Adapted from Welsh Folk-Lore by Owain Elias.
THE FOLLOWING TALE I RECEIVED FROM the mouth of Mr. Richard Jones, Ty’n-y-wern, Bryneglwys, near Corwen. Mr. Jones has stored up in his memory many tales of olden times, and he even thinks that he has himself seen a Fairy.
Standing by his farm, he pointed out to me on the opposite side of the valley a Fairy ring still green, where once, he said, the Fairies held their nightly revels. The scene of the tale which Mr. Jones related is wild, and a few years ago it was much more so than at present.
At the time that the event is said to have taken place the mountain was unenclosed, and there was not much travelling in those days, and consequently the Fairies could, undisturbed, enjoy their dances. But to proceed with the tale:
Two waggoners were sent from Bryneglwys for coals to the works over the hill beyond Minera. On their way they came upon a company of Fairies dancing with all their might. The men stopped to witness their movements, and the Fairies invited them to join in the dance.
One of the men stoutly refused to do so, but the other was induced to dance with the Fairies for a while. His companion looked on for a short time at the antics of his friend, and then shouted out that he would wait no longer, and desired the man to give up and come away. The dancing man, however, turned a deaf ear to the request, and no words could induce him to forego his dance. At last his companion said that he was going and requested his friend to follow him.
Taking the two waggons under his care he proceeded towards the coal pits, expecting every moment to be overtaken by his friend, but he was disappointed, for his friend never did appear.
The waggons and their loads were taken to Bryneglwys, and the man thought that perhaps his companion, having stopped too long in the dance, had turned homewards instead of following him to the coal pit. But on enquiry no one had heard or seen the missing waggoner.
One day the sensible waggoner met a Fairy on the mountain and inquired after his missing friend. The Fairy told him to go to a certain place, which he named, at a certain time, and that he should there see his friend. The man went, and there saw his companion just as he had left him, and the first words that he uttered were as follows; “Have the waggons gone far?”
The poor dancing waggoner never dreamt that months and months had passed away since he and his sensible companion had started out together to collect coal.