In a meadow belonging to Ystrad, bounded by the river which falls from
Cwellyn Lake, they say the fairies used to assemble, and dance in fair
moonlight nights. One evening a young man, who was the heir and occupier
of this farm, hid himself in a thicket close to the spot where they used
to gambol. Presently they appeared, and when in their merry mood, out
he bounced from his covert, and seized one of their females; the rest
of the company dispersed themselves, and disappeared in an instant.
Disregarding her struggles and screams, he hauled her to his home, where
he treated her so very kindly that she became contented to live with him
as his maid-servant, but he could not prevail upon her to tell him her
name. Some time after, happening again to see the fairies upon the same
spot, he heard one of them saying, “The last time we met here our sister
Penelope was snatched away from us by one of the mortals.” Rejoiced at
knowing the name of his incognita, he returned home; and as she was
very beautiful and extremely active, he proposed to marry her, which she
would not for a long time consent to; at last, however, she complied,
but on this condition, “That if ever he should strike her with iron, she
would leave him, and never return to him again.” They lived happy for
many years together, and he had by her a son and a daughter; and by
her industry and prudent management as a housewife he became one of the
richest men in the country. He farmed, besides his own freehold, all the
lands on the north side of Nant y Bettws to the top of Snowdon, and
all Cwm brwynog in Llanberis, an extent of about five thousand acres or
upwards.
Unfortunately, one day Penelope followed her husband into the field to
catch a horse, and he, being in a rage at the animal as he ran away from
him, threw at him the bridle that was in his hand, which unluckily fell
on poor Penelope. She disappeared in an instant, and he never saw her
afterwards, but heard her voice in the window of his room one night
after, requesting him to take care of the children, in these words:--
“Rhag bod anwyd ar fy mâb,
Yn rhodd rhowch arno gôb ei dâd:
Rhag bod anwyd ar liw’r cann,
Rhoddwch arni bais ei mam.”
That is,
“Oh! lest my son should suffer cold,
Him in his father’s coat infold:
Lest cold should seize my darling fair,
For her, her mother’s robe prepare.”
These children and their descendants they say were called Pellings [1],
a word corrupted from their mother’s name Penelope.
[1] In England we frequently meet with the surname Pilling and Billing;
it might have happened, that a man had met with an English woman of that
name, and had married her, and, as is usual in brides, she might have
been, though married, called by her maiden name, and the appellation
might have been continued to her posterity.--_Authors Note_.
The name Billing and Belling is the family name of one of the oldest
Cornish (Keltic) families--a fact that suggests other possibilities.--P.
H. E.