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
Mrs. Weekes's mother, when a young girl, living with her parents
near Llanybri, Carmarthen, went out one evening to fetch some water
from a well close by, and she saw, as she thought, Thomas of Felin
Gwm standing near the hedge. "Thomas?" says she, "what do you want
here?" The man vanished into nothing all at once, and so she perceived
that it was his spirit she had seen. Thomas was in love with her,
but she had refused to have anything to do with him.
TALE OF A DOCTOR.
The following tale appeared in "Welsh Folk-Lore," page 296 by the
late Rev. Elias Owen, F.S.A., who had obtained the story from the
Rev. Philip Edwards:--
"At Swyddffynnon, in Cardiganshire, there lived a Mrs. Evans, who
had a strange vision. Mr. Edwards's father called one evening upon
Mrs. Evans, and found her sitting by the fire in company with a
few female friends, greatly depressed. On enquiring as to the cause
of her distress, she stated that she had had a strange sight that
very evening.
"She saw, she said, in the unoccupied chamber at the further end of
the house, a light, and, whilst she was wondering what light it was,
she observed a tall, dark, stranger gentleman, who had a long, full
beard, enter the house and go straight to the room where the light was,
but before going in he took off his hat and placed it on the table;
then he took off his gloves and threw them into the hat, and without
uttering a single word he entered the lit-up room.
"Shortly afterwards, she saw the stranger emerge from the room and
leave the house, and on looking again towards the room she saw that
the light had disappeared. It was, she said, this apparition that
had disconcerted her.
"Some time after this vision, Mrs. Evans was in a critical state,
and as she lived far away from a doctor, my informant's father was
requested to ride to Aberystwyth for one. He found, however, that the
two doctors who then resided in that town were from home. But he was
informed at the inn that there was a London doctor staying at Hafod. He
determined, whether he could or could not, induce this gentleman
to accompany him to Swyddffynnon, to go there. This gentleman, on
hearing the urgency of the case, consented to visit the sick woman.
"Mr. Edwards and the doctor rode rapidly to their destination, and
Mr. Edwards was surprised to find that the doctor did everything
exactly as it had been stated by Mrs. Evans. There was also a light
in the chamber, for there the neighbour had placed the still-born
child, and it was the providential help of the London doctor that
saved Mrs. Evans's life.
"I may add that the personal appearance of this gentleman corresponded
with the description given of him by Mrs. Evans."
SPIRIT OF A LIVING MAN IN A FIELD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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