THE PELLINGS.

In a meadow belonging to Ystrad, bounded by the river which falls
from Cwellyn Lake, they say the fairies used to assemble, and dance
in fair moonlight nights. One evening a young man, who was the heir
and occupier of this farm, hid himself in a thicket close to the
spot where they used to gambol. Presently they appeared, and when in
their merry mood, out he bounced from his covert, and seized one of
their females; the rest of the company dispersed themselves, and
disappeared in an instant. Disregarding her struggles and screams,
he hauled her to his home, where he treated her so very kindly that
she became contented to live with him as his maid-servant, but he
could not prevail upon her to tell him her name. Some time after,
happening again to see the fairies upon the same spot, he heard one
of them saying, "The last time we met here our sister Penelope was
snatched away from us by one of the mortals." Rejoiced at knowing the
name of his incognita, he returned home; and as she was very
beautiful and extremely active, he proposed to marry her, which she
would not for a long time consent to; at last, however, she
complied, but on this condition, "That if ever he should strike her
with iron, she would leave him, and never return to him again." They
lived happy for many years together, and he had by her a son and a
daughter; and by her industry and prudent management as a housewife
he became one of the richest men in the country. He farmed, besides
his own freehold, all the lands on the north side of Nant y Bettws
to the top of Snowdon, and all Cwm brwynog in Llanberis, an extent
of about five thousand acres or upwards.

Unfortunately, one day Penelope followed her husband into the field
to catch a horse, and he, being in a rage at the animal as he ran