Y Ladi Wen
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Y Ladi Wen (Welsh for 'the white lady'), or Y Ddynes Mewn Gwyn (Welsh for 'the woman in white'), is an apparition of Welsh mythology, dressed in white, and is most commonly seen at Hollantide and the festival of Calan Gaeaf. Known in Welsh oral tradition, she is evoked to warn children about bad behaviour.[1] Y Ladi Wen is characterised in various ways including being a terrifying ghost who may ask for help if you speak to her, or she may offer treasure or gold.[2]
Y Ladi Wen is commonly connected with the villages of Ogmore, Ewenny (where she gives her name to White Lady's Meadow and White Lady's Lane) and St Athan.[3]
The Welsh folklorist, Marie Trevelyan stated that stories of Y Ladi Wen were innumerable and widespread, stating that "every county of the Principality has several of these apparitions." Some variations of Y Ladi Wen cast her as the ghostly guardian of some great buried treasure.[4]
Brecknockshire
Two separate legends of Y Ladi Wen are recorded around Brecon, in one story sightings of a woman clothed in white near the town are commonly told, and a curious local farmer decides to go and see the apparition for himself. He finds Y Ladi Wen scattering seeds, but is so terrified at the sight that he is about to run away when she speaks. Addressing him kindly, she begs him to return to her and gave him a handful of leek seeds. Fear-stricken, the farmer places the seeds into his pocket and thanks her. However, on the return home the farmer decides to throw the seeds away. At home, the farmer finds several grains of gold in the pocket that had contained the seeds. He never sees Y Ladi Wen again.[4]
Another story of a farmer meeting Y Ladi Wen is associated with the old Roman fort at Y Gaer. In this version, a ploughman is working day to day in a large field near "Caer Bannau" (the former Roman fort). In the course of his work he notices "a maiden robed in white, smoothing her hair in the sunshine, and beckoning the man to her". The ploughman tries to ignore the apparition at first, but she repeatedly signals to him until he finally musters up the courage to respond.
The maiden informs the ploughman that she is the ghost of a princess, who had been sunk into the ground by a landslip. She tells the ploughman that to save her, he must carry her to the nearest churchyard, that he must not halt or even looking round and that he must throw her down with all his might into the holy ground. Upon hearing this, the ploughman promptly picks up Y Ladi Wen, and carrying her across his shoulders, begins to run with her to the nearest church. At the churchyard, the ploughman is about to fling her into the ground when something tweaks his ears so violently that he is forced to look round, letting his burden fall. At this, the maiden flies into the air, lamenting that she now must suffer even more severely, and wait a hundred years for a man with a more steady hand.[4]