“With regard to the Cwm Caw Lwyd, there is a still extant fable entitled Creaduriaid Hir Hoedlog (i.e., the long-lived ancestors), which seems to be a composition of no modern date. At present the moral of it cannot be elucidated; but it seems that, in one respect, it was intended to represent the solitariness of this place, inhabited only by the weeping owl from remote antiquity; and certainly it is the most solitary and romantic retreat that the mind of man could imagine.” The writer says his is a “literal translation of the story, according to the Welsh phraseology”.
(16) THE GIANTESS’S APRON-FULL.
Source: Verbatim from the same book. Referring to the heaps of stone found on the hill-tops, he gives the fable of the heap found upon Bwlchy Ddeufaen, which he says is called Ban Clodidd y Gawres—literally, the giantess’s apron-full.
“The writer regards such tales as originally intended as hyperboles, to magnify the prowess and magnanimity of renowned persons.”
(17) A FABLE.
Source: Taken verbatim from the same book. The writer quotes it apropos of the Roman custom of bribing the Britons on the mountain tops. We are told the fable was delivered by one of the Britons, named Gwrgan Farfdrwch, who spoke to this effect, and then follows the fable.
(18) THE STORY OF THE PIG-TROUGH.
Source: Told by Hugh’s daughter. Genuine.
(19) BILLY DUFFY AND THE DEVIL.
Source: Told me by the old man who told me of the origin of the Welsh. Vague.