SIR DAFYDD DEFEATING A RIVAL WIZARD.
According to the stories still extant in North Cardiganshire, this Sir Dafydd Llwyd had a most wonderful control over the demons.
The following tale was told me by Mr. D. Jones, Bryntirion, Llanilar:
A rival wizard who lived in the neighbourhood of Lampeter, on one occasion challenged Sir Dafydd to a contest in the black art, in order to prove to the world which of the two wizards was the cleverest in controlling the demons. On the morning of the appointed day for the contest between the two experts in the black art, Sir Dafydd sent his boy to an elevated spot to have a look round if he could see a bull coming from the direction of Lampeter. The boy went, but ran back immediately to inform his master that a most savage bull was approaching. Off went Sir Dafydd to Craig Ysguboriau, and stood on the spot with his open magic book in his hand. The bull, or rather a demon in the form of a bull, fiercely attempted to rush at him, but Sir Dafydd compelled him to return whence he came. The animal returned to Lampeter and rushed at once at the Lampeter wizard, and killed him. So Sir Dafydd defeated and got rid of his rival.
Another story I heard at Ysbytty Ystwyth was that one Sunday morning when Sir Dafydd went to Church, he sent his boy to keep away the crows from the wheat field; but when he came home he found that the boy had collected all the crows into the barn. Sir Dafydd at once discovered that the boy had learnt the Black Art.
There is a tradition in the neighbourhood that the body of Sir Dafydd lays buried under the wall of Yspytty Ystwyth Churchyard, and not inside in the Churchyard itself, and people still believe that this is a fact. The story goes that the wizard had sold himself to the devil. The agreement was that the arch-fiend was to have possession of Sir Dafydd if his corpse were taken over the side of the bed, or through a door, or if buried in a churchyard. In order to escape from becoming a prey to the Evil One, the wizard on his death-bed had begged his friends to take away his body by the foot, and not by the side of the bed, and through a hole in the wall of the house, and not through the door, and to bury him, not in the churchyard nor outside, but right under the churchyard wall. So that his Satanic majesty, who had been looking forward for the body of Sir Dafydd, was disappointed after all.
That it was formerly believed that the devil could be out-witted or deceived is evident from the fact that in the Middle Ages it was often customary to bury an ungodly rich man in the garb of a Monk. This could be done by paying the Monks a certain sum of money.
There is a story very much like the one I have just given, to be found in the South-Western part of Montgomeryshire. In the Montgomeryshire version, however, the wizard is not Sir Dafydd Llwyd, but Dafydd Hiraddug, who had charged his friends, that on his death, the liver and lights were to be taken out of his body and thrown on the dunghill. They were then to take notice whether a raven or a dove got possession of them; if a dove got possession of them, he was to be buried like any other man in the churchyard; but if a raven, then he was to be buried under the wall, and under the wall he was buried, as a raven got possession of the liver and lights.
The devil in disappointment cried out:—
“Dafydd Hiraddug ei ryw,