Tag Welsh Fairy Tales

Many of the Welsh tales are about fighting and wars and no country as small as Wales has so many castles. Yet these are nearly all in ruins and children play in them.

One can hardly think of Wales without a harp. The music of this most ancient and honorable instrument, which emits sweet sounds,

When chimneys were first added to houses in Wales, and the style of house-building changed, from round to square, many old people found fault with the new fashion of letting the smoke out.

In the days when were no books, or writing, and folk tales were the only ones told, there was an old woman, who had a bad reputation.

Not far from the castle where King Powell had his court, there was a hillock called the Mount of Macbeth.

One of the oldest of the Welsh fairy tales tells us about Pwyle, King of Fairyland and father of the numerous clan of the Powells. He was a mighty hunter.

There was a curious custom in the far olden times of Wales. At the banqueting hall, the king of the country would sit with his feet in the lap of a high officer.

One easily gets acquainted with the Welsh fairies, for nearly all the good ones are very fond of music.

In our time, every boy and girl knows about the nuts and blossoms, the twigs and the hedges, the roots and the leaf of the common hazel bush, and everybody has heard of the witch hazel.

In the ancient Cymric gatherings, the Druids, poets, prophets, seers, and singers all had part. The one most honored as the president of the meeting was crowned and garlanded.

Though their land has been many times invaded, the Welsh have never been conquered. Powerful tribes, like the Romans, Saxons and Normans, have tried to overwhelm them.

Many are the places in Wales where the ground is lumpy and humpy with tumuli, or little artificial mounds. Among these the sheep graze, the donkeys bray, and the cows chew the cud.

Everyone who has read anything of Welsh history—though not of the sort that is written by English folks—knows also that Cornwall is, in soul, a part of Wales.

The Gruffyds were one of the largest of the Welsh tribes. To-day, it is said that in Britain one man in every forty has this, as either his first, middle, or last name.

Many a palace lies under the waves that wash Cymric land, for the sea has swallowed up more than one village, and even cities.

Ages ago, before the Cymry rowed in their coracles across the sea, there was a race of men already in the Land of Honey, as Great Britain was then called.

Long, long ago before the Cymry came into the beautiful land of Wales, there were dark-skinned people living in caves.

Every old country that has won fame in history and built up a civilization of its own, has a national flower.

Morgan is one of the oldest names in Cymric land. It means one who lives near the sea.

In one of the many "Co-eds," or places with this name, in ancient and forest-covered Wales, there was a man who had one of the most beautiful mares in all the world.