The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries Part 55

[52] This folk-belief partially sustains the view put forth in our chapter on Environment, that St. David's during pagan times was already a sacred spot and perhaps then the seat of a druidic oracle.

[53] Here we have an example of the _Tylwyth Teg_ being identified with a prehistoric race, quite in accordance with the argument of the Pygmy Theory. We have, however, as the essential idea, that the _Tylwyth Teg_ heard singing were the spirits of this prehistoric race. Thus our contention that ancestral spirits play a leading part in the fairy-belief is sustained, and the Pygmy Theory appears quite at its true relative value--as able to explain one subordinate ethnological strand in the complex fabric of the belief.

[54] This story is much like the one recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis about a boy going to Fairyland and returning to his mother (see this study, p. 324). The possibility that it may be an independent version of the folk-tale told to Cambrensis which has continued to live on among the people makes it highly interesting.

Mr. Jones gives further evidence on the re-birth doctrine in Wales (pp.

388-9), and concerning Merlin and sacrifice to appease place-spirits (pp. 436-7).

[55] As a result of his researches, the Rev. T. M. Morgan has just published a new work, ent.i.tled _The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Newchurch_ (Carmarthen, 1910).

[56] In these last two anecdotes, as in modern 'Spiritualism', we observe a popular practice of necromancy or the calling up of spirits, so-called 'materialization' of spirits, and spirit communication through a human 'medium', who is the _dyn hysbys_, as well as divination, the revealing of things hidden and the foretelling of future events. This is direct evidence that Welsh fairies or the _Tylwyth Teg_ were formerly the same to Welshmen as spirits are to Spiritualists now. We seem, therefore, to have proof of our Psychological Theory (see chap. xi).

[57] Here we have a combination of many distinct elements and influences. As among mortals, so among the _Tylwyth Teg_ there is a king; and this conception may have arisen directly from anthropomorphic influences on the ancient Brythonic religion, or it may have come directly from druidic teachings. The locating of _Gwydion ab Don_, like a G.o.d, in a heaven-world, rather than like his counterpart, _Gwynn ab Nudd_, in a hades-world, is probably due to a peculiar admixture of Druidism and Christianity: at first, both G.o.ds were probably druidic or pagan, and the same, but _Gwynn ab Nudd_ became a demon or evil G.o.d under Christian influences, while _Gwydion ab Don_ seems to have curiously retained his original good reputation in spite of Christianity (cf. p. 320). The name _Gwenhidw_ reminds us at once of Arthur's queen _Gwenhwyvar_ or 'White Apparition'; and the sheep of _Gwenhidw_ can properly be explained by the Naturalistic Theory. It seems, however, that a.n.a.logy was imaginatively suggested between the Queen _Gwenhidw_ as resembling the Welsh White Lady or a ghost-like being, and her sheep, the clouds, also of a necessarily ghost-like character. All this is an admirable ill.u.s.tration of the great complexity of the Fairy-Faith.

[58] The parallel between this Welsh method of conferring vision and the Breton method is very striking (cf. p. 215).

[59] This is the substance of the story as it was told to me by a gentleman who lives within sight of the farm where the image is said to have been found. And one day he took me to the house and showed me the room and the place in the wall where the find was made. The old manor is one of the solidest and most picturesque of its kind in Wales, and, in spite of its extreme age, well preserved. He, being as a native Welshman of the locality well acquainted with its archaeology, thinks it safe to place an age of six to eight hundred years on the manor. What is interesting about this matter of age arises from the query, Was the image one of the Virgin or of some Christian saint, or was it a Druid idol? Both opinions are current in the neighbourhood, but there is a good deal in favour of the second. The region, the little valley on whose side stands the Pentre Evan Cromlech, the finest in Britain, is believed to have been a favourite place with the ancient Druids; and in the oak groves which still exist there tradition says there was once a flouris.h.i.+ng pagan school for neophytes, and that the cromlech instead of being a place for interments or for sacrifices was in those days completely enclosed, forming like other cromlechs a darkened chamber in which novices when initiated were placed for a certain number of days--the interior being called the 'Womb or Court of Ceridwen'.

