Fi glwas nw’n gwed 1bod bwca yn TyFri blenydda mawr yn ol. Bwca TyFri on nw’n i alw fa. Yr ‘en fachgan odd y bwca ag odd a’n nithur pob mæth o sdranca 2. Gyda ryw wæs dæth a i DyFri gynta, ryw wæs odd wedi werthu unan i’r ‘en fachgan. Odd y gwæs ynny’n gallu nithur mwy o waith mwn dwernod na neb arall mwn wthnos, achos bod y bwca’n i elpu fa. Tasa’r gwæs yn troi perth ni’n ceuad bwlch, odd y bwca’n elcyd 3y drain iddo; pin odd y gwæs wthdi’n gwitho, di welsat 4gol o ddrain ym mynd iddi lle yn y belcha o ran i unyn, galsat feddwl; dim ond isha i’r gwæs fod ar bwys odd. Odd y gwæs yn folon iawn, bit siwr, nis odd i ry ddiweddar, a marw næth a.
Fe dæth gwæs arall nawr i DyFri, ag odd wnnw ddim mwin bod yn ffrind i’r bwca. A beth næth a ond tynnu ffræ shag e, fel’yn: fe wetws wth y bwca fod i drwyn e’n irach na trwyn y bwca, a nw bendarfenson, y gwæs a’r bwca, y basan nw’n mesur trwyna’r noswith’ny yn TyFri, a felly fu. Pin odd y teulu wedi cren’ou gylch y tæn, fe æth y gwæs i’r lofft i fesur i drwyn. Odd twll yn un o blanca llawr y lofft a fe orweddws y gwæs ar y llawr a doti i drwyn yn y twll. Odd y bwca wedi aros ar y parth i gæl mesur trwyn y gwæs ag wth bod wnnw a’i drwyn yn y twll, fe deimlws y bwca’n sdrico i drwyn a’n dawal fæch. Pin dæth tro’r bwca i ddoti i drwyn yn y twll, beth næth y gwæs ond mynd i ben y giatar a gwæn 5dwy oel fawr iddi drwyn a, gin feddwl i ddoti fa’n sownd yn y twll cyd a bod y ffermwr a fenta’n ritag i’r lofft iddi lædd a. Fe rews 6y bwca sgrech anearol pin gwanwd yr oilin iddi drwyn a, pin credws y ffermwr a’r gwæs y loffd, odd neb’no.
Ar ol ‘ynny, odd y bwca’n dial arnyn nw. Odd popith ar y fferm ym mynd i’r with 7, a neb yn gallu cysgu yn y nos gin swn fel swn tchains yn cæl i llusgo bothdi’r lle. Odd braw ar y menwod efyd, waeth odd dim dal pryd clwsan nw laish y bwca. On nw, un tro, wth y tæn, ar ol cwplo i gwaith, yn dadla bothdi pin odd a’r dilo perta. Yn sytan, ma laish y bwca’n gwed: gin y bwca ma’r dilo perta! A dyma law wen, refadd o bert, ag yn llawn modrwya i gyd, yn dod i genol dilo’r merchyd.
Yn y diwadd, fe gesbwd y gwenitog i ddod ‘co iddo ymlyd a i ffwr’. Hws o’r Gros odd y gwenitog, sbo. Fe dæth wnnw a llyfyr y bywyd a mynnyd iddyn nw ddoti llesdri’n llawn o ddwr yn gylch ar llawr y parth. Fe safws ynta yn y cylch y darllyn ranna o’r sgrethyr a gweddio a gwardd y lle iddo ddiwadd amsar. Ac fe dæth swn mawr, fel ta’r ty m’mynd yn yfflon, a fe æth y bwca, a bu dim ‘acor o sôn am y fwca TyFri.
I heard them say that there was a demon – a bwca – at Ty-Fri many years back. Bwca Ty-Fri they called him. He was a demon who could perform all kinds of feats and tricks. He first came along to Ty-Fri with a farm labourer, someone who had sold himself to the devil. This servant was able to do more work in a day than others could do in a whole week, because the bwca assisted him. If the servant was turning hedges to close a gap, the bwca would fetch brambles for him; when the servant was busy working, you could see a load of brushwood in the field moving along on its own into the gaps, it would seem; the servant only needed to be close at hand. To be sure, the farmhand readily accepted this assistance, until it was too late to save his soul.
Another farmhand came to work at Ty-Fri, but this one was not willing to befriend the bwca. What he did was to scheme a confrontation like this: he said to the bwca that his own nose was longer than bwca’s and they decided they would measure noses that night at Ty-Fri, and so it was. When the family were gathered around the fire downstairs, the servant went up into the loft to measure his nose. There was a hole in one of the floorboards and he lay on the floor and pushed his nose into it. The bwca was downstairs ready to measure the servant’s nose and as he put his nose through he could feel the bwca giving it a gentle stroke. Now, when it was the bwca’s turn to stick his nose through the hole, what the servant did was to stand on top of the chair and hammered two long nails right through the bwca’s nose, planning to keep it stuck fast while he and the farmer ran upstairs to kill him. The bwca gave an dreadful unearthly screech as the nails peirced through his nose, but when the farmer and servant went up to the loft no-one was there.
After that, the bwca took his vengence on them; everything at the farm was out of place and no-one could sleep at night as there was the sound of chains being dragged around the place. The women were scared too as there was no knowing when they would hear the voice of the bwca. One time, they were by the fire after finishing work, arguing about which of them had the prettiest hands, suddenly the bwca calls out ‘the bwca has the prettiest hands!’ and a white hand appears among the ladies hands, strangely beautiful with a ring on each finger. In the end a minister was called to come over and to banish the bwca away. Huws o’r Gros was probably the minister. He brought the Bible with him and asked the houshold to place bowls full of water in a circle on the stone floor. He stood inside the circle and began to read the Scriptures and called for the place would be forbidden to him for eternity. There was a loud noise as if the house were being ripped apart. The bwca left and there has never been a sighting of bwca Ty-Fri since.
Source: Tafodiaith Nantgarw; Ceinwen Thomas; 1993. Translated from phonetic script.
