Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic - John Matthews - Страница 298

Bwciod (plural) are very like the brownies. A Monmouthshire story from south-east Wales tells how a Bwca can go from one term of service to another over a long time.

There was a farm that seemed to be haunted by a spirit until a girl came to live there. She was reputedly descended from the Bendith y Mamau. The Bwca, who was the spirit that had kept everyone else at bay, struck up a friendship with the girl and did her washing and ironing and other tasks in return for a bowl of bread and milk. One morning, out of merriment, she put aside some of the urine, which had been set aside to dye cloth, in his bowl. After that, the Bwca changed its nature, becoming insulting and retaliatory to her. It left her and took up residence in a house where a serving maid gave him bread and milk in return for housework. But this maid’s curiosity was so great that she kept on asking him his name. The Bwca refused to tell, for it is never wise to give your name to everyone who asks, in case they make a spell of it. One day, believing her to be gone, the Bwca was spinning industriously at the wheel when he sang, ‘How she would laugh, if only she knew, Gwarwyn a Throt is my name.’ The serving maid was hidden at the foot of the stairs and cried out, ‘I know your name now!’ When she went upstairs, she found the wheel still spinning but the Bwca gone. The Bwca then went to live at another farm where he served a farm labourer called Moses. But Moses was called to accompany Henry Tudor into battle and was killed at Bosworth Field. The death of Moses caused Gwarwyn a Throt to lose his sweet nature. He became disruptively full of tricks and spite, throwing things about the house like a poltergeist. Eventually, the farmer called in a Cunning Man to rid him of this nuisance. The Cunning Man, who was a descendant of the ancient druids of Wales, captured the Bwca by spiking his nose with an awl. Then he uttered an incantation that exiled the Bwca to the region of the Red Sea for fourteen generations which is where he is still – though not for much longer.