Pwca

Tales of the Pwca abound across Wales, One Pwca story took place at Trwyn farm, Mynyddislwyn, not far from Caerphilly, many years ago.

One of the farm’s servant girls, Blodwen, heard a little voice while cleaning the hearth one day, offering to help with her chores in exchange for some food and drink. She agreed, and was amazed when her washing, ironing and wool-spinning were magically done for her. With the permission of the farmer, Job John Harri, Blodwen left out a bowl of fresh milk and a slice of bread every night in exchange for the help.

One evening, though, the servant girl, hungry from her work, ate the bread and drank the milk reserved for the Pwca, and left instead some old stale crusts and a bowlful of dirty water. This was a big mistake, and the following morning, Blodwen was attacked by the Pwca, who kicked her and beat her across the room until she screamed for help.

From this point on, the Pwca became a pest, knocking on doors, harassing the farm animals and stealing food. Job, fed up with this interruption to his farm’s smooth running, asked a neighbour, Tomos Evans, to bring his gun to shoot the Pwca. On his way back from Tomos’ farm, Job heard a voice from the darkness: “There is a man coming to hurt me… But you will see who is hurt.” When Tomos arrived with his gun, stones suddenly began flying from all directions at him. The farmer and his household tried to protect their friend, but the stones kept hitting him, though nobody else was touched. Tomos, now bleeding and scared for his life, took his gun and ran home as fast as his legs could carry him.

For some time after this incident, the farmer and his family were very nervous and watchful, but the Pwca appeared to have moved on. Some months later, Job was coming home over the mountain from a market, and as the night drew in, an eerie mist descended all around. Although he’d walked that way many times before, the farmer found himself completely lost. Just as he passed the same tree for the third time, and with darkness all around him, Job saw a light a little way off. “Aha, someone with a lantern!” he said to himself, and set out after it. Strangely, though, no matter how quickly or slowly he went after the light, it stayed the same distance from him.

He had been following the light for what seemed like miles, when it suddenly stopped. The light was now within a few paces of Job, and he was about to run to the lantern-bearer, when the clouds parted and moonlight shone down, revealing that Job was standing on the very edge of a cliff, with a deep chasm dropping away just below his feet. He raised his eyes, and saw, sitting on the opposite side of the chasm, a small creature with large eyes and a malicious smile on its face, holding a candle. When it realized that Job had not fallen into the trap, the Pwca snarled, doused the candle, and disappeared into the darkness. Job was too afraid to move, and stayed in the spot until dawn, when he returned to the farm. The Pwca was never seen or heard of again at Trwyn Farm.