Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn

"Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn" (Watching the White Wheat) is an 18th-century traditional Welsh love song.

The song was collected from the oral tradition in the 1830s and was first published in 1844 by the Welsh musician and folklorist Maria Jane Williams in her collection Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morganwg. The song has been linked, rather vaguely, to the popular story about a rich heiress, Ann Thomas (1704-27) — the so-called ‘Maid of Cefn Ydfa’, from the parish of Llangynwyd in central Glamorgan, and the somewhat nebulous poet, Wil Hopcyn (1700-41), to whom the song is attributed. However, the song itself makes no explicit reference to the tale, and the version presented here actually refers to "Gwen" rather than to "Ann".

According to Dr Wyn Evans, the history of the song is complex. He conjectures that it is probably a medley of folk stanzas from a number of sources, ‘improved’ by Taliesin Williams (1787-1847) and extended with a verse composed by his father, ‘Iolo Morganwg’ (Edward Williams, 1747-1826) "that wayward genius, who — under the influence of the love of his native Glamorgan, not to mention laudanum — rewrote the history of Welsh scholarship and literature with Glamorgan very much centre stage."

Lyrics
There are several versions of the lyrics with minor variations in the words and additional verses. A modern version is:

Words with English translation
Common variations include using the more literary ieuanc in place of ifanc (meaning young) in the first verse (as in the clip above). Also, gwna (make or do) is often used in place of dod (come) in the second verse, and the soft mutation of bo to fo is often omitted following tra in the fourth verse.

First published version
The melody and words first published by Maria Jane Williams in 1844:

Modern version
A modern version of the tune is: