# A Guide To Welsh Folklore

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 28 Sep 2026, 1 h 23 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75116746/a_guide_to_welsh_folklore_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Journey into the rich and mysterious world of Welsh folklore and discover the legends, spirits, magical beings, heroes, and ancient traditions that have shaped the cultural history of Wales for centuries. From misty mountains and secluded valleys to ancient castles and windswept coastlines, this episode explores the stories that were passed down through generations. Meet some of the most fascinating figures and creatures of Welsh tradition, including the Tylwyth Teg, the mysterious fair folk of Wales, the terrifying Mari Lwyd, water spirits, witches, ghosts, dragons, giants, and legendary heroes. Explore tales of enchanted lakes, cursed places, supernatural encounters, prophetic visions, and mysterious beings believed to inhabit the Welsh landscape. Beyond the supernatural, this episode examines how Welsh folklore was connected to everyday life. Discover the influence of Celtic traditions, Christianity, seasonal customs, local communities, the Welsh language, and the natural environment on the stories people told. Explore how mountains, rivers, forests, farms, and ancient ruins became settings for legends that reflected both wonder and fear. This journey also explores the legendary history of Wales, including the stories surrounding King Arthur, Merlin, the Red Dragon, Branwen, and other figures preserved in medieval Welsh literature. Discover how oral traditions were eventually written down and how medieval manuscripts helped preserve stories that might otherwise have disappeared. The episode also separates traditional Welsh beliefs from later romanticized versions and modern interpretations. Drawing on medieval manuscripts, folklore collections, oral traditions, historical writings, literature, archaeology, and modern scholarship, we explore how Welsh legends developed, changed, and survived into the modern world. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this episode is perfect for history enthusiasts, folklore lovers, Celtic history fans, mythology listeners, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Settle in and discover the magical, mysterious, and sometimes haunting folklore of Wales.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Wales. It's long been known as a land of storytellers,
[0:05] Speaker 1: folklore and myth. And proudly so. In fact, even in
[0:11] Speaker 1: our modern era, the red dragon proudly emblazoned on the
[0:16] Speaker 1: Welsh flag harks back to an ancient prophecy of a
[0:20] Speaker 1: white dragon battling the red beneath the castle of a
[0:23] Speaker 1: great king. In Welsh lore, every river, every mountain, Every
[0:30] Speaker 1: lake seems to have an ancient tale attached to it.
[0:35] Speaker 1: Travellers in the misty hills were once warned about the
[0:38] Speaker 1: ghostly fairy music that could enchant a person for years
[0:43] Speaker 1: in what only seemed like minutes. Or if you were
[0:47] Speaker 1: really unlucky, the haunting cry of the Curac Iriben, a
[0:52] Speaker 1: banshee-like hag whose wail foretells death. but they're not modern
[0:59] Speaker 1: urban legends springing up from internet forums and all the rest,
[1:04] Speaker 1: but rather part of a deep traditional folklore with roots
[1:08] Speaker 1: in the Celtic past and medieval age. Welsh folklore is
[1:14] Speaker 1: a quite rich tapestry of fantastical creatures, heroic quests, and
[1:21] Speaker 1: even a few rather eerie customs passed down through generations.
[1:27] Speaker 1: and it gives us not only entertainment, but also a
[1:30] Speaker 1: pretty good insight into the fear's values, and even the
[1:34] Speaker 1: humour of the Welsh across the centuries. So today, continuing
[1:40] Speaker 1: our series on folklore, we are going to travel to
[1:44] Speaker 1: Wales together, and let's talk about the unique things and
[1:49] Speaker 1: the eccentricities that Welsh folklore has to offer. But before
[1:55] Speaker 1: we do that, I'm going to give you a warm
[1:57] Speaker 1: welcome to the channel as is customary. If you are
[2:00] Speaker 1: new here, I do invite you to click that subscribe button.
[2:04] Speaker 1: And if you're coming back, it's a pleasure to see
[2:07] Speaker 1: you again. Say hello in the comments and we can
[2:09] Speaker 1: have a nice little conversation. Now, this video, along with
[2:13] Speaker 1: every other video on this channel, is proudly ad-free. And
[2:18] Speaker 1: this is due to the generous contributions of those on
[2:21] Speaker 1: Patreon YouTube memberships, those who checked out the merch store,
[2:26] Speaker 1: and those very special people who leave the occasional donation.
[2:31] Speaker 1: We are very thankful to receive your support. Now, with
[2:36] Speaker 1: all that being said, oh, one other thing. Welsh is
[2:41] Speaker 1: not an easy language to pronounce, so if there are
[2:43] Speaker 1: any unnatural breaks in the video, it is because I'm
[2:47] Speaker 1: checking some pronunciations. So I do apologize if there are
[2:51] Speaker 1: any breaks that are a little bit jarring. But I'll
[2:54] Speaker 1: do my best to edit them out. Anyway, with that
[2:57] Speaker 1: being said, let's begin. Nice and relaxed. We can have
[3:03] Speaker 1: such a good time together. Let's go. But to understand things,
[3:09] Speaker 1: we really need to consider the original sources and origins
[3:13] Speaker 1: back to those roots. Wales is one of the Celtic nations,
[3:19] Speaker 1: and its folk traditions arose from the beliefs of the
[3:21] Speaker 1: ancient Britons, blended with influences over time. Now, the ancient Britons,
[3:26] Speaker 1: of course, being the Celtic inhabitants of Britain. The oldest
[3:32] Speaker 1: stratum of Welsh lore likely dates to pre-Christian Celtic mythology,
[3:36] Speaker 1: in a time where druids led rituals and spirits of
[3:41] Speaker 1: nature populated the landscapes. though unfortunately our knowledge of that
[3:47] Speaker 1: error is pretty fragmentary. But by the early Middle Ages,
[3:53] Speaker 1: professional poets and storytellers known as bards played a crucial
[3:58] Speaker 1: role in preserving all of this lore. They performed at
[4:02] Speaker 1: courts and villages alike, and they recited tales that mixed myth, history,
[4:08] Speaker 1: and a few moral lessons too, ensuring that legend survived
[4:13] Speaker 1: even as society was going through its changes. In Wales,
[4:18] Speaker 1: the oral tradition remained especially strong. The Welsh language and culture,
[4:24] Speaker 1: sheltered by those rugged hills holding on to the ancient memories,
[4:29] Speaker 1: that elsewhere in Britain were lost, or just put into
[4:34] Speaker 1: a new, transformative Christian context. You'll know about that if
[4:39] Speaker 1: you follow the other videos in this series. Well, the
[4:45] Speaker 1: earliest written records of Welsh folklore appear in medieval manuscripts.
[4:50] Speaker 1: One of the most important is the collection of tales
[4:53] Speaker 1: known as the Mabinogion, compiled in Middle Welsh between the
[4:58] Speaker 1: 12th and 13th centuries from earlier oral tales. It's kind
[5:02] Speaker 1: of a window into the mythic world of Wales. The
[5:07] Speaker 1: tale survived in two major manuscripts, that is, the White
[5:11] Speaker 1: Book of Heder and the Red Book of Hergest, between
[5:17] Speaker 1: 1350 and 1400. Eventually they were translated and published in
[5:23] Speaker 1: the 19th century by Lady Charlotte Guest, doing that work
[5:28] Speaker 1: in 1877. Both books, now under the famous title The
[5:33] Speaker 1: Map in Obi-Wan, But strictly speaking, Mabinogion is a bit
[5:40] Speaker 1: of a misnomer. You see, it originated from a scribal error. But,
[5:47] Speaker 1: in any case, it has come to denote 11 medieval
[5:50] Speaker 1: Welsh prose stories of diverse types. Within these pages we
[5:55] Speaker 1: encounter powerful otherworldly beings, tragic lovers, brave heroes, and even
[6:03] Speaker 1: magical artefacts. It really has it all, all of those
[6:07] Speaker 1: old tropes of folklore and mythology, all in the one place,
[6:12] Speaker 1: albeit with a Welsh twist. Scholars initially thought these tales
[6:18] Speaker 1: were patchwork remnants of Celtic myths, from pagan times of course,
[6:24] Speaker 1: and indeed many characters do seem to have older pre-Christian origins,
[6:29] Speaker 1: however modern research shows that they were also having sophisticated narratives,
[6:35] Speaker 1: shaped by these medieval authors. In any case, we're pretty
[6:40] Speaker 1: lucky to have it, and these storytellers took a little
[6:43] Speaker 1: bit of ancient tradition with the contemporary medieval culture, and
[6:48] Speaker 1: even a touch of French Arthurian romance, too, to enter
[6:52] Speaker 1: the mix. And with those three ingredients, they crafted the
[6:55] Speaker 1: tales that we're lucky enough to have today. But that's
[7:00] Speaker 1: not the only source. Another crucial source of Welsh folklore
[7:05] Speaker 1: is the Welsh Triads, in their tongue the Triod Ines Prydain.
[7:11] Speaker 1: These are short enumerations of lore in groups of three,
[7:15] Speaker 1: for example listing three unfortunate blows, or three mighty champions,
[7:20] Speaker 1: and so on. The Triads were a mnemonic device for bards,
[7:24] Speaker 1: you see, preserving fragments of myths, heroic history, and even
[7:29] Speaker 1: a little bit of traditional wisdom. The earliest triads are
[7:32] Speaker 1: preserved in manuscripts from the 13th century, but they refer
[7:36] Speaker 1: to much older stories. And at this point I'll just
[7:40] Speaker 1: remind you a little bit that written traditions usually spring
[7:46] Speaker 1: from oral traditions. Now, if something's written down, we can
[7:52] Speaker 1: assume that as soon as the pen hits the paper
[7:54] Speaker 1: that that wasn't the first day that it existed, especially
[7:59] Speaker 1: when we look in the realms of storytelling folklore. spirituality,
[8:04] Speaker 1: this kind of thing, philosophy, ideas are usually talked about
[8:08] Speaker 1: before they are written about. Well, in any case, reading
[8:14] Speaker 1: these triads is like peering at, I suppose, old photographs
[8:18] Speaker 1: of legends. Each one of them offers a pretty good
[8:21] Speaker 1: hint of a larger narrative that the medieval audience would
[8:24] Speaker 1: have recognized. Let's take an example. One triad tells of
[8:30] Speaker 1: the three oppressions that came to the island of Britain,
[8:35] Speaker 1: naming an invasion of a magical folk. They were called
[8:39] Speaker 1: the Koroneid, defeated by a clever trick, as we'll see later,
[8:44] Speaker 1: an incursion of Picts or Irish, and finally the Saxons,
[8:49] Speaker 1: led by Hengist and Horsa. They show how folklore blends
[8:54] Speaker 1: myth with real historical memory, just adding a little bit
[8:59] Speaker 1: of flavor to it, I suppose. Another triad is the
[9:04] Speaker 1: three noble herds of Britain, including the prized white cow
[9:09] Speaker 1: of Milgun, an animal of legend. The triads often mention
[9:16] Speaker 1: characters like Arthur, Merlin, Bran the Blessed, a couple of
[9:22] Speaker 1: great beasts, and thereby they corroborate details found in the
[9:27] Speaker 1: longer tales. But besides that, we also have early poetry,
[9:33] Speaker 1: and a little bit of pseudo-historical chronicling that contribute to
[9:36] Speaker 1: the Welsh law. Works attributed to bards like Taliesin and Anearin,
[9:43] Speaker 1: likely 6th to 7th centuries originally, though written down later,
[9:47] Speaker 1: celebrate heroes in metaphor, and they sometimes reference myth. There
[9:54] Speaker 1: is a famous early poem, I Kudodin, which contains one
[9:59] Speaker 1: of the first known mentions of Arthur, but not as
[10:03] Speaker 1: a central figure, but rather as a standard of comparison
[10:07] Speaker 1: for another warrior's bravery. Another poem, The Spoils of Annin,
[10:14] Speaker 1: describes the mystical voyage led by Arthur to the otherworld,
[10:19] Speaker 1: ending at legends beyond those fully preserved. Meanwhile, medieval chroniclers
[10:25] Speaker 1: like Nennius in his Historia Brittonum of 828, and even
[10:30] Speaker 1: Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Latin History of the Kings
[10:33] Speaker 1: of Britain in 1136, folded Welsh legends into pretty grand narratives.
[10:40] Speaker 1: Geoffrey's work, though, we have to say it's not reliably factual,
[10:46] Speaker 1: It still popularised stories of King Arthur and Merlin derived
[10:50] Speaker 1: from the Welsh tradition. For example, he recounted how Merlin,
[10:56] Speaker 1: which actually originated from the Welsh prophet Mertyn, as a
[11:01] Speaker 1: boy explained to King Vortigern the omen of a red
[11:04] Speaker 1: dragon fighting a white dragon beneath Dinas Emirs, a symbolic
[11:10] Speaker 1: prophecy of the Britons, i.e. the Reds, triumphing over the
[11:15] Speaker 1: invading Saxons, the White. Well, through these stories and various sources,
[11:22] Speaker 1: the tales, the triads, the poems, the chronicles, the medieval
[11:26] Speaker 1: Welsh storytellers certainly left us with a pretty good treasure
[11:30] Speaker 1: trove of lore. They often recorded in writing what had
[11:35] Speaker 1: been transmitted by word of mouth for generations, in their
[11:39] Speaker 1: time common knowledge, but just for the first time put
[11:43] Speaker 1: to paper. And in doing so, they preserve the old beliefs,
[11:49] Speaker 1: along with the fantastic imaginings of their ancestors, albeit sometimes
[11:54] Speaker 1: Christianizing or moralizing them to suit their times. As thanks
[12:00] Speaker 1: to them that we can still study Welsh folklore in
[12:03] Speaker 1: detail today, this entire video would not have been possible
[12:08] Speaker 1: without those hard-working monks and scribes back in the day. So,
[12:16] Speaker 1: thanks to them in the comments, I suppose. And so,
[12:20] Speaker 1: with their memory in mind, let's go into the stories themselves.
[12:24] Speaker 1: And we begin with the mythic heroes and adventures recounted
[12:28] Speaker 1: in that quintessential Mabinogion. It is the core of Welsh mythology,
[12:34] Speaker 1: enshrined in the four interconnected tales known as the Four
[12:38] Speaker 1: Branches of the Mabinogion. Part of the broader Mabinogion collection,
[12:43] Speaker 1: of course, these four branches are medieval prose romances. But
[12:48] Speaker 1: their characters and plot elements are rooted in something far,
[12:53] Speaker 1: far older. They preserve echoes of the Celtic gods in
[12:56] Speaker 1: the heroic age of Britain. They're rich in magic, transformation,
[13:00] Speaker 1: philosophical depth, but also full of human drama. From an
[13:06] Speaker 1: academic point of view, we might call them mythological psychos.
[13:10] Speaker 1: but you could equally think of them as the epic
[13:13] Speaker 1: sagas of Wales, just like how we have the epic
[13:16] Speaker 1: Norse sagas and all the rest. So let's start. First
[13:22] Speaker 1: we have Pwy, Prince of Dyfed, that is the first
[13:26] Speaker 1: branch of the Mabinogi. In this story, Prince Pwy of
[13:30] Speaker 1: Dyfed has a chance encounter with one named Aron, the
[13:35] Speaker 1: otherworldly king of Anwen, Anwen being the Welsh Otherworld, by
[13:39] Speaker 1: the way. a land of plenty and mystery. Through an
[13:44] Speaker 1: act of honour, Fuyi agrees to trade places with Aran
[13:48] Speaker 1: for a year and a day, disguising himself as the
[13:52] Speaker 1: Otherworld King to battle Aran's rival. Fuyi succeeds, and in gratitude,
[13:59] Speaker 1: Aran grants him friendship. Later, Fuyi meets the enchanting Rhiannon,
[14:06] Speaker 1: a woman of the Fairy Realm, who chooses him as
[14:10] Speaker 1: her husband. Rhiannon is quite a fascinating figure, too. She
[14:14] Speaker 1: arrives on a magical white horse that no one can catch,
[14:18] Speaker 1: and her dignity and wit shine out in the tale.
[14:23] Speaker 1: But tragedy is just around the corner, and it strikes
[14:26] Speaker 1: when their infant son mysteriously disappears. As for Rhiannon, she
[14:33] Speaker 1: is falsely accused of harming the child, and made to
[14:36] Speaker 1: undergo a cruel penance. She must sit at the castle
[14:40] Speaker 1: gate for years, telling visitors her crime, and offering to
[14:45] Speaker 1: carry them on her back like a horse. Even in punishment,
[14:49] Speaker 1: her supernatural stamina shows, actually. She never falters in this deed. Well,
[14:56] Speaker 1: Rhiannon eventually is vindicated. The branch has a happy resolution.
[15:00] Speaker 1: The lost child is found and restored. He had been
[15:04] Speaker 1: abducted by a lurking otherworld beast. and the boy grows
[15:08] Speaker 1: up to be the hero, Huideri, who features in later branches.
[15:14] Speaker 1: The first branch thus sets the tone with that act
[15:18] Speaker 1: between the human world and Anwen, and portrays values of honour, justice,
[15:23] Speaker 1: and the capricious nature of fate. The second branch is Branwen,
[15:30] Speaker 1: daughter of Hyr. This is the tale of tragic war
[15:35] Speaker 1: between Britain and Ireland, Branwen, a Welsh princess, is given
[15:40] Speaker 1: in marriage to the King of Ireland to forge a
[15:42] Speaker 1: peace deal. Branwen's brother is Bran the Blessed, a giant
[15:48] Speaker 1: of a king, literally, by the way, so huge that
[15:52] Speaker 1: no house can contain him. He rules Britain with an
[15:56] Speaker 1: iron fist. When Branwen's marriage sours due to mistreatment by
[16:01] Speaker 1: her husband, Bran leads an expedition to Ireland to rescue her.
[16:06] Speaker 1: and a devastating conflict ensues. Now this branch is especially
[16:11] Speaker 1: notable for fantastical elements. The Irish actually possess what is
[16:15] Speaker 1: called a cauldron of rebirth, which can revive fallen warriors,
[16:21] Speaker 1: albeit without the power to talk after they come back.
[16:26] Speaker 1: Bran's two followers steal this cauldron from a lake of
[16:29] Speaker 1: fire in Ireland. reflecting an ancient motive of a magic cauldron,
[16:34] Speaker 1: a possible forerunner to the Holy Grail concept. The war
[16:39] Speaker 1: that follows is brutal. Nearly everybody dies. And mortally wounded,
[16:47] Speaker 1: the giant King Bran orders his men to cut his
[16:51] Speaker 1: head off. But remarkably, his living severed head remains conscious.
[16:58] Speaker 1: and keeps on chattering on for years. The survivors carry
[17:03] Speaker 1: it home and spend seven years feasting in the Hall
[17:05] Speaker 1: of Harlech, kept entertained by the birds of Rhiannon, whose
[17:10] Speaker 1: ethereal singing can make men forget all of their sorrows.
[17:14] Speaker 1: These birds, we learn, sing so sweetly that time actually distorts.
[17:20] Speaker 1: And in fact, in Bran's tale, they listen to the
[17:23] Speaker 1: birdsong for what feels like a pleasant evening. But it
[17:26] Speaker 1: turns out to be years gone by. A scene that
[17:30] Speaker 1: later folklore echoes in local fairy legends. Especially in Irish folklore.
[17:36] Speaker 1: See a bit of that. You can watch the Irish
[17:39] Speaker 1: folklore video in the playlist. Well, as for Bran, eventually
[17:45] Speaker 1: his enchanted head is buried in London. Facing France, by
[17:50] Speaker 1: the way, as a talisman to protect Britain from invasion.
