British Goblins: Welsh Folklore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions

by Wirt Sikes

The legend of the Cyhyraeth is sometimes conflated with tales of a monstrous Welsh spirit in the shape of a hideously ugly woman with a harpy-like appearance: unkempt hair and wizened, withered arms with leathery wings, long black teeth and pale corpse-like features. She approaches the window of the person about to die by night and calls their name or travels invisibly beside them and utters her cry when they approach a stream or crossroads.

Wirt Sikes's 1881 tome defines and records Welsh fairy legends as they existed -- still vital, alive, not just a mordant mythology but living folklore in that year. Like many texts of the time, it treats the subject mechanically, detailing fairy legends with such care and precision as to leach away a measure of the magic. But all the same, there's plenty of magic here: this is the myth that modern fantasy grows from; and the truth is that it's not to be found elsewhere still alive. (Jacketless library hardcover.)

Genres: Mythology, Folklore, Nonfiction, History, Fairy Tales, Research, Ebooks

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1880

Reviews

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poignant collection of folk lore taken mainly from the small rural villages and towns of Wales -particularly North Wales. It was rather lovely to read a 'natural history' of sorts of places where I often walk. Many of these stories lie hidden or lost. Like another reviewer put it, the fairies have largely been chased away by the industrial revolution and I suppose ultimately the Enlightenment.

[Ethan Mckenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

British Goblins, written in 1880, does a good job at its stated purpose- collecting and loosely categorizing Welsh Folklore of every category, ranging from the reasons behind certain customs and superstitions of daily life, to descriptions and associated stories of various faeries, goblins, and giants, to descriptions of apparitions and the view of the afterlife, to more fantastic things, like dragons, standing stones, and magic wells and stones.

It stays away from sneering at the superstitions-most of the time- but some of this has to be expected in the era. Mr. Sikes also does a decent enough job tying in how changing Christian beliefs intermixed with native folklore, and occasionally remarking on similar customs(often very unusual ones) that are present almost everywhere in the world.

The reason I removed one star, is simply that it isn't really insightful enough to impress much, and often turns to Greek predecessors in mythological archetypes with little reason I can see, and treats them as unassailably "obvious." Something, which, I think stems from older models of cultural progress that are entirely too focused on Rome and Greece.

If it's important- I got this in digital format from Forgotten Books.

[Murphy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a digital public domain edition on my tablet, so unfortunately, I was denied the illustrations. Whatever. It is still a delightful, occasionally powerful, surprisingly readable book!

[Zina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous thorough account of Welsh mythology and superstition, from goblins and fairies to magical stones and wells.

Note: it is listed at 110 pages which is woefully inaccurate. More like 300 -400. But the last 23% is the catalog of other books from this publisher, at least in my Kindle edition.

[Maff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for story-writing research purposes, but the book was pretty fascinating in any case. The author Wirt Sikes was American but stayed awhile in Wales (around 1880), drank beer with the superstitious locals, and gathered folk tales that had generally been told verbally but which it seems no one had thought to write down.

So this is quite the record of local Celtic-ish tales, beliefs and customs that he managed to capture, which might otherwise have been forgotten. And it's separate from the Mabinogion, which he references here and there.

As a bonus, the book is quite readable, told in a lively way; his scepticism of the beliefs comes across, but so does his respect for the storytellers and the origins of the myths.

[Gill]

A book, very much of it's time but with echo's of another world which has disappeared on the surface. An interesting insight into folklore, beliefs and customs ,many of which still linger under the surface of modern life and need preserving

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty solid review of Welsh folklore and folkloric tradition ... once I accepted it for what it was.

While the title on Goodreads clearly says "Welsh Folklore...", the version I have only had "British Goblins" on the front (and I don't usually pay attention to title pages and such), so I was expecting a book on BRITISH folklore/goblins, not just Welsh. But that's a "me problem", not an issue with the book.

I've read quite a bit of folklore, so there weren't too many new things here for me. That said, the history of the stories and traditions often was new to me, and there were a lot of fun folk tales and stories that I hadn't seen before that added some depth and quality to it.

The author's tone was pleasant throughout, not mocking or drily academic as some of these books can get.

If you're curious about Welsh folklore, superstitions, and so on, you could do a lot worse than this book.

[Morgan (Turbo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard for me to rate this. I’m very attached to it because it was one of the last books my mother gave to me before she died. It reminds me so much of her because she really enjoyed ye olde England. This book is from a Victorian era US diplomat posted up in Wales and what it contains is popular myths and tales about faeries. The book has hints of Joseph Campbell’s work of cross-analysis of world mythologies but lacks organization. It’s more rambling than anything. I took lots of notes to maybe include some ideas in Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. However, I must admit that it took me over a year and half to read to the finish because I used it as a boring book to read when I suffer from insomnia.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting volume classifying and re-telling fairy lore from Wales. Stories are various collected by the author or collected from earlier sources. The book does well as collecting and categorising these stories without offering too much larger commentary on why people believed the things they did.

The edition I read was printed by Wildside press. The physical object is lovely - bound with a sense of age and printed on good quality paper to give it the air of an artifict. Unfortunately, images from the original text were not reproduced but the image captions were, at times, left him. Typographical erros were also preserved so make of that what you will.

