Mer-people 3

Gwagged Annwn, Gwraig Annwn (Wives of the Abyss) Gwr Annwn (Husbands of the Abyss) Plânt Annwn (Children of the Abyss) Fenettes des îles (Intoxicated Ones of the Isles) Claires Pucelles, Vierges d’eau (Water Virgins) Mümelche, Dames des prés mouilles (Wet Ladies) Seefraülein (Sea Women) Demoiselles d’eau (Water Maidens) Jeannotes, Urgelès, Donzelles, Les Demisellettes de Donzère

Dere di felen Emion,
Cym Cyfeiliorn-braith y Llyn
A’r foci Dodin
Codwch, dewch adre.

Come yellow Anvil, stray horns,
Speckled one of the lake,
And of the hornless Dodin
Arise, come home.

Their milk-white milch cow gives milk to every one who desires it; in an endless supply. All persons who drank of her milk were healed of every illness; from fools they became wise; and from being wicked, became happy. This cow went round the world; and wherever she appeared, she filled with milk all the vessels that could be found, leaving calves behind her for all the wise and happy. It was from her that all the milch cows in the world were obtained.

Cras dy fara
Anhawdd ein dala.

Bake your bread,
’Twill be hard to catch us.

Soon they were invited to a wedding; the bride was young and fair, the groom a tottering, toothless, decrepit old miser.

In the midst of the wedding feast the gwraig annwn burst into tears, and to her husband’s question why she thus made a fool of herself she replied,

‘Truth is wedded to age for greed, and not for love – summer and winter cannot agree – it is the diawl’s compact.’

(pron. GWRAGETH ANOON, PLANT ANOON) Faeries of the underworld land of Annwyn. Beautiful, fair, thin, immortal faery people four to six feet in height with long yellow-blonde hair or long dark ringleted hair, pale faces, blue or green eyes, rosy cheeks, long fingers who dress in green or blue & live in rich palaces under lakes. The handsome old men are five feet tall with long white beards and sea green eyes. The lake maidens can be seen rowing golden boats with a golden oar & come out to land to dance at midnight. They can be lured ashore with bread and cheese offerings. Men who marry the lake maidens must never hit them or touch them with iron or they will go back undersea. A man who gives a lake maiden tri ergyd diachos (tree AIR-geed dee-AH-khose) three causeless blows will lose her forever. [The gwraig annwn met her 3 sons: Cadogan, Gruffydd & Emion in Cwm Meddygon (pron. KOOM Meth-UH-gone) Valley, giving them a magic box containing remedies of wonderful power. The farmer’s name was Rhiwallon. They are called the Meddygon Myddfai: Physicias of Myddfai (pron. meth-UH-gon MUTH-vie)] Their undersea towns and crystal palace are at Crumlyn/Crywmlyn: Crooked Lake, Glamorgan Wales, I Llyn Barfog, Wales, Llyn y Fan Fach: Lake of the Affanc: Dwarves (pron. hleen uh vahn vach), Wales, Chancela fountain, Loire River, France, Donzère, Provence, France & the Valley of Azun in the Pyrenees. Faery bells can be heard tolling from the undersea towers. They guard Excalibur.

Every New Year’s morning a door was found open in a rock by the lake leading to a secret passage to a small island in the middle of a lake. Here they found a most enchanting garden, stored with the choicest fruits and flowers, and inhabited by the Gwragedd Annwn, whose beauty could be equalled only by the courtesy and affability which they exhibited to those who pleased them. They gathered fruit and flowers for each of their guests, entertained them with the most exquisite music, disclosed to them many secrets of futurity, and invited them to stay as long as they liked. ‘But,’ said they, ‘the island is secret, and nothing of its produce must be carried away.’ The warning being heeded, all went well. But one day there appeared among the visitors a wicked Welsh-man, who, thinking to derive some magical aid therefrom, pocketed a flower with which he had been presented, and was about to leave the garden with his prize. But the theft boded him no good. As soon as he had touched unhallowed ground the flower vanished, and he lost his senses. However, of this abuse of their hospitality the Gwragedd Annwn took no notice at the time. They dismissed their guests with their accustomed courtesy, and the door was closed as usual. But their resentment was bitter; for though the fairies of the lake and their enchanted garden undoubtedly occupy the spot to this day, the door which led to the island has never been reopened.

Their opposite is Tylwyth Teg (Fair Family). (33, 96, 207, 255)