[17:54] Speaker 1: And so goes the prophecy. And folklore says much later,
[17:59] Speaker 1: King Arthur dug up Bran's head, declaring Britain should rely
[18:03] Speaker 1: on no magic talisman, but its own strength. A pretty
[18:08] Speaker 1: interesting crossover of legends. And so the second branch mixes
[18:13] Speaker 1: heroic saga with a bit of mysticism. Branwen's personal tragedy, Shia,
[18:19] Speaker 1: dies of grief. It gives it a heart-rending quality amid
[18:23] Speaker 1: the mythic grandeur of it. Very interesting. Now, of course,
[18:28] Speaker 1: we have the third branch. This is Manawydan, the son
[18:34] Speaker 1: of Hyr. After the carnage of the previous tale, Bran's
[18:39] Speaker 1: surviving brother, Manawydan, a figure analogous to the sea god
[18:44] Speaker 1: Mananan in Irish lore, returns to Wales with Pyderi, the
[18:50] Speaker 1: son of Pwy and Rhiannon, and, of course, Rhiannon herself.
[18:55] Speaker 1: Manawydan marries Rhiannon, settling down to a simple life of farming.
[19:02] Speaker 1: But the peace doesn't last for too long. It's shattered
[19:05] Speaker 1: when a mysterious enchantment falls over the land. Crops fail,
[19:10] Speaker 1: and all the inhabitants of Daved vanish without a trace,
[19:15] Speaker 1: leaving our few protagonists alone in a haunted, empty kingdom.
[19:21] Speaker 1: It's pretty eerie, don't you think? an entire population, suddenly disappeared.
[19:31] Speaker 1: It's a folk mystery that Manowar Dunn must solve. And
[19:35] Speaker 1: that's the whole premise of the third branch. So, after
[19:40] Speaker 1: a series of adventures, including Manowar Dunn demonstrating great skill
[19:44] Speaker 1: as a craftsman in England, an episode where he cleverly
[19:48] Speaker 1: captures a group of enchanted men, mice, too, that were
[19:51] Speaker 1: ruining the harvest. The cause of the enchantment is actually revealed.
[19:56] Speaker 1: It all ties back to the grudge from the other world.
[20:00] Speaker 1: A powerful magician, out of enmity to Pidiri and Rhiannon,
[20:05] Speaker 1: had cast the spell on Tibet. Through patience, wit, and
[20:11] Speaker 1: negotiations rather than brute force, Manawydan breaks the curse and
[20:16] Speaker 1: restores the land and its people. It's a tale of
[20:21] Speaker 1: wisdom and perseverance rather than brute strength, and it also
[20:25] Speaker 1: gives further glimpses into Anwen. At one point, Vidari and
[20:29] Speaker 1: Rhiannon are lured into a magical fort and imprisoned there
[20:33] Speaker 1: until Manawydan's actions free them. I suppose the third branch
[20:38] Speaker 1: might be read as an allegory of the hardships that
[20:40] Speaker 1: can beset a land, and how wise leadership can lift
[20:44] Speaker 1: them up. Of course, all wrapped within the trappings of myth.
[20:51] Speaker 1: But then we have Marth, the son of Mathone, that
[20:55] Speaker 1: is the fourth branch of the Mabinogion. The final branch
[21:00] Speaker 1: is perhaps the most elaborate and magical. A little bit
[21:04] Speaker 1: more complex, a few more moving parts. Let me explain.
[21:09] Speaker 1: It concerns that mentioned King Marth, an odd sorcerer king
[21:14] Speaker 1: of Gwynedd, who can only survive if his feet are
[21:18] Speaker 1: held in a virgin's lap, a rather particular condition that
[21:22] Speaker 1: immediately signals we are in the realm of mythic taboo.
[21:26] Speaker 1: Marth's nephew, the magician Gideon, is a central figure in this,
[21:31] Speaker 1: cunning and somewhat morally ambiguous. Through Gideon's schemes, A war
[21:38] Speaker 1: is provoked with another kingdom, and Math's footholder, the maiden
[21:43] Speaker 1: he needs by his feet, is disgraced. And that creates
[21:48] Speaker 1: a vacancy for the job. Math replaces her with Arianod,
[21:54] Speaker 1: a lady of his family. But Arianod fails a chastity test,
[21:59] Speaker 1: and in the process magically gives birth to two unusual sons. Now,
[22:06] Speaker 1: one of these is Hay Hoggifess, who becomes the Welsh
[22:11] Speaker 1: counterpart to the divine hero, similar in some ways to
[22:15] Speaker 1: the Irish god Lug. Arianod, embarrassed and angry, refuses to
[22:21] Speaker 1: recognize Hay as her son and lays three curses upon him,
[22:27] Speaker 1: denying his name, arms, and a human wife. Well, Gideon,
[22:34] Speaker 1: being both uncle and master magician, helps the young hay
[22:38] Speaker 1: overcome these curses through trickery and enchantment. In one famous episode,
[22:43] Speaker 1: Gideon fashions a phantasmal warband from fungi and allusions to
[22:49] Speaker 1: fool Arianod and force her to grant hay arms and
[22:53] Speaker 1: a name. Later, Marth and Gideon create together a wife
[22:59] Speaker 1: for hay out of flowers. The maiden, Blodaiwed, made from
[23:04] Speaker 1: blossoms of oak, broom, and meadow-sweet. Blood Eyewit, however, is
[23:10] Speaker 1: not a passive doll. She actually falls in love with
[23:14] Speaker 1: another man, and those two together plot to murder Hay.
[23:20] Speaker 1: Bad luck for him. Well, the murder attempt fails, but
[23:25] Speaker 1: it does wound Hay, and he escapes by magically transforming
[23:29] Speaker 1: into an eagle. Gideon tracks down the cursed eagle and
[23:34] Speaker 1: restores Hay to human form, then exacts a strange punishment
[23:39] Speaker 1: on Blood Eyewet. He transforms her into an owl, a
[23:43] Speaker 1: night creature shunned by other birds. Henceforth, the tale says
[23:48] Speaker 1: the owl will be Blood Eyewet's lonely lot, a mythic
[23:51] Speaker 1: origin for the owl's habits in real life. In the end,
[23:58] Speaker 1: Hay regains his status. and Marth yields his kingdom, Daemon retires.
[24:04] Speaker 1: It's pretty complex. I told you it had a lot
[24:07] Speaker 1: of moving parts. Well, it brims with magic, shapeshifting, curses,
[24:13] Speaker 1: mystical births, and its characters, like Gideon and Arianod, are
[24:19] Speaker 1: widely interpreted as, well, deities, or at least personifications of
[24:24] Speaker 1: natural forces. The fourth branch in particular shows that theme
[24:29] Speaker 1: of transformation at the heart of Welsh folklore. Identities shift,
[24:35] Speaker 1: people turn into animals and back again, and even flowers
[24:39] Speaker 1: can be woven into new forms of life. But let's
[24:45] Speaker 1: move beyond the four branches. The map in Obiong contains
[24:50] Speaker 1: other famous stories that bridge that myth and early legend.
[24:56] Speaker 1: One is Obiong. Kulik and Olwen. An exuberant Arthurian style tale,
[25:01] Speaker 1: believed to be one of the oldest Arthurian stories in
[25:04] Speaker 1: written form, actually. Comes from circa 1100. That's pretty old.
[25:11] Speaker 1: Here King Arthur appears, not as the solemn high king
[25:14] Speaker 1: of later romances, but as a heroic Welsh warlord, with
[25:20] Speaker 1: a band of mighty companions at his back. The hero, Kulik.
[25:26] Speaker 1: is given an impossible task. To win the hand of
[25:29] Speaker 1: the giant's daughter, Olwen, he must fulfill a series of, well,
[25:35] Speaker 1: absurdly difficult tasks. Quests that include hunting the monstrous wild boar, Tzultroyeth,
[25:43] Speaker 1: a boar so huge and so fierce that it ravages
[25:48] Speaker 1: the countryside and carries between its ears a set of
[25:51] Speaker 1: razors that are needed for the quest. and, of course,
[25:55] Speaker 1: obtaining a host of magical treasures and helpers, too. Just
[25:59] Speaker 1: another few side quests for poor old lad. Well, Arthur
[26:05] Speaker 1: and his knights, names famous and obscure alike, ail, uh, aid, rather, Kulric,
[26:12] Speaker 1: and together they accomplish what no ordinary man could. The
[26:16] Speaker 1: tale is noteworthy for its enormous cast of characters. It
[26:20] Speaker 1: reels off dozens of Arthur's men, each with unique attributes,
[26:25] Speaker 1: essentially preserving a roster of heroic Welsh figures. It is
[26:32] Speaker 1: both a rich folklore catalogue and a playful epic. It
[26:36] Speaker 1: mixes a bit of slapstick humour with adventure too. Your
[26:41] Speaker 1: homework is to read it, by the way. Well, when
[26:46] Speaker 1: Kulik finally succeeds and the giant is slain... We're treated
[26:51] Speaker 1: to a classic folk tale ending as well. The giant
[26:55] Speaker 1: who had been cursed to die once his daughter is
[26:58] Speaker 1: married has his head cut off, and he's powerless without
[27:02] Speaker 1: his head. And as for Kulric, he marries Olwen, happily
[27:08] Speaker 1: ever after, except for the giant who had his head
[27:12] Speaker 1: cut off. Well, it's a bit of a blend of
[27:16] Speaker 1: the grotesque and comic, the hero and the magical, It
[27:21] Speaker 1: exemplifies that Welsh storytelling flair. And then we have another
[27:27] Speaker 1: tale that is often included in the Mabinogion, the dream
[27:31] Speaker 1: of Maxon Laedig, a romantic legend about a Roman emperor, Maxon,
[27:38] Speaker 1: based on Magnus Maximus, who dreams of a beautiful maiden
[27:42] Speaker 1: in a far-off land and journeys to Britain to find her.
[27:46] Speaker 1: While essentially a fictionalised historical romance, It shows how folklore
[27:51] Speaker 1: can grow around real figures. In this case, weaving an
[27:55] Speaker 1: imaginative connection between Wales and the late Roman Empire. But
[28:01] Speaker 1: there is also Arthurian dreamlike visions, like the Dream of Roanaby,
[28:07] Speaker 1: which is full of symbolic imagery and satirical touches. Though
[28:13] Speaker 1: its dense, elusive nature makes it more of a literary
[28:16] Speaker 1: curio than a popular folktale, but that depends on how
[28:21] Speaker 1: far we're going to stretch definitions. Well, notably, too, we
[28:26] Speaker 1: have Heed and Trevelus, a short mythic tale dating from
[28:31] Speaker 1: older tradition, in which King Heed of Britain, aided by
[28:35] Speaker 1: his wise brother Laefilus, rids the land of three plagues,
[28:41] Speaker 1: one of which involves the aforementioned Koranaid invaders who could
[28:45] Speaker 1: hear every whisper. another involving those battling dragons. Because what's
[28:51] Speaker 1: a good story without a dragon, right? Well, in the story,
[28:55] Speaker 1: Heed buries two dragons, one red, one white, at the
[29:00] Speaker 1: centre of Britain, after intoxicating them with some pretty good mead,
[29:05] Speaker 1: that is, honey wine of sorts for people not familiar,
[29:10] Speaker 1: thereby ending their destructive combat. It's a tale that ties
[29:14] Speaker 1: directly into the later dragon prophecy. While running through all
[29:20] Speaker 1: these stories, we certainly have a few recurring motifs that
[29:23] Speaker 1: define the folklore of Wales. We've got magical cauldrons, reflecting
[29:29] Speaker 1: the Celtic reverence for cauldrons as givers of abundance or revival.
[29:33] Speaker 1: And then we've got shape-shifting and disguise, humans taking on
[29:38] Speaker 1: animal form, things like this. We also see strong, formidable
[29:42] Speaker 1: women like Rhiannon and Ariannod and Blodwed, who are central
[29:47] Speaker 1: to the drama, something notable in Welsh narrative. We see
[29:53] Speaker 1: that wisdom and cunning often triumph with sheer force-fails. Tricksters
[29:58] Speaker 1: like Gideon succeed through their craftiness and cunning. And above all,
[30:04] Speaker 1: we see the close proximity of the other world, an
[30:07] Speaker 1: invisible realm of deities or fairies, to everyday human life.
[30:13] Speaker 1: In these myths, stepping into enchantment is as simple as
[30:16] Speaker 1: following a mysterious hound into the woods, or touching a
[30:20] Speaker 1: fairy mound on the right night. The world of the
[30:24] Speaker 1: Mabinogion is one where the supernatural interweaves with reality, reflecting
[30:30] Speaker 1: a worldview in which magic was part of the fabric
[30:36] Speaker 1: of everyday existence. Not separate, not together, but just there,
[30:45] Speaker 1: waiting to be found. And that's why it's so interesting,
[30:50] Speaker 1: don't you think? But before moving on from the mythic heroes,
[30:55] Speaker 1: we should also mention the legendary bard Taliesin. Taliesin was
[31:00] Speaker 1: a historical 6th century poet. Several early Welsh poems are
[31:04] Speaker 1: attributed to him. But in later folklore, he gains a
[31:09] Speaker 1: fantastical origin story of sorts. According to a tale recorded
[31:15] Speaker 1: much later, and certainly part of folklore by medieval times,
[31:19] Speaker 1: Taliesin began life as a boy named Gion Bak. He
[31:24] Speaker 1: accidentally tasted three drops of magical potion of inspiration that
[31:29] Speaker 1: the witch Keridwen was brewing for her own son, and
[31:33] Speaker 1: instantly Gion was granted all knowledge and foresight. Well, but
[31:41] Speaker 1: he also earned Keridwen's wrath for spoiling our plan. You
[31:46] Speaker 1: win some, you lose some, I suppose. The child, therefore,
[31:50] Speaker 1: decided to flee, too dangerous to stick around. And a
[31:54] Speaker 1: thrilling shape-shifting chase ensues. Guyon transformed himself into a hare,
[32:00] Speaker 1: so Geridwen became a greyhound. He leapt into the river
[32:04] Speaker 1: as a fish, and she followed as an otter. He
[32:08] Speaker 1: flew into the air as a bird, and she pursued
[32:11] Speaker 1: as a hawk. Finally, in desperation, Guyon transformed into a
[32:17] Speaker 1: single grain of wheat whereas Keridwen turned into a hen,
[32:23] Speaker 1: pecked him up from the ground and swallowed him. But
[32:27] Speaker 1: here's the problem. The witch soon found herself pregnant, and
[32:32] Speaker 1: eventually gave birth to a reborn Gwion, now as the
[32:36] Speaker 1: infant Taliesin, who was so beautiful and wise that Keridwen
[32:42] Speaker 1: could not bring herself to kill him. So she set
[32:46] Speaker 1: him adrift in a leather bag on the river, Sounds familiar,
[32:50] Speaker 1: doesn't it? Recurring motives. Where he was eventually rescued by
[32:55] Speaker 1: a prince's fisherman. This reborn child grew up to be Taliesin,
[33:02] Speaker 1: the greatest bard ever, with a shining brow and a
[33:07] Speaker 1: tongue-speaking prophecy. In fact, his very name means radiant brow
[33:13] Speaker 1: in Welsh. This tale full of metamorphosis and wit shows
[33:18] Speaker 1: the value placed on poetic inspiration in Celtic culture, an
[33:22] Speaker 1: almost sacred gift acquired through a kind of mystical ordeal.
[33:29] Speaker 1: It also shows again how transformation and rebirth are key
[33:33] Speaker 1: themes in Welsh folklore. So, the mythic corpus of Welsh folklore,
[33:40] Speaker 1: as seen in the Mabinogion and related legends, really is
[33:44] Speaker 1: quite a treasure of the medieval world. And I could
[33:48] Speaker 1: say it a million times how extremely lucky we are
[33:53] Speaker 1: to just have these old texts. Extremely lucky. They contain
[34:00] Speaker 1: layers of meaning. You can read them as entertaining fairy tales,
[34:05] Speaker 1: or even go so far as viewing them as profound
[34:07] Speaker 1: allegories of life, death, and rebirth. It's really up to
[34:13] Speaker 1: you Now, as for the academic study of them, well,
[34:17] Speaker 1: that certainly reveals patterns shared with other Celtic traditions. You
[34:22] Speaker 1: might have seen a few crossovers if you've watched the
[34:26] Speaker 1: Ireland video. Well, it also has its own unique features
[34:32] Speaker 1: particular to Wales. But beyond all the analysis, don't get
[34:38] Speaker 1: too bogged down in it. At the end of the day,
[34:40] Speaker 1: they're just wonderful stories. hearing of how a woman made
[34:44] Speaker 1: of flowers betrayed her husband, or how a king's severed
[34:48] Speaker 1: head kept singing for decades. It's hard not to be
[34:52] Speaker 1: captivated by that. Well, either way, all these mythic heroes
[34:57] Speaker 1: and fantastical events laid the groundwork, and now we turn
[35:01] Speaker 1: our attention to the creatures and spirits that populate Welsh folklore. Monsters, fairies,
[35:10] Speaker 1: other uncanny beings, that wander in these tales. Now, if
[35:17] Speaker 1: the Mabinogion provides a high mythology of Wales, the fairy
[35:22] Speaker 1: folklore of Wales provides its magical folk belief at a
[35:25] Speaker 1: more laissez-popular level. The Welsh countryside has long been imagined
[35:32] Speaker 1: as alive with hidden creatures, the Solwyteg, literally the fair folk,
[35:40] Speaker 1: as the Welsh call their fairies. Now this term, sold
[35:44] Speaker 1: with deg, fair folk, is itself a bit of a euphemism.
[35:49] Speaker 1: A more polite way to refer to those otherworldly beings
[35:53] Speaker 1: in hope of staying on their good side. In older times,
[35:58] Speaker 1: people were often careful never to speak ill of fairies.
[36:02] Speaker 1: They were quick to anger if insulted, you see. Well,
[36:06] Speaker 1: that is at least according to legend. So instead of
[36:10] Speaker 1: calling them cruel or ugly... one would speak of them
[36:14] Speaker 1: respectfully as fair, or as bendith amame, that is meaning
[36:21] Speaker 1: the mother's blessing, another charming Welsh name for fairies. And
[36:26] Speaker 1: this echoes a common practice in folklore worldwide. For example,
[36:30] Speaker 1: let's look at the ancient Greeks calling the dread furies
[36:34] Speaker 1: the kindly ones, the idea that flattery might appease powerful
[36:40] Speaker 1: and temperamental spirits. But what exactly are the Solviteg? In
[36:48] Speaker 1: Welsh lore, they're a broad category of supernatural beings who
[36:51] Speaker 1: live parallel to humans. They're akin to the fairies of Ireland,
[36:56] Speaker 1: or the elves of English lore. Yet, Welsh fairies have
[37:01] Speaker 1: their own local types, and their own stories. We can
[37:05] Speaker 1: classify them as following. First, we have the Eichichon fairies. Yes,
[37:12] Speaker 1: Welsh pronunciations. I am doing my best. Tiny woodland fairies.
[37:17] Speaker 1: We can call them elves of sorts. Playful and elusive.
[37:23] Speaker 1: It's said that they haunt the groves and valleys of Wales,
[37:26] Speaker 1: feasting on toadstools, which are actually known as fairy food
[37:30] Speaker 1: in Wales, and using foxglove flowers as gloves on their
[37:34] Speaker 1: little hands. And indeed the Welsh name for foxglove, Menig Echeon.
[37:41] Speaker 1: literally means Elves' Gloves. The Erechon are similar to the
[37:48] Speaker 1: sprightly pixies or elves found in English folklore. And here's
[37:53] Speaker 1: a charming anecdote. One of a farmer named Rowley, who
[37:58] Speaker 1: was aided by helpful elves in his work after he
[38:00] Speaker 1: showed them kindness, reflecting the common folktale motive of household
[38:05] Speaker 1: fairies rewarding a good deed, and yet we see that
[38:08] Speaker 1: in Ireland as well. Welsh tradition even influenced literature beyond Wales.
[38:14] Speaker 1: It is said that Shakespeare's character Queen Mab, the fairy
[38:18] Speaker 1: midwife in Romeo and Juliet, draws her name from the
[38:22] Speaker 1: Welsh word mab, meaning child, and hints of Welsh fairy
[38:27] Speaker 1: lore seeped into his writings via Tudor-era Welsh connections. Next
[38:34] Speaker 1: we have the Coblynai, knockers or mine fairies. Wales has
[38:40] Speaker 1: quite a history of mining, and miners believed in the knockers,
[38:46] Speaker 1: little gnome-like fairies who lived underground. The coblinae were said
[38:52] Speaker 1: to knock on the tunnel walls to either warn miners
[38:55] Speaker 1: of danger, or sometimes to lead them to rich veins
[38:59] Speaker 1: of ore. If a miner heard a mysterious tapping in
[39:03] Speaker 1: the dark, he might interpret it as guidance from these
[39:07] Speaker 1: unseen helpers. Well, of course, plenty of sceptics, they might
[39:13] Speaker 1: say that the knocks were just creaking earth, but to
[39:16] Speaker 1: those who worked in the perilous mines, the idea of
[39:20] Speaker 1: benevolent subterranean fairies was quite a comfort, in a place
[39:25] Speaker 1: where comfort was pretty hard to find. And in this
[39:30] Speaker 1: belief was carried by Welsh and Cornish miners to the
[39:33] Speaker 1: New World, where in Pennsylvania, coal mines had the legend
[39:39] Speaker 1: of Tommy Knockers inside. So that's where that comes from.
[39:46] Speaker 1: The Koblenai were generally regarded as helpful, but like other fairies,
[39:51] Speaker 1: they expected respect in return. Some miners left them a
[39:56] Speaker 1: bit of food, or a bit of tobacco as an offering.
[40:00] Speaker 1: Either way, it's best to keep them on your side.
[40:07] Speaker 1: Next we have household goblins, the boobachoch. Now, a boobach,
[40:14] Speaker 1: we start with, is essentially a Welsh brownie, a household
[40:18] Speaker 1: spirit that will invisibly exist with Chores and, well, if
[40:22] Speaker 1: you're lucky, bring good fortune to your farm. But, of course,
[40:25] Speaker 1: it had to be pleased with the residents to do that.
[40:29] Speaker 1: No free rides, and the Bovachs were certainly not charity cases. Now,
[40:36] Speaker 1: a Bovach typically loved congenial, hospitable homes. A classic bit
[40:42] Speaker 1: of folklore says that a Bovach hates teeter-tallers and dissenting preachers.
[40:48] Speaker 1: In one story, a farm's resident, Bovach, grew annoyed when
[40:52] Speaker 1: visiting a Baptist minister who frowned upon the drinking of ale,
[40:56] Speaker 1: refused to have customary ale by the fire, of course,
[41:00] Speaker 1: because of this. Well, the offended Bovach pranked the poor
[41:05] Speaker 1: preacher mercilessly, eventually even chasing him out of the village. Now,
[41:11] Speaker 1: this tale is often retold with a bit of humour.
[41:13] Speaker 1: but it shows how folk beliefs were used to lightly
[41:16] Speaker 1: uphold community values like hospitality, and perhaps, along the way,
[41:22] Speaker 1: poke a little bit of fun at strict temperance. In general,
[41:27] Speaker 1: keeping a boobach meant that you had to have him
[41:32] Speaker 1: content leaving out a bowl of cream and a piece
[41:35] Speaker 1: of cake at night as payment for his work. Neglecting
[41:39] Speaker 1: or insulting a boobach Well, that could result in mischief.
[41:44] Speaker 1: Like objects thrown about the house. Kind of like a
[41:47] Speaker 1: poltergeist kind of behaviour. Or milk turning sour long before
[41:51] Speaker 1: it should. So be nice to the bubach. If you
[41:57] Speaker 1: have one in your house. Comment if you have a
[42:00] Speaker 1: bubach in the house. Alright, so the next we have
[42:05] Speaker 1: lake maidens. That is Gyrged Anmin. and it literally means
[42:11] Speaker 1: wives of Anwen, that is the other world, if you
[42:15] Speaker 1: remember from the previous sections. I know there's a lot
[42:18] Speaker 1: of new vocabulary coming up. Well, these are the beautiful
[42:23] Speaker 1: fairy women who dwell in the lakes and rivers, often
[42:27] Speaker 1: emerging to interact with lucky humans. Many Welsh folktales tell
[42:32] Speaker 1: of a fairy bride who marries a mortal man under
[42:35] Speaker 1: certain conditions, only to ultimately return to her realm, The
[42:41] Speaker 1: most famous is the lady of Hynjavandvach. In this well-loved
[42:47] Speaker 1: tale from Karmarthenshire, a young farmer sees a maiden of
[42:52] Speaker 1: extraordinary beauty sitting there just above the waters of a
[42:55] Speaker 1: mountain lake. He entices her to shore with bread and
[43:00] Speaker 1: wins her consent to marry him. But she imposes a
[43:04] Speaker 1: strange condition. He must promise never to strike her. more
[43:10] Speaker 1: than three times. I mean, I would have went never
[43:15] Speaker 1: at all, but maybe I'm a little bit too modern. Well,
[43:20] Speaker 1: for years they live happily and have children. She brings
[43:24] Speaker 1: with her a dowry of magical cows and sheep that
[43:26] Speaker 1: enrich the farm too, so that's always a bonus. But
[43:31] Speaker 1: as time passes, the husband, in innocent situations, happens to
[43:37] Speaker 1: tap his wife, And this is interpreted as a blow,
[43:42] Speaker 1: of course, to get her attention another time in jest,
[43:48] Speaker 1: sort of giving her a little tap on the shoulder
[43:50] Speaker 1: or on the back after a good joke, this kind
[43:53] Speaker 1: of thing. It was gentle and without malice, but it's
[43:57] Speaker 1: all about the interpretation. A promise is a promise. And so,
[44:02] Speaker 1: after the third such incident, the fairy wife announces with
[44:07] Speaker 1: sorrow that she must now leave. She calls her livestock
[44:11] Speaker 1: to follow, and they all go back into the lake,
[44:15] Speaker 1: vanishing beneath the surface forever. But this devastating departure is
[44:21] Speaker 1: not quite the end. You see, later the fairy woman
[44:25] Speaker 1: reappears briefly to her half-fairy sons, teaching them the secrets
[44:31] Speaker 1: of healing with herbs. Those children became, according to legend,
[44:37] Speaker 1: the physicians of Midfair, renowned herbal doctors in medieval Wales.
[44:45] Speaker 1: This story, besides being quite poignant, is quite culturally significant.
[44:51] Speaker 1: It ties the origin of a real family of physicians
[44:54] Speaker 1: who did exist and serve Welsh princes in the 13th
[44:57] Speaker 1: century to a supernatural ancestor. The motive of the fairy
[45:03] Speaker 1: bride with a taboo Break the taboo and she returns
[45:06] Speaker 1: to the other world. It's found throughout Celtic lore. But
[45:11] Speaker 1: the Welsh versions are especially detailed and tender. They highlight
[45:15] Speaker 1: an interesting aspect of fairy-human relationships. The other world's gifts
[45:21] Speaker 1: are rich. But rich as they are, as mortals, they're
[45:26] Speaker 1: never fully ours to keep. There's always a catch, always
[45:31] Speaker 1: a timeline. Well, next we have the Gwilion, that is
[45:38] Speaker 1: the mountain spirits. And these are rather spooky, I'm afraid.
[45:44] Speaker 1: Creatures of the wild, often described as old crones or
[45:48] Speaker 1: hag-like fairies who lurk in remote mountain paths. The most
[45:53] Speaker 1: infamous of them is the old woman of the mountain,
[45:56] Speaker 1: who might accost travellers on lonely roads, especially on stormy nights. Well,
[46:05] Speaker 1: a guille, that is a singular of guillon, might appear
[46:10] Speaker 1: as a frail old woman wearing ragged clothes, sometimes carrying
[46:15] Speaker 1: a simple pot or a bowl around. She doesn't typically
[46:20] Speaker 1: harm people outright, but she does delight in leading them astray,
[46:26] Speaker 1: which of course on stormy nights and blizzards and all
[46:29] Speaker 1: the rest, it counts as harming. You don't want to
[46:33] Speaker 1: freeze to death out there. A traveller might think he's
[46:37] Speaker 1: helping an old grandmother find her way home, only to
[46:42] Speaker 1: realise he's been led around in circles in the fog.
[46:46] Speaker 1: So how do you counteract this? Well, one way to
[46:50] Speaker 1: fend off a Gileon was traditionally to be courteous, but
[46:54] Speaker 1: also keep your wits. Some say offering a polite goodnight
[46:58] Speaker 1: or throwing iron like a pocket knife in her path
[47:02] Speaker 1: would eventually make her vanish, since fairies hate iron. Some
[47:08] Speaker 1: later tales even classify Girak-i-Rivin, the tail of the hague, rather,
[47:14] Speaker 1: of the mist, whose wail predicts death, among these mountain spirits,
[47:19] Speaker 1: and that's certainly one you do not want to encounter.
[47:24] Speaker 1: In essence, Gileom personified the eerie, untamed aspect of nature.
[47:28] Speaker 1: The sudden mist on a hill, the strange sound on
[47:32] Speaker 1: a crag, giving them a face and form in folklore. Well,
[47:38] Speaker 1: underlying all these fairy types is the concept of Anwen,
[47:43] Speaker 1: the Otherworld. Now do remember, it's not the Underworld, just
[47:50] Speaker 1: the Otherworld. You see, in Welsh belief, Anwen is not
[47:56] Speaker 1: a hell of sorts. and I suppose we have to
[47:59] Speaker 1: depart from our modern conceptions when we use the Otherworld title,
[48:05] Speaker 1: but rather a parallel realm of wonders, where the fair
[48:08] Speaker 1: folk live away from the mortals. It's often underground, or
[48:14] Speaker 1: perhaps underwater, hence fairies emerging from lakes and living under hills.
