The Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach

High in the mountains of Wales, there is a small, dark lake called Llyn y Fan Fach. Long ago, a young farmer brought his mother’s cows to graze on the grass beside it. One day, he looked up and saw a lovely lady sitting on the water, combing her long golden hair.

The young man held out the bread his mother had packed for his lunch. The lady glided closer, but she shook her head. “Your bread is baked too hard,” she said. “You will not catch me with that.” And she sank down under the water.

At home, his mother said, “Tomorrow, take some bread that is not baked at all.” So the next day, he held out a lump of soft, raw dough. “Your bread is not baked enough,” said the lady, and again she sank away. On the third day, he brought bread that was baked just a little, soft and warm. This time, the lady smiled and took it. “I will marry you,” she said. “But if you ever tap me three times without a good reason, I will go back to the lake.”

Then her father, an old man with a white beard, rose up out of the water. He brought out two daughters who looked exactly alike. “If you can tell which one is your lady, you may marry her,” he said. The young man looked and looked, and then one daughter moved her foot, just a tiny bit. He knew her shoe, and he pointed to her at once. Her father gave them a wedding gift of sheep, goats, cows, and horses, as many as she could count in a single breath.

The lady and the farmer lived happily, and they had three fine sons. But over the years, the farmer forgot his promise. Once, he tapped her with his glove to hurry her along. Once, she cried at a wedding, and he tapped her shoulder to ask why. And once, when everyone else was sad, she laughed, and he tapped her arm to hush her. “That is the third tap,” said the lady sadly, “and now I must go home.”

She called to her animals, and every one of them followed her into the lake. Even the four gray oxen pulling the plow walked into the water, leaving a long line across the field.

But the lady never forgot her three sons. She came back to the shore and taught them all about the healing plants of the hills. Her sons became the Physicians of Myddfai, the most famous healers in Wales. And for many years, their children and grandchildren kept on helping people get well.