

CHAPTER XI

Folklore Philosophy 607

	The soul as a pigmy or a lizard, and the word enaid							607
	A different notion in the Mabinogi of Math							608
	The belief in the persistence of the body through changes							610
	Shape-shifting and rebirth in Gwion’s transformations							612
	Tuan mac Cairill, Amairgen, and Taliessin							615
	D’Arbois de Jubainville’s view of Erigena’s teaching							617
	The druid master of his own transformations							620
	Death not a matter of course so much as of magic							620
	This incipient philosophy as Gaulish druidism							622
	The Gauls not all of one and the same beliefs							623
	The name and the man							624
	Enw, ‘name,’ and the idea of breathing							625
	The exact nature of the association still obscure							627
	The Celts not distinguishing between names and things							628
	A Celt’s name on him, not by him or with him							629
	The druid’s method of name-giving non-Aryan							631
	Magic requiring metrical formulÆ							632
	The professional man’s curse producing blisters							632
	A natural phenomenon arguing a thin-skinned race							633
	Cursing of no avail without the victim’s name							635
	Magic and kingship linked in the female line							636

CHAPTER XII

Race in Folklore and Myth 639

	Glottology and comparative mythology							640
	The question of the feminine in Welsh syntax							642
	The Irish goddess Danu and the Welsh DÔn							644
	Tynghed or destiny in the Kulhwch story							646
	Traces of a Welsh confarreatio in the same context							649
	Þokk in the Balder story compared with tynghed							650
	Questions of mythology all the harder owing to race mixture							652
	Whether the picture of CÚchulainn in a rage be Aryan or not							653
	CÚchulainn exempt from the Ultonian couvade							654
	CÚchulainn racially a Celt in a society reckoning descent by birth							656
	CÚchulainn as a rebirth of Lug paralleled in Lapland							657
	Doubtful origin of certain legends about Lug							658
	The historical element in fairy stories and lake legends							659
	The notion of the fairies being all women							661
	An illustration from Central Australia							662
	Fairy counting by fives evidence of a non-Celtic race							663
	The Basque numerals as an illustration							665
	Prof. Sayce on Irishmen and Berbers							665
	Dark-complexioned people and fairy changelings							666
	The blond fairies of the Pennant district exceptional							668
	A summary of fairy life from previous chapters							668
	Sir John Wynne’s instance of men taken for fairies							670
	Some of the Brythonic names for fairies							671
	Dwarfs attached to the fortunes of their masters							672
	The question of fairy cannibalism							673
	The fairy Corannians and the historical Coritani							674
	St. Guthlac at Croyland in the Fens							676
	The Irish sid, side, and the Welsh Caer Sidi							677
	The mound dwellings of Pechts and Irish fairies							679
	Prof. J. Morris Jones explaining the non-Aryan syntax of neo-Celtic by means of Egyptian and Berber							681
	The Picts probably the race that introduced it							682
	The first pre-Celtic people here							683
	Probably of the same race as the neolithic dwarfs of the Continent							683
	The other pre-Celtic race, the Picts and the people of the Mabinogion							684
	A word or two by way of epilogue							686

Additions and Corrections 689

Index 695

We are too hasty when we set down our ancestors in the gross for fools, for the monstrous inconsistencies (as they seem to us) involved in their creed of witchcraft. In the relations of this visible world we find them to have been as rational, and shrewd to detect an historic anomaly, as ourselves. But when once the invisible world was supposed to be opened, and the lawless agency of bad spirits assumed, what measures of probability, of decency, of fitness, or proportion—of that which distinguishes the likely from the palpable absurd—could they have to guide them in the rejection or admission of any particular testimony? That maidens pined away, wasting inwardly as their waxen images consumed before a fire—that corn was lodged, and cattle lamed—that whirlwinds uptore in diabolic revelry the oaks of the forest—or that spits and kettles only danced a fearful-innocent vagary about some rustic’s kitchen when no wind was stirring—were all equally probable where no law of agency was understood …. There is no law to judge of the lawless, or canon by which a dream may be criticised.

Charles Lamb’s Essays of Elia.