Notes, types and motifs

This story was told while discussing the epithets given to the inhabitants of the surrounding areas. Mary Thomas was a descendant of Cadwgan, 'yr hen Goel', and this was why some people pulled her leg and called her an 'old Coel'. A common saying was, 'You won't get the better of her, she's one of the old Coelied.' Mary Thomas also talked of 'The Ravens of Cwm Ystwyth' and 'The Thieves of Tregaron'. William Thomas, Mary Thomas's husband, commented: 'There was this old boy who used to come and visit us after the mart and if he heard Mary saying 'the Thieves of Tregaron' he'd turn very nasty, you know... Years ago, you see, people used to go and sell down in Tregaron - selling animals and so on - at the monthly market, and there were men watching them coming back at night, in the fields on the other side of the hedges between Tregaron and Bont, and then they'd steal their money on the road back from Tregaron to Bont, you see.'