The physicians of Mydffai

In this article I would like to tell the story of the Physicians of Mydffai and the Lady of the Lake, a tale which may have been elaborated by a Victorian clergyman but which has its roots in the places named on the maps and in the history books, for indeed Myddfai was noted for its physicians and was the place from which one of the earliest books on herbal medicine originated. But enough of the historylet me tell the tale.

In the twelfth century when the Princes of South Wales were still trying to preserve their independence from the English crown, there lived at Blaensawdde, near Llanddeusant, Carmarthenshire, a widowed woman who had lost her husband in the wars. This woman lived with her only son in a little cottage on a small piece of land on which she kept sheep, goats and cows. Fortune was kind to the old woman and her son and their livestock prospered such that they were running out of room for grazing and it was decided that the son would take some of the livestock to graze on the common land that skirted the Black Mountain.

The son soon found that the cattle had a favourite spot, on the shores of a small lake called Llyn-y-Fan Fach high on the slopes of the Black Mountain. When the son grew to become a man, it was at this same spot, that he beheld a most beautiful lady, sitting on a rock not far from the edge of the lake. The lady looked at him and he looked back and he moved towards her and shyly offered her some of his lunch of hard baked barley bread.

The lady refused the bread saying Cras dy fara (Hard baked is thy bread!) Nid hawdd fy nala ('Tis not easy to catch me).

She then dived under the water and disappeared, leaving the youth standing there wishing he had been able get to know the fairest maiden he had ever seen.

When the young man returned home, he told his mother about the extraordinary vision and she advised him to take some unbaked dough to offer the maiden next time, suggesting that the hard-baked bread may have been the reason the lady did not stay.

The next morning, the young man returned to the lake. This time he was more intent on seeing the lady than on looking after his cattle. Hours passed and it was not until the sun was high in the sky that she appeared, and he could hold out the unbaked bread to her, and offer his heart with a vow of eternal love. But again the lady refused, saying: Llaith dy fara (Unbaked is thy bread!), Ti ny fynna (I will not have thee). She vanished once again beneath the waters, but smiled as she did so, raising hope in the heart of the young man.

This time he returned home more cheerfully, and after a discussion with his mother decided that he would take soft baked bread next, and hope that this would be to her liking.

With a spring in his step, the young man left his mother's house early the next morning, and was soon near the margin of the lake, where he waited for the reappearance of the mysterious lady. But it was not until the first shades of evening crept across the land, that the lady appeared looking even lovelier than before. She moved close to him and he to her and her smile encouraged him to take her hand as he offered her the soft baked bread. They talked for some time and she agreed to become his bride, on condition that they would only be together until she received from him three blows without a cause, Tri ergyá diachos. (three causeless blows).

She explained that if he ever struck her three such blows she would leave him for ever. He accepted these conditions and the 'Lady of the Lake' having become engaged to the young man, turned and dived into the lake.

Beautiful feet
The young man was heartbroken and pondered on diving into the lake to followed her or end his life as he could not live without his love. But suddenly there emerged from out of the lake not just his beloved but another just as beautiful, identical in fact. And they were accompanied by a huge white haired man of noble bearing.

The strange man calmly explained to the youth that he would give his consent to the marriage to his daughter if the young man could distinguish which of the two ladies before him was the object of his affections. This was not easy, as the maidens identical, and the young man looked and looked until he almost gave up in despair. But then he noticed one of the ladies had pushed her foot slightly forward. The young man had, on their previous meetings, observed the beautiful feet and ankles of his love and the way she tied her sandals and knew instantly that this was she. With a smile he boldly took hold of her hand.

"Thou hast chosen rightly," said her father. "Be to her a kind and faithful husband, and I will give her, as a dowry, as many sheep, cattle, goats, and horses as she can count of each without heaving or drawing in her breath. But remember, that if you prove unkind to her at any time, and strike her three times without a cause, she shall return to me, and shall bring all her stock back with her."

The young man agreed to this dowry and his bride began to count by fives the number of sheep she was to have, thus: one, two, three, four, five - one, two, three, four, five; as many times as possible in rapid succession, till her breath was exhausted. She did the same to determine the number of goats, cattle, and horses respectively; and immediately the full number of each came out of the lake towards the couple.

