The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-08-17

Carrter-plxtuns TtihaihWb
"No ioolee ChIneel"
And they didn't.
welsh Fairy Lore.
rur WAYS OF Tus LITTLE PEOPLE WHO
uAryT THE Wales AND WOODLANDS.
fLondoR Telegraph
In England itself the popular creuun.y
IL in many ways "a extrayagant and oDsti.
nate M ever. and in Scotland and ireland
the majority OF old superstitIons are nova
DAYS held i'm honor and respect. But II Is
nerbaps IN Wales, the cradle OF 80 much
British fairy lore, the land OF mystery
and wopderment until quite recent years,
thar the fairies and spirits hold now their
chief court. Mr.. Writ Skies, the United
States consul for Wales at Cardiff, has re-
Gently published a delightful volume on
British goblins, showing that fbe traditions
Of the mythic Arthur and OF Merlin-'hem.
selves the prototypes OF the historic king and
encbabter OF whom the " Morte DArihur"
tells-are still IN vigorous life. Elves yet
haunt: The wales and woodlands go0lln
dwarfs work In the mines, and household
fairies visit the clean.kept hearlhs as OF old.
In the green meadows, at the bottom OF tue
lakes and streams, live little race VINO
sometimes visit our earth, and on the
mountainous the gnomes OF The peek are
sill 10 be met. As fairies have always been.
the Cymric sprtes are capricious IN MOOD,
but. on the whole, they are the friends OF
man, and scores OF stories hold their ground
from personal remembrance OF the indiyid-
uals benefited, OF the presents in enchanted
stats and caskets, or in current coin and
bread and cheese, made by The modern
oblivion" The fairies themselves eat
only toadstools and "fairy BUTTER" but for
mortals who visit them they provide feasts
such as rival the entertainments OF eastern
legends. In other ways, also, they treat their
bold visitors well; for, provided the stranger
obeys their directions on certain points,
and. above all things, avoids curiosity, he is
made free OF the stables and gardens, and
all the other pleasures OF the palaces OF en-
chaniment which spring up at the fairies
bidding: for the little folk, when nortals
are with them, ride and dance and enjoy
themselves much Is men and women DO. VI
children the Ellyllon are especially fond,
and mothers there live who have success
fully wrestled with the elves when trying TO
steal their infants, and gr0wn.up people are
still to be found who in their childhood
stopped on their way to school to play with
the dwarfs on the hillside. Grateful for
kindness shown, and vindictive for insults
offered, nearly all the little spirit folk alike
may be made friends or foes, just as NOR
tails choose to have them, and the exception
is an elf given up wholly to mischief and
wror g.doing. OF such, however, there are,
unfortunately, still few; and The Welsh pea
SAINT, therefore, has to take to- day all the Old
precautions against changelng children and
misleading lanterns, for want OF which so
many worthy Ta6y has come 10 sad grlef
in The past. On the other hand, falrles ale
not OF cunning sort, and can be easily
circumvented or imposed upon. Some
times, indeed, they are caught and Kept as
pets. The general good temper OF the fal-
ries. and the facility with which their small
mischefs may be counteracted. have thus,
In way, accustomed the Welsh mind to
think leniently OF the fairies existence,
while the very convenient forms IN which
Puck and bis comrades sometimes do
their spiriting make them good eX-
cuse for occasional lapses from sobriety
and decorum. Fathers OF families returning
home from market are now and then sadly
overcome BY spirits on the way, and are
found in the early morning lying in the
load all splashed with mud, hatlesS, and
with clothes torn, and when questioned as
dent 10 every one that the fairies have had
hand in the matter. Thus, too, when SER
wants are longer on their errands than they
should be, when pretty girls stay out too
late on summer evenings, and money or
other property comes unacc0untaDiy into
people's possession, story OF elves or COB
Inns pat for the purpose is always ready,
and Drecedents for such accidents are at
once charitubly recalled to memory. The
Welsh fairies, therefore, have certain claims
on Taffy, which, 10 do him credit, he never
attempts even at this day to repudiate.
one moral, however. is TO be drawn from
all The thousand delightful stories OF elm
folk, ard that is that, good or bid, 1t is as
well, on the whole, to have no more to do
with the fairies than can possibly be helped.
They may give favorite for time all the
luck that he can wish for, but there Is IN
yariaby some trifling condition attached TO
hi. prosperity which, being violated, brings
dreadful penalties in its train. IL Is well,
therefore, 10 keep clear OF goblin people OF all
kinds, and above all TO eschew the company
OF witches. At Dunmow the other day two
gentle rusticS, finding themselves disturbed
by shadows, and the cattle afflicted with
ailments, were grayely proceeding to throw
neighbor into pond TO see II she was a
witch. II she foaled she was, and II she
drowned she was not. The ordeal is SIM
pie enough, but the woman's husband OBJ
iccted, and very fortunately. too, for the
rustics concerned: as it happened, the
switch" in question was unable to swim,
and though her innocence would thus have
been incontrovertibly established 10y her
death, the result 10 her murderers would
have been awkward. Last week also miner
found himself in court on charge OF
having, by necromantic arts, fastened the
death of a client, and he was lucky TO es-
cane with only ACCOMPLISHMENT. for, what
ever share in event his crystal and potion
NAV have had, the deceased certainly left this
world convinced that she had been "be-
witched." In both instances, therefore, Sc
rious trouble ensued from meddling with
the black art, and, however devoutly the
rural population may believe in 1t, on the
whole, It does not coincide with modern
sentiment to act up to the belief.