CELTIC FOLKLORE
WELSH AND MANX
BY
JOHN RHYS, M.A., D.Litt.
HON. LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
PROFESSOR OF CELTIC
PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD
VOLUME I
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
MDCCCCI
TO ALL THOSE
WHO HAVE IN ANY WAY CONTRIBUTED TO
THE PRODUCTION OF THIS WORK
IT IS RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED
IN TOKEN OF HIS GRATITUDE
BY
THE AUTHOR
Our modern idioms, with all their straining after the
abstract, are but primitive man's mental tools adapted
to the requirements of civilized life, and they often
retain traces of the form and shape which the neolithic
worker's chipping and polishing gave them.
PREFACE
Towards the close of the seventies I began to collect Welsh folklore. I
did so partly because others had set the example elsewhere, and partly
in order to see whether Wales could boast of any story-tellers of
the kind that delight the readers of Campbell's Popular Tales of the
West Highlands. I soon found what I was not wholly unprepared for,
that as a rule I could not get a single story of any length from the
mouths of any of my fellow countrymen, but a considerable number of
bits of stories. In some instances these were so scrappy that it took
me years to discover how to fit them into their proper context; but,
speaking generally, I may say, that, as the materials, such as they
were, accumulated, my initial difficulties disappeared. I was, however,
always a little afraid of refreshing my memory with the legends of
other lands lest I should read into those of my own, ideas possibly
foreign to them. While one is busy collecting, it is safest probably
not to be too much engaged in comparison: when the work of collecting
is done that of comparing may begin. But after all I have not attempted
to proceed very far in that direction, only just far enough to find
elucidation here and there for the meaning of items of folklore
brought under my notice. To have gone further would have involved
me in excursions hopelessly beyond the limits of my undertaking,
for comparative folklore has lately assumed such dimensions, that it
seems best to leave it to those who make it their special study.
It is a cause of genuine regret to me that I did not commence my
inquiries earlier, when I had more opportunities of pursuing them,
especially when I was a village schoolmaster in Anglesey and could
have done the folklore of that island thoroughly; but my education,
such as it was, had been of a nature to discourage all interest in
anything that savoured of heathen lore and superstition. Nor is that
all, for the schoolmasters of my early days took very little trouble
to teach their pupils to keep their eyes open or take notice of what
they heard around them; so I grew up without having acquired the
habit of observing anything, except the Sabbath. It is to be hoped
that the younger generation of schoolmasters trained under more
auspicious circumstances, when the baleful influence of Robert Lowe
has given way to a more enlightened system of public instruction,
will do better, and succeed in fostering in their pupils habits of
observation. At all events there is plenty of work still left to be
done by careful observers and skilful inquirers, as will be seen
from the geographical list showing approximately the provenance
of the more important contributions to the Kymric folklore in this
collection: the counties will be found to figure very unequally. Thus
the anglicizing districts have helped me very little, while the more
Welsh county of Carnarvon easily takes the lead; but I am inclined to
regard the anomalous features of that list as in a great measure due
to accident. In other words, some neighbourhoods have been luckier
than others in having produced or attracted men who paid attention
to local folklore; and if other counties were to be worked equally
with Carnarvonshire, some of them would probably be found not much
less rich in their yield. The anglicizing counties in particular are
apt to be disregarded both from the Welsh and the English points of
view, in folklore just as in some other things; and in this connexion
I cannot help mentioning the premature death of the Rev. Elias Owen
as a loss which Welsh folklorists will not soon cease to regret.
My information has been obtained partly viva voce, partly by
letter. In the case of the stories written down for me in Welsh,
I may mention that in some instances the language is far from good;
but it has not been thought expedient to alter it in any way, beyond
introducing some consistency into the spelling. In the case of the
longest specimen of the written stories, Mr. J. C. Hughes' Curse of
Pantannas, it is worthy of notice in passing, that the rendering of
it into English was followed by a version in blank verse by Sir Lewis
Morris, who published it in his Songs of Britain. With regard to the
work generally, my original intention was to publish the materials,
obtained in the way described, with such stories already in print
as might be deemed necessary by way of setting for them; and to let
any theories or deductions in which I might be disposed to indulge
follow later. In this way the first six chapters and portions of
some of the others appeared from time to time in the publications of
the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and in those of the Folk-Lore
Society. This would have allowed me to divide the present work into
the two well marked sections of materials and deductions. But, when
the earlier part came to be edited, I found that I had a good deal of
fresh material at my disposal, so that the chapters in question had
in some instances to be considerably lengthened and in some others
modified in other ways. Then as to the deductive half of the work,
it may be mentioned that certain portions of the folklore, though
ever apt to repeat themselves, were found when closely scrutinized
to show serious lacunæ, which had to be filled in the course of the
reasoning suggested by the materials in hand. Thus the idea of the
whole consisting of two distinctly defined sections had to be given
up or else allowed to wait till I should find time to recast it. But
I could no more look forward to any such time than to the eventual
possibility of escaping minor inconsistencies by quietly stepping
through the looking-glass and beginning my work with the index
instead of resting content to make it in the old-fashioned way at the
end. There was, however, a third course, which is only mentioned to
be rejected, and that was to abstain from all further publication; but
what reader of books has ever known any of his authors to adopt that!