After their marriage, the young couple went to live at a farm called Esgair Llaethdy, over a mile from the village of Myddfai. They lived happily and prospered for several years, and became the parents of three handsome sons.

Sobbed incontrollably

But one day a christening was to take place in the neighbourhood, to which the parents were specially invited. But the wife appeared reluctant to attend, and said that the distance was too great for her to walk. Her husband suggested she fetch one of the horses which were grazing in an adjoining field. "I will," said she, "if you will fetch me my gloves which I left in our house."

He went indoors and returned with the gloves, to find that she had not gone for the horse. Lightly slapping her shoulder with one of the gloves, he said, "go! go!" The wife turned round to her husband, and reminded him that he was not to strike her without a cause, and added that he should be more careful in future.

Some time later, when the couple were together at a local wedding, and in the midst of the happy gathering of guests and relations, she burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. Her husband went over to pat her on the shoulder and to ask why she was weeping. She replied, "Now people are entering into trouble, and your troubles are likely to commence, as you have the second time stricken me without a cause."

Don't laugh!

Years passed, and the children grew into clever young men and the husband almost forgot that there remained only one causeless blow that could destroy his happiness. But it so happened that one day they went to a funeral, where, despite being surrounded by the grief of the relatives of the deceased, the lady launched into fits of laughter, which so shocked her husband that he reprimanded her, saying, "Hush! hush! Don't laugh." She said that she laughed "because people when they die go out of trouble," and, rising up, she went out of the house, saying, "The last blow has been struck, our marriage contract is broken, and at an end! Farewell !" Then she went to their home, and called her cattle and other stock together thus:
Brindled cow, white speckled,
Spotted cow, bold freckled,
The four field sward mottled,
The old white-faced,
And the grey Geingen,
With the white Bull,
From the court of the King;
And the little black calf
Tho' suspended on the hook,
Come thou also, quite well home!

The animals immediately obeyed the summons of their mistress. The "little black calf," although it had been slaughtered, became alive again, and walked off with the rest of the stock at the command of the Lady. She even called the four oxen who were ploughing in one of the fields; by shouting:

The four grey oxen,
That are on the field,
Come you also
Quite well home!

The Lady then went with the livestock, over six miles across Myddfai Mountain, towards the lake from whence they came. They all then disappeared beneath the waters, leaving no trace behind except a well-marked furrow, which was made by the plough the oxen drew after them into the lake, and which remains to this day to testify to the truth of this story.

The fate of the husband has not been passed on, but we are told that the sons took to wandering around the lake, hoping that their mother might reappear. It was on one of their walks, at a place near Dôl Howel, at the Mountain Gate, still called "Llidiad y Meddygon" (The Physicians' Gate), that she appeared suddenly and spoke to her eldest son, whose name was Rhiwallon. She told him that he was to become a physician and relieve people of pain and misery, by healing their diseases. She gave him a bag full of medicinal herbs and instructions for their use, and after promising to meet him if he ever needed her, she vanished.

The son took away this knowledge and shared it with his brothers. On another occasion, it is said that the sons met their mother near the banks of the lake, and she accompanied them to a place still called "Pant-y-Meddygon" (The Dingle of the Physicians), where she pointed out various plants and herbs that were growing there and explained their healing powers. The sons consequently became the most skilful physicians in the country and in order that the knowledge should not be lost, they wrote down their wisdom.

Medicinal plants
This story is based on one in a book published in 1861 entitled 'The Physicians of Myddvai'. It has been speculated that it was constructed from earlier Celtic tradition. The book also contains a translation of the medieval book of herbal remedies attributed to Rhiwallon Feddyg, the first of the family collectively known as the Physicians of Myddfai. This book was included in the Red Book of Hergest (now in Jesus College, Oxford.

Today, researchers at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, are studying the properties in herbs. The National Botanic Garden of Wales at Middleton Hall, Llanarthne, has a Physic Garden which incorporates herbs used by the doctors of Myddfai alongside other medicinal plants from all over the world. In Myddfai the people have started a project to grow herbs in the parish on a commercial scale, and there is a small herb nursery on the edge of the village. Soon the herbs once used by the Physicians of Myddfai could be as widely used as they were in medieval times.