Shon ap Shenkin

http://ashiverinthearchives.blogspot.com/2016/01/kenneth-morriss-shon-ap-shenkin...

http://ashiverinthearchives.blogspot.com/2016/08/more-on-shon-ap-shenkin-sion-ap...

That's pretty cool, C-W. Do you own a copy of the 1928 book?

I have to agree with the blogger, the Keith Ward illustration is not to my liking, but the Ifor Owen illustration is quite good.

ETA

And did Washington Irving use this when writing "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" or is the influence much more complicated than that, I wonder.

>2 elenchus: Yes I do...

The only thing easier than googling wikipedia, is posing the question aloud and letting someone else google wikipedia.

>4 Crypto-Willobie:
Thanks for doing my dirty work.

Well I came upon Peter's name elsewhere but used Wikipedia as a convenient answer.

See also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Rhymer#Influences

I'm pretty sure I've encountered other stories where someone enters an elfmound or goes with the fairies and when they come back years have passed instead of hours, but I ca'nt put my finger on one. Reminds me of Tannhauser too.

The idea of hollow hills and faery mounds certainly does sound familiar, with time passing differently, but that's where my memory is unreliable and vague. I've no real idea as to when these various stories were published, or in the case of oral tradition, when each is likely to have originated as compared to some other story.

What's fairly easy is with U.S. stories, knowing they only go back a couple hundred years in most cases, unless brought from elsewhere, whereas other folk traditions could go back much further. I figured Irving didn't come up with it himself, but had no idea what was a likely influence.

Here's a newly written variation, well done I thought:
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce