Dick the Fiddler

Dick the Fiddler lived in Llwybr Scriw Rhiw. He hated work and preferred to play his fiddle. His wife’s life was hard. He wandered down Fairy Green Lane one dark evening and played to calm his nerves on the scary walk. Once home he found a shining crown piece in his fiddle. His shocked wife told him to buy material for new shirts. He went to Llanidloes market to buy the material and was at The Unicorn pub playing his fiddle when the market trader burst in; the shining crown piece had vanished into dust for it was fairy money.

Dic y Ffidlwr

Roedd Dic y Ffidlwr yn byw yn Llwybr Scriw Rhiw gyda’i deulu. Roedd o’n ddiog ac yn casau gweithio. Roedd bywyd ei wraig yn anodd. Un tro, ar ei ffordd adre o Fachynlleth, lle’r oedd wedi bod yn canu’r ffidl yno, aeth Dic ar hyd Lôn Werdd y Tylwyth Teg, yn canu’i ffidl tra cherddodd. Adref, gwelodd o swllt sgleiniog yn y ffidl – taliad y Tylwyth Teg am y gerddoriaeth. Aeth i brynu grys newydd yn Neuadd y Farchnad, Llanidloes, ac wedyn i Westy’r Ungorn i yfed. Ond tra roedd o yn y dafarn, daeth gwerthwr y crys i mewn, yn flin iawn. Wnaeth y swllt ddiflannu, oherwydd dim ond arian y tylwyth teg yr oedd.

And below is a video of an accomplished young storyteller telling their version of the tale in English at Young Storyteller of Wales 2019.

More about the Montgomeryshire Folktales project

In 1947 the Montgomeryshire History Teachers Committee commissioned a book ‘The Enchanted Wood and Other Stories’ of site-specific tales passed down through Montgomeryshire communities for generations, rewritten as a local history resource for schools.

During 2019/20 Mythstories was funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales to turn the 1947 book into an on-line resource.

Mythstories commissioned storyteller Amy Douglas and visual artist Helen Kozich to work with young people in Newtown, Powys and help them re-interpret the tales for their peers. Videos of the young people telling the stories in many different ways are among the Montgomeryshire folktales on this website.

Storyteller Tamar Williams ran two day-long stagecraft workshops for young people at Theatr Hafren, Newtown.

Artists Ed Fisher and Imogen Phillips were commissioned to produce black-and-white illustrations of each location, for a series of postcards and use on this website.

Ashley Thomas edited the videos of the storytellings.

Many volunteers helped:
Members of Bangor University Storytelling Soc. produced the English précis of the stories for the postcard series
Fiona Collins, Alison Layland and Tamar Williams produced the Welsh précis of the stories for the postcard series.
Members of Llangollen’s Caffi Stori visited each of the sites, took photos and reported back to the artists on the locations.

Under Llanidloes Market Hall. Photo 2019

And organisations leant their support:
Newtown Library and Newtown High School hosted a Newtown Young Storytellers Club and Penygloddfa Primary School, Caersws Primary School and Abermule Primary School hosted “Story in a Day” workshops.
Theatr Hafren hosted the stagecraft workshops and the final celebratory event
Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn Town Council funded storytelling performances to school children in Newtown to help promote the project.

Thank You All!

The full teachers resource is at https://mythstories.com/stories/montgomeryshire-folktales/