Welsh Folk-Lore

Welsh Folk-Lore, by Elias Owen

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Title: Welsh Folk-Lore a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of
North Wales
Author: Elias Owen

Release Date: December 12, 2006 [eBook #20096]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELSH
FOLK-LORE***
This eBook was transcribed by Les Bowler.

WELSH FOLK-LORE a collection by the Rev. Elias Owen, M.A.,
F.S.A.

CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i PREFACE iii-vi INDEX vii-xii ESSAY 1-352 LIST
OF SUBSCRIBERS 353-359
WELSH FOLK-LORE A COLLECTION OF THE FOLK-TALES
AND LEGENDS OF NORTH WALES BEING THE PRIZE ESSAY
OF THE NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD 1887, BY THE REV. ELIAS
OWEN, M.A, F.S.A.

PREFACE
To this Essay on the "Folk-lore of North Wales," was awarded the first
prize at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, held in London, in 1887. The
prize consisted of a silver medal, and 20 pounds. The adjudicators were
Canon Silvan Evans, Professor Rhys, and Mr Egerton Phillimore,
editor of the Cymmrodor.
By an arrangement with the Eisteddfod Committee, the work became
the property of the publishers, Messrs. Woodall, Minshall, & Co., who,
at the request of the author, entrusted it to him for revision, and the
present Volume is the result of his labours.
Before undertaking the publishing of the work, it was necessary to
obtain a sufficient number of subscribers to secure the publishers from
loss. Upwards of two hundred ladies and gentlemen gave their names to
the author, and the work of publication was commenced. The names of
the subscribers appear at the end of the book, and the writer thanks
them one and all for their kind support. It is more than probable that the
work would never have been published had it not been for their kind
assistance. Although the study of Folk-lore is of growing interest, and
its importance to the historian is being acknowledged; still, the
publishing of a work on the subject involved a considerable risk of loss
to the printers, which, however, has been removed in this case, at least
to a certain extent, by those who have subscribed for the work.
The sources of the information contained in this essay are various, but

the writer is indebted, chiefly, to the aged inhabitants of Wales, for his
information. In the discharge of his official duties, as Diocesan
Inspector of Schools, he visited annually, for seventeen years, every
parish in the Diocese of St. Asaph, and he was thus brought into
contact with young and old. He spent several years in Carnarvonshire,
and he had a brother, the Revd. Elijah Owen, M.A., a Vicar in
Anglesey, from whom he derived much information. By his journeys
he became acquainted with many people in North Wales, and he hardly
ever failed in obtaining from them much singular and valuable
information of bye-gone days, which there and then he dotted down on
scraps of paper, and afterwards transferred to note books, which still
are in his possession.
It was his custom, after the labour of school inspection was over, to ask
the clergy with whom he was staying to accompany him to the most
aged inhabitants of their parish. This they willingly did, and often in the
dark winter evenings, lantern in hand, they sallied forth on their
journey, and in this way a rich deposit of traditions and superstitions
was struck and rescued from oblivion. Not a few of the clergy were
themselves in full possession of all the quaint sayings and Folk-lore of
their parishes, and they were not loath to transfer them to the writer's
keeping. In the course of this work, the writer gives the names of the
many aged friends who supplied him with information, and also the
names of the clergy who so willingly helped him in his investigations.
But so interesting was the matter obtained from several of his clerical
friends, that he thinks he ought in justice to acknowledge their services
in this preface. First and foremost comes up to his mind, the Rev. R.
Jones, formerly Rector of Llanycil, Bala, but now of Llysfaen, near
Abergele. This gentleman's memory is stored with reminiscences of
former days, and often and again his name occurs in these pages. The
Rev. Canon Owen Jones, formerly Vicar of Pentrefoelas, but now of
Bodelwyddan, near Rhyl, also supplied much interesting information of
the people's doings in former days, and I may state that this gentleman
is also acquainted with Welsh literature to an extent seldom to be met
with in the person of