To crown these indiscretions I have to confess that even when most of
what I may call the raw material had been brought together, I had no
clear idea what I was going to do with it; but I had a hazy notion,
that, as in the case of an inveterate talker whose stream of words
is only made the more boisterous by obstruction, once I sat down to
write I should find reasons and arguments flowing in. It may seem
as though I had been secretly conjuring with Vergil's words viresque
adquirit eundo. Nothing so deliberate: the world in which I live swarms
with busybodies dying to organize everybody and everything, and my
instinctive opposition to all that order of tyranny makes me inclined
to cherish a somewhat wild sort of free will. Still the cursory
reader would be wrong to take for granted that there is no method
in my madness: should he take the trouble to look for it, he would
find that it has a certain unity of purpose, which has been worked
out in the later chapters; but to spare him that trouble I venture
to become my own expositor and to append the following summary:--
The materials crowded into the earlier chapters mark out the stories
connected with the fairies, whether of the lakes or of the dry land, as
the richest lode to be exploited in the mine of Celtic folklore. That
work is attempted in the later chapters; and the analysis of what
may briefly be described as the fairy lore given in the earlier ones
carries with it the means of forcing the conviction, that the complex
group of ideas identified with the little people is of more origins
than one; in other words, that it is drawn partly from history and
fact, and partly from the world of imagination and myth. The latter
element proves on examination to be inseparably connected with certain
ancient beliefs in divinities and demons associated, for instance, with
lakes, rivers, and floods. Accordingly, this aspect of fairy lore has
been dealt with in chapters vi and vii: the former is devoted largely
to the materials themselves, while the latter brings the argument to
a conclusion as to the intimate connexion of the fairies with the
water-world. Then comes the turn of the other kind of origin to be
discussed, namely, that which postulates the historical existence of
the fairies as a real race on which have been lavishly superinduced
various impossible attributes. This opens up a considerable vista
into the early ethnology of these islands, and it involves a variety
of questions bearing on the fortunes here of other races. In the
series which suggests itself the fairies come first as the oldest
and lowest people: then comes that which I venture to call Pictish,
possessed of a higher civilization and of warlike instincts. Next
come the earlier Celts of the Goidelic branch, the traces, linguistic
and other, of whose presence in Wales have demanded repeated notice;
and last of all come the other Celts, the linguistic ancestors of the
Welsh and all the other speakers of Brythonic. The development of these
theses, as far as folklore supplies materials, occupies practically the
remaining five chapters. Among the subsidiary questions raised may be
instanced those of magic and the origin of druidism; not to mention a
neglected aspect of the Arthurian legend, the intimate association of
the Arthur of Welsh folklore and tradition with Snowdon, and Arthur's
attitude towards the Goidelic population in his time.
Lastly, I have the pleasant duty of thanking all those who have
helped me, whether by word of mouth or by letter, whether by
reference to already printed materials or by assistance in any
other way: the names of many of them will be found recorded in their
proper places. As a rule my inquiries met with prompt replies, and
I am not aware that any difficulties were purposely thrown in my
way. Nevertheless I have had difficulties in abundance to encounter,
such as the natural shyness of some of those whom I wished to examine
on the subject of their recollections, and above all the unavoidable
difficulty of cross-questioning those whose information reached me
by post. For the precise value of any evidence bearing on Celtic
folklore is almost impossible to ascertain, unless it can be made
the subject of cross-examination. This arises from the fact that we
Celts have a knack of thinking ourselves in complete accord with what
we fancy to be in the inquirer's mind, so that we are quite capable
of misleading him in perfect good faith. A most apposite instance,
deserving of being placed on record, came under my notice many years
ago. In the summer of 1868 I spent several months in Paris, where I
met the historian Henri Martin more than once. On being introduced to
him he reminded me that he had visited South Wales not long before,
and that he had been delighted to find the peasantry there still
believing in the transmigration of souls. I expressed my surprise, and
remarked that he must be joking. Nothing of the kind, he assured me,
as he had questioned them himself: the fact admitted of no doubt. I
expressed further surprise, but as I perceived that he was proud of the
result of his friendly encounters with my countrymen I never ventured
to return to the subject, though I always wondered what in the world
it could mean. A few years ago, however, I happened to converse with
one of the most charming and accomplished of Welsh ladies, when she
chanced to mention Henri Martin's advent: it turned out that he had
visited Dr. Charles Williams, then the Principal of Jesus College,
and that Dr. Williams introduced him to his friends in South Wales. So
M. Martin arrived among the hospitable friends of the lady talking
to me, who had in fact to act as his interpreter: I never understood
that he could talk much English or any Welsh. Now I have no doubt that
M. Martin, with his fixed ideas about the druids and their teaching,
propounded palpably leading questions for the Welsh people whom he
wished to examine. His fascinating interpreter put them into terse
Welsh, and the whole thing was done. I could almost venture to write
out the dialogue, which gave back to the great Frenchman his own exact
notions from the lips of simple peasants in that subtle non-Aryan
syntax, which no Welsh barrister has ever been able to explain to
the satisfaction of a bewildered English judge trying to administer
justice among a people whom he cannot wholly comprehend.
This will serve to illustrate one of the difficulties with which
the collector of folklore in Wales has to cope. I have done my best
to reduce the possible extent of the error to which it might give
rise; and it is only fair to say that those whom I plagued with my
questionings bore the tedium of it with patience, and that to them
my thanks are due in a special degree. Neither they, however, nor I,
could reasonably complain, if we found other folklorists examining
other witnesses on points which had already occupied us; for in
such matters one may say with confidence, that in the multitude of
counsellors there is safety.
JOHN RHYS.
Jesus College, Oxford, Christmas, 1900.
CONTENTS
PAGE
GEOGRAPHICAL LIST OF AUTHORITIES xxv
LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES xxxi
CHAPTER I
Undine's Kymric Sisters 1
I. The legend of Llyn y Fan Fach 2
II. The legend of Llyn y Forwyn 23
III. Some Snowdon lake legends 30
IV. The heir of Ystrad 38
V. Llandegai and Llanllechid 50
VI. Mapes' story of Llyn Syfadon 70