Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
"He came to the door, and entered the house boldly enough, and
inquired after his parents. The mistress answered him in a surly and
unusually contemptuous manner and wished to know 'What the drunken
old Jew wanted there,' for they thought he must have been drinking
or he would never have spoken in the way he did. The old man looked
at everything in the house with surprise and bewilderment, but the
little children about the floor took his attention more than anything
else. His looks betrayed sorrow and deep disappointment. He related
his whole history, that yesterday he had gone out to hunt, and that
now he had returned. The mistress told him that she had heard a story
about her husband's father, which occurred before she was born, that
he had been lost whilst hunting, but that her father had told her that
the story was not true, but that he had been killed. The woman became
uneasy and angry that the old 'Jew' did not depart. The old man was
roused, and said that the house was his, and that he would have his
rights. He went to inspect his possessions, and shortly afterwards
directed his steps to the servant's house. To his surprise he saw that
things were greatly changed. After conversing awhile with an aged man
who sat by the fire, they carefully looked each other in the face,
and the old man by the fire related the sad history of his lost friend,
the son of Llech y Derwydd.
"They conversed together deliberately on the events of their youth,
but all seemed like a dream. However, the old man in the corner came to
the conclusion that his visitor was his old friend, the son of Llech y
Derwydd, returned from the land of the Fairies, after spending there
fifty years.
"The old man with the white beard believed the story related by his
friend, and long was the talk and many were the questions which the one
gave to the other. The visitor was informed that the master of Llech y
Derwydd was from home that day, and he was persuaded to eat some food;
but to the horror of all, when he had done so, he instantly fell down
dead. We are not informed that an inquest was held over the body; but
the tale relates that the cause of the man's sudden death was that he
ate food after having been so long in the land of the Fairies. His old
friend insisted on the dead man being buried with his ancestors. The
rudeness of the mistress of Llech y Derwydd to her father-in-law
brought a curse upon the place and family, 'hyd y silcyn ach,' and
her offence was not expiated until the farm had been sold nine times."
TAFFY AP SION OF PENCADER AMONG THE FAIRIES.
The following Fairy Legend appeared in "British Goblins," page 75:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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