Beliefs and the manner of expressing these beliefs may change from one generation to another, but innermost desires and fears remain almost unchanged through the ages. One of the most constant desires of men and women was and is to avoid the routine and certainty of this world and escape into the enchanting world of the unknown. Those in Wales are no exception. Although Wales in recent times has not possessed professional storytellers with a large repertoire of fairy tales of the international type, there has been an unbroken tradition of storytelling right down to our own days.

The Religious Revivals in Wales during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries contributed much to the gradual disappearance of communal gatherings and of many ancient ceremonies, games and customs, yet religion did not (contrary to the general opinion) succeed in suppressing the practice of story-telling. It continued with surprising vigour. Legends relating to ghosts, fairies and the devil were still being recited, although we notice a distinct process of functional adaptation, and the emphasis became increasingly moralistic and didactic. Also the very people who endeavoured to suppress the old customs and superstitions were indirectly responsible for a new interest in folk traditions and antiquities. From the end of the eighteenth century onwards scores of printed works poured out of the Welsh presses: books, chap-books, ballad sheets, almanacs, journals and newspapers. Many contained folklore material and tales and legends relating to the supernatural, and were read extensively. In spite of the lack of examples in recent times, knowledge of fairy tales in Wales clearly goes back to a very early date, as Kenneth Jackson has shown in his discussion of tales from the Mabinogion. Parts of this are believed to go back to the eleventh century, although thishas not alwaysbeen taken into account by those working on fairy-tale themes (Jackson 1961: 67ff.).