Welsh Tales

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WELSH TALES, AN HISTORICAL ANTHOLOGY brings a fresh look the country and its people, a two thousand year history given life by ninety carefully chosen traditional folk tales and legends, generously supplemented by historical material and illustrations. The earliest tales date from the first millennium BC. King Lludd's three commandments exhorted his people not to slander their neighbours, not to betray their fellows for short-term gain, not to steal from others. The next tale brings Merlin into being and explains why the red dragon is the Welsh emblem. Historical Cymry-Romano accounts from the fifth and sixth centuries AD provide a perspective of King Arthur's time, the battles he fought and won, his considerable importance in Welsh history. Tales, both short and somewhat longer, tell of the Fair Family, fairies, faeries, pwcas, sprites, goblins and witches. Many tales continue to describe or imply standards of good moral behaviour. Christian themes occur in a number of stories. The most recent is a ghost tale concerning workmen who built the railways early in the nineteenth century.