Editing Twm Siôn Cati (section)

==Literature==
It is likely that a corpus of [[oral tradition|oral tales]] had existed for some time before the eighteenth century, when the character begins to appear in literature. There are a number of similarities between the legends of Twm Siôn Cati and the lead character of [[Henry Fielding]]' 1749 novel, [[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling]]. These include the circumstances of his birth, a noble father, a bucolic setting in the "far west", romantic liaisons followed by the meeting and wooing of a lady, exile from their home country, a rags-to-riches narrative structure and even the character's names (Thomas Jones).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Helen |title=Bandit territories: British outlaw traditions |date=2008 |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff |isbn=9780708319857 |page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Jonathan |editor1-last=Becker |editor1-first=Audrey L. |title=Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays on Adaptations in Literature, Film, Television and Digital Media |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland Incorporated |pages=97-98}}</ref>

English-language pamphlet, ''Tomshone Catty's Tricks'' was printed in 1763. However, it wasn't until the early nineteenth century that Twm became a feature of literary works. Another pamphlet, ''Y Digrifwr'' was published in 1811. Which was subtitled as "The jokester: a collection of feats and tricks of Thomas Jones of Tregaron, Cardiganshire, he who is generally known under the name Twm Sion Catti". The journalist [[William Frederick Deacon]] dedicated a chapter of his 1823 work, ''The Innkeeper’s Album'' to "Twm John Catty: The Welch Rob Roy". While the collection is of South Wales folklore, the chapter title was a clear attempt to copy [[Sir Walter Scott]]'s success in repurposing the Scottish hero for nineteenth century British readers.

This was soon followed in 1828 by the initial publication of TJ Llewelyn Prichard's ''[[The adventures and vagaries of Twm Shon Catti|The Adventures and Vagaries of Twm Shon Catti, descriptive of Life in Wales]]''. [[George Borrow]], walking through [[Wild Wales]] in 1854, heard several tales about Twm from a fellow-walker on the way to [[Tregaron]] and later read what was probably Prichard's book.

This verse shows how much fear the local residents had of him:

There is a great cheer and shout
in Ystrad-ffin this year,
And the snakestones melt into lead
By the osom of Twm Siôn Cati.

H. Parry-Williams (ed.), Old Penitentiary (The Welsh Book Club, 1940), pgs. 159.

T. Llew Jones has published three Welsh-language novels about him namely Y Ffordd Dangerous, Amongst Thieves and Dial at Last.