One fine June evening the young heir of Ystrad went down to the Afon Gwyrfai, not far from where it leaves Llyn Cwellyn, and hid in the bushes near the spot where the fairies, the "folk of the red coats", were known to dance. The moon was bright and before long the dance was in full swing. One girl caught his eye above all the rest, and when the dancing was at its height he leapt into the middle of the circle, seized her and carried her home to Ystrad. Her companions vanished "like one's breath in July", as the Welsh text puts it, leaving her screaming to be let go.
He treated her kindly and she agreed to stay on as a servant. She was a remarkable one: she milked the cows three times a day and got a full yield every time, and there was so much butter nobody bothered to weigh it. But she would never tell him her name. Then one moonlit night, driving the cows Brithen and Benwen out to pasture, he went back to the old dancing place and hid again, and heard the fairies say that the last time they danced there their sister Penelope had been stolen by a mortal. He went home delighted and called her by her name, which startled her badly.
He asked her to be mistress of Ystrad rather than its maid. She refused for a long time, then agreed on one condition: if he ever struck her with iron she would leave and never return. They lived together for many years, had a son and a daughter, and grew rich, farming the northern side of Nant y Betws right up to the top of Snowdon and all of Cwm Brwynog in Llanberis parish. One day the two of them went to catch a skittish horse in the meadow, and he threw the bridle to stop it. The bridle hit Penelope, and she disappeared at once.
She came back only once, to the window of his bedroom on a night of cold north wind, and told him in verse to keep the children warm: to put his coat on the boy and her petticoat on the girl. Then she was gone for good.
Comments