Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Meddygon Myddfai
Sikes explains Meddygon as physicians and connects the legend with doctors renowned in the thirteenth century. His account names Rhiwallon and his sons as physicians to Rhys Gryg. In the legend, after leaving her human marriage the lake mother meets her sons in Cwm Meddygon and gives them a magic box of powerful remedies. Medical renown is explained through instruction and gifts from the otherworld.
Also known as Physicians of Myddfai
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In the sources
Principal account
DocumentedSikes explains Meddygon as physicians and connects the legend with doctors renowned in the thirteenth century. His account names Rhiwallon and his sons as physicians to Rhys Gryg.
Further detail
TraditionalIn the legend, after leaving her human marriage the lake mother meets her sons in Cwm Meddygon and gives them a magic box of powerful remedies. Medical renown is explained through instruction and gifts from the otherworld.
Context & interpretation
The entry follows Sikes’s nineteenth-century presentation of the Myddfai physicians. His historical assertions and the lake-mother legend are distinct kinds of account; the remedies’ claimed powers are traditional, not medical guidance.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
Meddygon meaning physiciansOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 53
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-P0053
- Original scan leaf
- 54
- Recorded leaf number
- 54
- Current Reader position
- 52
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
a magic box containing remedies of wonderful powerOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 55
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-P0055
- Original scan leaf
- 56
- Recorded leaf number
- 56
- Current Reader position
- 54
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed