Week 11 Extra Reading Diary: Welsh Fairy Tales (Emerson)

Image Information: Fairy near a well. Source: Selina Fenech

The Fairies of Caragonan (1 and 2):

Fairies well known by all. Fairy princess going out to see the real world—for a day as eith er a bird or fairy. Saw a sick old man tortured by a witch, told her mom. Mom came and saved him. He repaid her by giving her land to make a fairy ring on near the sea so they could have easy access. Turns out he was cursed by the witch because he was trying to kill her in her hare form. Bad mistake. Fairy queen had no power over witch and wanted her to lose her arm by a man. Daughter set out to make this happen. Helped a farmer and asked for him to repay her with revenge. Made a plan for the next day.

A hare-hunting exhibition to search for the witch. Lad killed the witch with a stone to the head. Dragged her witch body behind horses down the valley and then buried her in a ditch. Fairies ran three ceremonies. She told him to buy a specific plate from a dead man’s things as his reward. Bought the miser’s land and his niece. Lived happily ever after.

Three Short Tales of Fairies:

Alcoholic blacksmith. Little man told him to stop this lifestyle or he would soon die, become a better man and he will be rewarded for it. Got sober, met this guy whose horse ran away and left him a ton of money.

Man buying cheese. Bought alcohol instead. Fairies gave him money and he spent it wrongly so the fairies took their revenge.

Baby farmer. Found a piece of gold while chopping wood, never told anyone because she had always pretended to be very poor. Took better care of two of her children than the rest—played favorites. Man came and took the two favored children and turned them into fairies.

The Old Man and the Fairies:

Fairies used to dance at night and people from all around would come view them. Man fell asleep and was taken by the fairies under the ground. Woke up and explored and had a ton of fun until he fell asleep and they took him back to the human world. Assumed he had been dreaming but upon looking into his bag he found it fully filled with gold. Told his wife where he got it and the fairies took it back. Ouch.

Heard singing investigated and found a sixpence. Happened every day. Told his dad. Never happened again.

Fairy visitors every night left only money. Married a tall man and had a big baby and once told her husband of her old visitors. When she got home the fairies had changed her baby into a small one out of spite.

The Story of Gelert:

Princess whose coffin still remains to this day. Already read this. Wow.

Origin of the Welsh:

Small tribes around Persia. Very brave but too small to affect Persia’s army. Paid yearly tributebut took revenge whenever they could. Eventually made a plan to end their tributes. Stole a bunch of weird, huge bird eggs and trained them like dogs. The plan was to sic them on the Persian army. The Persian army lost and the king was so enraged he went to a magician for guidance—the best he could do was to turn the birds into fairies. Cursed them into fairies for 2000 years.

Crows:

Crows as symbols of future events—premonitory. Married man with no children, very spiritual. Complained about his dreams. Full of crows. Went to tell his wife and fell down dead.

The Fairy of the Dell (1 and 2):

Fairies originally supposed to oppose the evil-doings of witches and destroy their power. Small group of sixty set up camp around well they enchanted. Made three fairy circles and sent out her fairies to meet the surrounding people. Heard complaints from everyone about a great witch. Cured all the sick about their ailments. Made the wicked witch realize all her misgivings and repent. Asked for the book and the wand from her as proof. Burnt them both. Conquered hell.