Those Who Know

Those Who Know

Alis Hawkins

Dedication

For Rob and Flo

Wishing you both all the happiness in the world

Epigraph

Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know.

Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching

Glossary of Welsh terms

bara brith: speckled bread, a fruit cake

betgwn: the outer garment of most Cardiganshire working women in the nineteenth century. It featured a tight, low-cut bodice, worn over a blouse, with a long back, sometimes gathered up into a ‘tail’, and was worn over petticoats and an apron

ceffyl pren: wooden horse. A traditional form of folk justice in the area

cymanfa ganu: a singing meeting, usually to sing hymns at chapel

gwylnos: watchnight, a night sitting in vigil with the dead

plwyfwas: parish servant, a parish constable

Shoni Goch: Red John

swci lamb: a lamb whose mother has died and which has been hand-reared