Tylwyth Teg
Also called Bendith Y Mamau, Dynon Bach Teg, Ellyllon, Y Mamau, The Fair Family.
Tylwyth Teg, meaning "the Fair Family," is the general Welsh name for the fairy folk who visit homes, ride out on horseback, and are propitiated with offerings such as milk.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Welsh folklore
- Region
- Wales (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Hearth-Bound
- Symbols
- Horse
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Horse bears image-domain The horse denotes harnessed striving power, mount of gods, sun and sea alike, carrying the dead as psychopomp and the living into their conquests.
why
Accounts describe the Tylwyth Teg as capable of riding out in a fairy rade, their horses hung with jingling bells, and some tellings associate the sound of the bells with a general fondness for music rather than any single explained purpose.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Parallel hidden society with own laws and customs
why
Accounts describe the Tylwyth Teg as capable of riding out in a fairy rade, their horses hung with jingling bells, and some tellings associate the sound of the bells with a general fondness for music rather than any single explained purpose.
- Domestic spirit helps or harms based on treatment
why
Accounts vary on how the Tylwyth Teg regard human generosity, but a recurring motif across Welsh fairy lore holds that they resent stinginess and reward households that leave offerings out in good faith.
Curses
- Child stealing
why
The most consistently documented behavior is the abduction of human children, usually via a substituted changeling left in the stolen child's place.