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W I L D W A L E S
F o r several hundred years W ales has been
joined to E n g lan d for purposes of adminis
tration. I f , however, you look at a map of
the part o f G reat Britain w hich is south of
Scotland, you w ill find that it is always called
E n g lan d and W ales. T h e people of W ales
regard themselves as a separate nation.
W ales is an extrem ely beautiful mountain
country. In many places the only liv in g things
to be seen are flocks of sheep w ith the shep
herds who look after them. T h e re are many
fru itfu l valleys w ith grey stone houses, small
farm s, and funny old-w orld villages w ith
unpronounceable names.
In South W ales, however, the valleys are
no longer green, but black and dirty w ith the
smoke of thousands of factories and coal
mines. On the coast of South W ales are the
great harbours of Swansea and C ardiff, from
w hich the best coal in the w orld is exported.
[i37]
living =
Swansea
[swomi]
Cardiff
[ka:d if]
S E L E C T E D S H O R T S T O R I E S
In the years between the two world wars,
other countries were able to sell coal at a
much cheaper price than South Wales. The
result was that there were many people
without work in the mining valleys of South
Wales, and that part of the country was,
without doubt, the poorest in Great Britain.
The war, however, made a great differ
ence, and many of the almost dead mining
valleys came back to life again. In the fight
against Germany much coal was required for
the war factories of Great Britain. Through
out the war South Wales was very busy, and
is, indeed, still busy, for the motto of the
British after the war is “ export or die” , and
one of the most important things for produc
ing articles for export is coal.
In Wales there are 2^2 million people, of
whom nearly 1 million prefer to speak their
own language. It is quite possible for an
Englishman to meet a farmer in Wales, who
in reply to his question about the way to the
next village, will answer, “ D Y M S A E S N E G ”
- “ I do not speak Saxon” ! 80,000 people
in this strange land neither speak nor under-
[
1 3 8
]
W I L D WA L E S
stand English, and there are many who can ,
but “ w ill” not.
With the exception of such large towns as
Swansea and Cardiff, and the districts of
Wales that are close to England, children
under the age of five are not generally able
to speak English. They do not learn English
until they commence school, when, of course,
they must learn it.
Welsh is quite a rich language, consisting
of more than 80,000 words. It looks very
difficult to a foreigner and seems to consist
mostly of consonants, among which many
double Г s and w ’s. What would the reader
do if he lived in the following village?
L L A N F A I R P W L L G W Y N G Y L L G O G E -
R Y C H W Y R N D R O B W L L L L A N T Y S I L -
IO G O G O G O C H .
This name means in reality: “ the church
of St. M ary in the valley by the white hazel
bush near the whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s red
cave” . There is a railway station at this vil
lage, but when the train stops and the guard
gets out, it is hardly necessary to explain that
he does not call out the whole of the name,
[ i 3 9 ]
St. Mary
[snt'mciri]
S E L E C T E D S H O R T S T O R I E S
sense =
meaning
appear = be
made public
L L A N F A I R P. G. is sufficient for him. The
British Railways (Western R egion), which
are owned by the state, do not allow their
personnel to speak Welsh, even if they are
Welsh, but until shortly before 1 939 the
railway personnel were allowed to speak
which language they pleased.
Although English is the official language,
Welsh is not dying out in any sense of the
word. There are more people who speak
Welsh and regard Welsh as their mother
tongue at the present day than ever before in
the history of the country. Newspapers and
new books appear quite regularly in Welsh.
The Welsh would like to see the Welsh
language recognized as the official language
of the country. It is easy to see why the E n g
lish fight against this idea, for if Welsh was
the official language, it would mean that all
English functionaries and officials in Wales
would have to give up their positions.
In this connection there is an amusing story
told about an English tax collector who came
to a house and asked a small boy who opened
the door if his father was at home.
[
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W I L D WA L E S
“ No, he is at work at R H O S A N E R C H -
R U G O G ,” answered the boy.
“ Well, perhaps your mother is at home?”
asked the tax collector.
“ No, she has gone to L L A N F A I R M A -
T H A F A R N E I T H A F . I am quite alone at
home. M y sister is away, too. She is at
L L A N F A I R P W L L G W Y N G Y L L G O G E -
R Y C H W Y R N D R O B W L L L L A N T Y S I L -
IO G O G O G O C H .”
After which the tax collector had nothing
more to say!
Welshmen have played a very important
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