A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
In Sikes's Carmarthenshire telling, green-clad lake ladies keep milk-white cattle and hounds. A farmer catches one cow after she joins his herd, and her milk, calves and dairy produce make him wealthy. Eventually he decides to fatten her for slaughter. The butcher's blow passes through her head, causing chaos among the assembled neighbours instead of killing her.
A green lady then calls from above the lake, and the cow and her descendants depart together. One remaining animal turns black; the story uses her as an explanation of Welsh black cattle, while also narrating the farmer's despair. Sikes follows this with an attributed Iolo Manuscripts version. The creature is thus a particular enchanted benefactor inside variant stories of abundance and broken obligations, not a zoological ancestor established by breed history.
Origins & earliest records
Sikes printed the selected local narration in 1880 and contrasted it with an earlier Iolo Manuscripts rendering associated with Taliesin Williams. His reported Carmarthenshire telling and the literary comparison should remain distinct. Their publication histories do not date the first oral cattle story, and the profile does not treat contested antiquarian material as authenticated ancient tradition.
Records & interpretation
The cow's milk, incorporeal resistance to a blow and collective return of her descendants are events in a recorded legend. They provide narrative evidence for extraordinary cattle associated with the lake. No specimen or genetic evidence is offered, and the story's explanation of a cattle colour is not evidence of actual biological descent.
In the literature
“Only one cow remained of all the farmer’s herds”
Book I, chapter III; printed p. 37
After the fairy cattle depart, the lone survivor becomes the legendary ancestor of Welsh black cattle.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions
Book I, chapter III, pp. 36–38. Selected inspected witness; bibliography is not exhaustive.
- 02
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions — Book I, chapter III
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1880. Original English compilation by Wirt Sikes; hosted Project Gutenberg transcription retains printed page anchors. Selected reports, quoted older authorities and the compiler’s comparative theories are distinguished.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions — Book I, chapter III
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1880. Original English compilation by Wirt Sikes; hosted Project Gutenberg transcription retains printed page anchors. Selected reports, quoted older authorities and the compiler’s comparative theories are distinguished.
- A farmer gains wealth from a fairy cow captured near Llyn Barfog, but his attempt to slaughter it brings a green lady’s recall. The cow and its descendants leave; one cow turns black and the despairing farmer drowns.
Book I, chapter III; pp. 36–37; Carmarthenshire account related to Sikes
- Sikes separately quotes Taliesin Williams’s 1848 translation of a milk-white cow offering unlimited milk and healing, then disappearing when people try to kill it in the Towy valley; the two narratives are not treated as identical testimony.
Book I, chapter III; pp. 37–38; alternative explicitly quoted from Iolo MSS.
Selected complete episodes read in the hosted primary compilation. Earlier Jones, Iolo MSS., Pughe and Vale of Glamorgan citations are attributed as Sikes’s sources; their original editions have not been independently checked here. The compiler’s broad comparative etymologies are not adopted as established modern scholarship.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textSikes, British Goblins: Book I, chapter III, pp. 36–38Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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