ade a
pretext for going to the alehouse. But when morning came, and still no
sign of Rhys, he told his master what had occurred. Search proving
fruitless, suspicion fell on Llewelyn of having murdered his
fellow-servant; and he was accordingly imprisoned. A farmer in the
neighbourhood, skilled in fairy matters, guessing how things might have
been, proposed that himself and some others, including the narrator of
the story, should accompany Llewelyn to the place where he parted with
Rhys. On coming to it, "Hush!" cried Llewelyn, "I hear music, I hear
sweet harps." All listened, but could hear nothing. But Llewelyn's foot
was on the outward edge of the fairy-ring. "Put your foot on mine,
David," he said to the narrator. The latter did so, and so did each of
the party, one after the other, and then heard the sound of many harps,
and saw within a circle, about twenty feet across, great numbers of
little people dancing round and round. Among them was Rhys, whom
Llewelyn caught by the smock-frock, as he came by him, and pulled him
out of the circle. "Where are the horses? where are the horses?" cried
he. "Horses, indeed!" said Llewelyn. Rhys urged him to go home and let
him finish his dance, in which he averred he had not been engaged more
than five minutes. It was only by main force they got him away; and the
sequel was that he could not be persuaded of the time that had passed in
the dance: he became melancholy, took to his bed, and soon after
died.[123]

Variants of this tale are found all over Wales. At Pwllheli, Professor
Rhys was told of two youths who went out to fetch cattle and came at
dusk upon a party of fairies dancing. One was drawn into the circle; and
the other was suspected of murdering him, until, at a wizard's
suggestion, he went again to the same spot at the end of a year and a
day. There he found his friend dancing, and managed to get him out,
reduced to a mere skeleton. The first question put by the rescued man
was as to the cattle he was driving. Again, at Trefriw, Professor Rhys
found a belief that when a young man got into a fairy-ring the fairy
damsels took him away; but he could be got out unharmed at the end of a
year and a day, when he would be found dancing with them in the same
ring. The mode of recovery was to touch him with a piece of iron and to
drag him out at once. We shall consider hereafter the reason for
touching the captive with iron. In this way was recovered, after the
expiration of a