The Hidden Treasure
Mary, a cloth spinner, would regularly work in Powis Castle. One night the servants tricked her and took her to sleep in a magnificent but haunted bedroom. Mary was frightened by the ghost, but when she saw him again she spoke and the ghost asked her to follow. He led her to a box hidden under the floorboards in another room and told her to send it to the Duke in London. The servants sent the box to London. Inside was a long-lost family treasure. The Duke gave Mary a home on the estate. The ghost was never seen again.
Y Trysor Cudd
Aeth dynes dlawd o’r enw Mary yn rheoilaidd i Gastell Powys i nyddu. Un tro penderfynodd y gweision godi braw arni hi, gan ei gadael mewn llofft aflonydd, lle ymddangosodd ysbryd iddi hi. Dychrynodd hi, ond aeth gyda’r ysbryd, a dangosodd gist haearn iddi hi, gan orchymyn iddi hi anfon y cist i Ddug y Castell. Pan agorodd y Dug y gist, roedd trysor cuddiedig y teulu ynddi hi. Rhoddodd y Dug fwthyn bach ar y stad i Mary, i ddiolch iddi hi. Roedd Mary yn byw yn hapus yno gydol ei hoes. Welodd neb mo’r ysbryd byth eto.
And below are two creative takes on the story told in English by young people at Newtown Young Storytellers Club using Kamishibai. These were performed during club meetings 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/
