Tell a Fairy Tale Day by Claire Fayers

 What's your favourite fairy tale?

The 26th February is Tell a Fairy Tale Day and March 1st is St David's Day in Wales so this seems a good time to revisit my favourite Welsh fairy folk. These draw on British Goblins by Wirt Sikes, a nineteenth century American journalist and folklorist, but the fairy creatures of Wales go back much further than that, of course.

The Tylwyth Teg

Probably the best known of the Welsh fairies, their name means 'Fair Folk' or 'Fair Family.' They are ambiguous creatures, morally grey and known for their illusions. If anyone is stolen by the fairies, it's probably the Tylwyth Teg. They do seem to have a thing about kidnapping people. 

Elen Caldecott's Carnegie nominated THE BLACKTHORN BRANCH brings them magnificently to life.

The Pwca

Shakespeare's Puck possibly came from the same root. The pwca is generally depicted as a mischievous shape-shifter, often known to lead people into dangerous places by waving lights at night. I have an image of a man stumbling home from the pub soaking wet and saying, 'Sorry, dear, the pwca made me fall in the river. Definitely not because I'm drunk.'

See also the Cornish Bucca and the Irish Puka.

The Bwbach

This one is my favourite. The bwbach is a small goblin who likes warm places and pudding and so when people move into Wales, it moved into their homes with them. It'll even do some housework for you, especially if you leave it a slice of cake and a bowl of milk. But there are loads of stories about what happens when someone annoys a bwbach, and it never ends well for the humans.

The Coblyn

The word comes from the same root as goblin but I always have the Disney seven dwarves in mind. The coblyn lives underground in mines and tunnels and will often help human miners by alerting them to danger or leading them to the best seams of coal. There is a Pont y Coblyn (Coblyn's Bridge) in Caernarfonshire, though I haven't been able to find any stories attached to it.

The Ellyll

Wirt Sikes describes them as pigmy elves who dine on poisonous toadstools and fairy butter "which they extract from deep crevices in limestone rocks." Who knew limestone rocks could be so useful? In other accounts they appear to be interchangeable with the Tylwyth Teg, drawing people into their dances and taking revenge on any humans who annoy them.

Fairies in the Landscape

One of the things I love about these stories is the way they are so deeply embedded in the landscape. If you'd like to waste an hour or two, go to the List of Historic Place Names in Wales You can search for specific words or pick an area and study the place names. If you type in any of the fairy folk names you'll get a list of places that are associated with them.

This could be a great world-building exercise. Choose a location in your work in progress and attach a folktale to it. It doesn't even have to be tied into the plot, it can just be there to add a sense of depth and history.

Welsh Giants, Ghosts and Goblins by Claire Fayers is Waterstones Welsh Book of the Year.