The Welsh Fairy Book (Dover Children's Classics) [Paperback]

Book Description:

"A fairy (also fey or fae or faerie; collectively, wee folk, good folk, people of peace, and other euphemisms) is the name given to an alleged metaphysical spirit or supernatural being.

The fairy is based on the fae of medieval Western European (Old French) folklore and romance. Fairies are often identified with related beings of other mythologies (see list of beings referred to as fairies). Even in folklore that uses the term "fairy," there are many definitions of what constitutes a fairy. Sometimes the term is used to describe any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature.

Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and as having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously the dead, or some form of angel, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. Folklorists have suggested that their actual origin lies in a conquered race living in hiding, or in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity. These explanations are not always mutually incompatible, and they may be traceable to multiple sources.

Much of the folklore about fairies revolves about protection from their malice, by such means as cold iron (fairies don't like iron and will not go near it) or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs. In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well. Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Preface; Notes On Welsh Pronunciation; The Lady Of The Lake; Arthur In The Cave; The Curse Of Pantannas; The Drowning Of The Bottom Hundred; Elidyr's Sojurn In Fairy-land; Rhys And Llywelyn; Lowri Dafydd Earns A Purse Of Gold; The Llanfabon Changeling; Why The Red Dragon Is The Emblem Of Wales; Llyn Cwm Llwch; The Adventures Of Three Farmers; Cadwaladr And His Goat; The Fairy Wife; Einion And The Lady Of The Greenwood; The Green Isles Of The Ocean; March's Ears; The Fairy Harp; Guto Bach And The Fairies; Ianto's Chase; The Stray Cow; Bala Lake; The Forbidden Mountain; Tudor Ap Einion; The Fairy Walking Stick; Dick The Fiddler's Money; A Strange Otter; Fairy Ointment; Pergrin And The Mermaiden; The Cave Of The Young Men Of Snowdonia; Einion And The Fair Family; St. Collen And The King Of Faery; Helig's Hollow; Owen Goes A-wooing; The Fairy Reward; Why Deunant Has The Front Door In The Back; Getting Rid Of The Fairies; The Mantle Of Kings' Beards; Pedws Ffowk And St Elian's Well; Magic Music; Sili Go Dwt; Another Changeling; A Fairy Borrowing; Treasure Seeking; The Richest Man; St. Beuno And The Curlew; The Cat Witches; The Swallowed Court; What Marged Rolant Saw; Ned Puw's Farewell; Pennard Castle; The Man With The Green Weeds; Goronwy Tudor And The Witches Of Llanddona; Robin's Return; The Harper's Gratuity; Six And Four Are Ten; Envy Burns Itself; The Bride From The Red Lake; A Fairy Dog; Grace's Well; The Fairy Password; St. Winifred's Well; The Ancients Of The World; Nansi Llwyd And The Dog Of Darkness; An Adventure In The Big Bog; The Pwca Of The Trwyn; Johnny Gethin And The Candle; Fetching A Halter; Dai Sion's Homecoming; Melangell's Lambs; Syfaddon Lake; The Power Of St. Tegla's Well; The Men Of Ardudwy; The Parti-coloured Cow; Striking A Corpse Candle; Hu Gadarn; The Devil's Bridge; The Martyred Hound; Twm Of The Fair Lies; Black Robin; Llyn Llech Owen; A Ghostly Rehersal; A Phantom Funeral; Why The Robin's Breast Is Red

About the Publisher:

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Clas

About the Author:

William Jenkyn Thomas was the first Head Master of the Aberdare Intermediate School. He was born in Llangywer on the banks of Llyn Tegid, Merionethshire on 5th July 1870 but when he was a child, the family moved a few miles down the lake to Plas Madog, Llanuwchllyn.

He attended Friars School, Bangor (established in 1557, this was one of the ancient endowed Welsh grammar schools), and went up to Cambridge in 1888, having matriculated as a sizar. He graduated with a B.A. in the classical tripos eventually attaining his M.A. in 1896.

He was a lecturer at the university in Bangor from 1891 to 1896, and took up his post in Aberdare in 1896 at the age of 26 which is quite remarkable by present day conventions. In 1905, he was appointed headmaster at Hackney Downs School in London, remaining in this post until his retirement in 1935. He was married to Marian Dixon and had two sons. His wife died in 1936; WJT outlived her by twenty-three years.