{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19976/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19976","id":"gutenberg_19976","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19976","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fantasy","Mythology, Celtic -- Wales","Tales -- Wales","Welsh literature -- 1100-1400 -- Translations into English"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1912 T. Fisher Unwin edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MABINOGION\n\n\nTRANSLATED FROM THE RED BOOK OF HERGEST BY LADY CHARLOTTE GUEST\nVOL. III.  LONDON\nT. FISHER UNWIN\n11 PATERNOSTER\nBUILDINGS MXCII\n\n{The finding of Taliesin: p0.jpg}\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\n{Picture: p11.jpg}\n\nThis third volume completes the series of Mabinogion and tales translated\nby Lady Charlotte Guest.\n\nAs in the two preceding volumes, I have compared Lady Guest's transcript\nwith the original text in the Red Book of Hergest, and with Dr Gwenogvryn\nEvans' scrupulously accurate diplomatic edition.  I have, as before,\nrevised the translation as carefully as I could.  I have not altered Lady\nGuest's version in the slightest degree; but I have again put in the form\nof foot-notes what seems to me to be a better or a more literal\ntranslation.  The mistranslations are fairly few in number; but some of\nthem are quite important, such as the references to pagan baptism or to\nthe Irish Channel.  At the end of my revision I may say that I have been\nstruck by the comparative accuracy of the transcript of the Red Book\nwhich Lady Guest used, and by the accurate thoroughness with which she\ntranslated every one of the tales.\n\nThis volume contains the oldest of the Mabinogion--the four branches of\nthe Mabinogion proper--and the kindred tale of Lludd and Llevelys.  In\nall these we are in a perfectly pagan atmosphere, neither the\nintroduction of Christianity nor the growth of chivalry having affected\nthem to any extent.\n\nThe Story of Taliesin is the only one in the series that is not found in\nthe Red Book of Hergest.  It is taken from very much later manuscripts,\nand its Welsh is much more modern.  Its subject, however, is akin to that\nof the Mabinogion proper; if, indeed, the contest between Elphin and the\nbards is an echo of the contest between decaying Paganism and growing\nChristianity.\n\nOWEN EDWARDS.\n\nLLANUWCHLLYN,\n13_th_ _September_ 1902.\n\n\n\n\nPWYLL PRINCE OF DYVED.\n\n\nPwyll, prince of Dyved, was lord of the seven Cantrevs of Dyved; and once\nupon a time he was at Narberth his chief palace, and he was minded to go\nand hunt, and the part of his dominions in which it pleased him to hunt\nwas Glyn Cuch.  So he set forth from Narberth that night, and went as far\nas Llwyn Diarwyd. {11a}  And that night he tarried there, and early {11b}\non the morrow he rose and came to Glyn Cuch; when he let loose the dogs\nin the wood, and sounded the horn, and began the chace.  And as he\nfollowed the dogs, he lost his companions; and whilst he listened to the\nhounds, he heard the cry of other hounds, a cry different from his own,\nand coming in the opposite direction.\n\nAnd he beheld a glade in the wood forming a level plain, and as his dogs\ncame to the edge of the glade, he saw a stag before the other dogs.  And\nlo, as it reached the middle of the glade, the dogs that followed the\nstag overtook it, and brought it down.  Then looked he at the colour of\nthe dogs, staying not to look at the stag, and of all the hounds that he\nhad seen in the world, he had never seen any that were like unto those.\nFor their hair was of a brilliant shining white, and their ears were red;\nand as the whiteness of their bodies shone, so did the redness of their\nears glisten.  And he came towards the dogs, and drove away those that\nhad brought down the stag, and set his own dogs upon it.\n\n{Picture: p13.jpg}\n\nAnd as he was setting on his dogs, he saw a horseman coming towards him\nupon a large light grey steed, with a hunting horn about his neck, and\nclad in garments of grey woollen in the fashion of a hunting garb.  And\nthe horseman drew near and spoke unto him thus.  \"Chieftain,\" said he, \"I\nknow who thou art, and I greet thee not.\"  \"Peradventure,\" said Pwyll,\n\"thou art of such dignity that thou shouldest not do so.\"  \"Verily,\"\nanswered he, \"it is not my dignity that prevents me.\"  \"What is it then,\nO chieftain?\" asked he.  \"By Heaven, it is by reason of thine own\nignorance and want of courtesy.\"  \"What discourtesy, Chieftain, hast thou\nseen in me?\"  \"Greater discourtesy saw I never in man,\" said he, \"than to\ndrive away the dogs that were killing the stag, and to set upon it thine\nown.  This was discourteous, and though I may not be revenged upon thee,\nyet I declare to Heaven that I will do thee more dishonour than the value\nof an hundred stags.\"  \"O chieftain,\" he replied, \"if I have done ill I\nwill redeem thy friendship.\"  \"How wilt thou redeem it?\"  \"According as\nthy dignity may be, but I know not who thou art?\"  \"A crowned King am I\nin the land whence I come.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"may the day prosper with\nthee, and from what land comest thou?\"  \"From Annwvyn,\" answered he;\n\"Arawn, a King of Annwvyn, {13} am I.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"how may I gain\nthy friendship?\"  \"After this manner mayest thou,\" he said.  \"There is a\nman whose dominions are opposite to mine, who is ever warring against me,\nand he is Havgan, a King of Annwvyn, and by ridding me of this oppression\nwhich thou canst easily do shalt thou gain my friendship.\"  \"Gladly will\nI do this,\" said he, \"show me how I may.\"  \"I will show thee.  Behold\nthus it is thou mayest.  I will make firm friendship with thee; and this\nwill I do, I will send thee to Annwvyn in my stead, and I will give thee\nthe fairest lady thou didst ever behold, to be thy companion, and I will\nput my form and semblance upon thee, so that not a page of the chamber,\nnor an officer, nor any other man that has always followed me shall know\nthat it is not I.  And this shall be for the space of a year from\nto-morrow, and then will we meet in this place.\"  \"Yes,\" said he; \"but\nwhen I shall have been there for the space of a year, by what means shall\nI discover him of whom thou speakest?\"  \"One year from this night,\" he\nanswered, \"is the time fixed between him and me, that we should meet at\nthe Ford; be thou there in my likeness, and with one stroke that thou\ngivest him, he shall no longer live.  And if he ask thee to give him\nanother, give it not, how much soever he may entreat thee, for when I did\nso, he fought with me next day as well as ever before.\"  \"Verily,\" said\nPwyll, \"what shall I do concerning my kingdom?\"  Said Arawn, \"I will\ncause that no one in all thy dominions, neither man, nor woman, shall\nknow that I am not thou, and I will go there in thy stead.\"  \"Gladly\nthen,\" said Pwyll, \"will I set forward.\"  \"Clear shall be thy path and\nnothing shall detain thee, until thou come into my dominions, and I\nmyself will be thy guide!\"\n\nSo he conducted him until he came in sight of the palace and its\ndwellings.  \"Behold,\" said he, \"the Court and the kingdom in thy power.\nEnter the Court, there is no one there who will know thee, and when thou\nseest {15} what service is done there, thou wilt know the customs of the\nCourt.\"\n\nSo he went forward to the Court, and when he came there, he beheld\nsleeping rooms, and halls, and chambers, and the most beautiful buildings\never seen.  And he went into the hall to disarray, and there came youths\nand pages and disarrayed him, and all as they entered saluted him.  And\ntwo knights came and drew his hunting dress from about him, and clothed\nhim in a vesture of silk and gold.  And the hall was prepared, and behold\nhe saw the household and the host enter in, and the host was the most\ncomely and the best equipped that he had ever seen.  And with them came\nin likewise the Queen, who was the fairest woman that he ever yet beheld.\nAnd she had on a yellow robe of shining satin; and they washed and went\nto the table, and they sat, the Queen upon one side of him, and one who\nseemed to be an Earl on the other side.\n\nAnd he began to speak with the Queen, and he thought from her speech,\nthat she was the seemliest, and most noble lady of converse and of cheer\nthat ever was.  And they partook of meat, and drink, with songs, and with\nfeasting; and of all the Courts upon the earth, behold this was the best\nsupplied with food and drink, and vessels of gold and royal jewels.\n\n* * * * *\n\nAnd the year he spent in hunting, and minstrelsy, and feasting, and\ndiversions, and discourse with his companions, until the night that was\nfixed for the conflict.  And when that night came, it was remembered even\nby those who lived in the farthest part of his dominions, and he went to\nthe meeting, and the nobles of the kingdom with him.  And when he came to\nthe Ford, a knight arose and spake thus, \"Lords,\" said he, \"listen well.\nIt is between two Kings that this meeting is, and between them only.  Each\nclaimeth of the other his land and territory, and do all of you stand\naside and leave the fight to be between them.\"\n\n{Picture: p16.jpg}\n\nThereupon the two Kings approached each other in the middle of the Ford,\nand encountered, and at the first thrust, the man who was in the stead of\nArawn struck Havgan on the centre of the boss of his shield, so that it\nwas cloven in twain, and his armour was broken, and Havgan himself was\nborne to the ground an arm's and a spear's length over the crupper of his\nhorse, and he received a deadly blow.  \"O Chieftain,\" said Havgan, \"what\nright hast thou to cause my death?  I was not injuring thee in any thing,\nand I know not wherefore thou wouldest slay me.  But for the love of\nHeaven, since thou hast begun to slay me, complete thy work.\"  \"Ah,\nChieftain,\" he replied, \"I may yet repent doing that unto thee.  Slay\nthee who may, I will not do so.\" {17}  \"My trusty Lords,\" said Havgan,\n\"bear me hence.  My death has come.  I shall be no more able to uphold\nyou.\"  \"My Nobles,\" also said he who was in the semblance of Arawn, \"take\ncounsel and know who ought to be my subjects.\"  \"Lord,\" said the Nobles,\n\"all should be, for there is no King over the whole of Annwvyn but thee.\"\n\"Yes,\" he replied, \"it is right that he who comes humbly should be\nreceived graciously, but he that doth not come with obedience, shall be\ncompelled by the force of swords.\"  And thereupon he received the homage\nof the men, and he began to conquer the country; and the next day by noon\nthe two kingdoms were in his power.  And thereupon he went to keep his\ntryst, and came to Glyn Cuch.\n\nAnd when he came there, the king of Annwvyn was there to meet him, and\neach of them was rejoiced to see the other.  \"Verily,\" said Arawn, \"may\nHeaven reward thee for thy friendship towards me, I have heard of it.\nWhen thou comest thyself to thy dominions,\" said he, \"thou wilt see that\nwhich I have done for thee.\"  \"Whatever thou hast done for me, may Heaven\nrepay it thee.\"\n\nThen Arawn gave to Pwyll Prince of Dyved his proper form and semblance,\nand he himself took his own; and Arawn set forth towards the Court of\nAnnwvyn; and he was rejoiced when he beheld his hosts, and his household,\nwhom he had not seen so long; but they had not known of his absence, and\nwondered no more at his coming than usual.  And that day was spent in joy\nand merriment; and he sat and conversed with his wife and his nobles.  And\nwhen it was time for them rather to sleep than to carouse, they went to\nrest.\n\n* * * * *\n\nPwyll, Prince of Dyved, came likewise to his country and dominions, and\nbegan to enquire of the nobles of the land, how his rule had been during\nthe past year, compared with what it had been before.  \"Lord,\" said they,\n\"thy wisdom was never so great, and thou wert never so kind nor so free\nin bestowing thy gifts, and thy justice was never more worthily seen than\nin this year.\"  \"By Heaven,\" said he, \"for all the good you have enjoyed,\nyou should thank him who hath been with you; for behold, thus hath this\nmatter been.\"  And thereupon Pwyll related the whole unto them.  \"Verily,\nLord,\" said they, \"render thanks unto Heaven that thou hast such a\nfellowship, and withhold not from us the rule which we have enjoyed for\nthis year past.\"  \"I take Heaven to witness that I will not withhold it,\"\nanswered Pwyll.\n\nAnd thenceforth they made strong the friendship that was between them,\nand each sent unto the other horses, and greyhounds, and hawks, and all\nsuch jewels as they thought would be pleasing to each other.  And by\nreason of his having dwelt that year in Annwvyn, and having ruled there\nso prosperously, and united the two kingdoms in one day by his valour and\nprowess, he lost the name of Pwyll Prince of Dyved, and was called Pwyll\nChief of Annwvyn from that time forward.\n\n* * * * *\n\nOnce upon a time, Pwyll was at Narberth his chief palace, where a feast\nhad been prepared for him, and with him was a great host of men.  And\nafter the first meal, Pwyll arose to walk, and he went to the top of a\nmound that was above the palace, and was called Gorsedd Arberth.  \"Lord,\"\nsaid one of the Court, \"it is peculiar to the mound that whosoever sits\nupon it cannot go thence, without either receiving wounds or blows, or\nelse seeing a wonder.\"  \"I fear not to receive wounds and blows in the\nmidst of such a host as this, but as to the wonder, gladly would I see\nit.  I will go therefore and sit upon the mound.\"\n\nAnd upon the mound he sat.  And while he sat there, they saw a lady, on a\npure white horse of large size, with a garment of shining gold around\nher, coming along the high way that led from the mound; and the horse\nseemed to move at a slow and even pace, and to be coming up towards the\nmound.  \"My men,\" said Pwyll, \"is there any among you who knows yonder\nlady?\"  \"There is not, Lord,\" said they.  \"Go one of you and meet her,\nthat we may know who she is.\"  And one of them arose, and as he came upon\nthe road to meet her, she passed by, and he followed as fast as he could,\nbeing on foot; and the greater was his speed, the further was she from\nhim.  And when he saw that it profited him nothing to follow her, he\nreturned to Pwyll, and said unto him, \"Lord, it is idle for any one in\nthe world to follow her on foot.\"  \"Verily,\" said Pwyll, \"go unto the\npalace, and take the fleetest horse that thou seest, and go after her.\"\n\nAnd he took a horse and went forward.  And he came to an open level\nplain, and put spurs to his horse; and the more he urged his horse, the\nfurther was she from him.  Yet she held the same pace as at first.  And\nhis horse began to fail; and when his horse's feet failed him, he\nreturned to the place where Pwyll was.  \"Lord,\" said he, \"it will avail\nnothing for any one to follow yonder lady.  I know of no horse in these\nrealms swifter than this, and it availed me not to pursue her.\"  \"Of a\ntruth,\" said Pwyll, \"there must be some illusion here.  Let us go towards\nthe palace.\"  So to the palace they went, and they spent that day.  And\nthe next day they arose, and that also they spent until it was time to go\nto meat.  And after the first meal, \"Verily,\" said Pwyll, \"we will go the\nsame party as yesterday to the top of the mound.  And do thou,\" said he\nto one of his young men, \"take the swiftest horse that thou knowest in\nthe field.\"  And thus did the young man.  And they went towards the\nmound, taking the horse with them.  And as they were sitting down they\nbeheld the lady on the same horse, and in the same apparel, coming along\nthe same road.  \"Behold,\" said Pwyll, \"here is the lady of yesterday.\nMake ready, youth, to learn who she is.\"  \"My Lord,\" said he, \"that will\nI gladly do.\"  And thereupon the lady came opposite to them.  So the\nyouth mounted his horse; and before he had settled himself in his saddle,\nshe passed by, and there was a clear space between them.  But her speed\nwas no greater than it had been the day before.  Then he put his horse\ninto an amble, and thought that notwithstanding the gentle pace at which\nhis horse went, he should soon overtake her.  But this availed him not;\nso he gave his horse the reins.  And still he came no nearer to her than\nwhen he went at a foot's pace.  And the more he urged his horse, the\nfurther was she from him.  Yet she rode not faster than before.  When he\nsaw that it availed not to follow her, he returned to the place where\nPwyll was.  \"Lord,\" said he, \"the horse can no more than thou hast seen.\"\n\"I see indeed that it avails not that any one should follow her.  And by\nHeaven,\" said he, \"she must needs have an errand to some one in this\nplain, if her haste would allow her to declare it.  Let us go back to the\npalace.\"  And to the palace they went, and they spent that night in songs\nand feasting, as it pleased them.\n\nAnd the next day they amused themselves until it was time to go to meat.\nAnd when meat was ended, Pwyll said, \"Where are the hosts that went\nyesterday and the day before to the top of the mound?\"  \"Behold, Lord, we\nare here,\" said they.  \"Let us go,\" said he, \"to the mound, to sit there.\nAnd do thou,\" said he to the page who tended his horse, \"saddle my horse\nwell, and hasten with him to the road, and bring also my spurs with\nthee.\"  And the youth did thus.  And they went and sat upon the mound;\nand ere they had been there but a short time, they beheld the lady coming\nby the same road, and in the same manner, and at the same pace.  \"Young\nman,\" said Pwyll, \"I see the lady coming; give me my horse.\"  And no\nsooner had he mounted his horse than she passed him.  And he turned after\nher and followed her.  And he let his horse go bounding playfully, and\nthought that at the second step or the third he should come up with her.\nBut he came no nearer to her than at first.  Then he urged his horse to\nhis utmost speed, yet he found that it availed nothing to follow her.\nThen said Pwyll, \"O maiden, for the sake of him whom thou best lovest,\nstay for me.\"  \"I will stay gladly,\" said she, \"and it were better for\nthy horse hadst thou asked it long since.\"  So the maiden stopped, and\nshe threw back that part of her head dress which covered her face.  And\nshe fixed her eyes upon him, and began to talk with him.  \"Lady,\" asked\nhe, \"whence comest thou, and whereunto dost thou journey?\"  \"I journey on\nmine own errand,\" said she, \"and right glad am I to see thee.\"  \"My\ngreeting be unto thee,\" said he.  Then he thought that the beauty of all\nthe maidens, and all the ladies that he had ever seen, was as nothing\ncompared to her beauty.  \"Lady,\" he said, \"wilt thou tell me aught\nconcerning thy purpose?\"  \"I will tell thee,\" said she.  \"My chief quest\nwas to seek thee.\"  \"Behold,\" said Pwyll, \"this is to me the most\npleasing quest on which thou couldst have come; and wilt thou tell me who\nthou art?\"  \"I will tell thee, Lord,\" said she, \"I am Rhiannon, the\ndaughter of Heveydd Hen, and they sought to give me to a husband against\nmy will.  But no husband would I have, and that because of my love for\nthee, neither will I yet have one unless thou reject me.  And hither have\nI come to hear thy answer.\"  \"By Heaven,\" said Pwyll, \"behold this is my\nanswer.  If I might choose among all the ladies and damsels in the world,\nthee would I choose.\"  \"Verily,\" said she, \"If thou art thus minded, make\na pledge to meet me ere I am given to another.\"  \"The sooner I may do so,\nthe more pleasing will it be unto me,\" said Pwyll, \"and wheresoever thou\nwilt, there will I meet with thee.\"  \"I will that thou meet me this day\ntwelvemonth at the palace of Heveydd.  And I will cause a feast to be\nprepared, so that it be ready against thou come.\"  \"Gladly,\" said he,\n\"will I keep this tryst.\"  \"Lord,\" said she, \"remain in health, and be\nmindful that thou keep thy promise; and now will I go hence.\"  So they\nparted, and he went back to his hosts and to them of his household.  And\nwhatsoever questions they asked him respecting the damsel, he always\nturned the discourse upon other matters.  And when a year from that time\nwas gone, he caused a hundred knights to equip themselves and to go with\nhim to the palace of Heveydd Hen.  And he came to the palace, and there\nwas great joy concerning him, with much concourse of people and great\nrejoicing, and vast preparations for his coming.  And the whole court was\nplaced under his orders.\n\nAnd the hall was garnished and they went to meat, and thus did they sit;\nHeveydd Hen was on one side of Pwyll, and Rhiannon on the other.  And all\nthe rest according to their rank.  And they eat and feasted and talked\none with another, and at the beginning of the carousal after the meat,\nthere entered a tall auburn-haired youth, of royal bearing, clothed in a\ngarment of satin.  And when he came into the hall, he saluted Pwyll and\nhis companions.  \"The greeting of Heaven be unto thee, my soul,\" said\nPwyll, \"come thou and sit down.\"  \"Nay,\" said he, \"a suitor am I, and I\nwill do mine errand.