Wild Wales: The People, Language, & SceneryBorrow, George
General
Wild Wales: The People, Language, & Scenery
Borrow, George
Borrow, George, 1803-1881 -- Travel -- Wales; Wales -- Description and travel
A man now coming in who lived at the next door, she said, I had better
speak to him and tell him what I wanted to know, which he could then
communicate to her, as she could understand his way of speaking much
better than mine. Through the man I asked her whether there was any one
of the blood of Gronwy Owen living in the house. She pointed to the
children and said they had all some of his blood. I asked in what
relationship they stood to Gronwy. She said she could hardly tell, that
tri priodas three marriages stood between, and that the relationship was
on the mother’s side. I gathered from her that the children had lost
their mother, that their name was Jones, and that their father was her
son. I asked if the house in which they lived was their own; she said
no, that it belonged to a man who lived at some distance. I asked if the
children were poor.
“Very,” said she.
I gave them each a trifle, and the poor old lady thanked me with tears in
her eyes.
I asked whether the children could read; she said they all could, with
the exception of the two youngest. The eldest she said could read
anything, whether Welsh or English; she then took from the window-sill a
book, which she put into my hand, saying the child could read it and
understand it. I opened the book; it was an English school book treating
on all the sciences.
“Can you write?” said I to the child, a little stubby girl of about
eight, with a broad flat red face and grey eyes, dressed in a chintz
gown, a little bonnet on her head, and looking the image of notableness.
The little maiden, who had never taken her eyes off me for a moment
during the whole time I had been in the room, at first made no answer;
being, however, bid by her grandmother to speak, she at length answered
in a soft voice, “Medraf, I can.”
“Then write your name in this book,” said I, taking out a pocket-book and
a pencil, “and write likewise that you are related to Gronwy Owen—and be
sure you write in Welsh.”
The little maiden very demurely took the book and pencil, and placing the
former on the table wrote as follows:
“Ellen Jones yn perthyn o bell i gronow owen.”
That is “Ellen Jones belonging from afar to Gronwy Owen.”
When I saw the name of Ellen I had no doubt that the children were
related to the illustrious Gronwy. Ellen is a very uncommon Welsh name,
but it seems to have been a family name of the Owens; it was borne by an
infant daughter of the poet whom he tenderly loved, and who died whilst
he was toiling at Walton in Cheshire,—
“Ellen, my darling,
Who liest in the churchyard of Walton,”
says poor Gronwy in one of the most affecting elegies ever written.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account