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
Taffy ap Sion, the shoemaker's son, living near Pencader,
Carmarthenshire, was a lad who many years ago entered the Fairy circle
on the mountain hard by there, and having danced a few minutes as
he supposed, chanced to step out. He was then astonished to find
that the scene which had been so familiar was now quite strange to
him. Here were roads and houses he had never seen, and in place of his
father's humble cottage there now stood a fine stone farmhouse. About
him were lovely cultivated fields instead of the barren mountain he
was accustomed to.
'Ah,' thought he, 'this is some Fairy trick to deceive my eyes. It
is not ten minutes since I stepped into that circle, and now when
I step out they have built my father a new house! Well, I only hope
it is real; anyhow, I'll go and see.' So he started off by a path he
knew instinctively, and suddenly struck against a very solid hedge. He
rubbed his eyes, felt the hedge with his fingers, scratched his head,
felt the hedge again, ran a thorn into his fingers and cried out,
'Wbwb' this is no Fairy hedge anyhow, nor, from the age of the thorns,
was it grown in a few minutes' time! So he climbed over it and walked
on. 'Here was I born,' said he, as he entered the farmyard, staring
wildly about him, 'and not a thing here do I know!' His mystification
was complete, when there came bounding towards him a huge dog, barking
furiously. 'What dog is this? Get out you ugly brute! Don't you
know I'm master here?--at least, when mother's from home, for father
don't count.' But the dog only barked the harder. 'Surely,' muttered
Taffy to himself, 'I have lost my road and am wandering through some
unknown neighbourhood; but no, yonder is the Careg Hir!' and he stood
staring at the well-known erect stone thus called, which still stands
on the mountain south of Pencader, and is supposed to have been placed
there in ancient times to commemorate a victory. As Taffy stood thus,
looking at the long stone, he heard footsteps behind him, and turning,
beheld the occupant of the farmhouse, who had come out to see why
his dog was barking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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