She replied: ‘What shall I do with thy speech? I am gone like the first of the dawns. Purûravas, go home again, I am hard to be caught, like the wind.’”
The Fairy wife by and by relents, and her mortal lover became, by a certain sacrifice, one of the Gandharvas.
This ancient Hindu Fairy tale resembles in many particulars similar tales found in Celtic Folk-Lore, and possibly, the original story, in its main features, existed before the Aryan family had separated. The very words, “I am hard to be caught,” appear in one of the Welsh legends, which shall be hereafter given:—
Nid hawdd fy nala,
I am hard to be caught.
And the scene is similar; in both cases the Fairy ladies are discovered in a lake. The immortal weds the mortal, conditionally, and for awhile the union seems to be a happy one. But, unwittingly, when engaged in an undertaking suggested by, or in agreement with the wife’s wishes, the prohibited thing is done, and the lady vanishes away.
Such are the chief features of these mythical marriages. I will now record like tales that have found a home in several parts of Wales.
WELSH LEGENDS OF FAIRY LADIES MARRYING MEN.
1. The Pentrevoelas Legend.
I am indebted to the Rev. Owen Jones, Vicar of Pentrevoelas, a mountain parish in West Denbighshire, for the following tale, which was written in Welsh by a native of those parts, and appeared in competition for a prize on the Folk-Lore of that parish.
The son of Hafodgarreg was shepherding his father’s flock on the hills, and whilst thus engaged, he, one misty morning, came suddenly upon a lovely girl, seated on the sheltered side of a peat-stack. The maiden appeared to be in great distress, and she was crying bitterly. The young man went up to her, and spoke kindly to her, and his attention and sympathy were not without effect on the comely stranger.