A FARMER’S DAUGHTER AT WALTON EAST, IN PEMBROKESHIRE BEWITCHED FOR FIFTEEN YEARS FOR REFUSING ALMS TO AN OLD HAG.
Mrs. Mary Williams, Dwrbach, a very old woman, informed me, that about 55 years ago, there was a well-known witch in the neighbourhood of Walton East, and that on one occasion two young women, daughters of a farm in that part of the country, were taken ill quite suddenly, and were supposed to have been witched by this old woman. The mother of the two young women went to the witch and rebuked the old hag, saying: “Old woman, why did you witch my daughters? Come and undo thy wickedness.” The old woman replied that she did not do anything to them. But the mother still believing that she was guilty, compelled her to come along with her to the farmhouse and undo her mischief. At last, she came, and when they reached the door of the farmhouse, the witch pronounced these words in Welsh: “Duw ai bendithio hi.” (God bless her). Any such expression pronounced by a witch freed the bewitched person or an animal from the spell. One of the two sisters (both of whom were in bed in another room), overheard these words of the old woman, but her sister did not hear or at least did not catch the words. The young woman who heard the supposed witch saying “Duw a’i bendithio hi,” got well at once, but her poor sister who missed hearing, instead of recovering went worse, if anything, than before, and continued to keep to her bed for fifteen years. And during all these years she was so strange, that even when her own mother entered her room, she would hide under the bed clothes like a rat, and her food had to be left on her bed for her, for she would not eat in the presence of anybody. At last, the old woman who was thought to have witched the young woman, died, and as the the mortal remains of the witch were decaying in the grave, the girl began to get better, and she soon fully recovered and became quite herself again after fifteen years’ illness. My informant added that after recovering, the young woman got married and received £1,500 from her parents on her wedding-day, and that she is still alive (or was very lately) and a wife of a well-to-do farmer. My informant also said that she was well acquainted with the family.