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
There was a man and his family living at a cottage called Penlon, a
small place just enough to keep one cow. The name of the man was John
Jones; and on one occasion when he and his wife were trying to churn
they failed to do so, or in other words the milk would not turn into
butter. At last J. Jones went to Cwrt-y-Cadno, in Carmarthenshire to
consult the "Dyn Hysbys." The wizard as he often did, gave the man
a bit of paper with some mystic words on it, and told him not to
show it to anybody, as the charm could not work after showing the
paper to others. As he was passing on his way home through a place
called Cwm Twrch, he met with a woman who accosted him and asked
him where he had been to. The man was rather shy, but at last he
admitted that he had been to Cwrt-y-Cadno to consult the conjurer,
and he told the woman everything. "I well knew," said the woman,
"You had been to Cwrt-y-Cadno, for only those who go to the conjurer
pass this way; show me the paper which he gave to you, for I am a
cousin of the conjurer." And the man showed it to her. "The paper is
alright," said she, "Take it home with you as soon as you can." He
went home with great joy, but unfortunately the churning still proved
a failure. Instead of undertaking another journey himself again,
J. Jones went to his neighbour Jenkin Williams, and begged him to
go to the conjurer to obtain another paper for him, and at last
J. Williams went. The conjurer, however, was not willing to give
another paper without £1 cash for it; but he gave it at last for a
more moderate price, when my informant pleaded the poverty of his
friend. When Williams asked the wise man what was the reason that the
milk would not churn, the reply was that an enemy had cursed it by
wishing evil to his neighbour. When this second paper was taken home
(which was not shown to anybody on the road), the milk was churned
most successfully, and splendid butter was obtained.
In some places a hot smoothing iron thrown into the churn was effective
against the witch's doings.
BURYING THE CHARM.
In some of the stories I have already given a paper obtained from
a conjurer in the way of charm was considered very effective to
undo the witch's evil doings; but from the following story, which
I obtained from David Pugh, Erwlwyd, it seems that it was necessary
in some cases to bury this bit of paper in the ground. It was also
thought a few generations ago, that a letter hidden under a stone
was a good thing to keep away both witches and evil spirits and to
secure good luck to a house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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