Gwilym a Benni Bach (W. Llewelyn Williams)

“Odi lesu Grist ddim yn folon gneud beth i ni am iddo neud?” gofynnai Benni.

“O odi, gwlei,” atebai Gwilym gan synfyfyrio.

“Wel, pam odd e’n gellwn i ni lychu’n dillad?” meddai Benni.

 Ni ddaeth atebiad Gwilym ar unwaith.

Ar ôl eiliad neu ddwy o betruster, “Benni Bach?” meddai. “Mi agores i’n llyged wrth weddïo.”

After a period away from his hometown in the Tywi valley, a young doctor returns to meet his two young nephews for the first time, Gwilym and Benni—or Benni Bach, as everyone calls him. 

The novel follows the children as they grow up and gives the reader a full and affectionate portrait of childhood in Carmarthenshire during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, as we follow them playing, dreaming, going to school, visiting Swansea. Of particular interest is the extensive use of the local dialect, in which much of the book and all of the dialogue is written.  

A politician, journalist, lawyer and amateur historian, William Llewelyn Williams was the MP for Carmerthen Boroughs from 1906 to 1918. He was also one of the first successful Welsh-langauge novelists from South Wales. 

Paperback, 109 pp.