Week 12 Story: Why Deunant has the Front Door in the Back

The cattle of the farmer living at Deunant were affected with "short disease" which is also known as the black quarter. The farmer thought they were all bewitched.

Old Beti'r Bont, who had a questionable character, earned her living by stealing babies for the fairies. She called the farmer when they were feathering geese and begged for one but was refused. The farmer thought she was taking her revenge by harassing his stock.

He went to old Beti and threatened to tie her hands and feet and throw her into a river if he didn't take the charm off of the cattle. She denied having any magical powers and repeated the Lord's prayer to prove her innocence. He wasn't convinced and made her recite "Rhad Duw ar y da" which means "God's blessing be on the cattle." Usually if a herd is bewitched, they are freed from their disease after it is spoken. But the farmer's stock was no better and he was frustrated.

One night he was thinking about the cattle and absolutely couldn't understand why the cattle couldn't get any better.

"I will tell you why" said a voice by him. The farmer turned around and saw a tiny man looking very angry. "It is because your family keeps annoying mine so much." "How is that?" said the farmer.

"They are always throwing the slops from your house down my chimney" said the man.

"That can't be true; there is no house within a mile of here" replied the farmer.

The man asked the farmer to put his foot on his to show him. He saw all the slops down the man's chimney. "I am very sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?" said the farmer.

The tiny man was suprised by the farmer's apology and revealed himself to be old Beti! She had tricked him into thinking the slops were his and apologizing to her. She forced the farmer to wall up his house so the slops stopped coming down the chimney. She was tired of his slops and once he fixed his house, she took the charm off the cattle and they recovered.

Author's Note: The original story is the same up until the farmer apologizes to the old man. In the original version, the old man vanishes and the cattle get better. In my version, I wanted to bring the witch back into the story and have her be disguised as the old man and take the charm off of the cattle. It was only a minor change but I felt like the witch needed to end the story.

Why Deunant has the Front Door in the Back by W. Jenkyn Thomas

Black Cows. Source: Satire World