Gwragedd Annwn means 'the wives of Annwn' — the women of the otherworld. In Welsh tradition they live beneath the surface of lakes, in halls and gardens under the water, and on quiet evenings they come up. Farmers saw them combing their hair on the shore, or walking on the water, or driving white cattle out of the lake to graze. Sometimes a young man fell in love. Sometimes, for a while, they said yes.
The best-known of them is the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach — her full story lives on her own lore page. In short: a young farmer won her from the lake with loaves of bread, she brought great herds with her, and when he struck her once too often she walked back into the water, leaving behind sons who became the famous Physicians of Myddfai.
But she is only one of many. At Llyn Barfog, high above Aberdyfi, the lake maidens were said to keep their own herd — the Gwartheg y Llyn, the cattle of the lake, pure white and shining. A farmer caught one of their cows, and she made him rich: her milk, her calves, her butter were beyond anything in the parish. When she grew old, he decided to fatten her for the butcher. As the knife was raised, a woman in green appeared on the crag above the lake and called the cow home by name, and the cow and all her offspring walked into the water and vanished. White cattle seen in the hills long after were said to carry a trace of that lake herd in their blood.
The pattern repeats across Wales: a woman from the water, a marriage, sudden luck, a taboo — and a leaving. The taboos vary. Often it is iron: touch her with iron and she must go. Sometimes it is striking her without cause. Sometimes it is speaking her true name, or mocking her, or seeing her at the wrong time. Sometimes it is simply forgetting that she is not really yours.
Folklorists have argued about what the stories mean. Some see a memory of older peoples who lived beside lakes and feared iron-using newcomers. Some see the lake as Annwn itself — the otherworld only a thin sheet of water away. Some simply see a very old truth about marriage: that love given freely can be withdrawn by carelessness, and a gift that is not respected will go home.
What makes the Gwragedd Annwn so haunting is that they are not villains. They keep their word. It is the mortal side that breaks the bargain. And when they leave, they leave completely, taking the herd, the luck, and sometimes a little of the land's magic with them.
Wear the Gwragedd Annwn and you wear every still Welsh lake at dusk: calm on the surface, and something very old and very beautiful just beneath.