From Folklore to Real Life: The Geographical Locations of Legends and Myths
If you could visit anywhere in the world of fantasy – where would you go? Would you go down the rabbit hole to Wonderland or fly to Neverland? What about a visit to Mordor or a secret visit to Hogwarts? Perhaps you would visit Winnie the Pooh for a picnic in the Hundred Acre Woods? Just imagine the chance of visiting the Cave of Wonders and finding a genie in a lamp! The possibilities are endless although impossible to visit, your imagination can only take you so far after all – or so I thought.
I have been obsessed with fantasy and folklore for as long as I can remember. Stories of fairies and evil witches filled my childhood and I would ransack the library for anything that would take me out of this world and into the next. I devoured folklore tales and soon moved on from local legends to the tales of Gods and Heroes. Eventually I came full circle when I realised that local folktales were often darker with stronger underlying morality lessons than the well-known myths and legends, except maybe for Oedipus – if you know, you know.
Upon returning to my Welsh roots, I discovered that not only was the folklore vast and plentiful but the majority of Welsh folklore can be located geographically on the map. It meant the world to me to find out that the places I had imagined in my head whilst reading or being read to were real places. Being able to visit the places I’d read about somehow made the world seem more magical and this is exactly what I want to share with other readers. Through a series of writing, I’ll be focusing in on my favourites tales and taking a look at their locations and what they have inspired.
Lake Llyn y Fan Fach – (Lake of The Small Hill)
Location: Brecon Beacons, Carmarthen, South Wales
Folklore – Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake is probably ones of Wales’ most famous folklore tales and it is considered by some that she was the influence for King Arthur’s Lady of the Lake. Female enchantresses of the lake are shared within many folklores and mythologies, so this has yet to be confirmed by a reliable source. The Lady of the Lake is considered one the Gwragedd Annwn: Welsh Lake fairies of extraordinary beauty. The story takes place in Lake Llyn y Fan Fach, a lake located within the Brecon Beacon National Park in Carmarthen, South Wales. It can be reached on foot and after a walk you will see a vast and beautiful lake nestled in the mountain and it is truly spectacular to behold as well as a great wild swimming spot.
The story goes that the son of a farmer’s widow spied a woman in the lake and immediately fell in love with her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and became lovesick and pined for her almost soon as he took his eyes off her. He called to her but she disappeared. Grief-stricken he rushed home and told his mother of his woe – his mother knew she was of the fay but knew that she could not deny her son the woman he loved. She agreed to help him. She baked him a loaf of bread and sent him up the mountain again. The beauty appeared before him and he offered her the bread – alas it was soft and she scorned him and disappeared into the deepness of the lake. The second time was the same and he thought all was lost, but his mother insisted once more for luck and baked long and hard before sending him up the mountain. He was tired and his heart felt that he could take no more, his eyes hung at his feet as placed the bread out in front of the lake. His love appeared and scooped the bread up, but he did not look up for fear of rejection and tears rolled down his cheeks as he saw her feet move away again. As he turned to walk away, he heard a voice call him – it was the girl. She agreed to marry him and said her father would provide a dowry of white cattle and white horses and gold enough to be comfortable on one condition – that he would promise not to strike her and that if he struck her three times, he would lose her and everything they had built together. He was appalled, he would never strike her, her loved her. She was the best thing that could happen to him. Alas this was not to be true. Whilst they had children and a seemingly happy life, the lady of the lake was struck by her husband three times. The reasons for striking vary from tale to tale but struck she was all the same. On the third strike, she told him that it had been done and everything all at once returned to the lake, including the newly slaughtered calf off the chopping block – it returned to life and ran back into the lake along with the rest of the cattle and everything he built with his wife.
This tale is often seen as shocking, especially when you consider that the Lady of the Lake returned to the lake without her children and left them with her husband. In some versions the husband is so grief stricken that he walks into the lake and leaves the children behind. However, all is not lost, in nearly all the versions of this tale I have read, the mother returns to the surface of the lake to teach her sons magic and in turn they become the Physicians of Myddafai. The Physicians of Myddafai went on to become the first of the healers/powerful magicians and are featured in many more stories within Welsh folklore – the most famous of all is the Mabinogion and the story of Blodeuwedd.
The Lady of the Lake, to me, is a wonderfully strong role-model for girls and women. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to set down conditions, conditions that she has no problem enforcing. Of course, as happens within folklore the contents of the story changes depending on who is telling it. Whilst most tales are in favour of the dear lady, of course there have been those tales where the Lady of the Lake is a cautionary tale of wild women and sorrow. To me, it is a tale of love and respect and it has inspired many works of literature such as Iron and Gold by Hilda Vaughn. Iron and Gold is considered a vital piece of Welsh feminist literature and the themes contained within of marriage and domestic life combined with a fairy bride is beautiful to read.
Lake Llyn y Fan Fach is one of the more accessible sites of Welsh folklore and for that I am truly grateful. We should protect our natural resources and heritage as much as we can and the quote from Rudyard Kipling springs to mind.
“If only history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”
I’m excited to return to the lake once lockdown is over and bask in the steep history the lake holds.
If I’m lucky perhaps I’ll see the lady of the lake.
Written by Melanie Smith
Melanie Smith is a writer from Ebbw Vale, South Wales. She is currently writing a novel inspired by Welsh folklore and studies at the University of South Wales.