[48:22] Speaker 1: But Anduin is paradoxical. It can be a paradise of
[48:25] Speaker 1: eternal youth and plenty, but also a perilous place for
[48:29] Speaker 1: any mortals who stumble in. After all, they are not
[48:34] Speaker 1: meant to be there. And as for time, it flows
[48:38] Speaker 1: quite differently. A person might dance on a fairy mount
[48:42] Speaker 1: for what seems an hour, and return to five hundred
[48:46] Speaker 1: years having passed. A pretty common trope found in many
[48:50] Speaker 1: Welsh tales. Irish and English ones, too. But one local
[48:55] Speaker 1: legend from Carmarthenshire, for example, tells of a man named
[48:59] Speaker 1: Sean O'Shenkin, who heard the unearthly bird song one morning
[49:03] Speaker 1: and sat down to listen. Now the song was so
[49:07] Speaker 1: enchanting that he truly lost track of time. And when
[49:11] Speaker 1: it ceased, he looked at the world around him and
[49:14] Speaker 1: discovered that it was greatly changed. His home was now
[49:19] Speaker 1: a ruin. Everyone he knew was gone, and he himself
[49:25] Speaker 1: crumbled to dust shortly after having been under the fairy
[49:29] Speaker 1: spell for ages. Of course, stories like this once again
[49:34] Speaker 1: serving as entertainments and cautions. Beware the fairy ring. Beware
[49:40] Speaker 1: the music, lest you be drawn in by it. The
[49:45] Speaker 1: king of Anduin in some tales is Gwyn Apnev, a
[49:50] Speaker 1: figure who appears in both mythology and later folklore. Gwyn
[49:54] Speaker 1: Apnev is depicted as ruling over the Tsyllatheg, and also
[50:00] Speaker 1: a psychopomp, a leader of souls of sorts. Later Christian
[50:05] Speaker 1: influence and legend made him the leader of the Wild Hunt,
[50:10] Speaker 1: a spectral hunt that gallops across the night sky, with
[50:14] Speaker 1: hounds howling, chasing the souls of the dead. In Wales,
[50:21] Speaker 1: foes said that on certain nights you could hear the
[50:25] Speaker 1: eerie baying of Cun Amuin, the Hounds of Amuin, also
[50:31] Speaker 1: called the Hounds of Hell. or the dogs of the
[50:34] Speaker 1: other world, flying through the air, with Gwyn ap Neve
[50:39] Speaker 1: giving chase. These sounds were described as small and red-eared,
[50:44] Speaker 1: a classic Celtic otherworldly trait, and their sound was strangely inverted,
[50:51] Speaker 1: said to be loud from far away, but fainter as
[50:53] Speaker 1: they drew near. Hearing them was an omen of death
[50:57] Speaker 1: or misfortune, not the kind of thing you want on
[51:01] Speaker 1: a night out, Many an old traveller likely hastened home,
[51:06] Speaker 1: heart pounding out of their chest after thinking he'd heard
[51:09] Speaker 1: the hounds in the wind on an autumn night. Pretty eerie,
[51:15] Speaker 1: one of those little things to be aware of if
[51:19] Speaker 1: you're out after dark. But of course, not all fairy
[51:24] Speaker 1: encounters in Welsh lore are menacing like this. There's also
[51:29] Speaker 1: tales of fairy revels, people stumbling upon fairy dancers in
[51:33] Speaker 1: the woods. These fairies were often said to dance in rings,
[51:37] Speaker 1: leaving behind the so-called fairy rings of greener grass or mushrooms.
[51:43] Speaker 1: If a mortal joined their dance, he might dance blissfully,
[51:46] Speaker 1: until he realized hours or days had passed in a blink.
[51:50] Speaker 1: And there was a humorous tale of a fiddler who
[51:53] Speaker 1: once provided music for the fair folk in a cave.
[51:56] Speaker 1: then returned believing just a short time had elapsed only
[51:59] Speaker 1: to find a whole generation gone. But fortunately for him
[52:05] Speaker 1: he had not aged, and he became something of a
[52:08] Speaker 1: local curiosity. The motive of a fiddler or, perhaps, a
[52:13] Speaker 1: harper is also common, implying that fairies love music, they
[52:19] Speaker 1: adore the stuff, and will lure talented humans to play
[52:23] Speaker 1: for them. albeit not telling them how much the time
[52:28] Speaker 1: was passing. Leave that little detail out. But the fairies
[52:33] Speaker 1: in these stories, they're not really evil, aren't they? But
[52:38] Speaker 1: rather they exist by their own rules of time and propriety,
[52:42] Speaker 1: which mortals transgress at their peril by complete accident. But
[52:50] Speaker 1: of course we can't go past Welsh changelings, can't we?
[52:56] Speaker 1: Unlike many European cultures, the Welsh feared that fairies might
[52:59] Speaker 1: steal away healthy human babies or young children, leaving behind
[53:04] Speaker 1: a sickly changeling in their places. This belief likely arose
[53:09] Speaker 1: to explain infant illnesses or developmental issues in an era
[53:13] Speaker 1: with no medical knowledge on conditions such as those. Folklore
[53:17] Speaker 1: offered its own remedies. If a child was suspected to
[53:20] Speaker 1: be a changeling, for example, if it just wouldn't stop
[53:24] Speaker 1: crying or failed to grow, or just looked a little
[53:28] Speaker 1: bit weird. Desperate parents might resort to tricks to get
[53:32] Speaker 1: the fairies to return the real child. One famous Welsh
[53:38] Speaker 1: method was the eggshell test. The mother would brew beer
[53:42] Speaker 1: or cook food in eggshells in front of the supposed changeling.
[53:47] Speaker 1: This bizarre sight would startle. the fairy into speaking, revealing
[53:54] Speaker 1: its true identity. Thus, well, the fairy would be exposed,
[54:01] Speaker 1: and it would go away. Once a changeling spoke beyond
[54:05] Speaker 1: normal infant's capacity, the game was up. The legend goes
[54:10] Speaker 1: that upon being exposed, the fairy would vanish, or the
[54:14] Speaker 1: fairy parents, now caught out, would return the human baby
[54:17] Speaker 1: in exchange for their own In one Welsh tale, after
[54:21] Speaker 1: the eggshell trick, the fairy woman appeared angrily to swap
[54:25] Speaker 1: back the babies, scolding the human mother, but ultimately restoring
[54:30] Speaker 1: her child. Pretty charming and imaginative, I suppose. But it's
[54:37] Speaker 1: a little bit dark in reality. They sometimes led to
[54:41] Speaker 1: mistreatment of suspected changeling children. But as folklore, they highlight
[54:47] Speaker 1: the clever, almost folkloric science that people used these kinds
[54:51] Speaker 1: of symbolic acts and riddles to outwit the supernatural beings. Well,
[54:59] Speaker 1: through these many legends, we certainly have a vivid picture
[55:02] Speaker 1: of how Welsh people of the past related the unseen. Importantly,
[55:08] Speaker 1: Welsh folklore doesn't sharply divide fairies from ancient gods. There's
[55:13] Speaker 1: a bit of an overlap Figures like Rhiannon or Aron
[55:17] Speaker 1: in the Mabinogion are essentially deities or otherworld rulers, yet
[55:22] Speaker 1: later ages remember them dimly as fairies or spirits. The
[55:28] Speaker 1: term Soletegg covers a broad continuum from high supernatural beings
[55:34] Speaker 1: to little pixies, and that reflects the evolution of belief.
[55:39] Speaker 1: The old gods of a pagan era often diminished into
[55:43] Speaker 1: fairies and legends under Christianity. Still respected, but in a
[55:49] Speaker 1: similar role, Wales, with its conservative oral culture, preserved these
[55:55] Speaker 1: entities perhaps more intimately than elsewhere. Well, in Wales, in
[56:03] Speaker 1: terms of folklore, like of most cultures, They got their
[56:07] Speaker 1: share of giants, dragons, and other creatures that sparked the imagination.
[56:12] Speaker 1: The landscape of Wales, with its towering mountains and those valleys,
[56:17] Speaker 1: likely inspired many a legend, while its old fortresses and
[56:22] Speaker 1: deep lakes had their own tales of dragons and monsters.
[56:26] Speaker 1: So let's go and meet them. There's plenty of them
[56:29] Speaker 1: to cover. First, we have the giants. In Welsh legend,
[56:34] Speaker 1: giants were often portrayed as the original and mighty inhabitants
[56:38] Speaker 1: of the land. Medieval writers like Geoffrey of Monmouth even
[56:43] Speaker 1: wrote that when Brutus, that is the legendary Trojan ancestor
[56:47] Speaker 1: of the Britons, came to Britain, he found it inhabited
[56:50] Speaker 1: by giants, a mythic way of suggesting the island's primordial wilderness. Well,
[56:58] Speaker 1: Welsh storytelling is certainly full of giants and giant-like characters,
[57:03] Speaker 1: sometimes as enemies to be outwitted or slain by heroes.
[57:08] Speaker 1: But not every time. There's also a few more complex characters.
[57:13] Speaker 1: We already did see one giant in the second branch
[57:17] Speaker 1: of Mabinogion, that is Bran the Blessed, the giant king
[57:21] Speaker 1: of Britain, who, though benevolent to his people, could stride
[57:28] Speaker 1: across the sea. But outside of the Mabinogion, folklore has
[57:34] Speaker 1: a little bit more to offer too. Let's start with
[57:37] Speaker 1: one famous tale, that of the giant of Rita Gawr,
[57:42] Speaker 1: sometimes called Ruda. Rita Gawr was said to have been
[57:46] Speaker 1: the fiercest of the Welsh giants, who at one time
[57:51] Speaker 1: got into his head to challenge all of the kings
[57:53] Speaker 1: of Britain. And so he went on a bit of
[57:56] Speaker 1: a rampage, defeating ruler after ruler, and, most horrifically, cutting
[58:04] Speaker 1: off their beards. Well, what did he do with all
[58:09] Speaker 1: the beards? This is an interesting detail. He stitched them
[58:14] Speaker 1: into a great cloak for himself, known as a symbol
[58:17] Speaker 1: of triumph, and perhaps to keep warm on the summit
[58:21] Speaker 1: of Snowdon, where he made his lair, not known for
[58:25] Speaker 1: its balmy evenings, we'll give it that much. Well, according
[58:31] Speaker 1: to legend, there were twenty-eight kings that fell to this
[58:34] Speaker 1: giant's strength, and his cloak of beard hair grew even heavier. Emboldened,
[58:42] Speaker 1: Rita then sent a demand to King Arthur himself. He
[58:46] Speaker 1: insisted that Arthur surrender his own royal beard to enter
[58:49] Speaker 1: the collection. Well, of course, Arthur naturally refused, and so
[58:57] Speaker 1: the giant marched out to enforce his demand. And so
[59:00] Speaker 1: Arthur and the giant met in combat on the slopes
[59:04] Speaker 1: of Snowdon. Now, in some versions, Arthur is accompanied by
[59:08] Speaker 1: his knight, Sir Kay. also known as Sir Key and others.
