| Socyberty > Folklore |
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Four Tall Tales From the Lovely Land of Wales |
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by R J Evans, Jul 20, 2008 |
When visiting Wales, take time to soak in some of the taller tales that surround this small but extremely interesting nation. |
The Welsh got to America before Columbus
Columbus may have sailed the ocean blues in fourteen hundred and ninety two but for many Welsh people, he was late by several hundred years. Step forward Prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd who left the green shores of Wales to settle in Alabama in the twelfth century - the year 1169 to be exact.
Poetry from several hundred years later describes how ten ships set sale and discovered the far away land. Queen Elizabeth the First used this legend to usurp the Spanish claim to the New World. Madog it seems returned to Wales several years later and persuaded others to go with him - and the myth became enduring among the Welsh. It is supposed he landed in Alabama as there are several stone forts along the Alabama river. These have been dated to several hundred years before Columbus and the Cherokee from that are maintain that the forts were built by “white people”. The discovery of the Mandan tribe in the eighteenth century seems to have added fuels to the flames of this legend - they Mandan were described as fair in appearance, many being blue eyed. 
They laid their villages out along medieval European lines; created strange fishing boats just like the Welsh coracle and spoke a language remarkably similar to Welsh. It is believed that the inter-marrying of Welsh and Cherokee led to the creation of the Mandan tribe. Unfortunately the vas majority of them were wiped out by smallpox in the 1830s and full corroboration can not be provided. The Welsh Atlantis
Many Welsh people believe that their country was once much, much larger. In fact the lost land of Tyno Helig is a common Welsh legend that deserves further exploration. In the year 331 AD this land was supposedly list to the sea. The area was ruled by a prince who went by the name of Helig ap Glannawg. There was a curse put upon his daughter when she and her lover murdered a nobleman to help raise money for their wedding party. When they married, the ghost of the murdered noble appeared at the wedding. He swore vengeance against four generations of their family and sure enough, when their great great grandson made his appearance in to the world, they and all their lands and wealth disappeared under the sea. 
Another legend is set around 600 AD when a storm blew up in the kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod. The sea walls were open due to their guards being drunk from a wedding feast. The sea rushed in and over sixteen villages were forever covered by water. This meant that the Welsh then had to retreat in to the hills and eek out a poorer living on the higher lands. 
While this makes a marvelous story, there is some evidence to suggest that there is more to this story than sheer myth. On the beaches in many places in Wales, the trunks of great, ancient trees can be seen at low tide. Is there more to this legend than meets the eye? The Welsh Nessie
Anything the Scots can do the Welsh can do just as well! Although that might provoke argument among the Celtic tribes, there is a similar legend to the Loch Ness Monster in Wales. Teggie is the Welsh Nessie and has been sited since the 1920s. She inhabits Lake Bala which in welsh is translated to Llyn Tegid - the name deriving from the second word. 
Like Nessie she has proven remarkably difficult to pinpoint! In fact she makes Nessie look like a media junky such is the dearth of sitings of her. She was spotted on color film in the 1970s and a Japanese camera crew searched for her fruitlessly in 1999. 
Many Welsh believe that she is actually a witch of legend, Pontrhydfedigaid - a shape shifter who can turn herself in to any and all kinds of animals. Who can say!?! The Welsh Robin Hood
At least there is proof that this man actually existed, separating the myth from the man remains troublesome for Welsh historians. It is k known that Twm Sion Cati, real name Thomas Jones, was born around 1530 in Cardiganshire.
It is thought that he was the illegitimate son of local nobility and, deprived of his own lands, took to robbing the rich and giving to the poor. His reputation was one of kindness to his victims. It seems that he could shoot an arrow so accurately it would go through the clothes of his victims and pin them to a tree or to their saddle so he could then relieve them of his possessions but retain their lives. 
There are no records, though, that can prove for sure that Twm Sion Cati was truly kind to his victims and his popularity as a figure in Welsh folklore is, therefore, based on dubious hearsay. He does, however, remain popular in Welsh children's book as a rival to the Robin Hood of the English. Unlike the Hood story, though, legend has it that Twm married his very own Marion, a lady called Joan, when he was in his seventies. Thus he ended his life as part of the class from which he had spent the majority of his life stealing!
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