\"  \"Do so willingly,\" said Pwyll.  \"Lord,\" said he,\n\"my errand is unto thee, and it is to crave a boon of thee that I come.\"\n\"What boon soever thou mayest ask of me, as far as I am able, thou shall\nhave.\"  \"Ah,\" said Rhiannon, \"Wherefore didst thou give that answer?\"\n\"Has he not given it before the presence of these nobles?\" asked the\nyouth.  \"My soul,\" said Pwyll, \"what is the boon thou askest?\"  \"The lady\nwhom best I love is to be thy bride this night; I come to ask her of\nthee, with the feast and the banquet that are in this place.\"  And Pwyll\nwas silent because of the answer which he had given.  \"Be silent as long\nas thou wilt,\" said Rhiannon.  \"Never did man make worse use of his wits\nthan thou hast done.\"  \"Lady,\" said he, \"I knew not who he was.\"  \"Behold,\nthis is the man to whom they would have given me against my will,\" said\nshe.  \"And he is Gwawl the son of Clud, a man of great power and wealth,\nand because of the word thou hast spoken, bestow me upon him lest shame\nbefall thee.\"  \"Lady,\" said he, \"I understand not thine answer.  Never\ncan I do as thou sayest.\"  \"Bestow me upon him,\" said she, \"and I will\ncause that I shall never be his.\"  \"By what means will that be?\" asked\nPwyll.  \"In thy hand will I give thee a small bag,\" said she.  \"See that\nthou keep it well, and he will ask of thee the banquet, and the feast,\nand the preparations which are not in thy power.  Unto the hosts and the\nhousehold will I give the feast.  And such will be thy answer respecting\nthis.  And as concerns myself, I will engage to become his bride this\nnight twelvemonth.  And at the end of the year be thou here,\" said she,\n\"and bring this bag with thee, and let thy hundred knights be in the\norchard up yonder.  And when he is in the midst of joy and feasting, come\nthou in by thyself, clad in ragged garments, and holding thy bag in thy\nhand, and ask nothing but a bagfull of food, and I will cause that if all\nthe meat and liquor that are in these seven Cantrevs were put into it, it\nwould be no fuller than before.  And after a great deal has been put\ntherein, he will ask thee, whether thy bag will ever be full.  Say thou\nthen that it never will, until a man of noble birth and of great wealth\narise and press the food in the bag, with both his feet saying, 'Enough\nhas been put therein;' and I will cause him to go and tread down the food\nin the bag, and when he does so, turn thou the bag, so that he shall be\nup over his head in it, and then slip a knot upon the thongs of the bag.\nLet there be also a good bugle horn about thy neck, and as soon as thou\nhast bound him in the bag, wind thy horn, and let it be a signal between\nthee and thy knights.  And when they hear the sound of the horn, let them\ncome down upon the palace.\"  \"Lord,\" said Gwawl, \"it is meet that I have\nan answer to my request.\"  \"As much of that thou hast asked as it is in\nmy power to give, thou shalt have,\" replied Pwyll.  \"My soul,\" said\nRhiannon unto him, \"as for the feast and the banquet that are here, I\nhave bestowed them upon the men of Dyved, and the household, and the\nwarriors that are with us.  These can I not suffer to be given to any.  In\na year from to-night a banquet shall be prepared for thee in this palace,\nthat I may become thy bride.\"\n\nSo Gwawl went forth to his possessions, and Pwyll went also back to\nDyved.  And they both spent that year until it was the time for the feast\nat the palace of Heveydd Hen.  Then Gwawl the son of Clud set out to the\nfeast that was prepared for him, and he came to the palace, and was\nreceived there with rejoicing.  Pwyll, also, the chief of Annwn came to\nthe orchard with his hundred knights, as Rhiannon had commanded him,\nhaving the bag with him.  And Pwyll was clad in coarse and ragged\ngarments, and wore large clumsy old shoes upon his feet.  And when he\nknew that the carousal after the meat had begun, he went towards the\nhall, and when he came into the hall, he saluted Gwawl the son of Clud,\nand his company, both men and women.  \"Heaven prosper thee,\" said Gwawl,\n\"and the greeting of Heaven be unto thee.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"May Heaven\nreward thee, I have an errand unto thee.\"  \"Welcome be thine errand, and\nif thou ask of me that which is just, thou shalt have it gladly.\"  \"It is\nfitting,\" answered he. {26}  \"I crave but from want, and the boon that I\nask is to have this small bag that thou seest filled with meat.\"  \"A\nrequest within reason is this,\" said he, \"and gladly shalt thou have it.\nBring him food.\"  A great number of attendants arose and begun to fill\nthe bag, but for all that they put into it, it was no fuller than at\nfirst.  \"My soul,\" said Gwawl, \"will thy bag be ever full?\"  \"It will\nnot, I declare to Heaven,\" said he, \"for all that may be put into it,\nunless one possessed of lands, and domains, and treasure, shall arise and\ntread down with both his feet the food that is within the bag, and shall\nsay, 'Enough has been put herein.'\"  Then said Rhiannon unto Gwawl the\nson of Clud, \"Rise up quickly.\"  \"I will willingly arise,\" said he.  So\nhe rose up, and put his two feet into the bag.  And Pwyll turned up the\nsides of the bag, so that Gwawl was over his head in it.  And he shut it\nup quickly and slipped a knot upon the thongs, and blew his horn.  And\nthereupon behold his household came down upon the palace.  And they\nseized all the host that had come with Gwawl, and cast them into his own\nprison.  And Pwyll threw off his rags, and his old shoes, and his\ntattered array; and as they came in, every one of Pwyll's knights struck\na blow upon the bag, and asked, \"What is here?\"  \"A Badger,\" said they.\nAnd in this manner they played, each of them striking the bag, either\nwith his foot or with a staff.  And thus played they with the bag.  Every\none as he came in asked, \"What game are you playing at thus?\"  \"The game\nof Badger in the Bag,\" said they.  And then was the game of Badger in the\nBag first played.\n\n\"Lord,\" said the man in the bag, \"If thou wouldest but hear me, I merit\nnot to be slain in a bag.\"  Said Heveydd Hen, \"Lord, he speaks truth.  It\nwere fitting that thou listen to him, for he deserves not this.\"\n\"Verily,\" said Pwyll, \"I will do thy counsel concerning him.\"  \"Behold\nthis is my counsel then,\" said Rhiannon; \"Thou art now in a position in\nwhich it behoves thee to satisfy suitors and minstrels, let him give unto\nthem in thy stead, and take a pledge from him that he will never seek to\nrevenge that which has been done to him.  And this will be punishment\nenough.\"  \"I will do this gladly,\" said the man in the bag.  \"And gladly\nwill I accept it,\" said Pwyll, \"since it is the counsel of Heveydd and\nRhiannon.\"  \"Such then is our counsel,\" answered they.  \"I accept it,\"\nsaid Pwyll.  \"Seek thyself sureties.\"  \"We will be for him,\" said\nHeveydd, \"until his men be free to answer for him.\"  And upon this he was\nlet out of the bag, and his liegemen were liberated.  \"Demand now of\nGwawl his sureties,\" said Heveydd, \"we know which should be taken for\nhim.\"  And Heveydd numbered the sureties.  Said Gwawl, \"Do thou thyself\ndraw up the covenant.\"  \"It will suffice me that it be as Rhiannon said,\"\nanswered Pwyll.  So unto that covenant were the sureties pledged.\n\"Verily, Lord,\" said Gwawl, \"I am greatly hurt, and I have many bruises.\nI have need to be anointed, with thy leave I will go forth.  I will leave\nnobles in my stead, to answer for me in all that thou shall require.\"\n\"Willingly,\" said Pwyll, \"mayest thou do thus.\"  So Gwawl went towards\nhis own possessions.\n\nAnd the hall was set in order for Pwyll and the men of his host, and for\nthem also of the palace, and they went to the tables and sat down.  And\nas they had sat that time twelvemonth, so sat they that night.  And they\neat, and feasted, and spent the night in mirth and tranquillity.  And the\ntime came that they should sleep, and Pwyll and Rhiannon went to their\nchamber.\n\nAnd next morning at the break of day, \"My Lord,\" said Rhiannon, \"arise\nand begin to give thy gifts unto the minstrels.  Refuse no one to-day\nthat may claim thy bounty.\"  \"Thus shall it be gladly,\" said Pwyll, \"both\nto-day and every day while the feast shall last.\"  So Pwyll arose, and he\ncaused silence to be proclaimed, and desired all the suitors and the\nminstrels to show and to point out what gifts were to their wish and\ndesire. {28}  And this being done the feast went on, and he denied no one\nwhile it lasted.  And when the feast was ended, Pwyll said unto Heveydd,\n\"My Lord, with thy permission I will set out for Dyved to-morrow.\"\n\"Certainly,\" said Heveydd, \"may Heaven prosper thee.  Fix also a time\nwhen Rhiannon may follow thee.\"  \"By Heaven,\" said Pwyll, \"we will go\nhence together.\"  \"Wiliest thou this, Lord?\" said Heveydd.  \"Yes, by\nHeaven,\" answered Pwyll.\n\nAnd the next day, they set forward towards Dyved, and journeyed to the\npalace of Narberth, where a feast was made ready for them.  And there\ncame to them great numbers of the chief men and the most noble ladies of\nthe land, and of these there were none to whom Rhiannon did not give some\nrich gift, either a bracelet, or a ring, or a precious stone.  And they\nruled the land prosperously both that year and the next.\n\nAnd in the third year the nobles of the land began to be sorrowful at\nseeing a man whom they loved so much, and who was moreover their lord and\ntheir foster-brother, without an heir.  And they came to him. {29}  And\nthe place where they met was Preseleu, in Dyved.  \"Lord,\" said they, \"we\nknow that thou art not so young as some of the men of this country, and\nwe fear that thou mayest not have an heir of the wife whom thou hast\ntaken.  Take therefore another wife of whom thou mayest have heirs.  Thou\ncanst not always continue with us, and though thou desire to remain as\nthou art, we will not suffer thee.\"  \"Truly,\" said Pwyll, \"we have not\nlong been joined together, and many things may yet befall.  Grant me a\nyear from this time, and for the space of a year we will abide together,\nand after that I will do according to your wishes.\"  So they granted it.\nAnd before the end of a year a son was born unto him.  And in Narberth\nwas he born; and on the night that he was born, women were brought to\nwatch the mother and the boy.  And the women slept, as did also Rhiannon,\nthe mother of the boy.  And the number of the women that were brought\ninto the chamber, was six.  And they watched for a good portion of the\nnight, and before midnight every one of them fell asleep, and towards\nbreak of day they awoke; and when they awoke, they looked where they had\nput the boy, and behold he was not there.  \"Oh,\" said one of the women,\n\"the boy is lost!\"  \"Yes,\" said another, \"and it will be small vengeance\nif we are burnt or put to death because of the child.\"  Said one of the\nwomen, \"Is there any counsel for us in the world in this matter?\"  \"There\nis,\" answered another, \"I offer you good counsel.\"  \"What is that?\" asked\nthey.  \"There is here a stag-hound bitch, and she has a litter of whelps.\nLet us kill some of the cubs, and rub the blood on the face and hands of\nRhiannon, and lay the bones before her, and assert that she herself had\ndevoured her son, and she alone will not be able to gainsay us six.\"  And\naccording to this counsel it wast settled.  And towards morning Rhiannon\nawoke, and she said, \"Women, where is my son?\"  \"Lady,\" said they, \"ask\nus not concerning thy son, we have nought but the blows and the bruises\nwe got by struggling with thee, and of a truth we never saw any woman so\nviolent as thou, for it was of no avail to contend with thee.  Hast thou\nnot thyself devoured thy son?  Claim him not therefore of us.\"  \"For\npity's sake,\" said Rhiannon; \"The Lord God knows all things.  Charge me\nnot falsely. {30}  If you tell me this from fear, I assert before Heaven\nthat I will defend you.\"  \"Truly,\" said they, \"we would not bring evil on\nourselves for any one in the world.\"  \"For pity's sake,\" said Rhiannon;\n\"you will receive no evil by telling the truth.\"  But for all her words,\nwhether fair or harsh, {31a} she received but the same answer from the\nwomen.\n\nAnd Pwyll the chief of Annwvyn arose, and his household, and his hosts.\nAnd this occurrence could not be concealed, but the story went forth\nthroughout the land, and all the nobles heard it.  Then the nobles came\nto Pwyll, and besought him to put away his wife, because of the great\n{31b} crime which she had done.  But Pwyll answered them, that they had\nno cause wherefore they might ask him to put away his wife, save for her\nhaving no children.  \"But children has she now had, therefore will I not\nput her away, if she has done wrong, let her do penance for it.\"\n\nSo Rhiannon sent for the teachers and the wise men, and as she preferred\ndoing penance to contending with the women, she took upon her a penance.\nAnd the penance that was imposed upon her was, that she should remain in\nthat palace of Narberth until the end of seven years, and that she should\nsit every day near unto a horse-block that was without the gate.  And\nthat she should relate the story to all who should come there, whom she\nmight suppose not to know it already; and that she should offer the\nguests and strangers, if they would permit her, to carry them upon her\nback into the palace.  But it rarely happened that any would permit.  And\nthus did she spend part of the year.\n\nNow at that time Teirnyon Twryv Vliant was Lord of Gwent Is Coed, and he\nwas the best man in the world.  And unto his house there belonged a mare,\nthan which neither mare nor horse in the kingdom was more beautiful.  And\non the night of every first of May she foaled, and no one ever knew what\nbecame of the colt.  And one night Teirnyon talked with his wife; \"Wife,\"\nsaid he, \"it is very simple of us that our mare should foal every year,\nand that we should have none of her colts.\"  \"What can be done in the\nmatter?\" said she.  \"This is the night of the first of May,\" said he.\n\"The vengeance of Heaven be upon me, if I learn not what it is that takes\naway the colts.\"  So he caused the mare to be brought into a house, and\nhe armed himself, and began to watch that night.  And in the beginning of\nthe night, the mare foaled a large and beautiful colt.  And it was\nstanding up in the place.  And Teirnyon rose up and looked at the size of\nthe colt, and as he did so he heard a great tumult, and after the tumult\nbehold a claw came through the window into the house, and it seized the\ncolt by the mane.  Then Teirnyon drew his sword, and struck off the arm\nat the elbow, so that portion of the arm together with the colt was in\nthe house with him.  And then did he hear a tumult and wailing, both at\nonce.  And he opened the door, and rushed out in the direction of the\nnoise, and he could not see the cause of the tumult, because of the\ndarkness of the night; but he rushed after it and followed it.  Then he\nremembered that he had left the door open, and he returned.  And at the\ndoor behold there was an infant boy in swaddling clothes, wrapped around\nin a mantle of satin.  And he took up the boy, and behold he was very\nstrong for the age that he was of.\n\nThen he shut the door, and went unto the chamber where his wife was.\n\"Lady,\" said he, \"art thou sleeping?\"  \"No, Lord,\" said she, \"I was\nasleep, but as thou camest in I did awake.\"  \"Behold here is a boy for\nthee if thou wilt,\" said he, \"since thou hast never had one.\"  \"My Lord,\"\nsaid she, \"What adventure is this?\"  \"It was thus,\" said Teirnyon; and he\ntold her how it all befell.  \"Verily, Lord,\" said she, \"What sort of\ngarments are there upon the boy?\"  \"A mantle of satin,\" said he.  \"He is\nthen a boy of gentle lineage,\" she replied.  \"My Lord,\" she said, \"if\nthou wilt, I shall have great diversion and mirth.  I will call my women\nunto me, and tell them that I have been pregnant.\"  \"I will readily grant\nthee to do this,\" he answered.  And thus did they, and they caused the\nboy to be baptized, and the ceremony was performed there; {33} and the\nname which they gave unto him, was Gwri Wallt Euryn, because what hair\nwas upon his head was as yellow as gold.  And they had the boy nursed in\nthe court until he was a year old.  And before the year was over, he\ncould walk stoutly.  And he was larger than a boy of three years old,\neven one of great growth and size.  And the boy was nursed the second\nyear, and then he was as large as a child six years old.  And before the\nend of the fourth year, he would bribe the grooms to allow him to take\nthe horses to water.  \"My Lord,\" said his wife unto Teirnyon, \"Where is\nthe colt which thou didst save on the night that thou foundest the boy?\"\n\"I have commanded the grooms of the horses,\" said he, \"that they take\ncare of him.\"  \"Would it not be well, Lord,\" said she, \"if thou wert to\ncause him to be broken in, and given to the boy, seeing that on the same\nnight that thou didst find the boy, the colt was foaled and thou didst\nsave him.\"  \"I will not oppose thee in this matter,\" said Teirnyon.  \"I\nwill allow thee to give him the colt.\"  \"Lord,\" said she, \"may Heaven\nreward thee; I will give it him.\"  So the horse was given to the boy.\nThen she went to the grooms and those who tended the horses, and\ncommanded them to be careful of the horse, so that he might be broken in\nby the time that the boy could ride him.\n\nAnd while these things were going forward, they heard tidings of Rhiannon\nand her punishment.  And Teirnyon Twryv Vliant, by reason of the pity\nthat he felt on hearing this story of Rhiannon, and her punishment,\nenquired closely concerning it, until he had heard from many of those who\ncame to his court.  Then did Teirnyon, often lamenting the sad history,\nponder within himself, and he looked steadfastly on the boy, and as he\nlooked upon him, it seemed to him that he had never beheld so great a\nlikeness between father and son, as between the boy and Pwyll, the chief\nof Annwvyn.  Now the semblance of Pwyll was well known to him, for he had\nof yore been one of his followers.  And thereupon he became grieved for\nthe wrong that he did, in keeping with him a boy whom he knew to be the\nson of another man.  And the first time that he was alone with his wife,\nhe told her, that it was not right that they should keep the boy with\nthem, and suffer so excellent a lady as Rhiannon to be punished so\ngreatly on his account, whereas the boy was the son of Pwyll, the chief\nof Annwvyn.  And Teirnyon's wife agreed with him, that they should send\nthe boy to Pwyll.  \"And three things, Lord,\" said she, \"shall we gain\nthereby.  Thanks and gifts for releasing Rhiannon from her punishment;\nand thanks from Pwyll, for nursing his son, and restoring him unto him;\nand thirdly, if the boy is of gentle nature, he will be our foster-son,\nand he will do for us all the good in his power.\"  So it was settled\naccording to this counsel.\n\nAnd no later than the next day was Teirnyon equipped, and two other\nknights with him.  And the boy, as a fourth in their company, went with\nthem upon the horse which Teirnyon had given him.  And they journeyed\ntowards Narberth, and it was not long before they reached that place.  And\nas they drew near to the palace, they beheld Rhiannon sitting beside the\nhorse block.  And when they were opposite to her.  \"Chieftain,\" said she,\n\"go not further thus, I will bear every one of you into the palace, and\nthis is my penance for slaying my own son and devouring him.\"   \"Oh fair\nlady,\" said Teirnyon, \"think not that I will be one to be carried upon\nthy back.\"  \"Neither will I,\" said the boy.  \"Truly, my soul,\" said\nTeirnyon, \"we will not go.\" {35}  So they went forward to the palace, and\nthere was great joy at their coming.  And at the palace a feast was\nprepared, because Pwyll was come back from the confines of Dyved.  And\nthey went into the hall and washed, and Pwyll rejoiced to see Teirnyon.\nAnd in this order they sat.  Teirnyon between Pwyll and Rhiannon, and\nTeirnyon's two companions on the other side of Pwyll, with the boy\nbetween them.  And after meat they began to carouse and to discourse.  And\nTeirnyon's discourse was concerning the adventure of the mare and the\nboy, and how he and his wife had nursed and reared the child as their\nown.  \"And behold here is thy son, lady,\" said Teirnyon.  \"And whosoever\ntold that lie concerning thee, has done wrong.  And when I heard of thy\nsorrow, I was troubled and grieved.  And I believe that there is none of\nthis host, who will not perceive that the boy is the son of Pwyll,\" said\nTeirnyon.  \"There is none,\" said they all, \"who is not certain thereof.\"\n\"I declare to Heaven,\" said Rhiannon, \"that if this be true, there indeed\nis an end to my trouble.\" {36a}  \"Lady,\" said Pendaran Dyved, \"well hast\nthou named thy son Pryderi, and well becomes him the name of Pryderi, son\nof Pwyll, chief of Annwvyn.\"  \"Look you,\" said Rhiannon, \"will not his\nown name become him better?\"  \"What name has he?