ot so,
Mab will pinch her by the toe.

_Herrick's Hesperides_, 1648. (See _Brand_, vol. ii., p. 484.)

_Fairy Riches and Gifts_.

The riches of the Fairies are often mentioned by the old people, and the
source of their wealth is variously given. An old man, who has already
been mentioned, John Williams, born about 1770, was of opinion that the
Fairies stole the money from bad rich people to give it to good poor
folk. This they were enabled to do, he stated, as they could make
themselves invisible. In a conversation which we once had on this
subject, my old friend posed me with this question, "Who do you think
robbed . . . of his money without his knowledge?" "Who do you think took
. . . money only twenty years ago?" "Why, the Fairies," added he, "for
no one ever found out the thief."

Shakespeare, in _Midsummer Night's Dream_, A. iii., S. 1, gives a very
different source to the Fairy riches:--

I will give thee Fairies to attend on thee,
And they _shall fetch thee jewels from the deep_.

Without inquiring too curiously into the source of these riches, it shall
now be shown how, and for what services, they were bestowed on mortals.
Gratitude is a noble trait in the Fairy character, and favours received
they ever repaid. But the following stories illustrate alike their
commiseration, their caprice, and their grateful bounty.

_The Fairies Placing Money on the Ground for a Poor Man_.

The following tale was told me by Thomas Jones, a small mountain farmer,
who occupies land near Pont Petrual, a place between Ruthin and
Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr. Jones informed me that he was acquainted with
all the parties mentioned in the tale. His story was as follows:--

A shoemaker, whose health would not permit him to pursue his own trade,
obtained work in a tanyard at Penybont, near Corwen. The shoemaker lived
in a house called Ty'n-y-graig, belonging to Clegir isa farm. He walked
daily to his employment, a distance of several miles, because he could
not afford to pay for lodgings. One day, he noticed a round bit of green
ground, close to one of the gates on Tan-y-Coed farm, and going up to it
discovered a piece of silver lying on the sward. Day after day, from the
same spot, he picked up a silver coin. By this means, as well as by the
wage he received, he became a well-to-do man. His wife noticed the many
new coins he brought home, and questioned him about them, but he kept the
secret