“A not unfamiliar theme.”
“I know. And that, in and of itself, is a very sad statement.”
“Go on…”
“This Howell, whoever he was, certainly displayed a huge amount of greed. He was living in a small part of what is now Tylwyth Teg Abbey, and ran into some financial difficulties during construction. His goal was to have the largest and most important estate for miles around.”
“From which he would pretty much rule?”
“I’m sure that thought was there, yes. He knew there were other residents on his land, however. And these residents did not wish to move.”
“Farmers, I suppose?”
Caleb shook his head. “No, these residents were not your usual tenants or landowners. In fact, the land they owned was beneath the buildings.”
Elinor’s eyes widened in surprise. “Good God, the Tylwyth Teg?”
“Yes. The Tylwyth Teg had a large community underground, and quite correctly got very upset when their world was turned upside down by this Howell and his army of builders.”
“I can’t blame them,” she sighed. “It must have been awful for them.”
“Wait…it gets worse.”
“Oh no.”
Caleb sighed. “This evil Howell, upon grasping the potential of what lay beneath his land, got his hands on a certain volume, a Book of Knowledge, if you will. There’s no mention of how he did that, of course. And he managed to use it to develop dark skills.”
“But how could he? He was human…he had no magic at all.”
“You’re correct, but he was clever. Once he deciphered the book, he started to practise these dark magics as best he could, knowing his skills were limited. But one thing he could do…and did… was to summon theCoblynau.”
“The what?”
“Actually, they’re a who,” clarified Caleb. “Spirits that lived underground in Welsh mines, apparently. Most are harmless, but some…well, the word ‘malicious’ is mentioned, and after that? Just plain evil.”
“So,” Elinor frowned at the book. “Your ancestor called these Coblynau—cobblythings, whatever they are—and they pushed the Tylwyth Teg out of their homes?”
“Yes. It was ugly, too. But the result freed the wicked Howell to claim the land, dig wherever he chose, build himself a very fine castle, and rule the area as he pleased. All of which he could easily do, since he’d also seized the treasures left behind by the Tylwyth Teg as they fled.”
“If he was so evil as to do all this, there had to be a price?” She sat straight in her chair. “There’s always a price, Caleb. Evil doesn’t just get away with it, surely?”
“Apparently this evil did indeed get away with it, as you so succinctly put it. And for several decades after, too.”
“Please tell me there’s a ‘but’ coming?”
Caleb laughed. “Yes, my dear girl. There is a definite ‘but’.”
She heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
“Wicked Howell had neglected to consider that the Coblynau might require something in return for their services. They did not make any immediate demands of him, but bided their time, and eventually decided that they would take over the empty homes beneath the land of the Tylwyth Teg for themselves. Which Wicked Howell could not allow, since he was still expanding his holdings, and digging up even more of the land himself, to expand his magnificent property.”
“And so…” prompted Elinor.
“And so the reign of Wicked Howell ended abruptly when both he and his horse vanished into a great pit that opened beneath them during one of his daily rides. Neither man nor beast was ever seen again.”
“And the cobblythings?”
“The text becomes harder to follow after that, I have to admit. But from what I could deduce, the land lay empty for a generation or two, during some wars or battles or other nasty goings-on between mortals. The Coblynau found the land too susceptible to flooding—they were not good swimmers—and gradually their community faded away as well.”
