The Giant of Gilfach Fargoed

Once upon a wish ago, the Rhymney Valley galored with fairies.

Each summer’s day they bathed in the rivers and lakes and basked in the sunshine. So small were they that they sheltered under mushrooms when it rained. So light were they that the tiniest of them could climb to the top of a wheat stalk without it breaking.

Every night, when the moon shone like a great lantern, the fairies came out of their caves to dance. Holding hands in ring-a-rosie circles, they skipped around to nature’s night orchestra.

They enjoyed every jubilee minute of every hour. The Rhymney Valley was a happy valley, and the fairies, as merry as crickets, frolicked and rollicked all day (and night) long.

Then a cruel old giant came to live in Gilfach Fargoed.

As tall as the loftiest poplar, with arms as broad as the thickest bough, the giant whiled away his waking hours by hunting the little folk for food. Always as hungry as a hawk, his appetite was such that he gobbled them by the dozen. The giant kept a pet snake curled around his wooden staff and when he had guzzled enough he fed it with fairies. The serpent usually feasted on frogs and fish, but never refused a fairy titbit which it swallowed in a single snap. The fairies feared for their lives and dared not budge from their caves.

After much dallying, one fairy lad decided to slay the giant for breakfasting upon his father and mother. Like all fairies, he could speak the tongue of the birds, so he went to Pencoed Fawr farm, Bedwellty, where a wise owl lived in an apple tree Together they formed a plan.

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