Glamorgan Folk Tales for Children E-Book

Cath Little

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Seitenzahl: 98

Beschreibung

How do you get rid of a bothersome giant? Have you got a secret like Effie? And what would you do with an invisibility seed? Some of these stories from Glamorgan are strange and sad, some are a bit scary and some are a bit mad. Our ancestors first told them long ago, and people liked them so much they kept passing them on. These stories of magic and adventure belong to everyone. They are meant to be told. Read them, tell them and pass them on yourself! Storyteller Cath Little has gathered together this enchanting collection of tales, illustrated by fellow storyteller and illustrator Peter Stevenson. Told in Cath's captivating style, these stories will be especially enjoyed by primary school-aged children.

Leseprobe

For the children of Kitchener Primary School

First published in 2017

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2017

All rights reserved

Text © Cath Little, 2017

Illustrations © Peter Stevenson, 2017

The right of Cath Little to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 8191 0

Original typesetting by The History Press

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

Contents

Acknowledgements

About the Author and Illustrator

Introduction

1 The White Lady in the Woods

2 The Salmon Children

3 The Lady of the Lake

4 The Giant of Gilfach Fargoed

5 The Invisibility Seed

6 The Sparrow Hawk

7 Three White Roses

8 Effie’s Secret

9 The Healing Snakes

10 Wild Swans at Barry Island

11 The Lady of Ogmore Down

12 The Sorrowful Witch

13 The Mystery of Kenfig Pool

14 The Snake Lady of Swansea

15 Elidyr in the Other World

16 The Treasure Cave

17 The Ox of Eynonsford Farm

18 The Wishing Cap

19 King Arthur and the Sleeping Warriors

20 Aunty Nan and the Skeleton Man

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my father who first told me stories, thanks to my mother, who read them to me. Thanks to my partner Luc and to my wonderful children, Rosa and Joseph, for their love and support. Thanks to all my family and especially to my Aunty Jo, who always said that I’d write a book.

With heartfelt thanks to all the children, parents and teachers at Kitchener Primary School. Thanks to Angela Harris and everyone at Family Story Club for all your listening and all your stories. Thanks to Siân Jones and Dee Kaur for your encouragement.

Thanks so much to Peter Stevenson for his delightful illustrations.

Thanks to all my storytelling friends, especially Fiona Collins, Guto Dafis, Sean Taylor, Elinor Kapp and Richard Berry who kept me company on the way and gave practical advice.

Thanks to all the people who told the stories and listened to the stories through the years and kept them alive. Thanks to the collectors who wrote them down: to Gerald of Wales, The Boys of Lewis School, Pengam and their teacher Mr T. Matthews, Alan Roderick, Ken Radford, Anthony Rees and Marie Trevelyan. Especially to Marie Trevelyan. Most of the stories in this book come from Marie Trevelyan’s collection, Folk-Lore and Folk-Stories of Wales. We are all so lucky that she wrote the stories down.

About the Author

Cath Little is a storyteller from Cardiff. She tells stories in schools, libraries and museums, castles, cafes and fields. She loves telling stories and she loves listening to stories. This is her first book.

About the Illustrator

Peter is a book illustrator, storyteller, writer and folklorist, inspired by the art of visual storytelling. He lives in Aberystwyth, where he runs a storytelling festival and club, and wanders the old Welsh tramping roads, listening to the birds and anyone happy to tell him a tale and share a cake.

Introduction

All the stories in this book are old stories that were told long ago in Glamorgan. These stories are not my stories. These stories belong to everyone. They are meant to be told.

All I have done is research and find the old stories and then write them down in a new way. I have had a lot of help from some really good listeners and readers. Here are some of the things they told me:

‘These stories are enchanting, mysterious and excellent.’ – Jessica

‘I really liked the stories. It was interesting to find out about the places and hear the names of people who lived long ago.’ – Oliver

‘My favourite story was the one about the box. I really wanted to know what was in that box.’ – Asiya

‘I think “The Lady of Ogmore Down” teaches us to never give up and always try your best no matter what.’ – Prubjort

‘These stories have mystery and give us pictures in our imaginations.’ – Emily and Ayesha

‘I was really surprised when the snakes were friends and healed the girl.’ – Meju

‘I like the sad stories best.’ – Bhapur

‘I like the one where the old man asks the young man to go under the magic hazel tree. My heart was beating fast when I thought the warriors were going to wake up. You made the story even better by adding Welsh words.’ – Ahammed

‘I liked the part where the animals and the trees and the people all helped each other.’ – Anisha

These stories are presents. They are presents from the people who lived here long ago. A story is the best present. You can give it away and you can keep it for yourself. We can keep these ancient stories and pass them on to people in the future. And maybe these old stories will inspire us to make up some new stories. And we could pass those on too!

