The Changelings
Near Llanidloes in Twt y Cwmrws lived a family with twins. The wife kept the babies safe as the blue goblins were never far away. One day when she rushed to her neighbour’s she returned to find her babies with old men’s faces. She realised they were changed and asked the village Wise Man what to do. He said “make porridge in egg shells. If the babies speak, throw them into Llyn Ebyr.” She did. They spoke. She ran to Llyn Ebyr and threw the babies in. The goblins saved their babies, leaving hers safe on the bank.
Y Plant Cyfnewid
Mae Llyn Ebyr yn lle cudd, lle roedd bugail a’i wraig yn magu gefeilliaid. Un tro, roedd rhaid i’r fam adael y babanod ar eu pennau eu hun. Pan daeth hi adre, roeddent yn wahanol – doedden nhw ddim yn dlws, fel yr oeddent, a thyfon nhw ddim mwy. Roedden nhw’n blant cyfnewid y Tylwyth Teg. Aeth amser heibio ac doedd hi ddim yn gwybod beth i’w wneud, felly aeth i’r Dyn Doeth. Yn sgil ei gyngor, coginiodd hi uwd i’r gweithwyr mewn plisgyn wy. Pan glwyodd hi’r babanod yn siarad am y peth, aeth hi gyda nhw i Llyn Ebyr, a’u taflu nhw i mewn! Achubodd y Tylwyth Teg eu babanod, gan adael babanod y wraig wrth ei thraed.
And now here is a version of the tale told in Welsh by experienced young storyteller Dafydd Phillips.
And below is a group telling predominately in English told by year 4/5/6 pupils at Caersws Primary School at the end of a “Story in a Day” workshop with 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/
