The snake was supposed to be able to understand what men said. A tale was told me by an aged man at Penrhos, Montgomeryshire, of an event which took place in the last century. His father, he said, saw a number of snakes, or nethers, as he called them, basking in the sun, and he said when passing them, “I will make you jump to-morrow.” The next day he, provided with a rod, passed the spot, but no
adder could be seen. The next day he passed again the same spot without his rod, and the man was now obliged to run for his life, so furiously did the snakes attack him.
Traditions of Flying Snakes were once common in all parts of Wales.
Flying Serpents.
The traditional origin of these imaginary creatures was that they were snakes, which by having drunk the milk of a woman, and by having eaten of bread consecrated for the Holy Communion, became transformed into winged serpents or dragons.
These dangerous creatures had their lurking places in many districts, and they attacked everyone that crossed their paths. There was said to have been one such den on Moel Bentyrch. Old Mrs. Davies, Plas, Dolanog, who died 1890, aged 92, told the Rev. D. R. Evans, B.A., son of the Vicar of Dolanog, that once, when she was a young woman, she went to Llanfair market, and on the way she sat on a stile, and she saw smoke and fire issuing from a hole on Moel Bentyrch, where the Gwiber, or Flying Serpent, had its abode. She ran, and never stopped until she had placed a good distance between her and the hill. She believed that both the smoke and fire were caused by the serpent. There is also a tradition still current in Dolanog that this flying serpent was destroyed by wrapping some red material round a post into which sharp nails were driven. The serpent, attacking this post with furious onslaughts, was lacerated by the sharp spikes, and died. A like tradition is current in Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant in connection with the Post Coch, or Post-y-Wiber, or Maen Hir y Maes-Mochnant.
Mr. Hancock in his “History of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant,” writes as follows:—
“The legend connected with this stone pillar is, that it was raised in order to prevent the devastation which a winged serpent or dragon (a Wiber) was committing in the surrounding country. The stone was draped with scarlet cloth, to allure and excite the creature to a furor, scarlet being a colour most intolerably hateful and provoking to it. It was studded with iron spikes, that the reptile might wound or kill itself by beating itself against it. Its destruction, it is alleged, was effected by this artifice. It is said to have had two lurking places in the neighbourhood, which are still called Nant-y-Wiber, one at Penygarnedd, the other near Bwlch Sychtyn, in the parish of Llansilin, and this post was in the direct line of its flight. Similar legends referring to winged serpents exist in various parts of Wales. In the adjoining parish of Llanarmon-Dyffryn-Ceiriog there is a place called Sarffle (the serpent’s hole).”—Montgomeryshire Collections, vol. ix., 237.
Snake Rings, or Glain Nadroedd.
Mention is made in Camden of snake rings. Omitting certain remarks not connected with the matter directly, he writes:—“In some parts of Wales we find it a common opinion of the vulgar that about Midsummer Eve (though in the time they do not all agree) ’tis usual for snakes to meet in companies, and that by joyning heads together and hissing, a kind of Bubble is form’d like a ring about the head of one of them, which the rest by continual hissing, blow on till it comes off at the tail, and then it immediately hardens, and resembles a glass ring; which whoever finds (as some old women and children are persuaded) shall prosper in all his undertakings.” The above quotation is in Gibson’s additions to Camden, and it correctly states the popular opinion. Many of these rings formerly existed, and they seemed to be simply glass rings. They were thought to possess many healing virtues, as, for instance, it could cure wens and whooping cough, and I believe I have heard it said that it could cure the bite of a mad dog.