[59:13] Speaker 1: And in other versions it's just a duel between Arthur
[59:16] Speaker 1: and the giant. Two solitary warriors. Bit of a David
[59:20] Speaker 1: and Goliath sort of thing. But in any case, Arthur
[59:25] Speaker 1: emerges the victor. There is one account that describes Arthur
[59:29] Speaker 1: hewing Rita Gower in two with his sword in one
[59:32] Speaker 1: fearsome blow. After the battle, Arthur orders the giant to
[59:36] Speaker 1: be buried atop the mountain. The Welsh name for Snowdon, Irvidfa,
[59:43] Speaker 1: actually means the tomb. Local lore holds that this refers
[59:48] Speaker 1: to Rita's cairn. Well, the story of Rita Gower is
[59:52] Speaker 1: a wonderfully visual folktale. Certainly interesting with that grisly cloak,
[59:59] Speaker 1: that's for sure. And that little detail of him being
[1:00:03] Speaker 1: cut in half. Can't really go past that. But it
[1:00:08] Speaker 1: is interesting to note that this legend doubles as a
[1:00:11] Speaker 1: place name story. It explains why Snowden is called the Tomb.
[1:00:16] Speaker 1: A little bit of folklore, a little bit of geography.
[1:00:22] Speaker 1: And then we have another giant named Idris Gaur It's
[1:00:27] Speaker 1: said to reside in Caeda Idris, that is, Idris's chair,
[1:00:31] Speaker 1: a mountain in Melionid. Idris was reputedly not just a brute,
[1:00:38] Speaker 1: but also a scholar and even a stargazer. The mountain's
[1:00:42] Speaker 1: name suggests it was like a great seat from which
[1:00:45] Speaker 1: Idris observed the heavens. Local legend has it that if
[1:00:49] Speaker 1: you spend a night on Caeda Idris, you may end
[1:00:53] Speaker 1: up mad or a poet. or dead, depending on who
[1:00:58] Speaker 1: tells you the story. Presumably due to the giant's lingering presence,
[1:01:03] Speaker 1: or perhaps the enchantments that surround the mountain. We can
[1:01:09] Speaker 1: only use our imagination on which one it is. But
[1:01:14] Speaker 1: this is a bit more folk superstition, I suppose, rather
[1:01:19] Speaker 1: than pure folklore, but it's still quite an interesting story. Well,
[1:01:25] Speaker 1: then there is the tale of Isbadadan Benkar, the chief
[1:01:29] Speaker 1: of the giants, who appears in the Kulik and Olwen story.
[1:01:35] Speaker 1: Isbadadan is truly a formidable giant, that's saying something, but
[1:01:39] Speaker 1: he is also fated to die if his daughter marries.
[1:01:44] Speaker 1: So when Kulik comes courting Olwen, Isbadadan sets him those
[1:01:48] Speaker 1: impossible tasks to delay the inevitable. The tasks themselves involve
[1:01:53] Speaker 1: other giant foes. For example, Kulik and Arthur must confront
[1:01:59] Speaker 1: the giant Irnak to get his sword. And they must
[1:02:02] Speaker 1: hunt that terrible boar, which was in some interpretations a
[1:02:07] Speaker 1: transformed giant or prince. In any case, as we've heard,
[1:02:12] Speaker 1: in the end, Isbadadan cannot escape his destiny. He's killed,
[1:02:18] Speaker 1: quite ironically, by one of his own poison spears turned
[1:02:22] Speaker 1: back against him. But before he dies... He has his
[1:02:26] Speaker 1: barber shave off his giant beard, and his daughter, Olwen,
[1:02:31] Speaker 1: uses the shears to take the last bit from his face.
[1:02:35] Speaker 1: A rather dark comedic moment, as the colossal old giant's
[1:02:40] Speaker 1: life ebbs away. World folklore even has local giants associate
[1:02:47] Speaker 1: with specific landmarks. In Glamorgan, for instance, they spoke of
[1:02:51] Speaker 1: a giantess named Penelope, and other places. Stone monoliths or
[1:02:57] Speaker 1: hill formations are sometimes attributed to giants hurling stones or
[1:03:02] Speaker 1: dying and turning into stone. And one folk explanation that's
[1:03:07] Speaker 1: quite humorous, I think, claims that two quarrelsome giants threw
[1:03:10] Speaker 1: clods of earth at each other. Where the earth fell,
[1:03:14] Speaker 1: you have two mountains, and the holes they scooped became lakes.
[1:03:20] Speaker 1: A pretty light-hearted way to explain the landscape through giant myths. Well,
[1:03:25] Speaker 1: let's move on to dragons. And the dragon is, arguably,
[1:03:30] Speaker 1: Wales' most famous mythical creature, thanks to that red dragon
[1:03:35] Speaker 1: on the flag. We have mentioned the archetypal Welsh dragon
[1:03:40] Speaker 1: story comes from the legend of Hud and Leifis, and
[1:03:44] Speaker 1: the expanded version in the Historia Brittonum. The conflict of
[1:03:51] Speaker 1: red and white dragons beneath Dinna's emir's Well, it's kind
[1:03:57] Speaker 1: of an institution in Wales, I suppose. It's on the flag,
[1:04:01] Speaker 1: so we can't really go past it. In that tale,
[1:04:04] Speaker 1: the Red Dragon's victory prophesies the return of the Britons' strength.
[1:04:09] Speaker 1: This has made the Red Dragon a symbol of Welsh
[1:04:11] Speaker 1: pride and resistance, red for native Britons, later identified as Welsh,
[1:04:18] Speaker 1: and white for the invading Saxons, perhaps nowadays used for
[1:04:24] Speaker 1: anyone who would invade, just outsiders. The white dragon coming
[1:04:30] Speaker 1: to fight the red. And the fact that this legend
[1:04:34] Speaker 1: was later woven into Merlin's prophecies gave it an enormous
[1:04:37] Speaker 1: diffusion in the Middle Ages. But aside from heraldic dragons,
[1:04:42] Speaker 1: Welsh folklore has dragons as more straightforward monsters. Now in Welsh,
[1:04:50] Speaker 1: a dragon is known as a dreig, in a mutable
[1:04:54] Speaker 1: form also, reik, and sometimes the word could be used
[1:04:59] Speaker 1: to mean a fierce leader or warrior. Early poets likened
[1:05:02] Speaker 1: heroes to dragons in battle. We have legends of dragons
[1:05:07] Speaker 1: guarding treasures, and we also have ones of them terrorizing communities.
[1:05:13] Speaker 1: Often they're called serpents or worms, as in other British
[1:05:16] Speaker 1: folklore too. And one story from North Wales tells of
[1:05:20] Speaker 1: a dragon that lived in a cave on Irwydfa, that is, Snowdon,
[1:05:24] Speaker 1: which we have mentioned, terrorizing the region until a brave
[1:05:29] Speaker 1: warrior slew it after a hard fight. Another tale is
[1:05:34] Speaker 1: of the red dragon of Llanwydion in Gawr. It was
[1:05:39] Speaker 1: said to guard a spring and had to be driven
[1:05:41] Speaker 1: off by a band of men with spears. Folktales of
[1:05:45] Speaker 1: villagers outwitting a dragon by trickery such as giving it
[1:05:48] Speaker 1: a poison-coated animal to eat, also appear in Wales, akin
[1:05:53] Speaker 1: to the St. George-style dragon tails. And there is also
[1:05:58] Speaker 1: a familial kind of dragon in Wales called a gweeber.
[1:06:02] Speaker 1: In some local stories, it's a flying serpent or worm.
[1:06:07] Speaker 1: The legend from Denbighshire speaks of a gweeber, sometimes described
[1:06:12] Speaker 1: as a giant winged snake. that nested near a well
[1:06:16] Speaker 1: and attacked anyone who came near for water. It was
[1:06:19] Speaker 1: eventually killed by a rather clever trick. A man left
[1:06:22] Speaker 1: a mound of warm milk, or in some versions beer,
[1:06:27] Speaker 1: laced with blades and hot stones. The creature drank it,
[1:06:31] Speaker 1: and was either sliced up internally or scaled to death.
[1:06:37] Speaker 1: Those kinds of stories, they straddle that line between the
[1:06:40] Speaker 1: monstrous snake and dragon folklore. But unique among aquatic monsters
[1:06:50] Speaker 1: is the afang, a distinctly Welsh lake monster. The afang
[1:06:56] Speaker 1: is often described as a dreadful creature lurking in a
[1:06:58] Speaker 1: deep lake or pool. It's variously likened to a big
[1:07:03] Speaker 1: crocodile or a water dragon. One well-known version is set
[1:07:09] Speaker 1: by Afang's Lake, sometimes identified near Snowdonia. The Afang would
[1:07:16] Speaker 1: periodically stir, causing destructive floods that inundated the valley. The locals,
[1:07:22] Speaker 1: desperate to stop it, sought the help of a strong hero,
[1:07:25] Speaker 1: sometimes known as Hu Katarn, a figure of legend. They
[1:07:31] Speaker 1: managed to pull the Afang out of the lake with
[1:07:33] Speaker 1: the aid of two mighty oxen. These supernatural oxen dragged
[1:07:37] Speaker 1: the thrashing monster out of the water, and as the
[1:07:40] Speaker 1: Afang hauled it out, It lashed its tail and injured
[1:07:44] Speaker 1: a maiden who helped lull it to sleep. Often a
[1:07:48] Speaker 1: maiden was used as bait for singing coax the monster
[1:07:50] Speaker 1: to slumber so ropes would be tied. Well, eventually the
[1:07:54] Speaker 1: Afang was either killed or carried away to sea, freeing
[1:07:59] Speaker 1: the community from further troublesome flooding. In a more ghostly
[1:08:05] Speaker 1: spin on the lore, we have touched upon the Hag
[1:08:09] Speaker 1: of the Dribble or Hag of the Mist, the Gyrrach Irribyn.