\" asked Pendaran Dyved.\n\"Gwri Wallt Euryn, is the name that we gave him.\"  \"Pryderi,\" said\nPendaran, \"shall his name be.\"  \"It were more proper,\" said Pwyll, \"that\nthe boy should take his name from the word his mother spoke when she\nreceived the joyful tidings of him.\"  And thus was it arranged.\n\n\"Teirnyon,\" said Pwyll, \"Heaven reward thee that thou hast reared the boy\nup to this time, and, being of gentle lineage, {36b} it were fitting that\nhe repay thee for it.\"  \"My Lord,\" said Teirnyon, \"It was my wife who\nnursed him, and there is no one in the world so afflicted as she at\nparting with him.  It were well that he should bear in mind what I and my\nwife have done for him.\"  \"I call Heaven to witness,\" said Pwyll, \"that\nwhile I live I will support thee and thy possessions, as long as I am\nable to preserve my own.  And when he shall have power, he will more\nfitly maintain them than I. {37a}  And if this counsel be pleasing unto\nthee, and to my nobles, it shall be that, as thou hast reared him up to\nthe present time, I will give him to be brought up by Pendaran Dyved,\nfrom henceforth.  And you shall be companions and shall both be foster-\nfathers unto him.\"  \"This is good counsel,\" said they all.  So the boy\nwas given to Pendaran Dyved, and the nobles of the land were sent with\nhim.  And Teirnyon Twryv Vliant, and his companions, set out for his\ncountry, and his possessions, with love and gladness.  And he went not\nwithout being offered the fairest jewels and the fairest horses and the\nchoicest dogs; but he would take none of them.\n\nThereupon they all remained in their own dominions.  And Pryderi, the son\nof Pwyll the chief of Annwvyn, was brought up carefully as was fit, so\nthat he became the fairest youth, and the most comely, and the best\nskilled in all good games, of any in the kingdom.  And thus passed years\nand years, until the end of Pwyll the chief of Annwvyn's life came, and\nhe died.\n\nAnd Pryderi ruled the seven Cantrevs of Dyved prosperously, and he was\nbeloved by his people, and by all around him.  And at length {37b} he\nadded unto them the three Cantrevs of Ystrad Tywi and the four Cantrevs\nof Cardigan; and these were called the Seven Cantrevs of Seissyllwch.  And\nwhen he made this addition, Pryderi the son of Pwyll the chief of\nAnnwvyn, desired to take a wife.  And the wife he chose was Kicva, the\ndaughter of Gwynn Gohoyw, the son of Gloyw Wlallt {38} Lydan, the son of\nPrince Casnar, one of the nobles of this island.\n\nAnd thus ends this portion of the Mabinogion.\n\n{Picture: p38.jpg}\n\n\n\n\nBRANWEN THE DAUGHTER OF LLYR.\n\n\n{Picture: p39.jpg}\n\nBendigeid Vran, the son of Llyr was the crowned king of this Island, and\nhe was exalted from the crown of London. {39a}  And one afternoon he was\nat Harlech in Ardudwy, at his court, and he sat upon the rock of Harlech,\nlooking over the sea. {39b}  And with him were his brother Manawyddan the\nson of Llyr, and his brothers by the mother's side, Nissyen and\nEvnissyen, and many nobles likewise, as was fitting to see around a king.\nHis two brothers by the mother's side were the sons of Eurosswydd, by his\nmother, Penardun, {40} the daughter of Beli son of Manogan.  And one of\nthese youths was a good youth and of gentle nature, and would make peace\nbetween his kindred and cause his family to be friends when their wrath\nwas at the highest; and this one was Nissyen; but the other would cause\nstrife between his two brothers when they were most at peace.  And as\nthey sat thus, they beheld thirteen ships coming from the South of\nIreland, and making towards them, and they came with a swift motion, the\nwind being behind them, and they neared them rapidly.  \"I see ships\nafar,\" said the king, \"coming swiftly towards the land.  Command the men\nof the court that they equip themselves, and go and learn their intent.\"\nSo the men equipped themselves and went down towards them.  And when they\nsaw the ships near, certain were they that they had never seen ships\nbetter furnished.  Beautiful flags of satin were upon them.  And behold\none of the ships outstripped the others, and they saw a shield lifted up\nabove the side of the ship, and the point of the shield was upwards, in\ntoken of peace.  And the men drew near that they might hold converse.\nThen they put out boats and came towards the land.  And they saluted the\nking.  Now the king could hear them from the place where he was, upon the\nrock above their heads.  \"Heaven prosper you,\" said he, \"and be ye\nwelcome.  To whom do these ships belong and who is the chief amongst\nyou?\"  \"Lord,\" said they, \"Matholwch king of Ireland is here and these\nships belong to him.\"  \"Wherefore comes he?\" asked the king, \"and will he\ncome to the land?\"  \"He is a suitor unto thee, lord,\" said they, \"and he\nwill not land unless he have his boon.\"  \"And what may that be?\" enquired\nthe king.  \"He desires to ally himself with thee, lord,\" said they, \"and\nhe comes to ask Branwen the daughter of Llyr, that, if it seem well to\nthee, the Island of the Mighty may be leagued with Ireland and both\nbecome more powerful.\"  \"Verily,\" said he, \"let him come to land, and we\nwill take counsel thereupon.\"  And this answer was brought to Matholwch.\n\"I will go willingly,\" said he.  So he landed, and they received him\njoyfully; and great was the throng in the palace that night, between his\nhosts and those of the court; and next day they took counsel, and they\nresolved to bestow Branwen upon Matholwch.  Now she was one of the three\nchief ladies of this Island, and she was the fairest damsel in the world.\n\nAnd they fixed upon Aberffraw, as the place where she should become his\nbride.  And they went thence, and towards Aberffraw the hosts proceeded;\nMatholwch and his host in their ships; Bendigeid Vran and his host by\nland, until they came to Aberffraw.  And at Aberffraw they began the\nfeast and sat down.  And thus sat they.  The King of the Island of the\nMighty and Manawyddan the son of Llyr, on one side, and Matholwch on the\nother side, and Branwen the daughter of Llyr beside him.  And they were\nnot within a house, but under tents.  No house could ever contain\nBendigeid Vran.  And they began the banquet and caroused and discoursed.\nAnd when it was more pleasing to them to sleep than to carouse they went\nto rest, and that night Branwen became Matholwch's bride.\n\nAnd next day they arose, and all they of the court, and the officers\nbegan to equip and to range the horses and the attendants, and they\nranged them in order as far as the sea.\n\nAnd behold one day, Evnissyen, the quarrelsome man of whom it is spoken\nabove, came by chance into the place, where the horses of Matholwch were,\nand asked whose horses they might be.  \"They are the horses of Matholwch\nking of Ireland, who is married to Branwen, thy sister; his horses are\nthey.\"  \"And is it thus they have done with a maiden such as she, and\nmoreover my sister, bestowing her without my consent?  They could have\noffered no greater insult to me than this,\" said he.  And thereupon he\nrushed under the horses and cut off their lips at the teeth, and their\nears close to their heads, and their tails {42} close to their backs, and\nwherever he could clutch their eyelids, he cut them to the very bone, and\nhe disfigured the horses and rendered them useless.\n\nAnd they came with these tidings unto Matholwch, saying that the horses\nwere disfigured, and injured so that not one of them could ever be of any\nuse again.  \"Verily, lord,\" said one, \"it was an insult unto thee, and as\nsuch was it meant.\"  \"Of a truth, it is a marvel to me, that if they\ndesire to insult me, they should have given me a maiden of such high rank\nand so much beloved of her kindred, as they have done.\"  \"Lord,\" said\nanother, \"thou seest that thus it is, and there is nothing for thee to do\nbut to go to thy ships.\"  And thereupon towards his ships he set out.\n\nAnd tidings came to Bendigeid Vran that Matholwch was quitting the court\nwithout asking leave, and messengers were sent to enquire of him\nwherefore he did so.  And the messengers that went, were Iddic the son of\nAnarawd, and Heveydd Hir.  And these overtook him and asked of him what\nhe designed to do, and wherefore he went forth.  \"Of a truth,\" said he,\n\"if I had known I had not come hither.  I have been altogether insulted,\nno one had ever worse treatment than I have had here.  But one thing\nsurprises me above all.\"  \"What is that?\" asked they.  \"That Branwen the\ndaughter of Llyr, one of the three chief ladies of this Island, and the\ndaughter of the King of the Island of the Mighty, should have been given\nme as my bride, and that after that I should have been insulted; and I\nmarvel that the insult was not done me before they had bestowed upon me a\nmaiden so exalted as she.\"  \"Truly, lord, it was not the will of any that\nare of the court,\" said they, \"nor of any that are of the council that\nthou shouldest have received this insult, and as thou hast been insulted,\nthe dishonour is greater unto Bendigeid Vran than unto thee.\"  \"Verily,\"\nsaid he, \"I think so.  Nevertheless he cannot recall the insult.\"  These\nmen returned with that answer to the place where Bendigeid Vran was, and\nthey told him what reply Matholwch had given them.  \"Truly,\" said he,\n\"there are no means by which we may prevent his going away at enmity with\nus, that we will not take.\"  \"Well, lord,\" said they, \"send after him\nanother embassy.\"  \"I will do so,\" said he.  \"Arise Manawyddan son of\nLlyr, and Heveydd Hir, and Unic Glew Ysgwyd, and go after him, and tell\nhim that he shall have a sound horse for every one that has been injured.\nAnd beside that, as an atonement for the insult, he shall have a staff of\nsilver, as large and as tall as himself, and a plate of gold of the\nbreadth of his face.  And show unto him who it was that did this, and\nthat it was done against my will; but that he who did it is my brother,\nby the mother's side, and therefore it would be hard for me to put him to\ndeath.  And let him come and meet me,\" said he, \"and we will make peace\nin any way he may desire.\"\n\nThe embassy went after Matholwch, and told him all these sayings in a\nfriendly manner, and he listened thereunto.  \"Men,\" said he, \"I will take\ncounsel.\"  So to the council he went.  And in the council they considered\nthat if they should refuse this, they were likely to have more shame\nrather than to obtain so great an atonement.  They resolved therefore to\naccept it, and they returned to the court in peace.\n\nThen the pavilions and the tents were set in order after the fashion of a\nhall; and they went to meat, and as they had sat at the beginning of the\nfeast, so sat they there.  And Matholwch and Bendigeid Vran began to\ndiscourse; and behold it seemed to Bendigeid Vran, while they talked,\nthat Matholwch was not so cheerful as he had been before.  And he thought\nthat the chieftain might be sad because of the smallness of the atonement\nwhich he had, for the wrong that had been done him.  \"Oh man,\" said\nBendigeid Vran, \"thou dost not discourse to-night so cheerfully as thou\nwert wont.  And if it be because of the smallness of the atonement, thou\nshalt add thereunto whatsoever thou mayest choose, and to-morrow I will\npay thee the horses.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"Heaven reward thee.\"  \"And I\nwill enhance the atonement,\" said Bendigeid Vran, \"for I will give unto\nthee a cauldron, the property of which is, that if one of thy men be\nslain to-day, and be cast therein, to-morrow he will be as well as ever\nhe was at the best, except that he will not regain his speech.\"  And\nthereupon he gave him great thanks, and very joyful was he for that\ncause.\n\nAnd the next morning they paid Matholwch the horses as long as the\ntrained horses lasted.  And then they journeyed into another commot,\nwhere they paid him with colts until the whole had been paid, and from\nthenceforth that commot was called Talebolion.\n\n{Picture: p46.jpg}\n\nAnd a second night sat they together.  \"My lord,\" said Matholwch, \"whence\nhadst thou the cauldron which thou hast given me?\"  \"I had it of a man\nwho had been in thy land,\" said he, \"and I would not give it except to\none from there.\" {45}  \"Who was it?\" asked he.  \"Llassar Llaesgyvnewid;\nhe came here from Ireland, with Kymideu Kymeinvoll, his wife, who escaped\nfrom the Iron House in Ireland, when it was made red hot around them, and\nfled hither.  And it is a marvel to me that thou shouldst know nothing\nconcerning the matter.\"  \"Something I do know,\" said he, \"and as much as\nI know I will tell thee.  One day I was hunting in Ireland, and I came to\nthe mound at the head of the lake, which is called the Lake of the\nCauldron.  And I beheld a huge yellow-haired man coming from the lake\nwith a cauldron upon his back.  And he was a man of vast size, and of\nhorrid aspect, and a woman followed after him.  And if the man was tall,\ntwice as large as he was the woman, and they came towards me and greeted\nme.  'Verily,' asked I, 'wherefore are you journeying?'  'Behold this,'\nsaid he to me, 'is the cause that we journey.  At the end of a month and\na fortnight this woman will have a son; and the child that will be born\nat the end of the month and the fortnight will be a warrior fully armed.'\nSo I took them with me, and maintained them.  And they were with me for a\nyear.  And that year I had them with me not grudgingly.  But thenceforth\nwas there murmuring, because that they were with me.  For from the\nbeginning of the fourth month they had begun to make themselves hated and\nto be disorderly in the land; committing outrages, and molesting and\nharassing the nobles and ladies; and thenceforward my people rose up and\nbesought me to part with them, and they bade me to choose between them\nand my dominions.  And I applied to the council of my country to know\nwhat should be done concerning them; for of their own free will they\nwould not go, neither could they be compelled against their will, through\nfighting.  And [the people of the country,] being in this strait, they\ncaused a chamber to be made all of iron.  Now when the chamber was ready,\nthere came there every smith that was in Ireland, and every one who owned\ntongs and hammer.  And they caused coals to be piled up as high as the\ntop of the chamber.  And they had the man, and the woman, and the\nchildren, served with plenty of meat and drink; but when it was known\nthat they were drunk, they began to put fire to the coals about the\nchamber, and they blew it with bellows until the house was red hot all\naround them.  Then was there a council held in the centre of the floor of\nthe chamber.  And the man tarried until the plates of iron were all of a\nwhite heat; and then, by reason of the great heat, the man dashed against\nthe plates with his shoulder and struck them out, and his wife followed\nhim; but except him and his wife none escaped thence.  And then I\nsuppose, lord,\" said Matholwch unto Bendigeid Vran, \"that he came over\nunto thee.\"  \"Doubtless he came here,\" said he, \"and gave unto me the\ncauldron.\"  \"In what manner didst thou receive them?\"  \"I dispersed them\nthrough every part of my dominions, and they have become numerous and are\nprospering everywhere, and they fortify the places where they are with\nmen and arms, of the best that were ever seen.\"\n\nThat night they continued to discourse as much as they would, and had\nminstrelsy and carousing, and when it was more pleasant to them to sleep\nthan to sit longer, they went to rest.  And thus was the banquet carried\non with joyousness; and when it was finished, Matholwch journeyed towards\nIreland, and Branwen with him, and they went from Aber Menei, with\nthirteen ships and came to Ireland.  And in Ireland was there great joy\nbecause of their coming.  And not one great man or noble lady visited\nBranwen unto whom she gave not either a clasp, or a ring, or a royal\njewel to keep, such as it was honourable to be seen departing with.  And\nin these things she spent that year in much renown, and she passed her\ntime pleasant, enjoying honour and friendship.  And in the meanwhile, it\nchanced that she became pregnant, and in due time a son was born unto\nher, and the name that they gave him was Gwern the son of Matholwch, and\nthey put the boy out to be foster-nursed, in a place where were the best\nmen of Ireland.\n\nAnd behold in the second year a tumult arose in Ireland, on account of\nthe insult which Matholwch had received in Wales, and the payment made\nhim for his horses.  And his foster-brothers, and such as were nearest\nunto him, blamed him openly {48a} for that matter.  And he might have no\npeace by reason of the tumult until they should revenge upon him this\ndisgrace.  And the vengeance which they took was to drive away Branwen\nfrom the same chamber with him, and to make her cook {48b} for the court;\nand they caused the butcher, after he had cut up the meat, to come to her\nand give her every day a blow on the ear, and such they made her\npunishment.\n\n\"Verily, lord,\" said his men to Matholwch, \"forbid now the ships and the\nferry boats and the coracles, that they go not into Wales, and such as\ncome over from Wales hither, imprison them that they go not back for this\nthing to be known there.\"  And they did so; and it was thus for no less\nthan three years.\n\n{Picture: p49.jpg}\n\nAnd Branwen reared a starling in the cover of the kneading trough, and\nshe taught it to speak, and she taught the bird what manner of man her\nbrother was.  And she wrote a letter of her woes, and the despite with\nwhich she was treated, and she bound the letter to the root of the bird's\nwing, and sent it towards Wales.  And the bird came to this Island, and\none day it found Bendigeid Vran at Caer Seiont in Arvon, conferring\nthere, and it alighted upon his shoulder and ruffled its feathers, so\nthat the letter was seen, and they knew that the bird had been reared in\na domestic manner.\n\nThen Bendigeid Vran took the letter and looked upon it.  And when he had\nread the letter, he grieved exceedingly at the tidings of Branwen's woes.\nAnd immediately he began sending messengers to summon the Island\ntogether.  And he caused seven score and four countries to come unto him,\nand he complained to them himself of the grief that his sister endured.\nSo they took counsel.  And in the counsel they resolved to go to Ireland,\nand to leave seven men as princes here.  And Caradawc the son of Bran, as\nthe chief of them, and their seven knights.  In Edeyrnion, were these men\nleft.  And for this reason were the seven knights placed in the town.\n{50a}  Now the names of these seven were Caradawc the son of Bran, and\nHeveydd Hir, and Unic Glew Ysgwyd, and Iddic the son of Anarawc\nGwalltgrwn, and Fodor the son of Ervyll, and Gwlch Minascwrn, and Llassar\nthe son of Llaesar Llaesgygwyd, and Pendaran Dyved as a young page with\nthem.  And these abode as seven ministers to take charge of this Island;\nand Caradawc the son of Bran was the chief amongst them.\n\nBendigeid Vran, with the hosts of which we spoke, sailed towards Ireland,\nand it was not far across the sea, and he came to shoal water.  It was\nbut by two rivers; the Lli and the Archan were they called; and the\nnations covered the sea. {50b}  Then he proceeded with what provisions he\nhad on his own back, and approached the shore of Ireland.\n\nNow the swineherds of Matholwch were upon the sea shore, and they came to\nMatholwch.  \"Lord,\" said they, \"greeting be unto thee.\"  \"Heaven protect\nyou,\" said he, \"have you any news?\"  \"Lord,\" said they, \"we have\nmarvellous news; a wood have we seen upon the sea, in a place where we\nnever yet saw a single tree.\"  \"This is indeed a marvel,\" said he; \"saw\nyou aught else?\"  \"We saw, lord,\" said they, \"a vast mountain beside the\nwood, which moved, and there was a lofty ridge on the top of the\nmountain, and a lake on each side of the ridge.  And the wood, and the\nmountain, and all these things moved.\"  \"Verily,\" said he, \"there is none\nwho can know aught concerning this, unless it be Branwen.\"\n\nMessengers then went unto Branwen.  \"Lady,\" said they, \"What thinkest\nthou that this is?\"  \"The men of the Island of the Mighty, who have come\nhither on hearing of my ill treatment and my woes.\"  \"What is the forest\nthat is seen upon the sea?\" asked they.  \"The yards and the masts of\nships,\" she answered.  \"Alas,\" said they, \"what is the mountain that is\nseen by the side of the ships?\"  \"Bendigeid Vran, my brother,\" she\nreplied, \"coming to shoal water; there is no ship that can contain him in\nit.\"  \"What is the lofty ridge with the lake on each side thereof?\"  \"On\nlooking towards this Island he is wroth, and his two eyes on each side of\nhis nose are the two lakes on each side of the ridge.\"\n\nThe warriors and chief men of Ireland were brought together in haste, and\nthey took counsel.  \"Lord,\" said the nobles unto Matholwch, \"there is no\nother counsel than to retreat over the Linon, (a river which is {52a} in\nIreland,) and to keep the river between thee and him, and to break down\nthe bridge that is across the river, for there is a load-stone at the\nbottom of the river that neither ship nor vessel can pass over.