East of Aberystwyth near the town of Tregaron, stretches a great marshland known as Gors Fochno, and has two claims to Welsh mythical fame. It was in this marsh thousands of years ago lived a great toad which was supposed to be one of the four oldest creatures in the world. In the fifth century the marsh was the home of a supposedly evil witch known simply as Yr Hen Gwrach (the old witch). There were quite a few of these witches living in the marshes of Wales whose titles were Gwrach y Rhybin (Marsh witch). Almost without exception they are mentioned in welsh folklore as having a nasty habit of frightening people into killer bogs on the marshes just by appearing, a female equivalent of the Jack 'o lantern or English Will 'o the wisp. This particular witch merits a special mention for her activities as well as just appearing. No one knew quite how she could live on a marsh without sinking, but after all she was a witch. There was a time when the Hen Wrach made frequent appearances among the people of the tiny village near the marsh. A village which has long since disappeared, she used to walk through the village in the Autumn mist opening doors and breathing into the faces of the occupants, which brought on a nasty fever the villagers were at a loss as to why she as so nasty to them. Finally they came to the conclusion that they must be cutting peat too near to her home and they moved away to and they moved away to another part of the bogland. They must have been right in their assumption, because after that she ceased to bother the village. Quite a few people in the area in addition to the unlucky ones into whose cottages she had brought the fever claimed to have seen her floating along a few feet off the ground, with her long black cloak flapping behind her. It was also said by these people that she was off to commune with Satan. There was one old woman who swore by everything that was holy that she had been in very close proximity to the witch and had moved farther off into another part of the community after seeing her. She said that she had been visiting some relatives some miles away in Gors Fochno, and it was unavoidable and in any case she was too old to make her way back to the relatives cottage. On past the bog she hurried, as fast as her old legs would carry her. Looking fearfully over her shoulder every now and then thankful that no witch was behind her. Dusk turned the edge to darkness and presently the moon came up. It was round and large, hanging low in the June sky, a lover's moon, making even the marshland look pretty. It reflected far too many shadows for her liking, but the old woman kept on making for home. "In a few minutes I shall be past this old bog" she thought, but what was that shadow moving across her path? An old goose perhaps? Breathing a sigh of relief she carried on, but there was another shock in store for her when a large owl flitted across in front of her screaming a derisive hoot in her direction. The wailing of the birds that lived on the marshland who were unsettled by the moonlight did not exactly help to calm her mind. She was just deciding to never come this way at this time again, when she noticed another figure on the edge of her vision. What was it? A sheep? No it was the huddled form of the Hen Wrach with something in her hand. Was it a dead baby, or a human head. Her imagination was starting to run riot. It was the witch, but he human head was actually the witch's supper, a wooden platter full of beans and toadstools, the light from the moon showed this clearly now o the old woman. The witch raised her head and the old woman saw a terrible grin, with toothless gums except for two fang-like front teeth, which were long and black. Her hair was long and black and on her shoulder sat a huge Raven, sharing her supper. Afterwards the woman wondered how, half-dead with terror she was able to remember the witch's appearance so vividly. The raven flew off her shoulder and the witch turned around and saw the old woman who prayed out loud. Hearing this the witch gave a long hiss, like some great snake, then she appeared to dissolve into mist. Telling her friends and neighbours of her experience with the old witch the old woman said: "I never want to see anyone like that witch close to, or even far away again in my life. So I will leave my cottage as soon as I find another at the other end of this parish."
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