Tylwyth Teg (Middle Welsh for "FairFamily";^[1]Welsh pronunciation:[ˈtəlʊi̯θteːg]) is the most usual term inWales for the mythological creatures corresponding to thefairy folk of Welsh and Irish folkloreAos Sí. Other names for them includeBendith y Mamau ("Blessing of theMothers"),Gwyllion andEllyllon.^[2]

The termtylwyth teg is first attested in a poem attributed to the 14th-centuryDafydd ap Gwilym, in which the principal character gets perilously but comically lost while going to visit his girlfriend: "Hudol gwan yn ehedeg, / hir barthlwyth y Tylwyth Teg" ("(The) weak enchantment (now) flees, / (the) long burden of theTylwyth Teg (departs) into the mist").^[3]

In later sources thetylwyth teg are described as fair-haired and covet golden-haired human children whom they kidnap, leavingchangelings (orcrimbilion,sing.crimbil) in their place.[4] They dance and makefairy rings and they live underground or underwater. They bestow riches on those they favour but these gifts vanish if they are spoken of, and fairy maidens may become the wives of human men.^[1] These fairy wives are however still bound by traditional taboos. They must be careful toavoid touching iron or they will vanish back to their realm never to be seen by their husbands again.^[5]

As theBendith y Mamau (the mothers blessing, a Southern Welsh name for fair folk),^[1] they ride horses in fairy rades (processions) and visit houses where bowls of milk are customarily put out for them. A changeling story tells of a woman whose three-year-old son was stolen by the fairies and who was given athreefold instruction by a "cunning man" (magician) on how to get him back. She removed the top from a raw egg and began stirring the contents, and as the changeling watched her do this certain comments he made established hisotherworldly identity. She then went to acrossroads at midnight during the full moon and observed a fairy rade in order to confirm that her son was with them. Lastly she obtained a black hen and without plucking it she roasted it over a wood fire until every feather dropped off. The changeling then disappeared and her son was returned to her.^[1][6]

According to the folkloristWirt Sikes theTylwyth Teg may be divided into five general types: theEllyllon (elves), theCoblynau (fairies of the mines), theBwbachod (household fairies similar tobrownies), theGwragedd Annwn (female fairies of the lakes and streams) and theGwyllion (mountain fairies more akin tohags). Theellyllon (singularellyll) inhabit groves and valleys and are similar to English elves. Their food consists oftoadstools and fairy butter (a type of fungus) and they weardigitalis bell flowers as gloves. They are ruled byQueen Mab and bring prosperity to those they favour.^[7]

• Evans, Hugh (1938).Y Tylwyth Teg. Liverpool: Gwasg Y Brython. p. 98.
• Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1994) [1909].The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries. Citadel Press. p. 576.ISBN 978-0-8065-1160-3.
• MacKillop, James (1998).Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford:Oxford University Press. p. 368.ISBN 0-19-280120-1.