Tylwyth Teg

[squirmelia]

Mysterious Wales by Chris Barber tells of Tylwyth Teg, fairy cows and fairy islands.

Southey gives instructions on how to see a fairy island: "If you take a turf from St David's churchyard and stand upon it on the sea shore you behold these islands." I want to try this.

I also want to visit Llyn Barfog, "The Lake of the Bearded One", which takes its name from the hairy plants on the water. Barber says, "Stories are told of fairies dancing on the lake side. A farmer once caught a fairy cow here and took it home. He succeeded in mating it with a Dyffryn bull. Years later when the fairy cow became old he called in the butcher but as she was about to be slaughtered, a voice called from the crags of Mynydd-y-llyn. 'Come yellow Anvil, Stray Horns, Speckled one of the lake and hornless Dodin. Arise, come home.' On the hillside was a green woman waving her arm. The cow sped away with her family and was never seen again."

After concluding that none of the fairies mentioned in Mysterious Wales were sighted near Wrexham, I decided to visit Ffordd y Tylwyth Teg (Fairy Road). Evidence that I found included an empty miniature bottle of lemon essence, obviously drunk by fairies, and on a nearby road, a Best of Dance 2004 CD.

Comments

[crackpig.livejournal.com]

The best way to see the Fairy Islands is to eat the right kind of mushrooms.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

The mushrooms that grow in circles?

[rosyatrandom.livejournal.com]

I was hoping for some more interesting fairy stories. You know; faerie stories! Sidhe and unseelies! A cow that came and went again is just so prosaic :/

The Best of Dance 2004 CD gives me some measure of hope, though,

[rosyatrandom.livejournal.com]

Ah. Ooops. Looks like I'm making a bit of a category error here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylwyth_teg
These Welsh fairies are a different kettle of... fairies... altogther.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I thought it was great that the cow escaped!

[rosyatrandom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but no-one got any kind of punishment of beneficence! Was the cow... special? Were the calves special?

I NEED MORE INFORMATION!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

The calves would have been half fairy at least?

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

"The cow sped away with her family" - maybe this means the calves went too?

[rosyatrandom.livejournal.com]

Or maybe her family were the Joneses down the road.

[rosyatrandom.livejournal.com]

Would you think any less of me if I admit that this reminds me of Gilbert & Sullivan?

I can't help it. I'm in a G&S society.

Admittedly, I could help being in a G&S society.

But, anyway, to complete the reference: they'd have been mortal from the waist down.

Except that calves don't really have waists. I am at a bit of a loss to describe whatever it is that they do have.

[cementimental.livejournal.com]

Mysterious Wales is great! My Newport friends and I have planned many a expedition and/or films inspired by it tho not carried so many of them out alas. :)

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

This photo (http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5989) shows a fairy island fort to the left, which I hope to visit later this year.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Looks pretty!

[bickichick.livejournal.com]

cool
nice day!
did you find the right St. David's? was it the church or cathedral.

best of dance 2004 *shudder*

[ixamxfe-y.livejournal.com]

I used to believe in fairies up until the 5th grade or so. :p I kept a pretty intense journal where I recorded rather exaggerated accounts of "fairy spottings". But yeah, I woulda loved this. It stills sounds pretty neat, actually, haha.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

Tylwyth Teg is a beautiful name for fairies, isn't it. Another Welsh fairy-ism that I liked was that the fairies are the Plentyn Nos (children of the night), and we are the Plentyn Dydd (children of the day), ruled by the folk in Caerdydd/Cardiff, the Fortress of the Day. Wales is like one giant fantasy novel!