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Tyddyn Cwtyn y Ci is in Ysbyty Ifan. They call it Tyddyn Cwtyn. This man lived there. I don't remember his name. He dreamt every night that if he were to go to London Bridge, he would make his fortune. Eventually he'd had enough of this dream and decided to go.
And he went to London Bridge and walked there for a day or two. There was nothing that resembled a fortune there. Then he met this man - a Welshman.
'Hello', he said, 'I've seen you walking back and fore here every day. Why do you do this?'
'Oh', he replied, 'for no reason in particular, except that I'd dreamt continually that if I were to go to London Bridge, I'd make my fortune.'
'Tut, tut', answered the other, 'don't listen to those foolish old dreams. I've dreamt many times that if I were to go to a place called Ysbyty Ifan, to a farm called Tyddyn Cwtyn y Ci, and dig under an apple tree, I'd find a pot full of gold.'
'Well, I'd better go home then. I won't look any more.'
And off he went home and took a pick and spade and dug at the base of the old apple tree. And there he found the pot full of gold. That's the story of Tyddyn Cwtyn y Ci.
The Treasure of Tyddyn Cwtyn y Ci
In the second recording the occupant of Tyddyn Cwtyn y Ci meets his fellow-Welshman on the third day, he mentions where he comes from (Ysbyty Ifan), and the treasure is a 'chest of sovereigns'. The source for this tale was the blind uncle, Lewis Evans, Hafod Llan Isa, Pentrellyncymer. He heard it a number of times when he was nine or ten years old years old, 1891-2. Today the farm in Ysbyty Ifan, Caernarfonshire, is called Bryntirion, but one or two of the older inhabitants still remember the former name, 'Tyddyn Cwtyn y Ci', referred to locally as 'Ty'n Cwtyn' or 'Tyddyn Cwtyn'. London Bridge is often mentioned in Welsh folk tales. It was an important meeting place for Welshmen travelling to London.
For printed Welsh versions of this tale, see Y Brython, vol. 1., 1858, p. 162 (Craig y Dinas, Glam.), vol. 2., 1859, pp. 200, 219 (Nant Gwrtheyrn and Llandwrog, Caern.); D E Jenkins, Bedd Gelert: it's Facts, Fairies, and Folk-Lore, Porthmadog, 1899, pp. 135-7 (Aberdaron, Caern.); J Jones, 'Myrddin Fardd', Llên Gwerin Sir Gaernarfon, Caernarfon, 1908, p. 204 (Glynllifon, Caern.); and T Gwynn Jones, Welsh Folklore and Folk-Custom, London, 1930, p. 92 (Glynllifon, Caern.).
For English versions, see references in Briggs, vol. A1, p. 62. Robert Chambers notes that this tale is known in almost every locality in Scotland, always with London Bridge as the dream locale. (See The Popular Rhymes of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1826, p. 58.)
