There is at least one account extant of their secret territory having been revealed to mortal eyes. When encountered, either in the mines or on the mountains, they have strayed from their special abodes, which are as spectral as themselves. Their homes are hidden from mortal vision. Story "The Coblynau are always given the form of dwarfs, in the popular fancy wherever seen or heard, they are believed to have escaped from the mines or the secret regions of the mountains. Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes (1880) The explanation of the Knockers is more recent, and less palpable and convincing." When the explanation came, that the thing which killed the miner was what he breathed, not what he saw and when chemistry took the fire-damp from the domain of faerie, the basilisk and the fire fiend had not a leg to stand on. When the workman was assailed suddenly by what we now call fire-damp, which hurled him and his companions right and left upon the dark rocks, scorching, burning, and killing, those who survived were not likely to question the existence of the mine fiend hence arose the superstition-now probably quite extinct-of basilisks in the mines, which destroyed with their terrible gaze. Science points out that the noise may be produced by the action of water upon the loose stones in fissures and pot-holes of the mountain limestone, and does actually suggest the presence of metals." "In the days before a Priestley had caught and bottled that demon which exists in the shape of carbonic acid gas, when the miner was smitten dead by an invisible foe in the deep bowels of the earth it was natural his awe-struck companions should ascribe the mysterious blow to a supernatural enemy. When they hear the mysterious thumping which they know is not produced by any human being, and when in examining the place where the noise was heard they find there are really valuable indications of ore, the sturdiest incredulity must sometimes be shaken. It is not surprising that imagination (and the Welsh imagination is peculiarly vivid) should conjure up the faces and forms of gnomes and coblynau, of phantoms and fairy men. His life is passed in a dark and gloomy region, fathoms below the earth's green surface, surrounded by walls on which-dim lamps shed a fitful light. Theory "It can hardly be cause for wonder that the miner should be superstitious. They were supposed to indicate by a peculiar knocking or rapping, rich veins of ore or even hidden treasures.īelief in these mine spirits was once widespread especially in Celtic areas which were heavily mined, for example Wales and Cornwall. nevertheless, all miners of a proper spirit refrain from provoking them, because their presence brings good luck.Ĭoblynau are the guardians of the mines and the strange noise that happened underground were attributed to them by supersitious miners. They have been known to throw stones at the miners, when enraged at being lightly spoken of but the stones are harmless. They work busily, loading ore in buckets, flitting about the shafts, turning tiny windlasses, and pounding away like madmen, but really accomplishing nothing whatever. Their dress is a grotesque imitation of the miner's garb, and they carry tiny hammers, picks and lamps. The coblynau are described as being about half a yard in height and very ugly to look upon, but extremely good-natured, and warm friends of the miner. The word coblyn has the double meaning of knocker or thumper and sprite or fiend Coblynau also known as Koblernigh and correspond to the Cornish Knockers
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