Thomas Crofton Croker was an Irish antiquarian and an early collator of British folklore. His first volume on fairies, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, was published in 1825 and resulted in a German translation by the Brothers Grimm. Its success lead to a further two volumes, with the third being largely devoted to stories from Wales.
These Welsh tales consisted of selections from William Owen Pughe's translation of the Mabinogion - e.g. Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed and Bendigeidfran - and oral tradition collected by "a lady (whose name he [i.e. Croker] would feel proud in being allowed to mention)."
This lady was Maria Jane Williams, the second daughter of Rees Williams of Aberpergwm House. As her Wikipedia entry states, she "was well educated, a supporter of the Welsh language and traditions and had an extensive knowledge of music. She was especially acclaimed for her singing and was an accomplished player of the guitar, and the harp, having been taught by the famous harpist Parish-Alvars. Henry Fothergill Chorley said that she was "the most exquisite amateur singer he had ever heard." She acquired the name ‘Llinos’ (the Welsh word for linnet), and was associated with the Welsh cultural society known as Cymreigyddion y Fenni and made her home a focus for ‘Celtic Renaissance’ enthusiasts."
Williams prefaced her communications, according to Croker, with:
"The subject of Welsh fairies is one which interests me much; but the opportunities of conversing with story-tellers are few, the race being now almost extinct in Wales. The increase of wealth, the intercourse with enlightened Saxons, the improvement of roads, and the progress of education, have nearly banished 'the fair family'. However, I have the good fortune to inhabit a romantic valley in Glamorganshire, and am acquainted with some old secluded mountaineers who speak no language but their own, and who inherit the superstition of their ancestors.
They see the fairies — they hear their enchanting music, and sometimes join in their merry dances. They are also familiar with ghosts and strange noises, behold supernatural lights, and always foretell death by certain signs. I am sorry to add, too, that my country folk have frequent communications with 'the old gentleman,' who visits them in all possible shapes and places. A favourite spot is near a Roman road on one of the hills behind this house, where it is supposed treasure is hidden*.
(*In a subsequent letter the fair writer says : — "Mama remembers a meeting of twenty preachers assembled on a hill not far from this, to combat the wicked spirit who had enticed so many to sinful practices, by tempting them with bars of gold, which were dug up near a Roman causeway called Sam Helen. A farmer, a tenant of ours, who became suddenly rich, was commonly supposed to have sold himself to the evil one.")
The stories which I send are deficient in the charm of national idiom, as they are translations from the Welsh; but I have endeavoured to imitate as closely as possible any peculiarities of phraseology, and in some instances have preserved the expressions in the original."
From page 201, in his introduction to the Fairy Legends of Wales, Croker explains:
The Fairies were the Dynion Mwyn*, or kind people of the Mabinogion. They were also called Y tylwyt teg, the fair family, and in some parts of Wales, Y Teulu, the family, also Bendith eu Mamau, the blessings of their mothers; and Gwreigedth Anwyl, or dear wives.
The idea of the Fairies being diminutive is only current in Pembrokeshire and the adjoining districts, where they are called Y dynon bag teg, the small fair people. In the poems of the bards, and in the traditionary tales of the country, they had other names, such as Elod, intelligences; and Eltyllon, goblins, or wandering spirits. The term ellyll*, with its plural ellyllon, corresponds with the Hebrew elil and elilim. Bwyd Ellyllon, Elves' food, is the poisonous mushroom; menyg dlyllon, are the flowers of the foxglove. (Llys Mawr, great herb), and Ceubren yr Ellyll, the Elves' hollow tree.
The popular stories of their friendly, and at the same time mischievous, intercourse with the inhabitants of Wales are endless. They are supposed to be the manes of the ancient Druids, suffered to remain in a middle state; not worthy of the felicity of heaven, but too good to associate with evil spirits, and therefore permitted to wander among men until the day of doom, when they are to be elevated to a higher state of being; hence the adage, "Byw dr Air y tylwyth teg" to live in the land of the fair family; that is, to subsist by unknown means.
Though the fairies are generally represented as inoffensive, yet they sometimes discover a mischievous propensity in seizing an unwary traveller on the mountains, and giving him a trip through the region of air. The fairies are believed to comb the beards of the goats on Friday night, which is said to be the reason for the shining and silky appearance of the beard on Saturday, "made decent for Sunday." When a person happens to find a piece of money, he will always find another in the same place so long as he keeps it a secret.
In Wales, as in other pastoral districts," says a note on Mr. Llwyd's Can y tylwyth teg, "the Fairy Tales are not erased from the traditional tablet; and age seldom neglects to inform youth, that if, on retiring to rest, the hearth is made clean, the floor swept, and the pails left full of water, the fairies will come at midnight, continue their revels till day-break, sing the well-known strain of Torriad y Dydd, leave a piece of money upon the hob, and disappear.
The suggestions of intellect and the precautions of prudence are easily discernible under this fiction: a safety from fire in the neatness of the hearth; a provision for its extinction in replenished pails, and a motive to perseverance in the promised boon."
The fairies have concerts of delicious music upon calm summer nights, which mortals are often permitted to hear. They are also extremely fond of dancing in circles by the light of the moon, and are much addicted to the stealing of children, sometimes even enticing grown-up people away.
"In submitting stories illustrative of Welsh superstition," writes the lady who has collected them, I cannot help expressing my surprise at finding so many labouring under delusions which seem inexplicable. Many of my old friends are highly respectable in their line of life, farmers and farmers' wives, of strict veracity on all other topics save supernatural agencies; and they relate these stories with an earnestness and an air of truth that is perfectly confounding. Some have actually seen the fairies, and among this number is old Shane of Blaenllanby, in the vale of Neath.
She says, "that several years ago she saw the fairies to the amount of several hundreds. It was almost dusk, and they were not a quarter of a mile from her. They were very diminutive persons, riding four a-breast, and mounted upon small white horses, not bigger than dogs. They formed a long cavalcade, and passing on towards the mountain, at a place called Clwydau'r Banwen, they disappeared behind the high ground, and seemed to be traversing the Sarn, or ancient Roman road, which crosses that mountain. Many old people have told me," continues the fair writer, "that when they were young, and had occasion to go to the mountains to look after sheep, or to fetch the cows, their parents always cautioned them to avoid treading near the fairies' ring, or they would be lost."
Click the links to go to dedicated posts for the tales:
★ The Story of Gitto Bach via Tomos Shone Rhytherch.
★ Legend of Llyn Cwm Llwch via Tomos Shone Rhytherch.
★ Llewllyn's Dance via Davidd Shone.
★ The Egg-Shell Dinner via Davidd Tomos Bowen.
★ Yanto's Chase.
★ Fairy Encounters via Morgan Rhys Harris.
★ The Headless Lady of Rhyd y Rhesg.
★ Owen Lawgoch's Castle via Thomas ap Rhys.
★ Island of the Fair Folk via Edward Davies.
★ The Pwcca.
Also included were various tales lifted from the Rev. Edmund Jones' A Relation of Apparitions of Spirits in the County of Monmouth, and the Principality of Wales. I'll be writing a dedicated blog post on Jones in the near future.
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