Welsh Folk-Lore Part 44

In the summer Who'll make a house?

Who?

For then a house is quite unnecessary, and the trouble to erect one great. The above ditty was told me by the Rev. John Williams, Rector of Newtown, a native of Flintshire.

In the English counties bordering upon Wales, such as Herefordshire, the wood pigeon encouraged Welshmen to drive off Englishmen's cattle to their homes, by saying:--

Take two cows, Taffy, Take two cows, Taffy, Take two.

and ever since those days the same song is used; but another version is:--

Take two cows Davy, Take two cows Davy, Two.

The late Rev. R. Williams, Rector of Llanfyllin, supplied me with the above, and he stated that he obtained it from Herefordshire.

In the uplands of Denbighshire the poor wood pigeon has a hard time of it in the winter, and, to make provision for the cold winter days, he, when he sees the farmer sowing spring seeds, says:--

Dyn du, dyn da, Hau pys, hau ffa, Hau ffacbys i ni Fwyta.

which rendered into English is:--

Black man, good man, Sow peas, sow beans, Sow vetches for us To eat.

Mr. Hugh Jones, Pentre Llyn Cymmer, a farmer in Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, a descendant of the bard Robert Davies, Nantglyn, supplied me with the preceding ditty.

_The Magpie teaching a Wood Pigeon how to make a nest_.

The wood pigeon makes an untidy nest, consisting of a few bits of twigs placed one on the other without much care. There is a fable in the Iolo MSS., p. 159, in Welsh, and the translation appears on page 567 in English, as follows:--

The magpie, observing the slight knowledge of nest building possessed by the wood pigeon, kindly undertook the work of giving his friend a lesson in the art, and as the lesson proceeded, the wood pigeon, bowing, cooed out:--

_Mi wn_! _Mi wn_! _Mi wn_!

I know! I know! I know!

The instructor was at first pleased with his apt pupil, and proceeded with his lesson, but before another word could be uttered, the bird swelling with pride at its own importance and knowledge, said again:--

I know! I know! I know!

The magpie was annoyed at this ignorant a.s.surance, and with bitter sarcasm said: "Since you know, do it then," and this is why the wood pigeon's nest is so untidy in our days. In its own mind it knew all about nest building, and was above receiving instruction, and hence its present clumsy way of building its nest. This fable gave rise to a proverb, "As the wood pigeon said to the magpie: 'I know.'"

It is believed that when wood pigeons are seen in large flocks it is a sign of foul weather.

_Woodp.e.c.k.e.r_.

The woodp.e.c.k.e.r's screech was a sign of rain. This bird is called by two names in Welsh which imply that it foretold storms; as, _Ysgrech y coed_, the wood screech, and _Caseg y drycin_, the storm mare.

These names have found a place in Welsh couplets:--

"Ysgrech y coed!

Mae'r gwlaw yn dod."

The Woodp.e.c.k.e.r's cry!

The rain is nigh.

_Bardd Nantglyn_, Robert Davies, Nantglyn, has an englyn to the woodp.e.c.k.e.r:--

"I Gaseg y Drycin."

"Och! rhag Caseg, greg rwygiant,--y drycin, Draw accw yn y ceunant, Ar fol pren, uwch pen pant, Cyn 'storm yn canu 'sturmant."

Barddoniaeth R. Davies, p. 61.

My friend Mr. Richard Williams, Celynog, Newtown, translates this stanza as follows:--

Ah! 'tis the hoa.r.s.e note of the Woodp.e.c.k.e.r, In yonder ravine, On the round trunk of a tree, above the hollow, Sounding his horn before the coming storm.

_Yellow Hammer_. (_Penmelyn yr Eithin_).

There is a strange belief in Wales that this bird sacrifices her young to feed snakes.

_a.s.s_.

The stripe over the shoulders of the a.s.s is said to have been made by our Lord when He rode into Jerusalem on an a.s.s, and ever since the mark remains.

It was thought that the milk of an a.s.s could cure the "decay," or consumption. This faith was common fifty years ago in Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire. I do not know whether it is so now. People then believed that a.s.s's milk was more nutritious than other kind of food for persons whose const.i.tutions were weak.

_The Bee_.

The little busy bee has been from times of old an object of admiration and superst.i.tion. It is thought that they are sufficiently sensitive to feel a slight, and sufficiently vindictive to resent one, and as they are too valuable to be carelessly provoked to anger, they are variously propitiated by the cottager when their wrath is supposed to have been roused. It is even thought that they take an interest in human affairs; and it is, therefore, considered expedient to give them formal notice of certain occurrences.

_Buying a Hive of Bees_.

In the central parts of Denbighshire people suppose that a hive of bees, if bought, will not thrive, but that a present of a hive leads to its well-doing.