Welsh Tales

“Welsh Tales, An Historical Anthology” brings a fresh look at the country and its people, a two thousand year history given life by ninety carefully chosen traditional folk tales and legends, generously supplemented by historical and illustrated material.


The earliest tale dates from the first millennium BC. King Lludd’s three commandments exhort his people not to slander their neighbours, not to betray their fellows for short-term gain, not to steal.


The next tale brings Merlin into being and explains why the red griffin is the Welsh emblem. Historical Cymry-Romano accounts from the fifth and sixth centuries AD provide a perspective of King Arthur’s time, the battles he fought and won, his considerable importance in Welsh history.


Tales, both short and somewhat longer, tell of the Fair Family, fairies, faeries, pwcas, sprites, goblins and witches. Many tales continue to describe or imply standards of good moral behaviour. Christian themes occur in a number of stories. The most recent is a ghost tale concerning workmen who built the railways early in the nineteenth century.”



From the Author:-

My fifth generation Australian grand-daughters and grandson asked me, “Why are you interested in Welsh stuff, Grandpa?” I replied, “I was born and went to school in Wales, now I live here.” 


“WELSH TALES” An Historical Anthology recounts two thousand years of traditional Welsh Tales, historical information, King Arthur’s real achievements, all stories told around the fireside on a winter’s evening before the children went to bed.


They tell of our heritage and forebears’ lives, their hopes and aspirations, how they lived before Britain’s Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century.



About the Author:

Dr Neil L Thomas like many other Australians of Welsh ancestry was interested in the real King Arthur. Benefiting from recent research, he has assembled scattered evidence to bring the reader a coherent account of commerce and prosperity in Arthurian times in Romano-Celtic-Britain.