_Gors Goch Fairies._--Now we began to hear more about fairies:--'One
night there came a strange rapping at the door of the ancient manor on
the Gors Goch farm over in Cardiganshire, and the father of the family
asked what was wanted. Thin, silvery voices said they wanted a warm
place in which to dress their children and to tidy them up. The door
opened then, and in came a dozen or more little beings, who at once set
themselves to hunting for a basin and water, and to cleaning themselves.
At daybreak they departed, leaving a pretty gift in return for the
kindness. In this same house at another time, whether by the same party
of little beings or by another could not be told, a healthy child of the
family was _changed_ because he was unbaptized, and a frightful-looking
child left in his place. The mother finally died of grief, and the other
children died because of the loss of their mother, and the father was
left alone. Then some time after this, the same little folks who came
the first time returned to clean up, and when they departed, in place of
their former gifts of silver, left a gift of gold. It was not long
before the father became heir to a rich farm in North Wales, and going
to live on it became a magician, for the little people, still
befriending him, revealed themselves in their true nature and taught him
all their secrets.'
_Levi Salmon's Control of Spirits._--'Levi Salmon, who lived about
thirty years ago, between here and Newport, was a magician, and could
call up good and bad spirits; but was afraid to call up the bad ones
unless another person was with him, for it was a dangerous and terrible
ordeal. After consulting certain books which he had, he would draw a
circle on the floor, and in a little while spirits like bulls and
serpents and other animals would appear in it, and all sorts of spirits
would speak. It was not safe to go near them; and to control them Levi
held a whip in his hand. He would never let them cross the circle. And
when he wanted them to go away he always had to throw something to the
chief spirit.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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