Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Reading Notes: Welsh Fairy Book (Part A)

File:Flag of Wales 2.svg
The Flag of Wales, featuring the red dragon from one of the myths. (Wikipedia)

One thing that stuck out to me about The Welsh Fairy Book is the dry humor throughout. Examples are found in the barber looking out for his "cervical vertebrae", or the note that dancing with the devil "might not be the most direct route to Paradise." I think that these might have been flourishes of the translator.

A consistent theme in these stories was the focus on prophecy. Many of the stories come down to "There was a foretelling that something would happen, then it totally did." Another common theme was the presence of fairies. It seems from these stories that Welsh fairies are almost human, but exceedingly beautiful, wealthy, and magical.

Bibliography. The Welsh Fairy Book by Jenkyn Thomas. Web Link.

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