The Celtic Fairies
Part 1V
The fairy babies were not thriving, for the simple reason they did not have sunlight.
The babies were sickly and cried all the time, so much so that they frightened the fish in the tinkling streams.
The little fairies who look like imps and who we call the bwbach here in Wales, were annoyed because they could not go above ground and they wanted their babies to be bonny and happy like the tall peoples babies were, in the sunshine.
So the bwbach sat at the council meeting in the huge cathedral chamber deep in the caves of Annwm and their spokesman, a fierce looking little bwbach with sprouting red hair, spoke sadly to Gwyn ap Nudd, the King of the Fairies.
“No longer will we live in the depths of this world, we have come to a decision, our children need light, so we are going back up into the sun and will use our magic powers to try and protect ourselves, for it is better than hiding down here for ever and watching our children get weaker and weaker”
Then the Bwbach clan went 'back up to the light'. A lot of the fairies cried and sent the bwbach on their way loaded with gifts that they may be wealthy on the island even though some thought they would never see the bwbach again.
The brave little men and women made their way up out of Annwm in the early morning light, into the island sun that would help their babies thrive and grow strong but where dangers were at every corner waiting for them. They came up from underneath tree roots, from rabbit burrows and badger sets, out of every hole in the forest, up into the light. They morphed into frogs and hopped across wet morning grass until they were in the shelter of bushes again when they morphed back into themselves.
They huddled together, afraid yet determined to be brave and moved off to find shelter for their little families. Brothers hugged other brothers and children clung together as this heroic band took off in all directions looking for their new life once again and hoping to stay free. They arranged amongst themselves that wherever they went, that every year at the great feast held by the King of the Fairies they would all descend back into Annwm until everyone was free of the underworld and they took their rightful places on the Island of Honey.
Gwyn ap Nudd, King of the Fairies promised the bwbach, as he wished them good fortune and safe keeping, that one day they would all live in the sunlight and he swore to them that he would find a way.
Have you ever woken to find your room in an awful mess and your mother gives you a telling off and says you have to clean it up when you know you did not make the mess?
It happens often.
Do you ever get a telling off because you trod on the cat when it was not you but no one will listen?
It happens often.
Do you ever lose things and know you put them somewhere but they have disappeared, things like your homework and your school coat?
It happens often.
Well I can let you into a little secret, but don’t tell your mother. You have a bwbach family living in your house. Yes living with you, but you will have to be quicker than them to get to see one and that is pretty nigh impossible if you are one of the tall people.
Not long after the bwbachs decided they had enough of the dark, strange things started happening in a farm house on a hill looking over the town of Neath.
Every morning summer and winter the farmers wife would find milk spilled out of the churn after she had milked the cows.
The cat was hiding everywhere, was scared stiff and was afriad to come out.
Whole rooms would be turned upside down and the milk would not turn to butter in the churn as it had for hundreds of years.
The farmers wife said to her husband, "There is something wrong, we will have to travel to the Neath to see the wise woman".
So the farmer and his wife went to Neath to see the wise old woman who told them she believed they had a family of bwbach living with them. The farmers wife was upset and said,
"How could that happen, I am a good clean wife, how could I have fairies in my house and where on earth are they hiding? I cannot believe it, I really cannot".
"Oh! you will never spot them",said the wise old woman, "They are far too fast for you and they can change their shape do not forget, they could be living as a family of spiders or mice or anything".
"Oh" said the farmers wife, "I am off home to make sure I clear out anything they could be".
"No, no, no", the wise old woman said to her, "Sit down and listen to me. They can change their shape, at will, but for a few hours every day they have to change back to themselves,usually at night, which is why all these things happen to you".
"Then I will stay up all night and catch them", said the farmers wife.
"No, no, no", said the wise old woman, shaking her head, "For they are so fast that you will never spot them, as you turn your head to look at them they change so they are gone and could be that spider scuttling out under the door".
"There is only one sure way to be rid of the bwbachs" said the wise old woman, "You have to get them out of your home first and then you have to surround your house with the gorse. Bwbachs will not go near gorse, it digs into them and tears them all over, the gorse bush is their deadliest enemy. But dont forget to never leave a gap in the gorse surrounding your home or they will get back in".
"So how do I get them out", asked the impatient farmers wife.
"You have to leave your home", said the wise old woman.
"Leave my home, never", cried the farmers wife.
"Listen to me wife", spoke the wise old woman again,
"just listen and hear me out".
The wise woman took her by the hand and said,
"Now, now, do not fret like that, I will help you".
So the farmer and his wailing wife set off home. The next day they did exactly as the wise woman had told them and packed all their belongings on to a cart.They put their children, who kept asking what was happening, on the top of the cart and set off along the track away from Neath.
They travelled mile after mile until they came to a turnpike where the toll man, who took the money for them to pass through the gate, asked where they were going.
The farmer leaned over and quietly said to the tollkeeper,
"We were cursed with a family of fairies, bwbachs, so we are pretending to leave our home, as according to the wise woman who lives in Neath the bwbachs do not live in empty houses. She said we must leave for a day and when we return surround our house with gorse bushes and the bwbachs will not be able to get back in".
As the farmer geed up the horses to move through the toll gate a voice came from inside all their furniture on the laden cart saying quite plainly,
"You think we are daft do you, wise woman huh”.
The farmers wife started to wail and the farmer put his head in his hands and turned the wagon and headed back to his farmhouse, knowing they would never be free of the bwbach until they themselves decided to leave his home and he resigned himself, there and then, to sharing with the bwbachs what they had.
"Stop wailing woman", said the farmer,
"Just make sure you keep them well supplied each night and our lives could be easier".
The farmers wife never went to bed again without leaving out a saucer of milk and a fresh slice of bread together with some fresh vegetables. She never had problems again and they lived together, quite happily.
