iries, owe their names to no foundation in fact, but are the offspring
of a fanciful imagination, and are attributed to the Fairies in agreement
with the more modern and grotesque notions concerning those beings and
their doings. This will be seen when it is stated that the Fox Glove
becomes a Fairy Glove, and the Mushroom, Fairy Food.

_Ymenyn y Tylwyth Teg, or Fairy Butter_.

I cannot do better than quote Pennant on this matter. His words are:--

"Petroleum, rock oil, or what the Welsh call it, _Ymenin tylwyth
teg_, or Fairies' butter, has been found in the lime stone strata in
our mineral country. It is a greasy substance, of an agreeable
smell, and, I suppose, ascribed to the benign part of those imaginary
beings. It is esteemed serviceable in rheumatic cases, rubbed on the
parts affected. It retains a place in our dispensary."

Pennant's _Whiteford_, p. 131.

_Bwyd Ellyllon_, _or Goblins' Food_.

This was a kind of fungus or mushroom. The word is given in Dr. Owen
Pughe's dictionary under the head _Ellyll_.

_Menyg y Tylwyth Teg_, _Or Fairy Gloves_.

The Fox Glove is so called, but in Dr. Owen Pughe's dictionary, under the
head _Ellyll_, the Fox Glove is called _Menyg Ellyllon_.

_Yr Ellyll Dan_, _or Goblin Fire_.

The Rev. T. H. Evans, in his _History of the Parish of Llanwddyn_, states
that in that parish "Will of the Wisp" is called "_Yr Ellyll Dan_." This
is indeed the common name for the _Ignis fatuus_ in most, if not in all
parts of Wales, but in some places where English is spoken it is better
known by the English term, "Jack o' Lantern," or "Jack y Lantern."

_Rhaffau'r Tylwyth Teg_, _or the Ropes of the Fairies_.

Professor Rhys, in his Welsh Fairy Tales--_Y Cymmrodor_ vol. v., p.
75--says, that gossamer, which is generally called in North Wales
_edafedd gwawn_, or _gwawn_ yarn, used to be called, according to an
informant, _Rhaffau'r Tylwyth Teg_, that is to say, the Ropes of the Fair
Family, thus associating the Fairies with marshy, or rushy, places, or
with ferns and heather as their dwelling places. It was supposed that if
a man lay down to sleep in such places the Fairies would come and bind
him with their ropes, and cover him with a gossamer sheet, which would
make him invisible, and incapable of moving.

FAIRY KNOCKERS, OR COBLYNAU.

The _Coblynau_ or _Knockers_ were supposed to be a species of Fairies who
had their abode