\"  So they\nretreated across the river, and broke down the bridge.\n\nBendigeid Vran came to land, and the fleet with him by the bank of the\nriver.  \"Lord,\" said his chieftains, \"knowest thou the nature of this\nriver, that nothing can go across it, and there is no bridge over it?\"\n\"What,\" said they, \"is thy counsel concerning a bridge?\"  \"There is\nnone,\" said he, \"except that he who will be chief let him be a bridge.  I\nwill be so,\" said he.  And then was that saying first uttered, and it is\nstill used as a proverb.  And when he had lain down across the river,\nhurdles were placed upon him, and the host passed over thereby.\n\nAnd as he rose up, behold the messengers of Matholwch came to him, and\nsaluted him, and gave him greeting in the name of Matholwch, his kinsman,\nand showed how that of his good will he had merited of him nothing but\ngood.  \"For Matholwch has given the kingdom of Ireland to Gwern the son\nof Matholwch, thy nephew and thy sister's son.  And this he places before\nthee, as a compensation for the wrong and despite that has been done unto\nBranwen.  And Matholwch shall be maintained wheresoever thou wilt, either\nhere or in the Island of the Mighty.\"  Said Bendigeid Vran, \"Shall not I\nmyself have the kingdom? {52b}  Then peradventure I may take counsel\nconcerning your message.  From this time until then no other answer will\nyou get from me.\"  \"Verily,\" said they, \"the best message that we receive\nfor thee, we will convey it unto thee, and do thou await our message unto\nhim.\"  \"I will wait,\" answered he, \"and do you return quickly.\"\n\nThe messengers set forth and came to Matholwch.  \"Lord,\" said they,\n\"prepare a better message for Bendigeid Vran.  He would not listen at all\nto the message that we bore him.\"  \"My friends,\" said Matholwch, \"what\nmay be your counsel?\"  \"Lord,\" said they, \"there is no other counsel than\nthis alone.  He was never known to be within a house, make therefore a\nhouse that will contain him and the men of the Island of the Mighty on\nthe one side, and thyself and thy host on the other; and give over thy\nkingdom to his will, and do him homage.  So by reason of the honour thou\ndoest him in making him a house, whereas he never before had a house to\ncontain him, he will make peace with thee.\"  So the messengers went back\nto Bendigeid Vran, bearing him this message.\n\nAnd he took counsel, and in the council it was resolved that he should\naccept this, and this was all done by the advice of Branwen, and lest the\ncountry should be destroyed.  And this peace was made, and the house was\nbuilt both vast and strong.  But the Irish planned a crafty device, and\nthe craft was that they should put brackets on each side of the hundred\npillars that were in the house, and should place a leathern bag on each\nbracket, and an armed man in every one of them.  Then Evnissyen came in\nbefore the host of the Island of the Mighty, and scanned the house with\nfierce and savage looks, and descried the leathern bags which were around\nthe pillars.  \"What is in this bag?\" asked he of one of the Irish.  \"Meal,\ngood soul,\" said he.  And Evnissyen felt about it until he came to the\nman's head, and he squeezed the head until he felt his fingers meet\ntogether in the brain through the bone.  And he left that one and put his\nhand upon another, and asked what was therein?  \"Meal,\" said the\nIrishman.  So he did the like unto every one of them, until he had not\nleft alive of all the two hundred men save one only; and when he came to\nhim, he asked what was there?  \"Meal, good soul,\" said the Irishman.  And\nhe felt about until he felt the head, and he squeezed that head as he had\ndone the others.  And albeit he found that the head of this one was\narmed, he left him not until he had killed him.  And then he sang an\nEnglyn,--\n\n   \"There is in this bag a different sort of meal,\n   The ready combatant, when the assault is made\n   By his fellow warriors, prepared for battle.\"\n\nThereupon came the hosts unto the house.  The men of the Island of\nIreland entered the house on the one side, and the men of the Island of\nthe Mighty on the other.  And as soon as they had sat down, there was\nconcord between them; and the sovereignty was conferred upon the boy.\nWhen the peace was concluded, Bendigeid Vran called the boy unto him, and\nfrom Bendigeid Vran the boy went unto Manawyddan, and he was beloved by\nall that beheld him.  And from Manawyddan the boy was called by Nissyen\nthe son of Eurosswydd, and the boy went unto him lovingly.  \"Wherefore,\"\nsaid Evnissyen, \"comes not my nephew the son of my sister unto me?  Though\nhe were not king of Ireland, yet willingly would I fondle the boy.\"\n\"Cheerfully let him go to thee,\" said Bendigeid Vran, and the boy went\nunto him cheerfully.  \"By my confession to Heaven,\" said Evnissyen in his\nheart, \"unthought of by the household is the slaughter that I will this\ninstant commit.\"\n\nThen he arose and took up the boy by the feet, and before any one in the\nhouse could seize hold of him, he thrust the boy headlong into the\nblazing fire.  And when Branwen saw her son burning in the fire, she\nstrove to leap into the fire also, from the place where she sat between\nher two brothers.  But Bendigeid Vran grasped her with one hand, and his\nshield with the other.  Then they all hurried about the house, and never\nwas there made so great a tumult by any host in one house as was made by\nthem, as each man armed himself.  Then said Morddwydtyllyon, \"The gad-\nflies of Morddwydtyllyon's Cow!\"  And while they all sought their arms,\nBendigeid Vran supported Branwen between his shield and his shoulder.\n\nThen the Irish kindled a fire under the cauldron of renovation, and they\ncast the dead bodies into the cauldron until it was full, and the next\nday they came forth fighting men as good as before, except that they were\nnot able to speak.  Then when Evnissyen saw the dead bodies of the men of\nthe Island of the Mighty nowhere resuscitated, he said in his heart,\n\"Alas! woe is me, that I should have been the cause of bringing the men\nof the Island of the Mighty into so great a strait.  Evil betide me if I\nfind not a deliverance therefrom.\"  And he cast himself among the dead\nbodies of the Irish, and two unshod Irishmen came to him, and, taking him\nto be one of the Irish, flung him into the cauldron.  And he stretched\nhimself out in the cauldron, so that he rent the cauldron into four\npieces, and burst his own heart also.\n\nIn consequence of that, the men of the Island of the Mighty obtained such\nsuccess as they had; but they were not victorious, for only seven men of\nthem all escaped, and Bendigeid Vran himself was wounded in the foot with\na poisoned dart.  Now the seven men that escaped were Pryderi,\nManawyddan, Gluneu {56a} Eil Taran, Taliesin, Ynawc, Grudyen {56b} the\nson of Muryel, and Heilyn the son of Gwynn Hen.\n\nAnd Bendigeid Vran commanded them that they should cut off his head.  \"And\ntake you my head,\" said he, \"and bear it even unto the White Mount, in\nLondon, and bury it there, with the face towards France.  And a long time\nwill you be upon the road.  In Harlech you will be feasting seven years,\nthe birds of Rhiannon singing unto you the while.  And all that time the\nhead will be to you as pleasant company as it ever was when on my body.\nAnd at Gwales in Penvro you will be fourscore years, and you may remain\nthere, and the head with you uncorrupted, until you open the door that\nlooks towards Aber Henvelen, and towards Cornwall.  And after you have\nopened that door, there you may no longer tarry, set forth then to London\nto bury the head and go straight forward.\"\n\nSo they cut off his head, and these seven went forward therewith.  And\nBranwen was the eighth with them, and they came to land at Aber Alaw, in\nTalebolyon, and they sat down to rest.  And Branwen looked towards\nIreland and towards the Island of the Mighty, to see if she could descry\nthem.  \"Alas,\" said she, \"woe is me that I was ever born; two Islands\nhave been destroyed because of me!\"  Then she uttered a loud groan and\nthere broke her heart.  And they made her a four-sided grave and buried\nher upon the banks of the Alaw.\n\nThen the seven men journeyed forward towards Harlech, bearing the head\nwith them; and as they went behold there met them a multitude of men and\nof women.  \"Have you any tidings?\" asked Manawyddan.  \"We have none,\"\nsaid they, \"save that Caswallawn, the son of Beli, has conquered the\nIsland of the Mighty, and is crowned King in London.\"  \"What has become,\"\nsaid they, \"of Caradawc the son of Bran, and the seven men who were left\nwith him in this Island?\"  \"Caswallawn came upon them, and slew six of\nthe men, and Caradawc's heart broke for grief thereof; for he could see\nthe sword that slew the men, but knew not who it was that wielded it.\nCaswallawn had flung upon him the Veil of Illusion, so that no one could\nsee him slay the men, but the sword only could they see.  And it liked\nhim not to slay Caradawc, because he was his nephew the son of his\ncousin.  And now he was the third whose heart had broke through grief.\nPendaran Dyved, who had remained as a young page with these men, escaped\ninto the wood,\" said they.\n\nThen they went on to Harlech, and there stopped to rest, and they\nprovided meat and liquor, and sat down to eat and to drink.  And there\ncame three birds, and began singing unto them a certain song, and all the\nsongs they had ever heard were unpleasant compared thereto; and the birds\nseemed to them to be at a great distance from them over the sea, yet they\nappeared as distinct as if they were close by; and at this repast they\ncontinued seven years.\n\nAnd at the close of the seventh year, they went forth to Gwales in\nPenvro.  And there they found a fair and regal spot overlooking the\nocean; and a spacious hall was therein.  And they went into the hall, and\ntwo of its doors were open, but the third door was closed, that which\nlooked towards Cornwall.  \"See, yonder,\" said Manawyddan, \"is the door\nthat we may not open.\"  And that night they regaled themselves and were\njoyful.  And of all they had seen of food laid before them, and of all\nthey had heard of, they remembered nothing; neither of that, nor of any\nsorrow whatsoever.  And there they remained fourscore years, unconscious\nof having ever spent a time more joyous and mirthful.  And they were not\nmore weary than when first they came, neither did they, any of them, know\nthe time they had been there.  And it was not more irksome to them having\nthe head with them, than if Bendigeid Vran had been with them himself.\nAnd because of these fourscore years, it was called the entertaining of\nthe noble head.  The entertaining of Branwen and Matholwch was in the\ntime that they went to Ireland.\n\nOne day said Heilyn the son of Gwynn, \"Evil betide me, if I do not open\nthe door to know if that is true which is said concerning it.\"  So he\nopened the door and looked towards Cornwall and Aber Henvelen.  And when\nthey had looked, they were as conscious of all the evils they had ever\nsustained, and of all the friends and companions they had lost, and of\nall the misery that had befallen them, as if all had happened in that\nvery spot; {59a} and especially of the fate of their lord.  And because\nof their perturbation they could not rest, {59b} but journeyed forth with\nthe head towards London.  And they buried the head in the White Mount,\nand when it was buried, this was the third goodly concealment; and it was\nthe third ill-fated disclosure when it was disinterred, inasmuch as no\ninvasion from across the sea came to this Island, while the head was in\nthat concealment.\n\nAnd thus is the story related of those who journeyed over from Ireland.\n\nIn Ireland none were left alive, except five pregnant women in a cave in\nthe Irish wilderness; and to these five women in the same night were born\nfive sons, whom they nursed until they became grown up youths.  And they\nthought about wives, and they at the same time desired to possess them,\nand each took a wife of the mothers of their companions, and they\ngoverned the country and peopled it.\n\nAnd these five divided it amongst them, and because of this partition are\nthe five divisions of Ireland still so termed.  And they examined the\nland where the battles had taken place, and they found gold and silver\nuntil they became wealthy.\n\nAnd thus ends this portion of the Mabinogi, concerning the blow given to\nBranwen, which was the third unhappy blow of this Island; and concerning\nthe entertainment of Bran, when the hosts of sevenscore countries and ten\nwent over to Ireland, to revenge the blow given to Branwen; and\nconcerning the seven years' banquet in Harlech, and the singing of the\nbirds of Rhiannon, and the sojourning of the head for the space of\nfourscore years.\n\n{Picture: p60.jpg}\n\n\n\n\nMANAWYDDAN THE SON OF LLYR.\n\n\n{Picture: p61.jpg}\n\nWhen the seven men of whom we spoke above, had buried the head of\nBendigeid Vran, in the White Mount in London, with its face towards\nFrance, Manawyddan gazed upon the town of London, and upon his\ncompanions, and heaved a great sigh, and much grief and heaviness came\nupon him.  \"Alas, Almighty Heaven, woe is me,\" he exclaimed, \"there is\nnone save myself without a resting place this night.\"  \"Lord,\" said\nPryderi, \"be not so sorrowful.  Thy cousin is king of the Island of the\nMighty, and though he should do thee wrong, thou hast never been a\nclaimant of land or possessions.  Thou art the third disinherited {62a}\nprince.\"  \"Yea,\" answered he, \"but although this man is my cousin, it\ngrieveth me to see any one in the place of my brother Bendigeid Vran,\nneither can I be happy in the same dwelling with him.\"  \"Wilt thou follow\nthe counsel of another?\" {62b} said Pryderi.  \"I stand in need of\ncounsel,\" he answered, \"and what may that counsel be?\"  \"Seven Cantrevs\nremain unto me,\" said Pryderi, \"wherein Rhiannon my mother dwells, I will\nbestow her upon thee and the seven Cantrevs with her, and though thou\nhadst no possessions but those Cantrevs only, thou couldst not have seven\nCantrevs fairer than they.  Kicva, the daughter of Gwynn Gloyw, is my\nwife, and since the inheritance of the Cantrevs belongs to me, do thou\nand Rhiannon enjoy them, and if thou ever desire any possessions thou\nwilt take these.\"  \"I do not, chieftain,\" said he; \"Heaven reward thee\nfor thy friendship.\"  \"I would show thee the best friendship in the world\nif thou wouldst let me.\"  \"I will, my friend,\" said he, \"and Heaven\nreward thee.  I will go with thee to seek Rhiannon and to look at thy\npossessions.\"  \"Thou wilt do well,\" he answered.  \"And I believe that\nthou didst never hear a lady discourse better than she, and when she was\nin her prime none was ever fairer.  Even now her aspect is not uncomely.\"\n{62c}  They set forth, and, however long the journey, they came at length\nto Dyved, and a feast was prepared for them against their coming to\nNarberth, which Rhiannon and Kicva had provided.  Then began Manawyddan\nand Rhiannon to sit and to talk together, and from their discourse his\nmind and his thoughts became warmed towards her, and he thought in his\nheart he had never beheld any lady more fulfilled of grace and beauty\nthan she.  \"Pryderi,\" said he, \"I will that it be as thou didst say.\"\n\"What saying was that?\" asked Rhiannon.  \"Lady,\" said Pryderi, \"I did\noffer thee as a wife to Manawyddan the son of Llyr.\"  \"By that will I\ngladly abide,\" said Rhiannon.  \"Right glad am I also,\" said Manawyddan,\n\"May Heaven reward him who hath shewn unto me friendship so perfect as\nthis.\"\n\nAnd before the feast was over she became his bride.  Said Pwyll, \"Tarry\nye here the rest of the feast, and I will go into England to tender my\nhomage unto Caswallawn the son of Beli.\"  \"Lord,\" said Rhiannon,\n\"Caswallawn is in Kent, thou mayest therefore tarry at the feast, and\nwait until he shall be nearer.\"  \"We will wait,\" he answered.  So they\nfinished the feast.  And they began to make the circuit of Dyved and to\nhunt, and to take their pleasure.  And as they went through the country,\nthey had never seen lands more pleasant to live in, nor better hunting\ngrounds, nor greater plenty of honey and fish.  And such was the\nfriendship between those four, that they would not be parted from each\nother by night nor by day.\n\nAnd in the midst of all this he went to Caswallawn at Oxford, and\ntendered his homage; and honourable was his reception there, and highly\nwas he praised for offering his homage.\n\nAnd after his return, Pryderi and Manawyddan feasted and took their ease\nand pleasure.  And they began a feast at Narberth, for it was the chief\npalace; and there originated all honour.  And when they had ended the\nfirst meal that night, while those who served them eat, they arose and\nwent forth, and proceeded all four to the Gorsedd of Narberth, and their\nretinue with them.  And as they sat thus, behold a peal of thunder, and\nwith the violence of the thunderstorm, lo there came a fall of mist, so\nthick that not one of them could see the other.  And after the mist it\nbecame light all around.  And when they looked towards the place where\nthey were wont to see cattle, and herds, and dwellings, they saw nothing\nnow, neither house, nor beast, nor smoke, nor fire, nor man, nor\ndwelling; but the houses of the court empty, and desert, and uninhabited,\nwithout either man, or beast within them.  And truly all their companions\nwere lost to them, without their knowing aught of what had befallen them,\nsave those four only.\n\n\"In the name of Heaven,\" cried Manawyddan, \"where are they of the court,\nand all my host beside these?  Let us go and see.\"  So they came into the\nhall, and there was no man; and they went on to the castle, and to the\nsleeping-place, and they saw none; and in the mead-cellar and in the\nkitchen there was nought but desolation.  So they four feasted, and\nhunted, and took their pleasure.  Then they began to go through the land\nand all the possessions that they had, and they visited the houses and\ndwellings, and found nothing but wild beasts.  And when they had consumed\ntheir feast and all their provisions, they fed upon the prey they killed\nin hunting, {65} and the honey of the wild swarms.  And thus they passed\nthe first year pleasantly, and the second; but at the last they began to\nbe weary.\n\n\"Verily,\" said Manawyddan, \"we must not bide thus.  Let us go into\nEngland, and seek some craft whereby we may gain our support.\"  So they\nwent into England, and came as far as Hereford.  And they betook\nthemselves to making saddles.  And Manawyddan began to make housings, and\nhe gilded and coloured them with blue enamel, in the manner that he had\nseen it done by Llasar Llaesgywydd.  And he made the blue enamel as it\nwas made by the other man.  And therefore is it still called Calch\nLassar, [blue enamel,] because Llassar Llaesgywydd had wrought it.\n\n{Picture: p65.jpg}\n\nAnd as long as that workmanship could be had of Manawyddan, neither\nsaddle nor housing was bought of a saddler throughout all Hereford; till\nat length every one of the saddlers perceived that they were losing much\nof their gain, and that no man bought of them, but he who could not get\nwhat he sought from Manawyddan.  Then they assembled together, and agreed\nto slay him and his companions.\n\nNow they received warning of this, and took counsel whether they should\nleave the city.  \"By Heaven,\" said Pryderi, \"it is not my counsel that we\nshould quit the town, but that we should slay these boors.\"  \"Not so,\"\nsaid Manawyddan, \"for if we fight with them, we shall have evil fame, and\nshall be put in prison.  It were better for us to go to another town to\nmaintain ourselves.\"  So they four went to another city.\n\n\"What craft shall we take?\" said Pryderi.  \"We will make shields,\" said\nManawyddan.  \"Do we know anything about that craft?\" said Pryderi.  \"We\nwill try,\" answered he.  There they began to make shields, and fashioned\nthem after the shape of the good shields they had seen; and they\nenamelled them, as they had done the saddles.  And they prospered in that\nplace, so that not a shield was asked for in the whole town, but such as\nwas had of them.  Rapid therefore was their work, and numberless were the\nshields they made.  But at last they were marked by the craftsmen, who\ncame together in haste, and their fellow-townsmen with them, and agreed\nthat they should seek to slay them.  But they received warning, and heard\nhow the men had resolved on their destruction.  \"Pryderi,\" said\nManawyddan, \"these men desire to slay us.\"  \"Let us not endure this from\nthese boors, but let us rather fall upon them and slay them.\"  \"Not so,\"\nhe answered, \"Caswallawn and his men will hear of it, and we shall be\nundone.  Let us go to another town.\"  So to another town they went.\n\n\"What craft shall we take?\" said Manawyddan.  \"Whatsoever thou wilt that\nwe know,\" said Pryderi.  \"Not so,\" he replied, \"but let us take to making\nshoes, for there is not courage among cordwainers either to fight with us\nor to molest us.\"  \"I know nothing thereof,\" said Pryderi.  \"But I know,\"\nanswered Manawyddan; \"and I will teach thee to stitch.  We will not\nattempt to dress the leather, but we will buy it ready dressed and will\nmake the shoes from it.\"\n\nSo he began by buying the best cordwal that could be had in the town, and\nnone other would he buy except the leather for the soles; and he\nassociated himself with the best goldsmith in the town, and caused him to\nmake clasps for the shoes, and to gild the clasps, and he marked how it\nwas done until he learned the method.  And therefore was he called one of\nthe three makers of Gold Shoes; and, when they could be had from him, not\na shoe nor hose was bought of any of the cordwainers in the town.  But\nwhen the cordwainers perceived that their gains were failing, (for as\nManawyddan shaped the work, so Pryderi stitched it,) they came together\nand took counsel, and agreed that they would slay them.\n\n\"Pryderi,\" said Manawyddan, \"these men are minded to slay us.\"  \"Wherefore\nshould we bear this from the boorish thieves?\" said Pryderi.  \"Rather let\nus slay them all.\"  \"Not so,\" said Manawyddan, \"we will not slay them,\nneither will we remain in England any longer.  Let us set forth to Dyved\nand go to see it.\"\n\nSo they journeyed along until they came to Dyved, and they went forward\nto Narberth.  And there they kindled a fire and supported themselves by\nhunting.  And thus they spent a month.  And they gathered their dogs\naround them, and tarried there one year.\n\n{Picture: p68.jpg}\n\nAnd one morning Pryderi and Manawyddan rose up to hunt, and they ranged\ntheir dogs and went forth from the palace.  And some of the dogs ran\nbefore them and came to a small bush which was near at hand; but as soon\nas they were come to the bush, they hastily drew back and returned to the\nmen, their hair bristling up greatly.  \"Let us go near to the bush,\" said\nPryderi, \"and see what is in it.\"  And as they came near, behold, a wild\nboar of a pure white colour rose up from the bush.  Then the dogs being\nset on by the men, rushed towards him, but he left the bush and fell back\na little way from the men, and made a stand against the dogs without\nretreating from them, until the men had come near.  And when the men came\nup, he fell back a second time, and betook him to flight.  Then they\npursued the boar until they beheld a vast and lofty castle, all newly\nbuilt, in a place where they had never before seen either stone or\nbuilding.  And the boar ran swiftly into the castle and the dogs after\nhim.  Now when the boar and the dogs had gone into the castle, they began\nto wonder at finding a castle in a place where they had never before then\nseen any building whatsoever.  And from the top of the Gorsedd they\nlooked and listened for the dogs.  But so long as they were there they\nheard not one of the dogs nor aught concerning them.\n\n\"Lord,\" said Pryderi, \"I will go into the castle to get tidings of the\ndogs.\"  \"Truly,\" he replied, \"thou wouldst be unwise to go into this\ncastle, which thou hast never seen till now.  If thou wouldst follow my\ncounsel, thou wouldst not enter therein.  Whosoever has cast a spell over\nthis land, has caused this castle to be here.\"  \"Of a truth,\" answered\nPryderi, \"I cannot thus give up my dogs.\"  And for all the counsel that\nManawyddan gave him, yet to the castle he went.\n\nWhen he came within the castle, neither man nor beast, nor boar nor dogs,\nnor house nor dwelling saw he within it.  But in the centre of the castle\nfloor he beheld a fountain with marble work around it, and on the margin\nof the fountain a golden bowl upon a marble slab, and chains hanging from\nthe air, to which he saw no end.\n\nAnd he was greatly pleased with the beauty of the gold, and with the rich\nworkmanship of the bowl, and he went up to the bowl and laid hold of it.\nAnd when he had taken hold of it his hands stuck to the bowl, and his\nfeet to the slab on which the bowl was placed, and all his joyousness\nforsook him, so that he could not utter a word.  And thus he stood.\n\nAnd Manawyddan waited for him till near the close of the day.  And late\nin the evening, being certain that he should have no tidings of Pryderi\nor of the dogs, he went back to the palace.  And as he entered, Rhiannon\nlooked at him, \"Where,\" said she, \"are thy companion and thy dogs?\"\n\"Behold,\" he answered, \"the adventure that has befallen me.\"  And he\nrelated it all unto her.  \"An evil companion hast thou been,\" said\nRhiannon, \"and a good companion hast thou lost.\"  And with that word she\nwent out, and proceeded towards the castle according to the direction\nwhich he gave her.  The gate of the castle she found open.  She was\nnothing daunted, and she went in.  And as she went in, she perceived\nPryderi laying hold of the bowl, and she went towards him.  \"Oh my lord,\"\nsaid she, \"what dost thou here?\"  And she took hold of the bowl with him;\nand as she did so, her hands also became fast to the bowl, and her feet\nto the slab, and she was not able to utter a word.  And with that, as it\nbecame night, lo there came thunder upon them, and a fall of mist, and\nthereupon the castle vanished, and they with it.\n\nWhen Kicva the daughter of Gwynn Gloew saw that there was no one in the\npalace but herself and Manawyddan, she sorrowed so that she cared not\nwhether she lived or died.  And Manawyddan saw this.  \"Thou art in the\nwrong,\" said he, \"if through fear of me thou grievest thus.  I call\nHeaven to witness that thou hast never seen friendship more pure than\nthat which I will bear thee, as long as Heaven will that thou shouldst be\nthus.  I declare to thee that were I in the dawn of youth I would keep my\nfaith unto Pryderi, and unto thee also will I keep it.  Be there no fear\nupon thee, therefore,\" said he, \"for Heaven is my witness that thou shall\nmeet with all the friendship thou canst wish, and that it is in my power\nto show thee, as long as it shall please Heaven to continue us in this\ngrief and woe.\"  \"Heaven reward thee,\" she said, \"and that is what I\ndeemed of thee.\"  And the damsel thereupon took courage and was glad.\n\n\"Truly, lady,\" said Manawyddan, \"it is not fitting for us to stay here,\nwe have lost our dogs, and we cannot get food.  Let us go into England;\nit is easiest for us to find support there.\"  \"Gladly, lord,\" said she,\n\"we will do so.\"  And they set forth together to England.\n\n\"Lord,\" said she, \"What craft wilt thou follow?  Take up one that is\nseemly.\"  \"None other will I take,\" answered he, \"save that of making\nshoes, as I did formerly.\"  \"Lord,\" said she, \"such a craft becomes not a\nman so nobly born as thou.\"  \"By that however will I abide,\" said he.\n\nSo he began his craft, and he made all his work of the finest leather he\ncould get in the town, and, as he had done at the other place, he caused\ngilded clasps to be made for the shoes. {71}  And except himself all the\ncordwainers in the town were idle, and without work.  For as long as they\ncould be had from him, neither shoes nor hose were bought elsewhere.  And\nthus they tarried there a year, until the cordwainers became envious, and\ntook counsel concerning him.  And he had warning thereof, and it was told\nhim how the cordwainers had agreed together to slay him.\n\n\"Lord,\" said Kicva, \"Wherefore should this be borne from these boors?\"\n\"Nay,\" said he, \"we will go back unto Dyved.\"  So towards Dyved they set\nforth.\n\nNow Manawyddan, when he set out to return to Dyved, took with him a\nburden of wheat.  And he proceeded towards Narberth, and there he dwelt.\nAnd never was he better pleased than when he saw Narberth again, and the\nlands where he had been wont to hunt with Pryderi and with Rhiannon.  And\nhe accustomed himself to fish, and to hunt the deer in their covert.  And\nthen he began to prepare some ground and he sowed a croft, and a second,\nand a third.  And no wheat in the world ever sprung up better.  And the\nthree crofts prospered with perfect growth, and no man ever saw fairer\nwheat than it.\n\nAnd thus passed the seasons of the year until the harvest came.  And he\nwent to look at one of his crofts, and behold it was ripe.  \"I will reap\nthis to-morrow,\" said he.  And that night he went back to Narberth, and\non the morrow in the grey dawn he went to reap the croft, and when he\ncame there he found nothing but the bare straw.  Every one of the ears of\nthe wheat was cut from off the stalk, and all the ears carried entirely\naway, and nothing but the straw left.  And at this he marvelled greatly.\n\nThen he went to look at another croft, and behold that also was ripe.\n\"Verily,\" said he, \"this will I reap to-morrow.\"  And on the morrow he\ncame with the intent to reap it, and when he came there he found nothing\nbut the bare straw.  \"Oh gracious Heaven,\" he exclaimed, \"I know that\nwhosoever has begun my ruin is completing it, and has also destroyed the\ncountry with me.\"\n\nThen he went to look at the third croft, and when he came there, finer\nwheat had there never been seen, and this also was ripe.  \"Evil betide\nme,\" said he, \"if I watch not here to-night.  Whoever carried off the\nother corn will come in like manner to take this.  And I will know who it\nis.\"  So he took his arms, and began to watch the croft.  And he told\nKicva all that had befallen.  \"Verily,\" said she, \"what thinkest thou to\ndo?\"  \"I will watch the croft to-night,\" said he.\n\nAnd he went to watch the croft.  And at midnight, lo! there arose the\nloudest tumult in the world.  And he looked, and behold the mightiest\nhost of mice in the world, which could neither be numbered nor measured.\nAnd he knew not what it was until the mice had made their way into the\ncroft, and each of them climbing up the straw and bending it down with\nits weight, and had cut off one of the ears of wheat, and had carried it\naway, leaving there the stalk, and he saw not a single straw there that\nhad not a mouse to it.  And they all took their way, carrying the ears\nwith them.\n\nIn wrath and anger did he rush upon the mice, but he could no more come\nup with them than if they had been gnats, or birds in the air, except one\nonly, which though it was but sluggish, went so fast that a man on foot\ncould scarce overtake it. {73}  And after this one he went, and he caught\nit and put it in his glove, and tied up the opening of the glove with a\nstring, and kept it with him, and returned to the palace.  Then he came\nto the hall where Kicva was, and he lighted a fire, and hung the glove by\nthe string upon a peg.  \"What hast thou there, lord?\" said Kicva.  \"A\nthief,\" said he, \"that I found robbing me.\"  \"What kind of thief may it\nbe, lord, that thou couldst put into thy glove?\" said she.  \"Behold I\nwill tell thee,\" he answered.  Then he showed her how his fields had been\nwasted and destroyed, and how the mice came to the last of the fields in\nhis sight.  \"And one of them was less nimble than the rest, and is now in\nmy glove; to-morrow I will hang it, and before Heaven, if I had them, I\nwould hang them all.\"  \"My lord,\" said she, \"this is marvellous; but yet\nit would be unseemly for a man of dignity like thee to be hanging such a\nreptile as this.  And if thou doest right, thou wilt not meddle with the\ncreature, but wilt let it go.\"  \"Woe betide me,\" said he, \"if I would not\nhang them all could I catch them, and such as I have I will hang.\"\n\"Verily, lord,\" said she, \"there is no reason that I should succour this\nreptile, except to prevent discredit unto thee.  Do therefore, lord, as\nthou wilt.\"  \"If I knew of any cause in the world wherefore thou shouldst\nsuccour it, I would take thy counsel concerning it,\" said Manawyddan,\n\"but as I know of none, lady, I am minded to destroy it.\"  \"Do so\nwillingly then,\" said she.\n\nAnd then he went to the Gorsedd of Narberth, taking the mouse with him.\nAnd he set up two forks on the highest part of the Gorsedd.  And while he\nwas doing this, behold he saw a scholar coming towards him, in old and\npoor and tattered garments.  And it was now seven years since he had seen\nin that place either man or beast, except those four persons who had\nremained together until two of them were lost.\n\n\"My lord,\" said the scholar, \"good day to thee.\"  \"Heaven prosper thee,\nand my greeting be unto thee.  And whence dost thou come, scholar?\" asked\nhe.  \"I come, lord, from singing in England; and wherefore dost thou\nenquire?\"  \"Because for the last seven years,\" answered he, \"I have seen\nno man here save four secluded persons, and thyself this moment.\"  \"Truly,\nlord,\" said he, \"I go through this land unto mine own.  And what work art\nthou upon, lord?\"  \"I am hanging a thief that I caught robbing me,\" said\nhe.  \"What manner of thief is that?\" asked the scholar.  \"I see a\ncreature in thy hand like unto a mouse, and ill does it become a man of\nrank equal to thine, to touch a reptile such as this.  Let it go forth\nfree.\"  \"I will not let it go free, by Heaven,\" said he; \"I caught it\nrobbing me, and the doom of a thief will I inflict upon it and I will\nhang it.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"rather than see a man of rank equal to thine\nat such a work as this, I would give thee a pound which I have received\nas alms, to let the reptile go forth free.\"  \"I will not let it go free,\"\nsaid he, \"by Heaven, neither will I sell it.\"  \"As thou wilt, lord,\" he\nanswered, \"except that I would not see a man of rank equal to thine\ntouching such a reptile, I care nought.\"  And the scholar went his way.\n\nAnd as he was placing the cross-beam upon the two forks, behold a priest\ncame towards him upon a horse covered with trappings.  \"Good day to thee,\nlord,\" said he.  \"Heaven prosper thee,\" said Manawyddan; \"thy blessing.\"\n\"The blessing of Heaven be upon thee.  And what, lord, art thou doing?\"\n\"I am hanging a thief that I caught robbing me,\" said he.  \"What manner\nof thief, lord?\" asked he.  \"A creature,\" he answered, \"in form of a\nmouse.  It has been robbing me, and I am inflicting upon it the doom of a\nthief.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"rather than see thee touch this reptile, I\nwould purchase its freedom.\"  \"By my confession to Heaven, neither will I\nsell it nor set it free.\"  \"It is true, lord, that it is worth nothing to\nbuy; but rather than see thee defile thyself by touching such a reptile\nas this, I will give thee three pounds to let it go.\"  \"I will not, by\nHeaven,\" said he, \"take any price for it.  As it ought, so shall it be\nhanged.\"  \"Willingly, lord, do thy good pleasure.\"  And the priest went\nhis way.\n\nThen he noosed the string around the mouse's neck, and as he was about to\ndraw it up, behold, he saw a bishop's retinue, with his sumpter-horses,\nand his attendants.  And the bishop himself came towards him.  And he\nstayed his work.  \"Lord bishop,\" said he, \"thy blessing.\"  \"Heaven's\nblessing be unto thee,\" said he, \"What work art thou upon?\"  \"Hanging a\nthief that I caught robbing me,\" said he.  \"Is not that a mouse that I\nsee in thy hand?\"  \"Yes,\" answered he.  \"And she has robbed me.\"  \"Aye,\"\nsaid he, \"since I have come at the doom of this reptile I will ransom it\nof thee.  I will give thee seven pounds for it, and that rather than see\na man of rank equal to thine destroying so vile a reptile as this.  Let\nit loose and thou shall have the money.\"  \"I declare to Heaven that I\nwill not set it loose.\"  \"If thou wilt not loose it for this, I will give\nthee four and twenty pounds of ready money to set it free.\"  \"I will not\nset it free, by Heaven, for as much again,\" said he.  \"If thou wilt not\nset it free for this, I will give thee all the horses that thou seest in\nthis plain, and the seven loads of baggage, and the seven horses that\nthey are upon.\"  \"By Heaven, I will not,\" he replied.  \"Since for this\nthou wilt not, do so at what price soever thou wilt.\"  \"I will do so,\"\nsaid he.  \"I will that Rhiannon and Pryderi be free,\" said he.  \"That\nthou shall have,\" he answered.  \"Not yet will I loose the mouse, by\nHeaven.\"  \"What then wouldst thou?\"  \"That the charm and the illusion be\nremoved from the seven Cantrevs of Dyved.\"  \"This shall thou have also,\nset therefore the mouse free.\"  \"I will not set it free, by Heaven,\" said\nhe.  \"I will know who the mouse may be.\"  \"She is my wife.\"  \"Even though\nshe be, I will not set her free.  Wherefore came she to me?\"  \"To despoil\nthee,\" he answered.  \"I am Llwyd the son of Kilcoed, and I cast the charm\nover the seven Cantrevs of Dyved.  And it was to avenge Gwawl the son of\nClud, from the friendship I had towards him, that I cast the charm.  And\nupon Pryderi did I revenge Gwawl the son of Clud, for the game of Badger\nin the Bag, that Pwyll Pen Annwn played upon him, which he did\nunadvisedly in the court of Heveydd Hen.  And when it was known that thou\nwast come to dwell in the land, my household came and besought me to\ntransform them into mice, that they might destroy thy corn.  And it was\nmy own household that went the first night.  And the second night also\nthey went, and they destroyed thy two crofts.  And the third night came\nunto me my wife and the ladies of the court, and besought me to transform\nthem.  And I transformed them.  Now she is pregnant.  And had she not\nbeen pregnant thou wouldst not have been able to overtake her, but since\nthis has taken place and she has been caught, I will restore thee Pryderi\nand Rhiannon; and I will take the charm and illusion from off Dyved.  I\nhave now told thee who she is.  Set her therefore free.\"  \"I will not set\nher free, by Heaven,\" said he.  \"What wilt thou more?\" he asked.  \"I will\nthat there be no more charm upon the seven Cantrevs of Dyved, and that\nnone shall be put upon it henceforth.\"  \"This thou shalt have,\" said he.\n\"Now set her free.\"  \"I will not by my faith,\" he answered.  \"What wilt\nthou furthermore,\" asked he.  \"Behold,\" said he, \"this will I have; that\nvengeance be never taken for this, either upon Pryderi or Rhiannon, or\nupon me.\"  \"All this shalt thou have.  And truly thou hast done wisely in\nasking this.  Upon thy head would have lit all this trouble.\"  \"Yea,\"\nsaid he, \"for fear thereof was it, that I required this.\"  \"Set now my\nwife at liberty.\"  \"I will not, by Heaven,\" said he, \"until I see Pryderi\nand Rhiannon with me free.\"  \"Behold, here they come,\" he answered.\n\nAnd thereupon behold Pryderi and Rhiannon.  And he rose up to meet them,\nand greeted them, and sat down beside them.  \"Ah chieftain, set now my\nwife at liberty,\" said the bishop.  \"Hast thou not received all thou\ndidst ask?\"  \"I will release her gladly,\" said he.  And thereupon he set\nher free.\n\nThen he struck her with a magic wand, and she was changed back into a\nyoung woman, the fairest ever seen.\n\n\"Look around upon thy land,\" said he, \"and then thou wilt see it all\ntilled and peopled, as it was in its best state.\"  And he rose up and\nlooked forth.  And when he looked he saw all the lands tilled, and full\nof herds and dwellings.  \"What bondage,\" he enquired, \"has there been\nupon Pryderi and Rhiannon?\"  \"Pryderi has had the knockers of the gate of\nmy palace about his neck, and Rhiannon has had the collars of the asses,\nafter they have been carrying hay, about her neck.\"\n\nAnd such had been their bondage.\n\nAnd by reason of this bondage is this story called the Mabinogi of\nMynnweir and Mynord. {79}\n\nAnd thus ends this portion of the Mabinogi.\n\n{Picture: p79.jpg}\n\n\n\n\nMATH THE SON OF MATHONWY.\n\n\n{Picture: p80.jpg}\n\nMath the son of Mathonwy was lord over Gwynedd, and Pryderi the son of\nPwyll was lord over the one and twenty Cantrevs of the South; and these\nwere the seven Cantrevs of Dyved, and the seven Cantrevs of Morganwc, the\nfour Cantrevs of Ceredigiawn, and the three of Ystrad Tywi.\n\nAt that time, Math the son of Mathonwy could not exist unless his feet\nwere in the lap of a maiden, except only when he was prevented by the\ntumult of war.  Now the maiden who was with him was Goewin, the daughter\nof Pebin of Dol Pebin, in Arvon, and she was the fairest maiden of her\ntime who was known there.\n\nAnd Math dwelt always at Caer Dathyl, in Arvon, and was not able to go\nthe circuit of the land, but Gilvaethwy the son of Don, and Eneyd {81}\nthe son of Don, his nephews, the sons of his sister, with his household,\nwent the circuit of the land in his stead.\n\nNow the maiden was with Math continually, and Gilvaethwy the son of Don\nset his affections upon her, and loved her so that he knew not what he\nshould do because of her, and therefrom behold his hue, and his aspect,\nand his spirits changed for love of her, so that it was not easy to know\nhim.\n\nOne day his brother Gwydion gazed steadfastly upon him.  \"Youth,\" said\nhe, \"what aileth thee?\"  \"Why,\" replied he, \"what seest thou in me?\"  \"I\nsee,\" said he, \"that thou hast lost thy aspect and thy hue; what,\ntherefore, aileth thee?\"  \"My lord, brother,\" he answered, \"that which\naileth me, it will not profit me that I should own to any.