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
It is rather interesting that Iolo Morganwg saw a stone of this
kind in the year 1802, in the neighbourhood of Bridell, North
Pembrokeshire. The following extracts from Iolo's Diary appeared
in "Young Wales," June, 1901:--"Leave Cardigan, take the road to
Llanfernach. Bridell Church.... Meet a man who carries a stone about
the country, which he calls Llysfaen. Scrapes it into powder with a
knife, and sells it at about five shillings an ounce as an infallible
remedy for the canine madness. He says that this stone is only to be
found on the mountains after a thunderstorm, that every eye cannot see
it. He showed me the stone, and when I assured him and a little crowd
that had gathered about him, that the stone was only a piece of the
Glamorgan alabaster, the poor fellow was confounded and seemed very
angry; but I was surprised to hear many positively assert that they had
actually seen the Hydrophobia cured in dogs and man with this powder
given in milk, and used as the only liquid to be taken nine days,
and the only food also.... The name by which this fellow named his
stone is obviously a corruption of Cleisfaen, from its blushy white
colour, veined or spotted with a livid or blackish blue colour like
that of a bruise (clais)."
The excellent old Welsh Magazine "Y Gwyliedydd" for the year 1824,
page 343, gives an account of two other such stones, one of them
preserved at Maes y Ffynon, Maelienydd, and the other at Llwyn Madog,
Breconshire. How these two stones were discovered the following story
is given:--A man attacked with hydrophobia wandered away one day and
slept on a hill, where he dreamt that a remedy for his disease was to
be found in the ground under his head, where he was sleeping. After
digging the ground, two white stones were discovered.
A healing stone supposed to have descended from the sky was discovered
on a farm called Disgwylfa, in Carmarthenshire.
THE PHYSICIANS OF MYDDFAI.
The following extracts from the book of remedies of The Physicians of
Myddfai, will not be irrelevant, as those celebrated Physicians were of
Fairy origin, having been furnished with medical prescriptions by their
supernatural mother, the Fairy lady of Llyn y Fan, in Carmarthenshire.
TO EXTRACT A TOOTH WITHOUT PAIN.
"Take some newts, by some called lizards, and those nasty beetles
which are found in ferns during summer time, calcine them in an
iron pot and make a powder thereof. Wet the forefinger of the right
hand, insert it in the powder, and apply it to the tooth frequently,
refraining from spitting it off, when the tooth will fall away without
pain. It is proven."--Physicians of Myddfai.
FOR THE BITE OF A MAD DOG.
"Seek some plantain, and a handful of sheep's sorrel, then pound
well in a mortar with the white of eggs, honey, and old lard, make
it into an ointment and apply to the bitten part, so that it may be
cured."--Physicians of Myddfai.
FOR PAIN IN THE EYE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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