The Fox’s Leap
The rival estates of Cefn Du and Tŷ Mawr lay either side of the river Banw. Gwen, Tŷ Mawr’s heiress, and Cefn Du’s heir, Iestyn, fell in love. They secretly married and met at Cam y Llwynog, where foxes leapt over the Banw. One day, Iestyn caught a fox to give Gwen the fur. But Gwen was seen waiting for Iestyn and her father locked her away. Iestyn was distraught but determined to deliver the fox’s fur. He tried to jump the river at Cam y Llwynog but fell into the waters and drowned. Gwen had their son who inherited both estates.
Cam y Llywnog
Ger Mathrafal, llifodd yr Afon Banwy rhwng stadau Cefn Du a Thŷ Mawr. Roedd y dau deulu yn elynion. Ond syrthiodd Gwen, ferch Ty Mawr, mewn cariad ag Iestyn, Cefn Du. Roedden nhw’n arfer cwrdd yn gyfrinachol ger Gam y Llwynog ar yr afon, ble neidiodd Iestyn dros y dŵr i ymuno â Gwen. Ond gwelodd gwas Tŷ Mawr y ddau efo’u gilydd. Ar ôl clywed hyn, carcharodd tad Gwen ei ferch. Chwiliodd Iestyn amdani hi heb lwyddiant. Yn hela un diwrnod, cipiodd lwynog, a phenderfynodd roi’r croen i Gwen. Aeth o i’r afon gyda’r croen, ond roedd y dŵr yn wyllt. Ta waith, neidiodd, ond syrthiodd i’r dŵr …. a boddodd. Pan ddaethpwyd o hyd i’w gorff, roedd croen y llwynog yn dynn o gwmpas ei wasg.
No-one attempted a video telling of this story during our project. Versions of this tale seem very rare; so please take it into your storytelling repertoire and keep the tale alive.
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/
