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Reading Part A "Welsh Fairy Tales"

 The first story is called "The Fairies of Caragonan" and has to do with the story of a sick old man and the fairies who cure him.  He has been "witched" by a witch and cannot find any cure until the curious daughter of a fairy queen sees him and entreats her mother to heal the poor man.  This she does, and the man helps to build a fairy circle for them.  It turns out that the fairies and the witch have had a long-standing dispute.  Neither had been able to prevail over the other, and so the fairy turned to the old man to help defeat the old witch.
After building the fairy circle, the Queen fairy was able to spy on the witch and enlists the aid of a small boy.  They have a mirror that they set up in order to spy on the witch, but the boy is the one that has to use it.  They trick the witch into changing herself into a rabbit, which the boy chases and kills.  In return for his help, they bless the boy with a wealth of treasure.
The next pages contains several shorter stories about fairies. Mostly the overall theme is to be grateful for the fairies, follow their instructions exactly, and to not betray their confidentiality.  For example, a blacksmith is warned to stop drinking and after he does, he discovers a hidden treasure trove.  In another story, a fairy leaves behind gold coins for a child, but when he tells his father where he got them, the coins turn into shells.
2 crows for good luck (Source)
The next story tells of the original Britons, who were descended from savage tribes people that lived first in Persia, then in Troy.  After their defeat there at the battle of Troy, they fled to the British Isles and began to populate the land there.  They also apparently were Welsh, but that has gotten a little confusing over time.
The man in another story saw 7 crows in his dreams and then in real life, repeatedly for a week, then he died.  There is a poem about seeing crows.  1 is bad luck, 2 is good, 7 crows flying away from you means you have seven days left to live.  This man was cursed to have seen the crows and so he had to die.

Story Source: Welsh Fairy-Tales and Other Stories by Peter H. Emerson
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