Slate Gods.

This essay explores a fifteen-minute walk taken by a young child and her father through their Welsh village, focusing on the symbolic and emotional significance of the landscape, particularly the "crawiau"—rows of slate columns that serve as custodians of the village’s slate quarry heritage. The narrative contrasts the child’s imaginative engagement with the natural and historical environment against the father’s somber reflections shaped by personal loss and historical awareness. The walk traverses two distinct paths—Glan Gors lane, marked by the slate columns and marshland, and the narrower, oppressive graveyard lane—highlighting themes of memory, disobedience, and the tension between childhood wonder and adult grief. The essay is a translation from a Welsh original and is part of a forthcoming English collection titled *Empaperment*.