Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Green Meadows of the Sea
The green meadows are fairy islands resting in the sea. Sikes reports a belief that they house certain Druids’ souls in an intermediate paradise, neither Christian Heaven nor the punishment of Annwn. Sailors are said to land on islands that later disappear without sinking or drifting away. Their fairy inhabitants visit coastal markets, make silent purchases and leave the exact money required.
Also known as Gwerddonau Llion
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalThe green meadows are fairy islands resting in the sea. Sikes reports a belief that they house certain Druids’ souls in an intermediate paradise, neither Christian Heaven nor the punishment of Annwn.
Further detail
TraditionalSailors are said to land on islands that later disappear without sinking or drifting away. Their fairy inhabitants visit coastal markets, make silent purchases and leave the exact money required.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows Sikes’s coastal fairy-island traditions and his reported explanation of their inhabitants. The islands’ disappearance is a narrative claim, and the intermediate afterlife interpretation is not treated as a general Welsh doctrine.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
The green meadows of the seaOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 23
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0023
- Original scan leaf
- 24
- Recorded leaf number
- 24
- Current Reader position
- 22
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
always leaving the exact sum requiredOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 24
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0024
- Original scan leaf
- 25
- Recorded leaf number
- 25
- Current Reader position
- 23
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed