Welsh Folk Tales

by Peter Stevenson

This book, a selection of folk tales, true tales, tall tales, myths, gossip, legends and memories, celebrates and honours unique Welsh stories. Some are well known, others from forgotten manuscripts or out-of-print volumes, and some are contemporary oral tales. They reflect the diverse tradition of storytelling, and the many meanings of 'chwedlau'. If someone says, 'Chwedl Cymraeg?' they are asking, 'Do you speak Welsh?' and 'Do you tell a tale in Welsh?' Here is the root of storytelling, or 'chwedleua', in Wales. It is part of conversation. This book, one to linger over and to treasure, keeps these ancient tales alive by retelling them for a new audience.

Genres: Fairy Tales

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 2, 2017

Reviews

[Rupert Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first this seemed like a good idea. However, by the end I found myself in a blur of anecdotal, sometimes mythological, other times authorial passages which, although having chaptered themes, began to lose its pep. The author dips in and out of elucidation and sometimes I felt a bit disconcerted as how much the author had contributed to the telling of each piece and how much was "verbatim" from the sources from whence they came. In that I didn't want to read Welsh Folk Tales as told by Peter Stevenson, I wanted some background on who told the story and where it came from.

To be honest, the book for me was less a folk compendium and more a periodical assortment of loose tales. Having said that, it is still worth a read if you have an interest on the subject as it may introduce many myths and folktales that may otherwise remain unknown.

[Paul Groos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly good collection of folktale material from Wales. Several stories are not actually stories, but history lessons or collections of sightings of particular creatures or very short descriptions of idiosyncratic Welshmen. Some stories are difficult to understand, because they're told in a strangely convoluted way.
And there are some gems of stories. Not a great book, but a nice enough read.

[Ellen Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The storytelling was varied in this collection, with some tales told beautifully, and others frustratingly lacking in clarity/depth. However, I loved the range of stories presented, which was far wider than other folk collections I've come across. The thorough bibliography also makes this a good starting point for further research.

[Rhys Fearnley · Rating 3 out of 5]

really quite enjoyed the best stories of the collection, but they were few and far between

[katy p · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Welsh mythology was interesting and enjoyable however the constant switching between the story and the history lesson behind it disrupted the flow of the book for me.