Title: Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales
Preface (extract): “Much of the folk-lore and many of the folk-stories, which formed a valuable contribution to the early history and condition of the Welsh people, survived the itinerary of Wesley in Wales, and were preserved by the oldest inhabitants, who considered it reverential to prayerfully assist in the laying of ghosts, the confounding of malign spirits, and the exorcism of evil-doers. During the religious revival of the fifties of the nineteenth century the lore and stories were regarded as gross superstitions, and were held in abeyance, but not wholly suppressed. Here and there families might be found holding these fragments as connecting-links between the past and the people of the day, who cherished loving memories of “… the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still.” Love for ancestral sayings and doings is strong in the Welsh temperament, and while the religious revival already mentioned doubtless purged and purified Wales of gruesome superstitions and coarse practices, the minds of men winnowed the bad from the good, and the fittest of the lore and stories survived.”
Author(s): Marie Trevelyan
Date: 1909
Publisher: Elliot Stock, London
Archived by: University of Michigan via Archive.org
Pages: 376
Keywords: folklore ; Wales ; Welsh ; dragon ; legend ; Merlin ; Matter of Britain ; King Arthur ; Arthurian ; devil ; funerary rites ; Celtic ; Druids ; magic ; charms ; spells ; ritual