_Fairies and Spirits._--'Spirits and fairies exist all round us,
invisible. Fairies have no solid bodily substance. Their forms are of
matter like ghostly bodies, and on this account they cannot be caught.
In the twilight they are often seen, and on moonlight nights in summer.
Only certain people can see fairies, and such people hold communication
with them and have dealings with them, but it is difficult to get them
to talk about fairies. I think the spirits about us are the fallen
angels, for when old Doctor Harris died his books on witchcraft had to
be burned in order to free the place where he lived from evil spirits.
The fairies, too, are sometimes called the fallen angels. They will do
good to those who befriend them, and harm to others. I think there must
be an intermediate state between life on earth and heavenly life, and it
may be in this that spirits and fairies live. There are two distinct
types of spirits: one is good and the other is bad. I have heard of
people going to the fairies and finding that years passed as days, but I
do not believe in changelings, though there are stories enough about
them. That there are fairies and other spirits like them, both good and
bad, I firmly believe. My mother used to tell about seeing the
"fair-folk" dancing in the fields near Cardigan; and other people have
seen them round the cromlech up there on the hill (the Pentre Evan
Cromlech). They appeared as little children in clothes like soldiers'
clothes, and with red caps, according to some accounts.'
_Death-Candles Described._--'I have seen more than one death-candle. I
saw one death-candle right here in this room where we are sitting and
talking.' I was told by the nephew and niece of our present witness that
this particular death-candle took an untrodden course from the house
across the fields to the grave-yard, and that when the death of one of
the family occurred soon afterwards, their aunt insisted that the corpse
should be carried by exactly the same route; so the road was abandoned
and the funeral went through the ploughed fields. Here is the
description of the death-candle as the aunt gave it in response to our
request:--'The death-candle appears like a patch of bright light; and no
matter how dark the room or place is, everything in it is as clear as
day. The candle is not a flame, but a luminous mass, lightish blue in
colour, which dances as though borne by an invisible agency, and
sometimes it rolls over and over. If you go up to the light it is
nothing, for it is a spirit. Near here a light as big as a pot was seen,
and rays shot out from it in all directions. The man you saw here in the
house to-day, one night as he was going along the road near Nevern, saw
the death-light of old Dr. Harris, and says it was lightish green.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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