[dormarch · Rating 5 out of 5]

The folk stories are interesting and there is a wealth of information that I think anyone would be glad to have access to but Sikes is typical of western folklorists and assumes that attention to categorisation and characteristics, especially in relation to other "fairies" found in Europe is what's most important to the stories themselves rather than understanding the reason and method for telling the stories in the first place.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - it’s interesting and helpful in knowing the legends of fairy. As assumed it is also heavy in Christianity and how it adds depth to those legends. My only complaint is strictly due to the fact that I thought it contained more information regarding the Wild Hunt and there was a single paragraph.

I learned a few legends I didn’t know though and the writing whilst entirely of its time wasn’t completely unreadable.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have looked for a long time for a book that says what people who believed in faeries in antiquity believed about faeries. This is as close as I’ve seen to that purpose, though it comes with some additional (understandable) divergences in discussing ghosts and customs that are adjacent to the desired subject matter. Still, it provided a wealth of faerie lore accompanied by occasional illustrative stories and citations to other books from which it got its information.

[Sean Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read: an insightful, humorous and enlightening collection of welsh mythology and folklore. The thousands of folk stories, many collected by the author himself, come fast and fresh and the details are fascinating. I read this book slowly over a couple of years, dipping in to read a few pages as I drifted off to sleep. If you’re at all interested in a deep dive into the complexity and nuance of folklore from this part of the world, this book is a must read.

[Sarah Morgan Sandquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wirt Sikes shows his appreciation of welsh culture

Wirt Sikes, an American diplomat in Wales near the end of the nineteenth century. In this quartet of books, he catalogs his in-depth observations about contemporary welsh culture and beliefs. At the time, doubtless the disconnect between Walea and England was greater, allowing for more diversity of language and custom. This short book then probably preserves beliefs that have since gone extinct in all but the most remote corners of Wales.

[Jeanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Industrial Revolution scared the fairies away, and now our current administration is talking of eliminating the EPA. The world is cruel!

[Clivemichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting wander through the Welsh countryside visiting numerous sites of significance. Dated and occasionally humorous.

[C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unreadable, names and language unpronounceable!

[Nagru · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part comparative mythology, part summaries of folk tales and customs. Not wholly satisfying on either count but interesting nonetheless.

[Amanda Castagnoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of boring (how it was written), but I enjoyed a lot of the info and tales

[Lou Cotterell · Rating 5 out of 5]

MASTERPIECE ABSOLUTE BEAUTY I LOVE BRITISH GOBLINS I LOVE THEM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo MUCH

[Alan O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goblins

This book holds many differing veiws. It is good for perspective. At times the reading was a bit heavy and may have benefited with a lighter touch 😊

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good, but I think I read this several years before I joined goodreads as it seems very familiar.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable enough book and one which I got from Project Gutenburg as it was in the public domain and the subject matter was of interest as recently I have read a few european texts based on legends and fables.
It was an enjoyable enough read..the version I read missed the illustrations but still has a large index offering other suggested readings and as such was well sourced,In some ways however 'welsh goblins' might have made a better title as much of the tales and folklore where based in Wales and England,Scotland and Ireland make for very brief entries.
Tales of Corpse candles,Goblins,Hags,Fairys,Giants and Arthurian folklore however abound and although some of the tales have little impact it was a fun book and worthwhile if only to keep memory of some of the tales through the decades.
an enjoyable book then...but not one I am likely to re-read soon and I suspect I could have found better books on the subject but for now...this did OK.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, originally published in 1880, is a collection of mainly Welsh folklore dealing with fairies, ghosts, spirits, assorted quaint customs connected to life events and holidays, and, in the last section, sacred wells, bells, standing stones (think Stonehenge only not quite as spectacular), dragon legends etc. Although a somewhat anecdotal approach is taken, I suspect the author has in fact preserved a good deal of information that might have otherwise been lost. Some of his informants were older people who had memories of the early 19th century and had heard of things alleged to have happened in the 18th century and before. The author, Wirt Sikes, was the American Consul in Cardiff, Wales, beginning in 1876.

[☆Ruth☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book difficult, not particularly bad but rather dry and written in a very old-fashioned style. However I've always been fascinated by myths and legends of any sort and so the content was interesting in it's own way.
The way the book is written is more like a list than a continuous narrative, with mini-stories lumped together into categories, which are then divided into chapters. This would make it an excellent reference book but not really a book for entertainment or relaxation :).

[William Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this gave me a fascinating look at folk-lore and fairy stories from someone who was much closer to the time period than we are. Some of the chapters were dull, and many of the stories were redundant, but I enjoyed it overall and recommend it.

[Laura]

i have not read this yet, but for research purposes i need to know if there are actual fairies making an appearance in this book? i know that they appear commonly in welsh folklore, and so im looking for some mythology collections. thank you (and im sorry my question was so poorly worded)

[[ J o ] · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Quick review from memory before I re-read at a later date:

Read for research purposes. Mostly concerning Welsh folklore but veers in to the wider British isles at times. It's pretty loose but a really nice collection of mostly lost stories.]

[Charlotte Bosler Writes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wirt Sikes imagines a world of fairies, giants, sleeping kings and more in one of the most iconic resources on Welsh mythology. Bringing to life an often forgotten lore, "British Goblins" is an entertaining read steeped in magic, fantasy and wonder. Do you believe in fairies?

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting source for folks who are interested in the various mythologies of Wales.