\"  \"What may it\nbe, my soul?\" said he.  \"Thou knowest,\" he said, \"that Math the son of\nMathonwy has this property, that if men whisper together, in a tone how\nlow soever, if the wind meet it, it becomes known unto him.\"  \"Yes,\" said\nGwydyon, \"hold now thy peace, I know thy intent, thou lovest Goewin.\"\n\nWhen he found that his brother knew his intent, he gave the heaviest sigh\nin the world.  \"Be silent, my soul, and sigh not,\" he said.  \"It is not\nthereby that thou wilt succeed.  I will cause,\" said he, \"if it cannot be\notherwise, the rising of Gwynedd, and Powys, and Deheubarth, to seek the\nmaiden.  Be thou of glad cheer therefore, and I will compass it.\"\n\nSo they went unto Math the son of Mathonwy.  \"Lord,\" said Gwydion, \"I\nhave heard that there have come to the South some beasts, such as were\nnever known in this island before.\"  \"What are they called?\" he asked.\n\"Pigs, lord.\"  \"And what kind of animals are they?\"  \"They are small\nanimals, and their flesh is better than the flesh of oxen.\"  \"They are\nsmall then?\"  \"And they change their names.  Swine are they now called.\"\n\"Who owneth them?\"  \"Pryderi the son of Pwyll; they were sent him from\nAnnwn, by Arawn the king of Annwn, and still they keep that name, half\nhog, half pig.\"  \"Verily,\" asked he, \"and by what means may they be\nobtained from him?\"  \"I will go, lord, as one of twelve in the guise of\nbards, to seek the swine.\"  \"But it may be that he will refuse you,\" said\nhe.  \"My journey will not be evil, lord,\" said he, \"I will not come back\nwithout the swine.\"  \"Gladly,\" said he, \"go thou forward.\"\n\nSo he and Gilvaethwy went, and ten other men with them.  And they came\ninto Ceredigiawn, to the place that is now called Rhuddlan Teivi, where\nthe palace of Pryderi was.  In the guise of bards they came in, and they\nwere received joyfully, and Gwydion was placed beside Pryderi that night.\n\n\"Of a truth,\" said Pryderi, \"gladly would I have a tale from some of your\nmen yonder.\"  \"Lord,\" said Gwydion, \"we have a custom that the first\nnight that we come to the court of a great man, the chief of song\nrecites.  Gladly will I relate a tale.\"  Now Gwydion was the best teller\nof tales in the world, and he diverted all the court that night with\npleasant discourse and with tales, so that he charmed every one in the\ncourt, and it pleased Pryderi to talk with him.\n\nAnd after this, \"Lord,\" said he unto Pryderi, \"were it more pleasing to\nthee, that another should discharge my errand unto thee, than that I\nshould tell thee myself what it is?\"  \"No,\" he answered, \"ample speech\nhast thou.\"  \"Behold, then, lord,\" said he, \"my errand.  It is to crave\nfrom thee the animals that were sent thee from Annwn.\"  \"Verily,\" he\nreplied, \"that were the easiest thing in the world to grant, were there\nnot a covenant between me and my land concerning them.  And the covenant\nis that they shall not go from me, until they have produced double their\nnumber in the land.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"I can set thee free from these\nwords, and this is the way I can do so; give me not the swine to-night,\nneither refuse them unto me, and to-morrow I will show thee an exchange\nfor them.\"\n\nAnd that night he and his fellows went unto their lodging, and they took\ncounsel.  \"Ah, my men,\" said he, \"we shall not have the swine for the\nasking.\"  \"Well,\" said they, \"how may they be obtained?\"  \"I will cause\nthem to be obtained,\" said Gwydion.\n\nThen he betook himself to his arts, and began to work a charm.  And he\ncaused twelve chargers to appear, and twelve black greyhounds, each of\nthem white breasted, and having upon them twelve collars and twelve\nleashes, such as no one that saw them could know to be other than gold.\nAnd upon the horses twelve saddles, and every part which should have been\nof iron was entirely of gold, and the bridles were of the same\nworkmanship.  And with the horses and the dogs he came to Pryderi.\n\n{Picture: p84.jpg}\n\n\"Good day unto thee, lord,\" said he.  \"Heaven prosper thee,\" said the\nother, \"and greetings be unto thee.\"  \"Lord,\" said he, \"behold here is a\nrelease for thee from the word which thou spakest last evening concerning\nthe swine; that thou wouldest neither give nor sell them.  Thou mayest\nexchange them for that which is better.  And I will give these twelve\nhorses, all caparisoned as they are, with their saddles and their\nbridles, and these twelve greyhounds, with their collars and their\nleashes as thou seest, and the twelve gilded shields that thou beholdest\nyonder.\"  Now these he had formed of fungus.  \"Well,\" said he, \"we will\ntake counsel.\"  And they consulted together, and determined to give the\nswine to Gwydion, and to take his horses and his dogs and his shields.\n\nThen Gwydion and his men took their leave, and began to journey forth\nwith the pigs.  \"Ah, my comrades,\" said Gwydion, \"it is needful that we\njourney with speed.  The illusion will not last but from the one hour to\nthe same to-morrow.\"\n\nAnd that night they journeyed as far as the upper part of Ceredigiawn, to\nthe place which, from that cause, is called Mochdrev still.  And the next\nday they took their course through Melenydd, and came that night to the\ntown which is likewise for that reason called Mochdrev, between Keri and\nArwystli.  And thence they journeyed forward; and that night they came as\nfar as that Commot in Powys, which also upon account thereof is called\nMochnant, and there tarried they that night.  And they journeyed thence\nto the Cantrev of Rhos, and the place where they were that night is still\ncalled Mochdrev.\n\n\"My men,\" said Gwydion, \"we must push forward to the fastnesses of\nGwynedd with these animals, for there is a gathering of hosts in pursuit\nof us.\"  So they journeyed on to the highest town of Arllechwedd, and\nthere they made a sty for the swine, and therefore was the name of\nCreuwyryon given to that town.  And after they had made the sty for the\nswine, they proceeded to Math the son of Mathonwy, at Caerdathyl.  And\nwhen they came there, the country was rising.  \"What news is there here?\"\nasked Gwydion.  \"Pryderi is assembling one and twenty Cantrevs to pursue\nafter you,\" answered they.  \"It is marvellous that you should have\njourneyed so slowly.\"  \"Where are the animals whereof you went in quest?\"\nsaid Math.  \"They have had a sty made for them in the other Cantrev\nbelow,\" said Gwydion.\n\nThereupon, lo! they heard the trumpets and the host in the land, and they\narrayed themselves and set forward and came to Penardd in Arvon.\n\nAnd at night Gwydion the son of Don, and Gilvaethwy his brother, returned\nto Caerdathyl; and Gilvaethwy took Math the son of Mathonwy's couch.  And\nwhile he turned out the other damsels from the room discourteously, he\nmade Goewin unwillingly remain.\n\nAnd when they saw the day on the morrow, they went back unto the place\nwhere Math the son of Mathonwy was with his host; and when they came\nthere, the warriors were taking counsel in what district they should\nawait the coming of Pryderi, and the men of the South.  So they went in\nto the council.  And it was resolved to wait in the strongholds of\nGwynedd, in Arvon.  So within the two Maenors they took their stand,\nMaenor Penardd and Maenor Coed Alun.  And there Pryderi attacked them,\nand there the combat took place.  And great was the slaughter on both\nsides; but the men of the South were forced to flee.  And they fled unto\nthe place which is still called Nantcall.  And thither did they follow\nthem, and they made a vast slaughter of them there, so that they fled\nagain as far as the place called Dol Pen Maen, and there they halted and\nsought to make peace.\n\nAnd that he might have peace, Pryderi gave hostages, Gwrgi Gwastra gave\nhe and three and twenty others, sons of nobles.  And after this they\njourneyed in peace even unto Traeth Mawr; but as they went on together\ntowards Melenryd, the men on foot could not be restrained from shooting.\nPryderi despatched unto Math an embassy to pray him to forbid his people,\nand to leave it between him and Gwydion the son of Don, for that he had\ncaused all this.  And the messengers came to Math.  \"Of a truth,\" said\nMath, \"I call Heaven to witness, if it be pleasing unto Gwydion the son\nof Don, I will so leave it gladly.  Never will I compel any to go to\nfight, but that we ourselves should do our utmost.\"\n\n\"Verily,\" said the messengers, \"Pryderi saith that it were more fair that\nthe man who did him this wrong should oppose his own body to his, and let\nhis people remain unscathed.\"  \"I declare to Heaven, I will not ask the\nmen of Gwynedd to fight because of me.  If I am allowed to fight Pryderi\nmyself, gladly will I oppose my body to his.\"  And this answer they took\nback to Pryderi.  \"Truly,\" said Pryderi, \"I shall require no one to\ndemand my rights but myself.\"\n\nThen these two came forth and armed themselves, and they fought.  And by\nforce of strength, and fierceness, and by the magic and charms of\nGwydion, Pryderi was slain.  And at Maen Tyriawc, {87} above Melenryd,\nwas he buried, and there is his grave.\n\nAnd the men of the South set forth in sorrow towards their own land; nor\nis it a marvel that they should grieve, seeing that they had lost their\nlord, and many of their best warriors, and for the most part, their\nhorses and their arms.\n\nThe men of Gwynedd went back joyful and in triumph.  \"Lord,\" said Gwydion\nunto Math, \"would it not be right for us to release the hostages of the\nmen of the South, which they pledged unto us for peace? for we ought not\nto put them in prison.\"  \"Let them then be set free,\" said Math.  So that\nyouth, and the other hostages that were with him, were set free to follow\nthe men of the South.\n\nMath himself went forward to Caerdathyl.  Gilvaethwy the son of Don, and\nthey of the household that were with him went to make the circuit of\nGwynedd as they were wont, without coming to the court.  Math went into\nhis chamber, and caused a place to be prepared for him whereon to\nrecline, so that he might put his feet in the maiden's lap.  \"Lord,\" said\nGoewin, \"seek now another {88} to hold thy feet, for I am now a wife.\"\n\"What meaneth this?\" said he.  \"An attack, lord, was made unawares upon\nme; but I held not my peace, and there was no one in the court who knew\nnot of it.  Now the attack was made by thy nephews, lord, the sons of thy\nsister, Gwydion the son of Don, and Gilvaethwy the son of Don; unto me\nthey did wrong, and unto thee dishonour.\"  \"Verily,\" he exclaimed, \"I\nwill do to the utmost of my power concerning this matter.  But first I\nwill cause thee to have compensation, and then will I have amends made\nunto myself.  As for thee, I will take thee to be my wife, and the\npossession of my dominions will I give unto thy hands.\"\n\nAnd Gwydion and Gilvaethwy came not near the court, but stayed in the\nconfines of the land until it was forbidden to give them meat and drink.\nAt first they came not near unto Math, but at last they came.  \"Lord,\"\nsaid they, \"Good day to thee.\"  \"Well,\" said he, \"is it to make me\ncompensation that ye are come?\"  \"Lord,\" they said, \"we are at thy will.\"\n\"By my will I would not have lost my warriors, and so many arms as I have\ndone.  You cannot compensate me my shame, setting aside the death of\nPryderi.  But since ye come hither to be at my will, I shall begin your\npunishment forthwith.\"\n\nThen he took his magic wand, and struck Gilvaethwy, so that he became a\ndeer, and he seized upon the other hastily lest he should escape from\nhim.  And he struck him with the same magic wand, and he became a deer\nalso.  \"Since now ye are in bonds, I will that ye go forth together and\nbe companions, and possess the nature of the animals whose form ye bear.\nAnd this day twelvemonth come hither unto me.\"\n\nAt the end of a year from that day, lo there was a loud noise under the\nchamber wall, and the barking of the dogs of the palace together with the\nnoise.  \"Look,\" said he, \"what is without.\"  \"Lord,\" said one, \"I have\nlooked; there are there two deer, and a fawn with them.\"  Then he arose\nand went out.  And when he came he beheld the three animals.  And he\nlifted up his wand.  \"As ye were deer last year, be ye wild hogs each and\neither of you, for the year that is to come.\"  And thereupon he struck\nthem with the magic wand.  \"The young one will I take and cause to be\nbaptized.\"  Now the name that he gave him was Hydwn.  \"Go ye and be wild\nswine, each and either of you, and be ye of the nature of wild swine.  And\nthis day twelvemonth be ye here under the wall.\"\n\nAt the end of the year the barking of dogs was heard under the wall of\nthe chamber.  And the court assembled, and thereupon he arose and went\nforth, and when he came forth he beheld three beasts.  Now these were the\nbeasts that he saw; two wild hogs of the woods, and a well-grown young\none with them.  And he was very large for his age.  \"Truly,\" said Math,\n\"this one will I take and cause to be baptized.\"  And he struck him with\nhis magic wand, and he became a fine fair auburn haired youth, and the\nname that he gave him was Hychdwn.  \"Now as for you, as ye were wild hogs\nlast year, be ye wolves each and either of you for the year that is to\ncome.\"  Thereupon he struck them with his magic wand, and they became\nwolves.  \"And be ye of like nature with the animals whose semblance ye\nbear, and return here this day twelvemonth beneath this wall.\"\n\nAnd the same day at the end of the year, he heard a clamour and a barking\nof dogs under the wall of the chamber.  And he rose and went forth.  And\nwhen he came, behold he saw two wolves, and a strong cub with them.  \"This\none will I take,\" said Math, \"and I will cause him to be baptized; there\nis a name prepared for him, and that is Bleiddwn.  Now these three, such\nare they;\n\n   \"The three sons of Gilvaethwy the false,\n   The three faithful combatants,\n   Bleiddwn, Hydwn, and Hychdwn the Tall.\"\n\nThen he struck the two with his magic wand, and they resumed their own\nnature.  \"Oh men,\" said he, \"for the wrong that ye did unto me,\nsufficient has been your punishment and your dishonour.  Prepare now\nprecious ointment for these men, and wash their heads, and equip them.\"\nAnd this was done.\n\nAnd after they were equipped, they came unto him.  \"Oh men,\" said he,\n\"you have obtained peace, and you shall likewise have friendship.  Give\nyour counsel unto me, what maiden I shall seek.\"  \"Lord,\" said Gwydion\nthe son of Don, \"it is easy to give thee counsel; seek Arianrod, {91a}\nthe daughter of Don, thy niece, thy sister's daughter.\"\n\nAnd they brought her unto him, and the maiden came in.  \"Ha damsel,\" said\nhe, \"art thou the maiden?\"  \"I know not, Lord, other than that I am.\"\nThen he took up his magic wand, and bent it.  \"Step over this,\" said he,\n\"and I shall know if thou art the maiden.\"  Then stepped she over the\nmagic wand, and there appeared forthwith a fine chubby yellow haired boy.\nAnd at the crying out of the boy, she went towards the door.  And\nthereupon some small form was seen; but before any one could get a second\nglimpse of it, Gwydion had taken it, and had flung a scarf of velvet\naround it and hidden it.  Now the place where he hid it was the bottom of\na chest at the foot of his bed.\n\n\"Verily,\" said Math the son of Mathonwy, concerning the fine yellow\nhaired boy, \"I will cause this one to be baptized, and Dylan is the name\nI will give him.\"\n\nSo they had the boy baptized, and as they baptized him he plunged into\nthe sea.  And immediately when he was in the sea, he took its nature, and\nswam as well as the best fish that was therein.  And for that reason was\nhe called Dylan, the son of the Wave.  Beneath him no wave ever broke.\nAnd the blow whereby he came to his death, was struck by his uncle\nGovannion.  The third fatal {91b} blow was it called.\n\nAs Gwydion lay one morning on his bed awake, he heard a cry in the chest\nat his feet; and though it was not loud, it was such that he could hear\nit.  Then he arose in haste, and opened the chest; and when he opened it,\nhe beheld an infant boy stretching out his arms from the folds of the\nscarf, and casting it aside.  And he took up the boy in his arms, and\ncarried him to a place where he knew there was a woman that could nurse\nhim.  And he agreed with the woman that she should take charge of the\nboy.  And that year he was nursed.\n\nAnd at the end of the year, he seemed by his size as though he were two\nyears old.  And the second year he was a big child, and able to go to the\ncourt by himself.  And when he came to the court, Gwydion noticed him,\nand the boy became familiar with him, and loved him better than any one\nelse.  Then was the boy reared at the court until he was four years old,\nwhen he was as big as though he had been eight.\n\nAnd one day Gwydion walked forth, and the boy followed him, and he went\nto the Castle of Arianrod, having the boy with him; and when he came into\nthe court, Arianrod arose to meet him, and greeted him and bade him\nwelcome.  \"Heaven prosper thee,\" said he.  \"Who is the boy that followeth\nthee?\" she asked.  \"This youth, he is thy son,\" he answered.  \"Alas,\"\nsaid she, \"what has come unto thee that thou shouldest shame me thus,\nwherefore dost thou seek my dishonour, and retain it so long as this?\"\n\"Unless thou suffer dishonour greater than that of my bringing up such a\nboy as this, small will be thy disgrace.\"  \"What is the name of the boy?\"\nsaid she.  \"Verily,\" he replied, \"he has not yet a name.\"  \"Well,\" she\nsaid, \"I lay this destiny upon him, that he shall never have a name until\nhe receives one from me.\"  \"Heaven bears me witness,\" answered he, \"that\nthou art a wicked woman.  But the boy shall have a name how displeasing\nsoever it may be unto thee.  As for thee, that which afflicts thee is\nthat thou art no longer called a damsel.\"  And thereupon he went forth in\nwrath, and returned to Caer Dathyl, and there he tarried that night.\n\nAnd the next day he arose and took the boy with him, and went to walk on\nthe sea shore between that place and Aber Menei.  And there he saw some\nsedges and sea weed, and he turned them into a boat.  And out of dry\nsticks {93} and sedges he made some Cordovan leather, and a great deal\nthereof, and he coloured it in such a manner that no one ever saw leather\nmore beautiful than it.  Then he made a sail to the boat, and he and the\nboy went in it to the Port of the Castle of Arianrod.  And he began\nforming shoes and stitching them, until he was observed from the castle.\nAnd when he knew that they of the castle were observing him, he disguised\nhis aspect, and put another semblance upon himself, and upon the boy, so\nthat they might not be known.  \"What men are those in yonder boat?\" said\nArianrod.  \"They are cordwainers,\" answered they.  \"Go and see what kind\nof leather they have, and what kind of work they can do.\"\n\nSo they came unto them.  And when they came he was colouring some\nCordovan leather, and gilding it.  And the messengers came and told her\nthis.  \"Well,\" said she, \"take the measure of my foot, and desire the\ncordwainer to make shoes for me.\"  So he made the shoes for her, yet not\naccording to the measure, but larger.  The shoes then were brought unto\nher, and behold they were too large.  \"These are too large,\" said she,\n\"but he shall receive their value.  Let him also make some that are\nsmaller than they.\"  Then he made her others that were much smaller than\nher foot, and sent them unto her.  \"Tell him that these will not go on my\nfeet,\" said she.  And they told him this.  \"Verily,\" said he, \"I will not\nmake her any shoes, unless I see her foot.\"  And this was told unto her.\n\"Truly,\" she answered, \"I will go unto him.\"\n\nSo she went down to the boat, and when she came there, he was shaping\nshoes and the boy stitching them.  \"Ah, lady,\" said he, \"good day to\nthee.\"  \"Heaven prosper thee,\" said she.  \"I marvel that thou canst not\nmanage to make shoes according to a measure.\"  \"I could not,\" he replied,\n\"but now I shall be able.\"\n\nThereupon behold a wren stood upon the deck of the boat, and the boy shot\nat it, and hit it in the leg between the sinew and the bone.  Then she\nsmiled.  \"Verily,\" said she, \"with a steady hand did the lion aim at it.\"\n\"Heaven reward thee not, but now has he got a name.  And a good enough\nname it is.  Llew Llaw Gyffes be he called henceforth.\"\n\nThen the work disappeared in sea weed and sedges, and he went on with it\nno further.  And for that reason was he called the third Gold-shoemaker.\n\"Of a truth,\" said she, \"thou wilt not thrive the better for doing evil\nunto me.\"  \"I have done thee no evil yet,\" said he.  Then he restored the\nboy to his own form.  \"Well,\" said she, \"I will lay a destiny upon this\nboy, that he shall never have arms and armour until I invest him with\nthem.\"  \"By Heaven,\" said he, \"let thy malice be what it may, he shall\nhave arms.\"\n\nThen they went towards Dinas Dinllev, and there he brought up Llew Llaw\nGyffes, until he could manage any horse, and he was perfect in features,\nand strength, and stature.  And then Gwydion saw that he languished\nthrough the want of horses, and arms.  And he called him unto him.  \"Ah,\nyouth,\" said he, \"we will go to-morrow on an errand together.  Be\ntherefore more cheerful than thou art.\"  \"That I will,\" said the youth.\n\nNext morning, at the dawn of day, they arose.  And they took their way\nalong the sea coast, up towards Bryn Aryen.  And at the top of Cevn\nClydno they equipped themselves with horses, and went towards the Castle\nof Arianrod.  And they changed their form, and pricked towards the gate\nin the semblance of two youths, but the aspect of Gwydion was more staid\nthan that of the other.  \"Porter,\" said he, \"go thou in and say that\nthere are here bards from Glamorgan.\"  And the porter went in.  \"The\nwelcome of Heaven be unto them, let them in,\" said Arianrod.\n\nWith great joy were they greeted.  And the hall was arranged, and they\nwent to meat.  When meat was ended, Arianrod discoursed with Gwydion of\ntales and stories.  Now Gwydion was an excellent teller of tales.  And\nwhen it was time to leave off feasting, a chamber was prepared for them,\nand they went to rest.\n\nIn the early twilight Gwydion arose, and he called unto him his magic and\nhis power.  And by the time that the day dawned, there resounded through\nthe land uproar, and trumpets, and shouts.  When it was now day, they\nheard a knocking at the door of the chamber, and therewith Arianrod\nasking that it might be opened.  Up rose the youth and opened unto her,\nand she entered and a maiden with her.  \"Ah, good men,\" she said, \"in\nevil plight are we.\"  \"Yes truly,\" said Gwydion, \"we have heard trumpets,\nand shouts; what thinkest thou that they may mean?\"  \"Verily,\" said she,\n\"we cannot see the colour of the ocean by reason of all the ships, side\nby side.  And they are making for the land with all the speed they can.\nAnd what can we do?\" said she.  \"Lady,\" said Gwydion, \"there is none\nother counsel than to close the castle upon us, and to defend it as best\nwe may.\"  \"Truly,\" said she, \"may Heaven reward you.  And do you defend\nit.  And here you may have plenty of arms.\"\n\nAnd thereupon went she forth for the arms, and behold she returned, and\ntwo maidens, and suits of armour for two men, with her.  \"Lady,\" said he,\n\"do thou accoutre this stripling, and I will arm myself with the help of\nthy maidens.  Lo, I hear the tumult of the men approaching.\"  \"I will do\nso, gladly.\"  So she armed him fully, and that right cheerfully.  \"Hast\nthou finished arming the youth,\" said he.  \"I have finished,\" she\nanswered.  \"I likewise have finished,\" said Gwydion.  \"Let us now take\noff our arms, we have no need of them.\"  \"Wherefore?\" said she.  \"Here is\nthe army around the house.\"  \"Oh, lady, there is here no army.\"  \"Oh,\"\ncried she, \"Whence then was this tumult?\"  \"The tumult was but to break\nthy prophecy {96} and to obtain arms for thy son.  And now has he got\narms without any thanks unto thee.\"  \"By Heaven,\" said Arianrod, \"thou\nart a wicked man.  Many a youth might have lost his life, through the\nuproar thou hast caused in this Cantrev to-day.  Now will I lay a destiny\nupon this youth,\" she said, \"that he shall never have a wife of the race\nthat now inhabits this earth.\"  \"Verily,\" said he, \"thou wast ever a\nmalicious woman, and no one ought to support thee.  A wife shall he have\nnotwithstanding.\"\n\n{Picture: p97.jpg}\n\nThey went thereupon unto Math the son of Mathonwy, and complained unto\nhim most bitterly of Arianrod.  Gwydion showed him also how he had\nprocured arms for the youth.  \"Well,\" said Math, \"we will seek, I and\nthou, by charms and illusion, to form a wife for him out of flowers.  He\nhas now come to man's stature, and he is the comeliest youth that was\never beheld.\"  So they took the blossoms of the oak, and the blossoms of\nthe broom, and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and produced from them a\nmaiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw.  And they\nbaptized her, {98a} and gave her the name of Blodeuwedd.\n\nAfter she had become his bride, and they had feasted, said Gwydion, \"It\nis not easy for a man to maintain himself without possessions.\"  \"Of a\ntruth,\" said Math, \"I will give the young man the best Cantrev to hold.\"\n{98b}  \"Lord,\" said he, \"what Cantrev is that?\"  \"The Cantrev of\nDinodig,\" he answered.  Now it is called at this day Eivionydd and\nArdudwy.  And the place in the Cantrev where he dwelt, was a palace of\nhis in a spot called Mur y Castell, on the confines of Ardudwy.  There\ndwelt he and reigned, and both he and his sway were beloved by all.\n\nOne day he went forth to Caer Dathyl, to visit Math the son of Mathonwy.\nAnd on the day that he set out for Caer Dathyl, Blodeuwedd walked in the\ncourt.  And she heard the sound of a horn.  And after the sound of the\nhorn, behold, a tired stag went by, with dogs and huntsmen following it.\nAnd after the dogs and the huntsmen there came a crowd of men on foot.\n\"Send a youth,\" said she, \"to ask who yonder host may be.\"  So a youth\nwent, and enquired who they were.  \"Gronw Pebyr is this, the lord of\nPenllynn,\" said they.  And thus the youth told her.\n\nGronw Pebyr pursued the stag, and by the river Cynvael he overtook the\nstag and killed it.  And what, with flaying the stag and baiting his\ndogs, he was there until the night began to close in upon him.  And as\nthe day departed and the night drew near, he came to the gate of the\ncourt.  \"Verily,\" said Blodeuwedd, \"the chieftain will speak ill of us,\nif we let him at this hour depart to another land without inviting him\nin.\"  \"Yes, truly, lady,\" said they, \"it will be most fitting to invite\nhim.\"\n\nThen went messengers to meet him and bid him in.  And he accepted her\nbidding gladly, and came to the court, and Blodeuwedd went to meet him\nand greeted him, and bade him welcome.  \"Lady,\" said he, \"Heaven repay\nthee thy kindness.\"\n\nWhen they had disaccoutred themselves, they went to sit down.  And\nBlodeuwedd looked upon him, and from the moment that she looked on him\nshe became filled with his love.  And he gazed on her, and the same\nthought came unto him as unto her, so that he could not conceal from her\nthat he loved her, but he declared unto her that he did so.  Thereupon\nshe was very joyful.  And all their discourse that night was concerning\nthe affection and love which they felt one for the other, and which in no\nlonger space than one evening had arisen.  And that evening passed they\nin each other's company.\n\nThe next day he sought to depart.  But she said, \"I pray thee go not from\nme to-day.\"  And that night he tarried also.  And that night they\nconsulted by what means they might always be together.  \"There is none\nother counsel,\" said he, \"but that thou strive to learn from Llew Llaw\nGyffes in what manner he will meet his death.  And this must thou do\nunder the semblance of solicitude concerning him.\"\n\nThe next day Gronw sought to depart.  \"Verily,\" said she, \"I would\ncounsel thee not to go from me to-day.\"  \"At thy instance, will I not\ngo,\" said he, \"albeit, I must say, there is danger, that the chief who\nowns the palace may return home.\"  \"To-morrow,\" answered she, \"will I\nindeed permit thee to go forth.\"\n\nThe next day he sought to go, and she hindered him not.  \"Be mindful,\"\nsaid Gronw, \"of what I have said unto thee, and converse with him fully,\nand that under the guise of the dalliance of love, and find out by what\nmeans he may come to his death.\"\n\nThat night Llew Llaw Gyffes returned to his home.  And the day they spent\nin discourse, and minstrelsy, and feasting.  And at night they went to\nrest, and he spoke to Blodeuwedd once, and he spoke to her a second time.\nBut, for all this, he could not get from her one word.  \"What aileth\nthee,\" said he, \"art thou well?\"  \"I was thinking,\" said she, \"of that\nwhich thou didst never think of concerning me; for I was sorrowful as to\nthy death, lest thou shouldest go sooner than I.\"  \"Heaven reward thy\ncare for me,\" said he, \"but until Heaven take me I shall not easily be\nslain.\"  \"For the sake of Heaven, and for mine, show me how thou mightest\nbe slain.  My memory in guarding is better than thine.\"  \"I will tell\nthee gladly,\" said he.  \"Not easily can I be slain, except by a wound.\n{100}  And the spear wherewith I am struck must be a year in the forming.\nAnd nothing must be done towards it except during the sacrifice on\nSundays.\"  \"Is this certain?\" asked she.  \"It is in truth,\" he answered.\n\"And I cannot be slain within a house, nor without.  I cannot be slain on\nhorseback nor on foot.\"  \"Verily,\" said she, \"in what manner then canst\nthou be slain?\"  \"I will tell thee,\" said he.  \"By making a bath for me\nby the side of a river, and by putting a roof over the cauldron, and\nthatching it well and tightly, and bringing a buck, and putting it beside\nthe cauldron.  Then if I place one foot on the buck's back, and the other\non the edge of the cauldron, whosoever strikes me thus will cause my\ndeath.\"  \"Well,\" said she, \"I thank Heaven that it will be easy to avoid\nthis.\"\n\nNo sooner had she held this discourse than she sent to Gronw Pebyr.  Gronw\ntoiled at making the spear, and that day twelvemonth it was ready.  And\nthat very day he caused her to be informed thereof.\n\n\"Lord,\" said Blodeuwedd unto Llew, \"I have been thinking how it is\npossible that what thou didst tell me formerly can be true; wilt thou\nshow me in what manner thou couldst stand at once upon the edge of a\ncauldron and upon a buck, if I prepare the bath for thee?\"  \"I will show\nthee,\" said he.\n\nThen she sent unto Gronw, and bade him be in ambush on the hill which is\nnow called Bryn Kyvergyr, on the bank of the river Cynvael.  She caused\nalso to be collected all the goats that were in the Cantrev, and had them\nbrought to the other side of the river, opposite Bryn Kyvergyr.\n\nAnd the next day she spoke thus.  \"Lord,\" said she, \"I have caused the\nroof and the bath to be prepared, and lo! they are ready.\"  \"Well,\" said\nLlew, \"we will go gladly to look at them.\"\n\nThe day after they came and looked at the bath.  \"Wilt thou go into the\nbath, lord?\" said she.  \"Willingly will I go in,\" he answered.  So into\nthe bath he went, and he anointed himself.  \"Lord,\" said she, \"behold the\nanimals which thou didst speak of as being called bucks.\"  \"Well,\" said\nhe, \"cause one of them to be caught and brought here.\"  And the buck was\nbrought.  Then Llew rose out of the bath, and put on his trowsers, and he\nplaced one foot on the edge of the bath and the other on the buck's back.\n\nThereupon Gronw rose up from the hill which is called Bryn Cyvergyr, and\nhe rested on one knee, and flung the poisoned dart and struck him on the\nside, so that the shaft started out, but the head of the dart remained\nin.  Then he flew up in the form of an eagle, and gave a fearful scream.\nAnd thenceforth was he no more seen.\n\nAs soon as he departed Gronw and Blodeuwedd went together unto the palace\nthat night.  And the next day Gronw arose and took possession of Ardudwy.\nAnd after he had overcome the land, he ruled over it, so that Ardudwy and\nPenllyn were both under his sway.\n\nThen these tidings reached Math the son of Mathonwy.  And heaviness and\ngrief came upon Math, and much more upon Gwydion than upon him.  \"Lord,\"\nsaid Gwydion, \"I shall never rest until I have tidings of my nephew.\"\n\"Verily,\" said Math, \"may Heaven be thy strength.\"  Then Gwydion set\nforth and began to go forward.  And he went through Gwynedd and Powys to\nthe confines.  And when he had done so, he went into Arvon, and came to\nthe house of a vassal, in Maenawr Penardd.  And he alighted at the house,\nand stayed there that night.  The man of the house and his household came\nin, and last of all came there the swineherd.  Said the man of the house\nto the swineherd, \"Well, youth, hath thy sow come in to-night?\"  \"She\nhath,\" said he, \"and is this instant returned to the pigs.\"  \"Where doth\nthis sow go to?\" said Gwydion.  \"Every day, when the sty is opened, she\ngoeth forth and none can catch sight of her, neither is it known whither\nshe goeth more than if she sank into the earth.\"  \"Wilt thou grant unto\nme,\" said Gwydion, \"not to open the sty until I am beside the sty with\nthee.\"  \"This will I do, right gladly,\" he answered.\n\nThat night they went to rest; and as soon as the swineherd saw the light\nof day, he awoke Gwydion.  And Gwydion arose and dressed himself, and\nwent with the swineherd, and stood beside the sty.  Then the swineherd\nopened the sty.  And as soon as he opened it, behold, she leaped forth,\nand set off with great speed.  And Gwydion followed her, and she went\nagainst the course of a river, and made for a brook, which is now called\nNant y Llew.  And there she halted and began feeding.  And Gwydion came\nunder the tree, and looked what it might be that the sow was feeding on.\nAnd he saw that she was eating putrid flesh and vermin.  Then looked he\nup to the top of the tree, and as he looked he beheld on the top of the\ntree an eagle, and when the eagle shook itself, there fell vermin and\nputrid flesh from off it, and these the sow devoured.  And it seemed to\nhim that the eagle was Llew.  And he sang an Englyn.\n\n   \"Oak that grows between the two banks;\n   Darkened is the sky and hill!\n   Shall I not tell him by his wounds,\n   That this is Llew?\"\n\nUpon this the eagle came down until he reached the centre of the tree.\nAnd Gwydion sang another Englyn.\n\n   \"Oak that grows in upland ground,\n   Is it not wetted by the rain?  Has it not been drenched\n   By nine score tempests?\n   It bears in its branches Llew Llaw Gyffes!\"\n\nThen the eagle came down until he was on the lowest branch of the tree,\nand thereupon this Englyn did Gwydion sing.\n\n   \"Oak that grows beneath the steep;\n   Stately and majestic is its aspect!\n   Shall I not speak it?\n   That Llew will come to my lap?\"\n\nAnd the eagle came down upon Gwydion's knee.  And Gwydion struck him with\nhis magic wand, so that he returned to his own form.  No one ever saw a\nmore piteous sight, for he was nothing but skin and bone.\n\nThen he went unto Caer Dathyl, and there were brought unto him good\nphysicians that were in Gwynedd, and before the end of the year he was\nquite healed.\n\n\"Lord,\" said he unto Math the son of Mathonwy, \"it is full time now that\nI have retribution of him by whom I have suffered all this woe.\"  \"Truly,\"\nsaid Math, \"he will never be able to maintain himself in the possession\nof that which is thy right.\"  \"Well,\" said Llew, \"the sooner I have my\nright, the better shall I be pleased.\"\n\nThen they called together the whole of Gwynedd, and set forth to Ardudwy.\nAnd Gwydion went on before and proceeded to Mur y Castell.  And when\nBlodeuwedd heard that he was coming, she took her maidens with her, and\nfled to the mountain.  And they passed through the river Cynvael, and\nwent towards a court that there was upon the mountain, and through fear\nthey could not proceed except with their faces looking backwards, so that\nunawares they fell into the lake.  And they were all drowned except\nBlodeuwedd herself, and her Gwydion overtook.  And he said unto her, \"I\nwill not slay thee, but I will do unto thee worse than that.  For I will\nturn thee into a bird; and because of the shame thou hast done unto Llew\nLlaw Gyffes, thou shall never show thy face in the light of day\nhenceforth; and that through fear of all the other birds.  For it shall\nbe their nature to attack thee, and to chase thee from wheresoever they\nmay find thee.  And thou shalt not lose thy name, but shalt be always\ncalled Blodeuwedd.\"  Now Blodeuwedd is an owl in the language of this\npresent time, and for this reason is the owl hateful unto all birds.  And\neven now the owl is called Blodeuwedd.\n\nThen Gronw Pebyr withdrew unto Penllyn, and he despatched thence an\nembassy.  And the messengers he sent, asked Llew Llaw Gyffes, if he would\ntake land, or domain, or gold, or silver, for the injury he had received.\n\"I will not, by my confession to Heaven,\" said he.  \"Behold this is the\nleast that I will accept from him; that he come to the spot where I was\nwhen he wounded me with the dart, and that I stand where he did, and that\nwith a dart I take my aim at him.  And this is the very least that I will\naccept.\"\n\nAnd this was told unto Gronw Pebyr.  \"Verily,\" said he, \"is it needful\nfor me to do thus?  My faithful warriors, and my household, and my foster-\nbrothers, is there not one among you who will stand the blow in my\nstead?\"  \"There is not, verily,\" answered they.  And because of their\nrefusal to suffer one stroke for their lord, they are called the third\ndisloyal tribe even unto this day.  \"Well,\" said he, \"I will meet it.\"\n\n{Picture: p106.jpg}\n\nThen they two went forth to the banks of the river Cynvael, and Gronw\nstood in the place where Llew Llaw Gyffes was when he struck him, and\nLlew in the place where Gronw was.  Then said Gronw Pebyr unto Llew,\n\"Since it was through the wiles of a woman that I did unto thee as I have\ndone, I adjure thee by Heaven to let me place between me and the blow,\nthe slab thou seest yonder on the river's bank.\"  \"Verily,\" said Llew, \"I\nwill not refuse thee this.\"  \"Ah,\" said he, \"may Heaven reward thee.\"  So\nGronw took the slab and placed it between him and the blow.\n\nThen Llew flung the dart at him, and it pierced the slab and went through\nGronw likewise, so that it pierced through his back.  And thus was Gronw\nPebyr slain.  And there is still the slab on the bank of the river\nCynvael, in Ardudwy, having the hole through it.  And therefore it is\neven now called Llech Gronw.\n\nA second time did Llew Llaw Gyffes take possession of the land, and\nprosperously did he govern it.  And as the story relates, he was lord\nafter this over Gwynedd.  And thus ends this portion of the Mabinogi.\n\n\n\n\nHERE IS THE STORY OF LLUDD AND LLEVELYS.\n\n\n{Picture: p108.jpg}\n\nBeli the Great, son of Manogan, had three sons, Lludd, and Caswallawn,\nand Nynyaw; and according to the story he had a fourth son called\nLlevelys.  And after the death of Beli, the kingdom of the Island of\nBritain fell into the hands of Lludd his eldest son; and Lludd ruled\nprosperously, and rebuilt the walls of London, and encompassed it about\nwith numberless towers.  And after that he bade the citizens build houses\ntherein, such as no houses in the kingdom could equal.  And moreover he\nwas a mighty warrior, and generous and liberal in giving meat and drink\nto all that sought them.  And though he had many castles and cities, this\none loved he more than any.  And he dwelt therein most part of the year,\nand therefore was it called Caer Ludd, and at last Caer London.  And\nafter the stranger-race came there, it was called London, or Lwndrys.\n\nLludd loved Llevelys best of all his brothers, because he was a wise and\na discreet man.  Having heard that the king of France had died, leaving\nno heir, except a daughter, and that he had left all his possessions in\nher hands, he came to Lludd his brother, to beseech his counsel and aid.\nAnd that not so much for his own welfare, as to seek to add to the glory\nand honour and dignity of his kindred, if he might go to France to woo\nthe maiden for his wife.  And forthwith his brother conferred with him,\nand this counsel was pleasing unto him.\n\nSo he prepared ships and filled them with armed knights, and set forth\ntowards France.  And as soon as they had landed, they sent messengers to\nshow the nobles of France the cause of the embassy.  And by the joint\ncounsel of the nobles of France and of the princes, the maiden was given\nto Llevelys, and the crown of the kingdom with her.  And thenceforth he\nruled the land discreetly, and wisely, and happily, as long as his life\nlasted.\n\nAfter a space of time had passed, three plagues fell on the Island of\nBritain, such as none in the Islands had ever seen the like.  The first\nwas a certain race that came, and was called the Coranians; and so great\nwas their knowledge, that there was no discourse upon the face of the\nIsland, however low it might be spoken, but what, if the wind met it, it\nwas known to them.  And through this they could not be injured.\n\nThe second plague was a shriek which came on every May eve, over every\nhearth in the Island of Britain.  And this went through people's hearts,\nand so scared them, that the men lost their hue and their strength, and\nthe women their children, and the young men, and the maidens lost their\nsenses, and all the animals and trees and the earth and the waters, were\nleft barren.\n\nThe third plague was, that however much of provisions and food might be\nprepared in the king's courts, were there even so much as a year's\nprovision of meat and drink, none of it could ever be found, except what\nwas consumed in the first night.  And two of these plagues, no one ever\nknew their cause, therefore was there better hope of being freed from the\nfirst than from the second and third.