Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Tylwyth Teg
Sikes presents Tylwyth Teg as a general Welsh name for the fair folk or family. His classification distinguishes elves, mine fairies, household spirits, lake women and mountain fairies rather than treating every encounter as the work of one uniform species. The fair folk appear dancing by moonlight in flowing garments of several colours. Courteous names and flattering speech are said to gain their favour, while harsh names risk anger: the language used towards them is part of the encounter.
Also known as Y Tylwyth Teg · Fair Folk
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes presents Tylwyth Teg as a general Welsh name for the fair folk or family. His classification distinguishes elves, mine fairies, household spirits, lake women and mountain fairies rather than treating every encounter as the work of one uniform species.
Further detail
TraditionalThe fair folk appear dancing by moonlight in flowing garments of several colours. Courteous names and flattering speech are said to gain their favour, while harsh names risk anger: the language used towards them is part of the encounter.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the general description and naming customs in Sikes’s 1880 collection. His fivefold arrangement is an editorial classification of folklore, not a fixed account shared by every Welsh storyteller.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
the fair folk or familyOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 27
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-P0027
- Original scan leaf
- 28
- Recorded leaf number
- 28
- Current Reader position
- 26
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
To name the fairies by a harsh epithet is to invoke their angerOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 27
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-P0027
- Original scan leaf
- 28
- Recorded leaf number
- 28
- Current Reader position
- 26
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
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