A Bryneglwys Man Inveigled By The Fairies
:
MEN CAPTURED BY FAIRIES.
Two waggoners were sent from Bryneglwys for coals to the works over the
hill beyond Minera. On their way they came upon a company of Fairies
dancing with all their might. The men stopped to witness their
movements, and the Fairies invited them to join in the dance. One of the
men stoutly refused to do so, but the other was induced to dance awhile
with them. His companion looked on for a short time at the antics of his
/>
friend, and then shouted out that he would wait no longer, and desired
the man to give up and come away. He, however, turned a deaf ear to the
request, and no words could induce him to forego his dance. At last his
companion said that he was going, and requested his friend to follow him.
Taking the two waggons under his care he proceeded towards the coal pits,
expecting every moment to be overtaken by his friend; but he was
disappointed, for he never appeared. The waggons and their loads were
taken to Bryneglwys, and the man thought that perhaps his companion,
having stopped too long in the dance, had turned homewards instead of
following him to the coal pit. But on enquiry no one had heard or seen
the missing waggoner. One day his companion met a Fairy on the mountain
and inquired after his missing friend. The Fairy told him to go to a
certain place, which he named, at a certain time, and that he should
there see his friend. The man went, and there saw his companion just as
he had left him, and the first words that he uttered were Have the
waggons gone far. The poor man never dreamt that months and months had
passed away since they had started together for coal.
A variant of the preceding story appears in the Cambrian Magazine, vol.
ii., pp. 58-59, where it is styled the Year's Sleep, or The Forest of
the Yewtree, but for the sake of association with like tales I will call
it by the following title:--