Encounter Atlas
Tylwyth Teg means 'Fair Family' in Welsh, and it is the usual Welsh name for the fairy folk. In southern Wales they were also called Bendith y Mamau, 'the Mothers' Blessing', a polite name meant to keep them friendly. The name first turns up in a 14th-century poem attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym.
In the stories they are fair-haired and love golden-haired human children, whom they may swap for changelings. They dance in fairy rings, ride in night-time processions, live underground or under lakes, and give gifts that vanish if spoken of. Households left out bowls of milk for them. They cannot bear iron.
The 19th-century folklorist Wirt Sikes sorted them into elves of the groves, mine fairies (coblynau), household fairies like brownies (bwbachod), lake maidens (gwragedd annwn) and hag-like mountain fairies (gwyllion). The best-known lake maiden rose from Llyn y Fan Fach in the Black Mountains, married a local farmer, and left when he struck her a third time. Her sons were said to become the Physicians of Myddfai.
What witnesses report
- Rings of trampled or darker grass
- Music and dancing at night
- Night processions of riders
- A child who suddenly seems changed
Famous cases
- 1861Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach legend printed in Meddygon Myddvai
Llyn y Fan Fach, Wales
Seen the Tylwyth Teg?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
