| Bendith Y Mamau |
Bendith Y Mamau means 'the mothers blessing' and is a generic name for the fairies, especially in Southern Wales.
In appearance the fairies are described as small and ugly, and are most readily identified with the Brownies, or the West Country Pixies, although they have the characterisations of most fairies.
The Bendith Y Mamau were particularly ready to steal small children and replace them with their own changelings known as Crimbils. It was thought that they needed to improve their stock with mortal blood. Mothers had to take precautions not to leave their babies unattended in fairy country.
There were various methods of retrieving mortal children from the clutches of the Bendith Y Mamau, many of them barbaric to the poor child suspected of being a Crimbil.
Calling the fairies by the flattering title of the 'Mothers Blessing' was thought to appease them. The other name for the fairies in Wales is the Tylweth Teg meaning the fair folk.
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| Tylwyth Teg |
This is a general name for the fairies in Wales, it means the fair folk. Like the Bendith y Mamau the flattering name was thought to appease them.
In appearance the Tylwyth Teg were small in stature with golden hair, a common trait in many fairies. They were thought to live under hollow hills and in deep crevices, and to frequent ancient places such as Bronze Age Barrows or cromlechs.
Like other fairy folk they often interacted with mortals in the past, and it was possible to gain a fairy wife, although they always longed to return to their own people.
According to many stories time in their realm passed much slower than in ours, a day in their realm could be a year or a hundred years in ours.
This difference could prove disastrous for any Mortals returning from the fairy realm.
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