Part 6 (1/2)
The wife of Garth Uchaf, Llanuwchllyn, went out one day to make hay, and left her baby in the cradle. _Unfortunately_, _she did not place the tongs crossways on the cradle_, and consequently the Fairies changed her baby, and by the time she came home there was nothing in the cradle but some old decrepit changeling, which looked is if it were half famished, but nevertheless, it was nursed.
The reason why the Fairies exchanged babies with human beings, judging from the stories already given, was their desire to obtain healthy well-formed children in the place of their own puny ill-shaped offspring, but this is hardly a satisfactory explanation of such conduct. A mother's love is ever depicted as being so intense that deformity on the part of her child rather increases than diminishes her affection for her unfortunate babe. In Scotland the difficulty is solved in a different way. There it was once thought that the Fairies were obliged every seventh year to pay to the great enemy of mankind an offering of one of their own children, or a human child instead, and as a mother is ever a mother, be she elves flesh or Eve's flesh, she always endeavoured to subst.i.tute some one else's child for her own, and hence the reason for exchanging children.
In Allan Cunningham's _Traditional Tales_, Morley's edition, p. 188, mention is made of this belief. He writes:--
”'I have heard it said by douce Folk,' 'and sponsible,' interrupted another, 'that every seven years the elves and Fairies pay kane, or make an offering of one of their children, to the grand enemy of salvation, and that they are permitted to purloin one of the children of men to present to the fiend,' 'a more acceptable offering, I'll warrant, than one of their own infernal blood that are Satan's sib allies, and drink a drop of the deil's blood every May morning.'”
The Rev. Peter Roberts's theory was that the smaller race kidnapped the children of the stronger race, who occupied the country concurrently with themselves, for the purpose of adding to their own strength as a people.
Gay, in lines quoted in Brand's _Popular Antiquities_, vol. ii., p. 485, laughs at the idea of changelings. A Fairy's tongue ridicules the superst.i.tion:--
Whence sprung the vain conceited lye, That we the world with fools supply?
What! Give our sprightly race away For the dull helpless sons of clay!
Besides, by partial fondness shown, Like you, we dote upon our own.
Where ever yet was found a mother Who'd give her b.o.o.by for another?
And should we change with human breed, Well might we pa.s.s for fools, indeed.
With the above fine satire I bring my remarks on Fairy Changelings to a close.
FAIRY MOTHERS AND HUMAN MIDWIVES.
Fairies are represented in Wales as possessing all the pa.s.sions, appet.i.tes, and wants of human beings. There are many tales current of their soliciting help and favours in their need from men and women. Just as uncivilized nations acknowledge the superiority of Europeans in medicine, so did the Fairies resort in perplexing cases to man for aid.
There is a cla.s.s of tales which has reached our days in which the Fairy lady, who is about to become a mother, obtains from amongst men a midwife, whom she rewards with rich presents for her services. Variants of this story are found in many parts of Wales, and in many continental countries. I will relate a few of these legends.
1. _Denbighs.h.i.+re Version of a Fairy Mother and Human Midwife_.
The following story I received from the lips of David Roberts, whom I have previously mentioned, a native of Denbighs.h.i.+re, and he related the tale as one commonly known. As might be expected, he locates the event in Denbighs.h.i.+re, but I have no recollection that he gave names. His narrative was as follows:--
A well-known midwife, whose services were much sought after in consequence of her great skill, had one night retired to rest, when she was disturbed by a loud knocking at her door. She immediately got up and went to the door, and there saw a beautiful carriage, which she was urgently requested to enter at once to be conveyed to a house where her help was required. She did so, and after a long drive the carriage drew up before the entrance to a large mansion, which she had never seen before. She successfully performed her work, and stayed on in the place until her services were no longer required. Then she was conveyed home in the same manner as she had come, but with her went many valuable presents in grateful recognition of the services she had rendered.
The midwife somehow or other found out that she had been attending a Fairy mother. Some time after her return from Fairy land she went to a fair, and there she saw the lady whom she had put to bed nimbly going from stall to stall, and making many purchases. For awhile she watched the movements of the lady, and then presuming on her limited acquaintance, addressed her, and asked how she was. The lady seemed surprised and annoyed at the woman's speech, and instead of answering her, said, ”And do you see me?” ”Yes, I do,” said the midwife. ”With which eye?” enquired the Fairy. ”With this,” said the woman, placing her hand on the eye. No sooner had she spoken than the Fairy lady touched that eye, and the midwife could no longer see the Fairy.
Mrs. Lowri Wynn, Clocaenog, near Ruthin, who has reached her eightieth year, and is herself a midwife, gave me a version of the preceding which differed therefrom in one or two particulars. The Fairy gentleman who had driven the woman to and from the Hall was the one that was seen in the fair, said Mrs. Wynn, and he it was that put out the eye or blinded it, she was not sure which, of the inquisitive midwife, and Lowri thought it was the left eye.
2. _Merioneths.h.i.+re Version of the Fairy Mother and Human Midwife_.
A more complete version of this legend is given in the _Gordofigion_, pp.
97, 98. The writer says:--
”Yr oedd bydwraig yn Llanuwchllyn wedi cael ei galw i Goed y Garth, sef Siambra Duon--cartref y Tylwyth Teg--at un o honynt ar enedigaeth baban.
Dywedasant wrthi am gymeryd gofal rhag, cyffwrdd y dwfr oedd ganddi yn trin y babi yn agos i'w llygaid; ond cyffyrddodd y wraig a'r llygad aswy yn ddigon difeddwl. Yn y Bala, ymhen ychydig, gwelai y fydwraig y gwr, sef tad y baban, a dechreuodd ei holi pa sut yr oeddynt yn Siambra Duon?