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:--



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