When he went to the spot the sham workmen of the Fairy
family had disappeared. This same Guto, or somebody else, happened
another time to be ploughing, when he heard some person he could not see
calling out to him, 'I have got the _bins_ (that is the _vice_) of my
plough broken.' 'Bring it to me,' said the driver of Guto's team, 'that
I may mend it.' When they brought the furrow to an end, there they found
the broken vice, and a barrel of beer placed near it. One of the men sat
down and mended it. Then they made another furrow, and when they
returned to the spot they found there a two-eared dish, filled to the
brim with _bara a chwrw_, or bread and beer."

FAIRY DANCES.

The one occupation of the Fairy folk celebrated in song and prose was
dancing. Their green rings, circular or ovoidal in form, abounded in all
parts of the country, and it was in these circles they were said to dance
through the livelong night. In "_Can y Tylwyth Teg_," or the Fairies'
Song, thus they chant:--

O'r glaswellt glen a'r rhedyn man,
Gyfeillion dyddan, dewch,
E ddarfu'r nawn--mae'r lloer yu llawn,
Y nos yn gyflawn gewch;
O'r chwarau sydd ar dwyn y dydd,
I'r Dolydd awn ar daith.
Nyni sydd lon, ni chaiff gerbron,
Farwolion ran o'n gwaith.

_Yr Hynafion Cymraeg_, p. 153.

From grasses bright, and bracken light,
Come, sweet companions, come,
The full moon shines, the sun declines,
We'll spend the night in fun;
With playful mirth, we'll trip the earth,
To meadows green let's go,
We're full of joy, without alloy,
Which mortals may not know.

The spots where the Fairies held their nightly revels were preserved from
intrusion by traditional superstitions. The farmer dared not plough the
land where Fairy circles were, lest misfortune should overtake him. Thus
were these mythical beings left in undisturbed possession of many fertile
plots of ground, and here they were believed to dance merrily through
many a summer night.

Canu, canu, drwy y nos,
Dawnsio, dawnsio, ar waen y rhos,
Yn ngoleuni'r lleuad dlos;
Hapus ydym ni!

Pawb o honom sydd yn llon,
Heb un gofid dan ei fron:
Canu, dawnsio, ar y ton--
Dedwydd ydym ni!

Singing, singing, through the night,
Dancing, dancing, with our might,
Where the moon the moor doth light:
Happy ever we!

One and all of merry mie