[1:08:15] Speaker 1: She is essentially the Welsh counterpart to the Irish Banshee.
[1:08:20] Speaker 1: Described as an ugly, winged female spectre, long black teeth,
[1:08:25] Speaker 1: wispy hair, sometimes membranous wings like a bat, she would
[1:08:30] Speaker 1: appear by the crossroads at night or streams, wailing the phrase,
[1:08:35] Speaker 1: My husband, my husband, or calling the names of those
[1:08:39] Speaker 1: about to die. Now if you heard her shriek, it
[1:08:43] Speaker 1: was bad news. It meant that a family member would
[1:08:46] Speaker 1: soon die. Some accounts say she would suddenly fling herself
[1:08:51] Speaker 1: at the windows of a house where someone lay dying
[1:08:53] Speaker 1: to claim their soul. And others characterize her as more
[1:08:57] Speaker 1: of a warning spirit. Either way, she was pretty much
[1:09:03] Speaker 1: universally feared. Folklorists think that such creatures evolved from personifying
[1:09:08] Speaker 1: the sorrowful cry of certain nocturnal animals, or the eerie
[1:09:12] Speaker 1: sounds of wind in the hills, translating them into a
[1:09:16] Speaker 1: story of a witch-like being. And certainly, if you've ever
[1:09:20] Speaker 1: been out in the forests at night and heard the
[1:09:23] Speaker 1: cry of a fox. Well, it's enough to put anyone
[1:09:28] Speaker 1: on edge, myself included. But another spectral figure in Welsh
[1:09:33] Speaker 1: lore was the Cyn Anwyrn, as we covered, the home's
[1:09:37] Speaker 1: otherworldly hound. And then there's the phenomenon of the canyl corf,
[1:09:43] Speaker 1: or corpse candle, ghostly lights that people claim to see
[1:09:47] Speaker 1: bobbing along the lanes or churchyards at night. These pale lights,
[1:09:53] Speaker 1: likely akin to will-o'-the-wisps, were believed to mark the path
[1:09:56] Speaker 1: of a funeral procession would be soon to take, essentially
[1:10:00] Speaker 1: an omen of impending death. Many an old Welsh tale
[1:10:04] Speaker 1: tells of someone seeing a dim blue light gliding above
[1:10:08] Speaker 1: the ground, and later a neighbour dies Lo and behold,
[1:10:15] Speaker 1: the funeral route marches right where the corpse candle travelled. Now,
[1:10:21] Speaker 1: it's normally a creature, per se, but the corpse candle
[1:10:24] Speaker 1: is a notable element of Welsh supernatural traditions. It shows
[1:10:30] Speaker 1: again the concern with omens, and the boundary between life
[1:10:33] Speaker 1: and death. But, finally, not to be forgotten, is the
[1:10:38] Speaker 1: category of magical animals and animal spirits in Welsh folklore.
[1:10:45] Speaker 1: We see intelligent, talking animals in stories, like the salmon
[1:10:50] Speaker 1: of Lake Leo, which appears in Kuluk's Tasks, an incredibly
[1:10:55] Speaker 1: ancient fish who knows the hidden knowledge. Or, of course,
[1:10:59] Speaker 1: the birds of Rhiannon, whose song could make the dead
[1:11:02] Speaker 1: or lull the living to sleep for centuries. Or the
[1:11:08] Speaker 1: trusty hound Drudwyn and the boar of Tyrk Dwyth, in
[1:11:13] Speaker 1: the same Arthurian tale. Animals often have a revered or
[1:11:17] Speaker 1: enchanted status, perhaps a holdover from Celtic totemic ideas. As
[1:11:22] Speaker 1: for the white stag, that's another example, too, that we
[1:11:25] Speaker 1: should mention. Throughout Celtic lore, including Welsh, a white stag
[1:11:30] Speaker 1: appears as a herald from the other world, luring hunters
[1:11:34] Speaker 1: onto mysterious adventures. And one very beloved animal legend, albeit
[1:11:42] Speaker 1: of later origin, we have to say, is that of Gellert.
[1:11:46] Speaker 1: the faithful hound of Prince Llewelyn. The story goes that
[1:11:51] Speaker 1: Llewelyn the Great had a wolfhound named Gellert. One day
[1:11:55] Speaker 1: he returned to his castle to find Gellert stained with
[1:11:58] Speaker 1: blood and his infant son's cradle overturned and empty. In
[1:12:03] Speaker 1: a panic, the prince assumed the dog had killed the child.
[1:12:07] Speaker 1: In grief and rage, he drew his sword and slew
[1:12:11] Speaker 1: Gellert on the spot. Only then did he hear a
[1:12:14] Speaker 1: baby's cry. Searching, he found his child alive and well,
[1:12:19] Speaker 1: hidden under the cradle, and nearby the corpse of a
[1:12:22] Speaker 1: great wolf Gellert had killed while defending the child. Léonin,
[1:12:29] Speaker 1: stricken with remorse, buried Gellert, and is said to have
[1:12:33] Speaker 1: never smiled again. The place, Bet-Gellert, that is, Gellert's grave
[1:12:40] Speaker 1: in Snowdonia, is pointed out as where this happened. Now, academically,
[1:12:45] Speaker 1: the story's a little bit suspect. Sorry to ruin your fun.
[1:12:49] Speaker 1: It appears to be a folk legend with parallels in
[1:12:51] Speaker 1: other countries. Sometimes called the Faithful Hound Tale. It's also
[1:12:55] Speaker 1: told in India, by the way. What's that? You want
[1:12:59] Speaker 1: an Indian folklore video? Better leave your thoughts in the comments. Well,
[1:13:04] Speaker 1: evidence also suggests that it was popularized in the 18th
[1:13:07] Speaker 1: or 19th century, possibly to boost tourism to Bet Gulert.
[1:13:13] Speaker 1: And I have to say... The story of a faithful
[1:13:16] Speaker 1: dog sacrificing itself to protect a child. Well, I would
[1:13:22] Speaker 1: go to just visit the statue of that. One hundred percent.
[1:13:31] Speaker 1: When all these accounts of giants, dragons, beasts, notice how
[1:13:37] Speaker 1: human heroes interact with them. Arthur slicing giants in half.
[1:13:43] Speaker 1: villagers scheming to outwit dragons, maidens taming monsters with their songs,
[1:13:48] Speaker 1: and even farmers appeasing or confronting these spooky old hags.
[1:13:55] Speaker 1: The stories provide entertainment, but they're also moral exemplars. Bravery, cleverness, compassion,
[1:14:01] Speaker 1: they've got it all. But they also function as explanations
[1:14:05] Speaker 1: for the unknown. They were likely swapped on long winter nights,
[1:14:09] Speaker 1: or while community members labored together. After all, They've got
[1:14:13] Speaker 1: to have some sort of excitement in daily life, even
[1:14:18] Speaker 1: if it's just a bit of fun. And here we are,
[1:14:23] Speaker 1: from those heights of the mythic battles and the enchantments,
[1:14:27] Speaker 1: to the homespun wisdom of those peasant superstitions. Welsh folklore
[1:14:34] Speaker 1: sure is something to marvel at, isn't it? Well, it's
[1:14:38] Speaker 1: got everything. It's got high heroic mythology. from that four
[1:14:42] Speaker 1: branches of the Mabinoki, those little quirky tales of fairies, ghosts,
[1:14:46] Speaker 1: and magical animals. I think we can imagine that people
[1:14:51] Speaker 1: in those earlier times, without all the comforts that we
[1:14:55] Speaker 1: have now, well, they really would have delighted in telling
[1:14:59] Speaker 1: these stories, perhaps even at some points getting a little
[1:15:04] Speaker 1: bit too far ahead of themselves and treating them as
[1:15:07] Speaker 1: something to really be feared. But you can't help notice
[1:15:11] Speaker 1: the cultural values that shine through. The importance of music
[1:15:16] Speaker 1: and poetry, for instance. That's a running thread. Magical birds
[1:15:19] Speaker 1: singing the dead to life. Then you've got the gaining
[1:15:23] Speaker 1: of wisdom through a cauldron of inspiration. Bards as those
[1:15:29] Speaker 1: keepers of memory. Well, I think we've definitely had a
[1:15:34] Speaker 1: good time together today. And I hope you've learned a lot.
[1:15:39] Speaker 1: And I hope my Welsh pronunciation was okay. You know,
[1:15:44] Speaker 1: I just consult Google Translate for it the moment I
[1:15:51] Speaker 1: was told that that would be okay. But I'm sure,
[1:15:56] Speaker 1: like any other videos, if they miss pronunciations, people will
[1:16:00] Speaker 1: correct me and I invite you to do so. Now,
[1:16:03] Speaker 1: let's read off those top tier patrons and supporters, shall we? Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Amber, Susan, Cameron, Gary, Charlene, Lynn-Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ulf, Edneer, Alexander, Charles, Dr. Neuronaut, Erin, Jaden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[1:16:22] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Gail, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan, Kevin, HMSHH, Crystal, Tauvery, Anthony, Lucy, Brandon, Cuckoo, Bubonic, Nicholas, Craig, Neftis, Alexander, Gokhan, Dorsey, Benita, Claire, Cortese, Carol, Robert, Mary, Bridget, Nefertari, Yvette,
[1:16:46] Speaker 1: Miss Mochi, Eleven, Alison, Free American, Jennifer, Brittany, and David.
[1:16:56] Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Okay. Well, I hope you're enjoying
[1:17:00] Speaker 1: this series on folklore. And, uh, yeah. I'm just going
[1:17:05] Speaker 1: to keep doing them, I suppose. If you're enjoying them,
[1:17:08] Speaker 1: you best let me know. Tell me what country's folklore
[1:17:12] Speaker 1: you want to hear of. Because, yes, it's a little
[1:17:15] Speaker 1: bit outside the realm of history, but frankly, just between
[1:17:20] Speaker 1: you and me, I don't care. Good night, everyone. Lots
[1:17:27] Speaker 1: of love to you all, as always. Look after each other,
[1:17:30] Speaker 1: drink plenty of water, and I wish you peaceful dreams.
[1:17:35] Speaker 1: Good night. Farewell for now.

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