The Mari Lwyd

It was Christmas Eve, and Julia was sitting in the parlor by the fireplace reading tales from the Mabinogion, a collection of ancient Welsh myths and legends.  There was a knock at the door.

 

Julia got up and went to the door, looking out through the glass.

“Who is there?” she asked.

“We knock, you open, we enter in!

“And now your favor we shall win!” came the reply.

“That sounds like Leah,” Julia thought to herself.

 Then she gasped when she saw who, or rather, what was outside, wanting to get in.

 

 “The Mari Lwyd is at your door!  

 Let us in or we’ll rhyme some more!”

  

“The Mari Lwyd?” Julia said to herself, “The Grey Mare!  That’s an old, traditional Welsh Christmas custom.  Leah must be doing this because she is so proud of her Welsh ancestry.”  She yelled through the door, “Don’t come it!  You’ll frighten the other girls, especially little Clarice!”

 Leah answered her.

“You must answer with a rhyme,

”Or you must let us in this time!”

  

Julia caught on.  “So that’s how this works.

“Get out of here!  And go away!

“And don’t comeback any other day!”

 

“I’m really good at playing this game,

“So let in the horse, she’s very tame.”

 

“I’m not going to let you in this night,

“You’ll make a mess and cause a fright!”

 

“Listen, you, this is your last chance,

“Let us in to sing and dance!”

 

“To let you in I do not want,

“Get away from here or . . .

“Oh, drat!  What rhymes with ‘want’?”

 Leah laughed, and the horse whinnied. 

            “Haha!  Haha!  The game we’ve won!

            “We’re coming in to have some fun!”

 With great trepidation, Julia opened the door and stood back.  The Mari Lwyd galloped into the parlor, whinnying shrilly and clomping around.  Leah was shouting to the horse to be still, and Julia jumped up on a chair, shrieking with a mixture of fear and excitement. 

 

The horse knocked over furniture and came close to upsetting the lamp in the window.

“What will it take to quiet her down?”  Julia was frantic.

“Offer her something to eat or drink, or hand over some money; that usually does it.”

The horse was going crazy.  Julia shouted as loud as she could, “I have cookies and hot chocolate for you if only you’d stand still and be good!”

 The Mari Lwyd stopped and was quiet.  Julia held out the plate of cookies.

“Help yourself!”

 From under the horse’s white sheet emerged little Clarice.  “Thank you for the cookies!  How about some hot chocolate, too?” she said.

 The three friends ate cookies and drank hot chocolate.

“What a way to start Christmas!” exclaimed Julia.

“Well, I’ve enjoyed it,” said Leah, “And as my grandfather from Aberystwyth would say, ‘Nadolig Llawen!’”