[60] The same remedy is prescribed in Brittany when mischievous _lutins_ or _corrigans_ lead a traveller astray, in Ireland when the _good people_ lead a traveller astray; and at Rollright, Oxfords.h.i.+re, England, an old woman told me that it is efficacious against being led astray through witchcraft. Obviously the fairy and witch spell are alike.

[61] The same sort of a story as this is told in Lower Brittany, where the _corrigans_ or _lutins_ slaughter a farmer's fat cow or ox and invite the farmer to partake of the feast it provides. If he does so with good grace and humour, he finds his cow or ox perfectly whole in the morning, but if he refuses to join the feast or joins it unwillingly, in the morning he is likely to find his cow or ox actually dead and eaten.

[62] See Sir John Rhys, _Celtic Folk-Lore: Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford, 1901), _pa.s.sim_.

[63] The _New English Dictionary_, s.v. _Pixy_, gives rather vaguely a Swedish dialect word, _pysg_, a small fairy. It also mentions _pix_ as a Devon imprecation, 'a pix take him.' I suspect the last is only an _umlaut_ form of a common Shakespearean imprecation. If not, it is interesting, and reminds one of the fate of Margery Dawe, 'Piskies came and carr'd her away.'

[64] 'Some say that the Phoenicians never came to Cornwall at all, and that their Ictis was Vectis (the Isle of Wight) or even Thanet.'--HENRY JENNER.

[65] 'This is, I think, the usual Cornish belief.'--HENRY JENNER.

[66] 'About Porth Curnow and the Logan Rock there are little spots of earth in the face of the granite cliffs where sea-daisies (thrift) and other wild flowers grow. These are referred to the sea pisky, and are known as "piskies' gardens."'--HENRY JENNER.

[67] I was told by another Cornishman that, in a spirit of munic.i.p.al rivalry and fun, the Penzance people like to taunt the people of Newlyn (now almost a suburb of Penzance) by calling them _Buccas_, and that the Newlyn townsmen very much resent being so designated. Thus what no doubt was originally an ancient cult to some local sea-divinity called _Bucca_, has survived as folk-humour. (See Mr. Jenner's Introduction, p.

164.)

[68] 'Another version, which is more usual, is that the pisky anointed the person's eyes and so rendered itself visible.'--HENRY JENNER.

[69] This is a natural outcropping of greenstone on a commanding hill just above the vicarage in Newlyn, and concerning it many weird legends survive. In pre-Christian times it was probably one of the Cornish sacred spots for the celebration of ancient rites--probably in honour of the Sun--and for divination.

[70] For more about the Tolcarne Troll see chapter on Celtic Re-birth p.

391.

[71] Mr. John B. Cornish, solicitor, of Penzance, told me that when he once suggested to an old miner who fully believed in the 'knockers', that the noises they were supposed to make were due to material causes, the old miner became quite annoyed, and said, 'Well, I guess I have ears to hear.'

[72] For the Cornish folk-lore already published by Miss M. A. Courtney, the reader is referred to her work, _Cornish Feasts and Folk-Lore_ (Penzance, 1890).

[73] A curious holed stone standing between two low menhirs on the moors beyond the Lanyon Dolmen, near Madron; but in Borlase's time (cf. his _Antiquities of Cornwall_, ed. 1769, p. 177) the three stones were not as now in a direct line. The Men-an-Tol has aroused much speculation among archaeologists as to its probable use or meaning. No doubt it was astronomical and religious in its significance; and it may have been a calendar stone with which ancient priests took sun observations (cf. Sir Norman Lockyer, _Stonehenge and Other Stone Monuments_); or it may have been otherwise related to a sun cult, or to some pagan initiatory rites.