1

The White Lady in the Woods

There was a White Lady in the woods near the school I went to when I was a child. I went to PenyrHeol School, the school at the top of the road. There were woods next to the school with a stream running through. That’s where the White Lady lived. She wandered all alone through the trees and washed her hands in the stream. All the children knew she was there, though the teachers never mentioned her. I felt sorry for her. She had no one to play with, only the grass snakes and the green frogs and the little fish in the water. I was a bit scared of her too. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t want to see her. There was a dark, damp shadowy place under the school buildings. Some children said they had seen the White Lady there. They said her dress was torn and tattered like spiders’ webs. ‘I dare you to go down there!’

When I grew up and became a storyteller, I found that there are lots of stories about Ladi Wen, the White Lady. I have put one of them in this book, ‘The Three White Roses’. I also found out that my old school was named after the farm that used to be there, Pen yr Heol Farm. One of my teachers at school was called Mr Richardson. Mr Richardson was an inspiring teacher who loved history and made me love history too. He told us that a thousand years ago there was a Celtic tribe living on the land where our school was built. The Celtic tribe was called the Silures. The Silures lived in roundhouses made of mud and straw. And they loved stories.

I wonder how long the White Lady has been there. Maybe the children who lived in Pen yr Heol Farm told stories about the White Lady. And maybe the Silure children told stories about the White Lady. Maybe they did. Maybe she’s been there all the time.

2

The Salmon Children

Once there was a sister and a brother who grew up in a forest. Their names were Meidwen and Ieuan and they grew up in Coed Duon, the Blackwood. They climbed to the tops of the trees. They swam in the River Rhymney. All the birds and the animals were their friends. Small birds would sit on their shoulders and sing to them. Shy deer and rabbits would come to their open hands and eat from them. Ieuan and Meidwen lived with their dad in a house in the heart of the forest. Their dad, Sannan, was the forester. He looked after all the trees and creatures of Coed Duon.

One evening the children were down by the River Rhymney, feeding the swans with left over vegetable scraps. An old lady appeared on the banks of the river. Her hair was long and white, her back slightly stooped with age. They knew her, had seen her before and knew that their dad was always kind and respectful to her and had taught them to do the same.

‘Noswaith dda plant,’ said the old lady.

‘Good evening,’ answered the children.

She stopped to talk to them. ‘I’ve made some cake, would you like some?’

‘Yes please!’ said the children and they followed the old lady to her little cottage. The cake was good and the children stayed and chatted for a while. Then they said they had better be going. Their dad would be worried where they were. The old lady didn’t want them to go, so they stayed a bit longer. When it was getting dark outside and they knew their dad would be missing them, they tried to go again. ‘We have to go home!’ they said. But the old lady wouldn’t let them go.

‘Stay here!’ she said and locked the door.

‘Ieuan! Meidwen!’ they heard their father calling them.

They shouted back, ‘Dad! We’re here!’ but he couldn’t hear them.

The old lady picked up a branch from behind the door. She struck the children, ‘Swash, swish, you’d be better off as fish!’ The branch was a magic wand from a hazel tree. The children began to shiver and to shake. They began to quiver and to quake. They were shrinking and turning to silver, with cold shining scales all over them. They were fish! Two silver, black-spotted salmon fish. The old lady picked them up, put them in her basket and hurried out the door.

The old lady went as fast as she could down to the River Rhymney. She passed Sannan on the way down.

‘Have you seen the children? Have you seen my Meidwen and Ieuan?’ he asked her.

‘No,’ she said, ‘I haven’t seen any children.’ In the basket the children called out, ‘Dad! We’re here!’ but he couldn’t hear them. They were salmon now. They were the salmon children and they flipped and flapped in the old lady’s basket.

When she got to the river, she threw them in, ‘Splash! Splish! You’ll be better off as fish!’ she cried. Splash! Splish! and they were in the water. Meidwen and Ieuan leapt and dived in the cold, clear waters of the Rhymney river. They turned and they tumbled with the river as it made its way down the valley and down to the sea. They found they could talk to one another with their minds. They were the salmon children. They tumbled and turned as the river threaded through Coed Duon. They leapt high and dived deep as the river came out of the forest and flowed past fields and farms. Down the River Rhymney ran, all the way down to the Severn Sea. Down the River Rhymney ran and down the Salmon children ran with it, all the way down to Môr Hafren.