_'Tylwyth Teg' and their World._--'There was an idea that the _Tylwyth Teg_ lived by plundering at night. It was thought, too, that if anything went wrong with cows or horses the _Tylwyth Teg_ were to blame. As a race, the _Tylwyth Teg_ were described as having the power of invisibility; and it was believed they could disappear like a spirit while one happened to be observing them. The world in which they lived was a world quite unlike ours, and mortals taken to it by them were changed in nature. The way a mortal might be taken by the _Tylwyth Teg_ was by being attracted into their dance. If they thus took you away, it would be according to our time for twelve months, though to you the time would seem no more than a night.' FAIRY TRIBES IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE From Mr. D. Davies-Williams, who outlined for me the Montgomeryshire belief in the _Tylwyth Teg_ as he has known it intimately, I learned that this is essentially the same as elsewhere in North and Central Wales. He summed up the matter by saying:-- _Belief in Tylwyth Teg._--'It was the opinion that the _Tylwyth Teg_ were a real race of invisible or spiritual beings living in an invisible world of their own. The belief in the _Tylwyth Teg_ was quite general fifty or sixty years ago, and as sincere as any religious belief is now.' Our next witness is the Rev. Josiah Jones, minister of the Congregational Church of Machynlleth; and, after a lifetime's experience in Montgomeryshire, he gives this testimony:-- _A Deacon's Vision._--'A deacon in my church, John Evans, declared that he had seen the _Tylwyth Teg_ dancing in the day-time, within two miles from here, and he pointed out the very spot where they appeared. This was some twenty years ago. I think, however, that he saw only certain reflections and shadows, because it was a hot and brilliant day.' _Folk-Beliefs in General._--'As I recall the belief, the old people considered the _Tylwyth Teg_ as living beings halfway between something material and spiritual, who were rarely seen. When I was a boy there was very much said, too, about corpse-candles and phantom funerals, and especially about the _Bwganod_, plural of _Bwgan_, meaning a sprite, ghost, hobgoblin, or spectre. The _Bwganod_ were supposed to appear at dusk, in various forms, animal and human; and grown-up people as well as children had great fear of them.' _A Minister's Opinion._--'Ultimately there is a substance of truth in the fairy-belief, but it is wrongly accounted for in the folk-lore: I once asked Samuel Roberts, of Llanbrynmair, who was quite a noted Welsh scholar, what he thought of the _Tylwyth Teg_, of hobgoblins, spirits, and so forth; and he said that he believed such things existed, and that God allowed them to appear in times of great ignorance to convince people of the existence of an invisible world.' IN CARDIGANSHIRE; AND A FOLK-LORIST'S TESTIMONY