Welsh Folk-Lore Part 47

This pretty spotted little beetle was used formerly in the neighbourhood of Llanidloes as a prognosticator of the weather. First of all the lady-bird was placed in the palm of the left hand, or right; I do not think it made any difference which hand was used, and the person who held it addressed it as follows:--

Iar fach goch, gwtta, Pa un ai gwlaw, neu hindda?

and then having said these words, the insect was thrown skywards, the person repeating the while--

Os mai gwlaw, cwympa lawr, Os mai teg, hedfana;

which in English would be--

Lady-bird, lady-bird, tell to me What the weather is going to be; If fair, then fly in the air, If foul, then fall to the ground.

The first two lines were said with the beetle in the hand, and the last two whilst it was thrown upwards; if it came to the ground without attempting to fly, it indicated rain; if, however, when thrown into the air it flew away, then fair weather was to be expected. The writer has often resorted to this test, but whether he found it true or false he cannot now say.

_Mice_.

A mouse nibbling clothes was a sign of disaster, if not death, to the owner. It was thought that the evil one occasionally took the form of a mouse. Years ago, when Craig Wen Farm, Llawr-y-glyn, near Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire was haunted--the rumour of which event I well remember--the servant girl told her mistress, the tenant of the farm, that one day she was going through the corn field, and that a mouse ran before her, and she ran after it to catch it, but that when she was opposite the barn, _the mouse stopped and laughed at her_, and ran into a hole. The mouse, therefore, was the evil spirit, and the cause of all the mischief that followed.

_Moles_.

Moles are said to have no eyes. If mole hills move there will be a thaw.

By the moving of mole hills is meant bits of earth tumbling off the mound. A labourer in Llanmerewig parish, Montgomeryshire, called my attention to this fact. It was a frosty day, and apparently no change was near, but it will thaw, said he, and certain I am, that by the next morning a thaw had set in.

_Pigs_.

Pigs used to be credited with the power of seeing the wind. Devils were fond of a.s.suming the form of, or entering into, pigs. Pigs littered in February could not be reared. This I was told by a native of Llansantffraid, Montgomeryshire.

_The Snake_, _Serpent_.

The snake was supposed to be able to understand what men said. A tale was told me by an aged man at Penrhos, Montgomeryshire, of an event which took place in the last century. His father, he said, saw a number of snakes, or _nethers_, as he called them, basking in the sun, and he said when pa.s.sing them, "I will make you jump to-morrow." The next day he, provided with a rod, pa.s.sed the spot, but no adder could be seen. The next day he pa.s.sed again the same spot without his rod, and the man was now obliged to run for his life, so furiously did the snakes attack him.

Traditions of Flying Snakes were once common in all parts of Wales.

_Flying Serpents_.

The traditional origin of these imaginary creatures was that they were snakes, which by having drunk the milk of a woman, and by having eaten of bread consecrated for the Holy Communion, became transformed into winged serpents or dragons.

These dangerous creatures had their lurking places in many districts, and they attacked everyone that crossed their paths. There was said to have been one such den on Moel Bentyrch. Old Mrs. Davies, Plas, Dolanog, who died 1890, aged 92, told the Rev. D. R. Evans, B.A., son of the Vicar of Dolanog, that once, when she was a young woman, she went to Llanfair market, and on the way she sat on a stile, and she saw smoke and fire issuing from a hole on Moel Bentyrch, where the _Gwiber_, or Flying Serpent, had its abode. She ran, and never stopped until she had placed a good distance between her and the hill. She believed that both the smoke and fire were caused by the serpent. There is also a tradition still current in Dolanog that this flying serpent was destroyed by wrapping some red material round a post into which sharp nails were driven. The serpent, attacking this post with furious onslaughts, was lacerated by the sharp spikes, and died. A like tradition is current in Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant in connection with the _Post Coch_, or _Post-y-Wiber_, or Maen Hir y Maes-Mochnant.

Mr. Hanc.o.c.k in his "History of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant," writes as follows:--

"The legend connected with this stone pillar is, that it was raised in order to prevent the devastation which a winged serpent or dragon (a _Wiber_) was committing in the surrounding country. The stone was draped with scarlet cloth, to allure and excite the creature to a furor, scarlet being a colour most intolerably hateful and provoking to it. It was studded with iron spikes, that the reptile might wound or kill itself by beating itself against it. Its destruction, it is alleged, was effected by this artifice. It is said to have had two lurking places in the neighbourhood, which are still called _Nant-y-Wiber_, one at Penygarnedd, the other near Bwlch Sychtyn, in the parish of Llansilin, and this post was in the direct line of its flight. Similar legends referring to winged serpents exist in various parts of Wales. In the adjoining parish of Llanarmon-Dyffryn-Ceiriog there is a place called _Sarffle_ (the serpent's hole)."--_Montgomeryshire Collections_, vol. ix., 237.

_Snake Rings_, _or Glain Nadroedd_.

Mention is made in _Camden_ of snake rings. Omitting certain remarks not connected with the matter directly, he writes:--"In some parts of Wales we find it a common opinion of the vulgar that about Midsummer Eve (though in the time they do not all agree) 'tis usual for snakes to meet in companies, and that by joyning heads together and hissing, a kind of Bubble is form'd like a ring about the head of one of them, which the rest by continual hissing, blow on till it comes off at the tail, and then it immediately hardens, and resembles a gla.s.s ring; which whoever finds (as some old women and children are persuaded) shall prosper in all his undertakings." The above quotation is in Gibson's additions to Camden, and it correctly states the popular opinion. Many of these rings formerly existed, and they seemed to be simply gla.s.s rings. They were thought to possess many healing virtues, as, for instance, it could cure wens and whooping cough, and I believe I have heard it said that it could cure the bite of a mad dog.

_Sheep_.

It was thought that the devil could a.s.sume any animal's form excepting that of the sheep. This saying, however, is somewhat different from what a farmer friend told me of _black sheep_. He said his father, and other farmers as well, were in the habit of killing all their black lambs, because they were of the same colour as the devil, and the owners were afraid that Satan had entered, or would enter into them, and that therefore these sheep were destroyed. He stated that his father went on his knees on the ground and prayed, either before or after he had killed the black lambs. It is a common saying that the black sheep is the ringleader of all mischief in a flock of sheep. The expression, "He is a black sheep," as applied to a person, conveys the idea that he is a worthless being, inclined to everything that is bad.

It is even now in country places thought to be a lucky omen if anyone sees the head of the first spring lamb towards him. This foretells a lucky and prosperous year to the person whose eyes are thus greeted.

_Spider_.

The long-legged spider, or, as it is generally called in Wales, the Tailor, is an object of cruel sport to children. They catch it, and then handle it roughly, saying the while:--

Old Harry long-leg Cannot say his prayers, Catch him by the right leg, Catch him by the left leg.

And throw him down stairs;

and then one leg after the other is plucked off, and the poor creature is left to die miserably. This was done in Llanidloes.

_The Squirrel_.

Hunting this sprightly little animal became at Christmas the sport of our rustic population. A number of lads gathered together, and proceeded to the woods to hunt the squirrel. They followed it with stones and sticks from tree to tree, shouting and screaming, to frighten it on and on, until it was quite unable to make further progress, and then they caught it. The writer, when a lad, has often joined in this cruel hunt, but whether the squirrel was killed when caught he is unable to recall to mind. Generally it escaped.

_The Blind Worm_, _or Slow Worm_.

This reptile is a snake, varying from twelve to eighteen inches long.