[74] I asked what a nath is, and Mr. Spragg explained:--'A nath is a bird with a beak like that of a parrot, and with black and grey feathers. The naths live on sea-islands in holes like rabbits, and before they start to fly they first run.' The nath, as Mr. Henry Jenner informs me, is the same as the puffin (_Fratercula arctica_), called also in Cornwall a 'sea parrot'.

[75] Sometimes it is necessary to turn your coat inside out. A Zennor man said that to do the same thing with your socks or stockings is as good. In Ireland this strange psychological state of going astray comes from walking over a fairy domain, over a confusing-sod, or getting into a fairy pa.s.s.

[76] Cf. F. M. Luzel, _Contes populaires de Ba.s.se-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1887), i. 177-97; following the account of Ann Drann, a servant at Coat-Fual, Plouguernevel (Cotes-du-Nord), November 1855.

[77] My Breton friend, M. Goulven Le Scour, was born November 20, 1851, at Kerouledic in Plouneventer, Finistere. He is an antiquarian, a poet, and, as we shall see, a folk-lorist of no mean ability. In 1902, at the _Congres d'Auray_ of Breton poets and singers, he won two prizes for poetry, and, in 1901, a prize at the _Congres de Quimperle_ or _Concours de Recueils poetiques_.

[78] This story concerns persons still living, and, at M. Le Scour's suggestion, I have omitted their names.

[79] By a Carnac family I was afterwards given a sprig of such blessed box-wood, and was a.s.sured that its exorcizing power is still recognized by all old Breton families, most of whom seem to possess branches of it.

[80] This idea seems related to the one in the popular Morbihan legend of how St. Cornely, the patron saint of the country and the saint who presides over the Alignements and domestic horned animals, changed into upright stones the pagan forces opposing him when he arrived near Carnac; and these stones are now the famous Alignements of Carnac.

[81] Luzel, op. cit., iii. 226-311; i. 128-218; ii. 349-54.

[82] Ib., ii. 269; cf. our study, p. 93.

[83] According to the annotations to a legend recorded by Villemarque, in his _Barzaz Breiz_, pp. 39-44, and ent.i.tled the _Submersion de la Ville d'Is_, St. Guenole was traditionally the founder of the first monastery raised in Armorica; and Dahut the princess stole the key from her sleeping father in order fittingly to crown a banquet and midnight debaucheries which were being held in honour of her lover, the Black Prince.

[84] Luzel, op. cit., ii. 257-68; i. 3-13.

[85] P. Sebillot, _Traditions et superst.i.tions de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1882), i. 100.

[86] General references: Sebillot, ib.; and his _Folk-Lore de France_ (Paris, 1905).

[87] Sebillot, _Traditions et superst.i.tions de la Haute-Bretagne_, i.

73-4.

[88] Ib., i. 102, 103-4.

[89] Sebillot, _Traditions et superst.i.tions de la Haute-Bretagne_, i.

83.

[90] Ib., i. 90-1.

[91] Cf. ib., i. 109.

[92] Cf. ib., i. 74-5, &c.

[93] Cf. Sebillot, _Traditions et superst.i.tions de la Haute-Bretagne_, i. 74-5, &c.

[94] In Lower Brittany the _corrigan_ tribes collectively are commonly called _Corriket_, masculine plural of _Corrik_, diminutive of _Corr_, meaning 'Dwarf'; or _Corriganed_, feminine plural of _Corrigan_, meaning 'Little Dwarf'. Many other forms are in use. (Cf. R. F. Le Men, _Trad.

et supers. de la Ba.s.se-Bretagne_, in _Rev. Celt._, i. 226-7.)

[95] Cf. _Foyer breton_, i. 199.

[96] By 'E. R.', in _Melusine_ (Paris), i. 114.

[97] This account about _corrigans_, more rational than any preceding it, may possibly refer to a dream or trance-like state of mind on the part of the young girl; and if it does, we can then compare the presence of a mortal at this _corrigan_ sabbath, or even at the ordinary witches'