Tradition: Welsh Mythology
Alternative Names: Fairy Maiden, Fairy Wife
Category: Fairy
The Myth
The Fairy Maiden of Pentrevoelas was a beautiful supernatural woman who appeared one misty morning to the son of Hafodgarreg while he was tending his father’s sheep on the hills. He found her sitting beside a peat-stack, weeping in great distress. The young shepherd approached her kindly and comforted her, and his sympathy soon turned into love. She returned his affection, but their conversation was interrupted when an old man appeared and called the maiden his daughter. She obeyed him and left with him, while the shepherd remained behind, hoping she would return. He came back to the same place day after day, but she did not appear. Eventually, however, the maiden herself returned from her enchanted land, having planned the visit because she loved the shepherd as deeply as he loved her.
Her father soon discovered the lovers together and confronted them. The shepherd boldly asked for permission to marry his daughter, and the old man asked the maiden whether she truly wished to marry a man of the human world. She said that she did. Her father therefore allowed the marriage, with one condition: she could remain with her husband only so long as he never struck her with iron. He also gave her a marriage portion consisting of a bag filled with bright money. The couple married and lived happily together for many years, having children and building a loving family. The promise seemed secure until one day they went onto the hills to catch two wild ponies that they intended to take to the festival of the saint of Capel Garmon.
The ponies repeatedly escaped, and the husband became increasingly frustrated as he chased them. At last, when they slipped away once more, he angrily threw his bridle after them. The iron bit struck his wife. The moment it touched her, both husband and wife understood that their marriage contract had been broken. Almost immediately, her aged father appeared with a host of fairies and took his daughter back to the enchanted land. She was not even given the chance to say farewell to her children. The money from her dowry and the children themselves remained with the shepherd, but his fairy wife was gone, leaving only these reminders of the woman he had loved and the family they had shared.
Sources
Owen, Elias. Welsh Folk-Lore: A Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales. London: Elliot Stock, 1896.