Mac The Packman

Evan and Marged ran the Wtra Wen inn. They pretended to be nice to their customers, but they weren’t. Money, special possessions and clothes all went missing from their customers’ bags. One night, Mac the Packman stayed at the inn. Everyone liked Mac, he travelled from town to town, selling goods out of his pack and he always had the latest gossip, a joke and a story. Mac was on his way to a wedding, bringing a special paisley shawl ordered by the bride. Mac and the shawl never arrived. No one knew what had happened until a woman spotted Marged’s petticoat beneath her dress – it was made out of the paisley shawl. Marged and Evan were arrested and confessed to killing Mac. Evan was hung, and Marged died shortly after.

Mac y Pacmon

Ar fryn ger Llanfair Caereinion, roedd tafarn o’r enw Wtra Wen. Roedd Evan Huw a Marged Shôn, y tafarnwyr, yn arfer dwyn oddi wrth y gwesteion, hyd nes i ddim ond yr hen bacmon caredig, Mac, oedd yn fodlon aros yno. Ond un tro daeth Mac â siôl brydferth i werthu yn y farchnad. Roedd gan Marged chwant amdani hi. Chyrhaeddodd Mac mo’r farchnad. Taerodd Evan a Marged na wnaethon nhw mo’i weld o. Yn nes ymlaen, aeth Marged i’r ffair gyda thrigolion yr ardal. Gwelodd rhywun yr oedd Marged yn gwisgo siôl Mac fel pais. Cafodd Marged ei harestio, ac Evan hefyd. O’r diwedd, cyffeson nhw am y llofruddiaeth. Roedd corff Mac yng nghardd Wtra Wen. Crogwyd Evan ar goeden, a chyn bo hir bu farw Marged hefyd.

And below is a creative take on the story told in English by young people at Newtown Young Storytellers Club during a meeting at Newtown High School led by storyteller Amy Douglas.

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.

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/