\n\nAnd thereupon King Lludd felt great sorrow and care, because that he knew\nnot how he might be freed from these plagues.  And he called to him all\nthe nobles of his kingdom, and asked counsel of them what they should do\nagainst these afflictions.  And by the common counsel of the nobles,\nLludd the son of Beli, went to Llevelys his brother, king of France, for\nhe was a man great of counsel and wisdom, to seek his advice.\n\nAnd they made ready a fleet, and that in secret and in silence, lest that\nrace should know the cause of their errand, or any besides the king and\nhis counsellors.  And when they were made ready, they went into their\nships, Lludd and those whom he chose with him.  And they began to cleave\nthe seas towards France.\n\nAnd when these tidings came to Llevelys, seeing that he knew not the\ncause of his brother's ships, he came on the other side to meet him, and\nwith him was a fleet vast of size.  And when Lludd saw this, he left all\nthe ships out upon the sea except one only; and in that one he came to\nmeet his brother, and he likewise with a single ship came to meet him.\nAnd when they were come together, each put his arms about the other's\nneck, and they welcomed each other with brotherly love.\n\nAfter that Lludd had shewn his brother the cause of his errand, Llevelys\nsaid that he himself knew the cause of the coming to those lands.  And\nthey took counsel together to discourse {111} on the matter otherwise\nthan thus, in order that the wind might not catch their words, nor the\nCoranians know what they might say.  Then Llevelys caused a long horn to\nbe made of brass, and through this horn they discoursed.  But whatsoever\nwords they spoke through this horn, one to the other, neither of them\ncould hear any other but harsh and hostile words.  And when Llevelys saw\nthis, and that there was a demon thwarting them and disturbing through\nthis horn, he caused wine to be put therein to wash it.  And through the\nvirtue of the wine the demon was driven out of the horn.  And when their\ndiscourse was unobstructed, Llevelys told his brother that he would give\nhim some insects, whereof he should keep some to breed, lest by chance\nthe like affliction might come a second time.  And other of these insects\nhe should take and bruise in water.  And he assured him that it would\nhave power to destroy the race of the Coranians.  That is to say, that\nwhen he came home to his kingdom he should call together all the people\nboth of his own race and of the race of the Coranians for a conference,\nas though with the intent of making peace between them; and that when\nthey were all together, he should take this charmed water, and cast it\nover all alike.  And he assured him that the water would poison the race\nof the Coranians, but that it would not slay or harm those of his own\nrace.\n\n{Picture: p112.jpg}\n\n\"And the second plague,\" said he, \"that is in thy dominion, behold it is\na dragon.  And another dragon of a foreign race is fighting with it, and\nstriving to overcome it.  And therefore does your dragon make a fearful\noutcry.  And on this wise mayest thou come to know this.  After thou hast\nreturned home, cause the Island to be measured in its length and breadth,\nand in the place where thou dost find the exact central point, there\ncause a pit to be dug, and cause a cauldron, full of the best mead that\ncan be made, to be put in the pit, with a covering of satin over the face\nof the cauldron.  And then, in thine own person do thou remain there\nwatching, and thou wilt see the dragons fighting in the form of terrific\nanimals.  And at length they will take the form of dragons in the air.\nAnd last of all, after wearying themselves with fierce and furious\nfighting, they will fall in the form of two pigs upon the covering, and\nthey will sink in, and the covering with them, and they will draw it down\nto the very bottom of the cauldron.  And they will drink up the whole of\nthe mead; and after that they will sleep.  Thereupon do thou immediately\nfold the covering around them, and bury them in a kistvaen, in the\nstrongest place thou hast in thy dominions, and hide them in the earth.\nAnd as long as they shall bide in that strong place, no plague shall come\nto the Island of Britain from elsewhere.\n\n\"The cause of the third plague,\" said he, \"is a mighty man of magic, who\ntakes thy meat and thy drink and thy store.  And he through illusions and\ncharms causes every one to sleep.  Therefore it is needful for thee in\nthy own person to watch thy food and thy provisions.  And lest he should\novercome thee with sleep, be there a cauldron of cold water by thy side,\nand when thou art oppressed with sleep, plunge into the cauldron.\"\n\nThen Lludd returned back unto his land.  And immediately he summoned to\nhim the whole of his own race and of the Coranians.  And as Llevelys had\ntaught him, he bruised the insects in water, the which he cast over them\nall together, and forthwith it destroyed the whole tribe of the\nCoranians, without hurt to any of the Britons.\n\nAnd some time after this Lludd caused the Island to be measured in its\nlength and in its breadth.  And in Oxford he found the central point, and\nin that place he caused the earth to be dug, and in that pit a cauldron\nto be set, full of the best mead that could be made, and a covering of\nsatin over the face of it.  And he himself watched that night.  And while\nhe was there, he beheld the dragons fighting.  And when they were weary\nthey fell, and came down upon the top of the satin, and drew it with them\nto the bottom of the cauldron.  And when they had drunk the mead they\nslept.  And in their sleep, Lludd folded the covering around them, and in\nthe securest place he had in Snowdon, he hid them in a kistvaen.  Now\nafter that this spot was called Dinas Emreis, but before that, Dinas\nFfaraon.  And thus the fierce outcry ceased in his dominions.\n\nAnd when this was ended, King Lludd caused an exceeding great banquet to\nbe prepared.  And when it was ready, he placed a vessel of cold water by\nhis side, and he in his own proper person watched it.  And as he abode\nthus clad with arms, about the third watch of the night, lo! he heard\nmany surpassing fascinations and various songs.  And drowsiness urged him\nto sleep.  Upon this, lest he should be hindered from his purpose and be\novercome by sleep, he went often into the water.  And at last, behold, a\nman of vast size, clad in strong, heavy armour, came in, bearing a\nhamper.  And, as he was wont, he put all the food and provisions of meat\nand drink into the hamper, and proceeded to go with it forth.  And\nnothing was ever more wonderful to Lludd, than that the hamper should\nhold so much.\n\nAnd thereupon King Lludd went after him and spoke unto him thus.  \"Stop,\nstop,\" said he, \"though thou hast done many insults and much spoil\nerewhile, thou shalt not do so any more, unless thy skill in arms and thy\nprowess be greater than mine.\"\n\n{Picture: p115.jpg}\n\nThen he instantly put down the hamper on the floor, and awaited him.  And\na fierce encounter was between them, so that the glittering fire flew out\nfrom their arms.  And at the last Lludd grappled with him, and fate\nbestowed the victory on Lludd.  And he threw the plague to the earth.  And\nafter he had overcome him by strength and might, he besought his mercy.\n\"How can I grant thee mercy,\" said the king, \"after all the many injuries\nand wrongs that thou hast done me?\"  \"All the losses that ever I have\ncaused thee,\" said he, \"I will make thee atonement for, equal to what I\nhave taken.  And I will never do the like from this time forth.  But thy\nfaithful vassal will I be.\"  And the king accepted this from him.\n\nAnd thus Lludd freed the Island of Britain from the three plagues.  And\nfrom thenceforth until the end of his life, in prosperous peace did Lludd\nthe son of Beli rule the Island of Britain.  And this Tale is called the\nStory of Lludd and Llevelys.  And thus it ends.\n\n{Picture: p116.jpg}\n\n\n\n\nTALIESIN.\n\n\n{Picture: p117.jpg}\n\nIn times past there lived in Penllyn a man of gentle lineage, named Tegid\nVoel, and his dwelling was in the midst of the Lake Tegid, and his wife\nwas called Caridwen.  And there was born to him of his wife a son named\nMorvran ab Tegid, and also a daughter named Creirwy, the fairest maiden\nin the world was she; and they had a brother the most ill-favoured man in\nthe world, Avagddu.  Now Caridwen his mother thought that he was not\nlikely to be admitted among men of noble birth, by reason of his\nugliness, unless he had some exalted merits or knowledge.  For it was in\nthe beginning of Arthur's time and of the Round Table.\n\nSo she resolved, according to the arts of the books of the Fferyllt,\n{118a} to boil a cauldron of Inspiration and Science for her son, that\nhis reception might be honourable because of his knowledge of the\nmysteries of the future state of the world.\n\nThen she began to boil the cauldron, which from the beginning of its\nboiling might not cease to boil for a year and a day, until three blessed\ndrops were obtained of the grace of inspiration.\n\nAnd she put Gwion Bach the son of Gwreang of Llanfair in Caereinion, in\nPowys, to stir the cauldron, and a blind man named Morda to kindle the\nfire beneath it, and she charged them that they should not suffer it to\ncease boiling for the space of a year and a day.  And she herself,\naccording to the books of the astronomers, and in planetary hours,\ngathered every day of all charm-bearing herbs.  And one day, towards the\nend of the year, as Caridwen was culling plants and making incantations,\nit chanced that three drops of the charmed liquor flew out of the\ncauldron and fell upon the finger of Gwion Bach.  And by reason of their\ngreat heat he put his finger to his mouth, {118b} and the instant he put\nthose marvel-working drops into his mouth, he foresaw everything that was\nto come, and perceived that his chief care must be to guard against the\nwiles of Caridwen, for vast was her skill.  And in very great fear he\nfled towards his own land.  And the cauldron burst in two, because all\nthe liquor within it except the three charm-bearing drops was poisonous,\nso that the horses of Gwyddno Garanhir were poisoned by the water of the\nstream into which the liquor of the cauldron ran, and the confluence of\nthat stream was called the Poison of the Horses of Gwyddno from that time\nforth.\n\n{Picture: p119.jpg}\n\nThereupon came in Caridwen and saw all the toil of the whole year lost.\nAnd she seized a billet of wood and struck the blind Morda on the head\nuntil one of his eyes fell out upon his cheek.  And he said, \"Wrongfully\nhast thou disfigured me, for I am innocent.  Thy loss was not because of\nme.\"  \"Thou speakest truth,\" said Caridwen, \"it was Gwion Bach who robbed\nme.\"\n\nAnd she went forth after him, running.  And he saw her, and changed\nhimself into a hare and fled.  But she changed herself into a greyhound\nand turned him.  And he ran towards a river, and became a fish.  And she\nin the form of an otter-bitch chased him under the water, until he was\nfain to turn himself into a bird of the air.  Then she, as a hawk,\nfollowed him and gave him no rest in the sky.  And just as she was about\nto stoop upon him, and he was in fear of death, he espied a heap of\nwinnowed wheat on the floor of a barn, and he dropped amongst the wheat,\nand turned himself into one of the grains.  Then she transformed herself\ninto a high-crested black hen, and went to the wheat and scratched it\nwith her feet, and found him out and swallowed him.  And, as the story\nsays, she bore him nine months, and when she was delivered of him, she\ncould not find it in her heart to kill him, by reason of his beauty.  So\nshe wrapped him in a leathern bag, and cast him into the sea to the mercy\nof God, on the twenty-ninth day of April.\n\nAnd at that time the weir of Gwyddno was on the strand between Dyvi and\nAberystwyth, near to his own castle, and the value of an hundred pounds\nwas taken in that weir every May eve.  And in those days Gwyddno had an\nonly son named Elphin, the most hapless of youths, and the most needy.\nAnd it grieved his father sore, for he thought that he was born in an\nevil hour.  And by the advice of his council, his father had granted him\nthe drawing of the weir that year, to see if good luck would ever befall\nhim, and to give him something wherewith to begin the world.\n\n{Picture: p121.jpg}\n\nAnd the next day, when Elphin went to look, there was nothing in the\nweir.  But as he turned back he perceived the leathern bag upon a pole of\nthe weir.  Then said one of the weir-ward unto Elphin, \"Thou wast never\nunlucky until to-night, and now thou hast destroyed the virtues of the\nweir, which always yielded the value of an hundred pounds every May eve,\nand to-night there is nothing but this leathern skin within it.\"  \"How\nnow,\" said Elphin, \"there may be therein the value of an hundred pounds.\"\nWell! they took up the leathern bag, and he who opened it saw the\nforehead of the boy, and said to Elphin, \"Behold a radiant brow!\" {121}\n\"Taliesin be he called,\" said Elphin.  And he lifted the boy in his arms,\nand lamenting his mischance, he placed him sorrowfully behind him.  And\nhe made his horse amble gently, that before had been trotting, and he\ncarried him as softly as if he had been sitting in the easiest chair in\nthe world.  And presently the boy made a Consolation and praise to\nElphin, and foretold honour to Elphin; and the Consolation was as you may\nsee,\n\n   \"Fair Elphin cease to lament!\n   Let no one be dissatisfied with his own,\n   To despair will bring no advantage.\n   No man sees what supports him;\n   The prayer of Cynllo will not be in vain;\n   God will not violate his promise.\n   Never in Gwyddno's weir\n   Was there such good luck as this night.\n   Fair Elphin, dry thy cheeks!\n   Being too sad will not avail,\n   Although thou thinkest thou hast no gain,\n   Too much grief will bring thee no good;\n   Nor doubt the miracles of the Almighty:\n   Although I am but little, I am highly gifted.\n   From seas, and from mountains,\n   And from the depths of rivers,\n   God brings wealth to the fortunate man.\n   Elphin of lively qualities,\n   Thy resolution is unmanly;\n   Thou must not be over sorrowful:\n   Better to trust in God than to forbode ill.\n   Weak and small as I am,\n   On the foaming beach of the ocean,\n   In the day of trouble, I shall be\n   Of more service to thee than 300 salmon.\n   Elphin of notable qualities,\n   Be not displeased at thy misfortune;\n   Although reclined thus weak in my bag,\n   There lies a virtue in my tongue.\n   While I continue thy protector\n   Thou hast not much to fear;\n   Remembering the names of the Trinity,\n   None shall be able to harm thee.\"\n\nAnd this was the first poem that Taliesin ever sang, being to console\nElphin in his grief for that the produce of the weir was lost, and, what\nwas worse, that all the world would consider that it was through his\nfault and ill-luck.  And then Gwyddno Garanhir {123} asked him what he\nwas, whether man or spirit.  Whereupon he sang this tale, and said,\n\n   \"First, I have been formed a comely person,\n   In the court of Ceridwen I have done penance;\n   Though little I was seen, placidly received,\n   I was great on the floor of the place to where I was led;\n   I have been a prized defence, the sweet muse the cause,\n   And by law without speech I have been liberated\n   By a smiling black old hag, when irritated\n   Dreadful her claim when pursued:\n   I have fled with vigour, I have fled as a frog,\n   I have fled in the semblance of a crow, scarcely finding rest;\n   I have fled vehemently, I have fled as a chain,\n   I have fled as a roe into an entangled thicket;\n   I have fled as a wolf cub, I have fled as a wolf in a wilderness,\n   I have fled as a thrush of portending language;\n   I have fled as a fox, used to concurrent bounds of quirks;\n   I have fled as a martin, which did not avail:\n   I have fled as a squirrel, that vainly hides,\n   I have fled as a stag's antler, of ruddy course,\n   I have fled as iron in a glowing fire,\n   I have fled as a spear-head, of woe to such as has a wish for it;\n   I have fled as a fierce bull bitterly fighting,\n   I have fled as a bristly boar seen in a ravine,\n   I have fled as a white grain of pure wheat,\n   On the skirt of a hempen sheet entangled,\n   That seemed of the size of a mare's foal,\n   That is filling like a ship on the waters;\n   Into a dark leathern bag I was thrown,\n   And on a boundless sea I was sent adrift;\n   Which was to me an omen of being tenderly nursed,\n   And the Lord God then set me at liberty.\"\n\nThen came Elphin to the house or court of Gwyddno his father, and\nTaliesin with him.  And Gwyddno asked him if he had had a good haul at\nthe weir, and he told him that he had got that which was better than\nfish.  \"What was that?\" said Gwyddno.  \"A Bard,\" answered Elphin.  Then\nsaid Gwyddno, \"Alas, what will he profit thee?\"  And Taliesin himself\nreplied and said, \"He will profit him more than the weir ever profited\nthee.\"  Asked Gwyddno, \"Art thou able to speak, and thou so little?\"  And\nTaliesin answered him, \"I am better able to speak than thou to question\nme.\"  \"Let me hear what thou canst say,\" quoth Gwyddno.  Then Taliesin\nsang,--\n\n   \"In water there is a quality endowed with a blessing;\n   On God it is most just to meditate aright;\n   To God it is proper to supplicate with seriousness,\n   Since no obstacle can there be to obtain a reward from him.\n   Three times have I been born, I know by meditation;\n   It were miserable for a person not to come and obtain\n   All the sciences of the world, collected together in my breast,\n   For I know what has been, what in future will occur.\n   I will supplicate my Lord that I get refuge in him,\n   A regard I may obtain in his grace;\n   The Son of Mary is my trust, great in Him is my delight,\n   For in Him is the world continually upholden.\n   God has been to instruct me and to raise my expectation,\n   The true Creator of heaven, who affords me protection;\n   It is rightly intended that the saints should daily pray,\n   For God, the renovator, will bring them to him.\n\n* * * * *\n\nAnd forthwith Elphin gave his haul to his wife, and she nursed him\ntenderly and lovingly.  Thenceforward Elphin increased in riches more and\nmore day after day, and in love and favour with the king, and there abode\nTaliesin until he was thirteen years old, when Elphin son of Gwyddno went\nby a Christmas invitation to his uncle, Maelgwn Gwynedd, who sometime\nafter this held open court at Christmas-tide in the castle of Dyganwy,\nfor all the number of his lords of both degrees, both spiritual and\ntemporal, with a vast and thronged host of knights and squires.  And\namongst them there arose a discourse and discussion.  And thus was it\nsaid.\n\n\"Is there in the whole world a king so great as Maelgwn, or one on whom\nHeaven has bestowed so many spiritual gifts as upon him?  First, form,\nand beauty, and meekness, and strength, besides all the powers of the\nsoul?\"  And together with these they said that Heaven had given one gift\nthat exceeded all the others, which was the beauty, and comeliness, and\ngrace, and wisdom, and modesty of his queen; whose virtues surpassed\nthose of all the ladies and noble maidens throughout the whole kingdom.\nAnd with this they put questions one to another amongst themselves, Who\nhad braver men?  Who had fairer or swifter horses or greyhounds?  Who had\nmore skilful or wiser bards--than Maelgwn?\n\nNow at that time the bards were in great favour with the exalted of the\nkingdom; and then none performed the office of those who are now called\nheralds, unless they were learned men, not only expert in the service of\nkings and princes, but studious and well versed in the lineage, and arms,\nand exploits of princes and kings, and in discussions concerning foreign\nkingdoms, and the ancient things of this kingdom, and chiefly in the\nannals of the first nobles; and also were prepared always with their\nanswers in various languages, Latin, French, Welsh, and English.  And\ntogether with this they were great chroniclers, and recorders, and\nskilful in framing verses, and ready in making englyns in every one of\nthese languages.  Now of these there were at that feast within the palace\nof Maelgwn as many as four and twenty, and chief of them all, was one\nnamed Heinin Vardd.\n\nWhen they had all made an end of thus praising the king and his gifts, it\nbefell that Elphin spoke on this wise.  \"Of a truth none but a king may\nvie with a king; but were he not a king, I would say that my wife was as\nvirtuous as any lady in the kingdom, and also that I have a bard who is\nmore skilful than all the king's bards.\"  In a short space some of his\nfellows showed the king all the boastings of Elphin; and the king ordered\nhim to be thrown into a strong prison, until he might know the truth as\nto the virtues of his wife, and the wisdom of his bard.\n\nNow when Elphin had been put in a tower of the castle, with a thick chain\nabout his feet, (it is said that it was a silver chain, because he was of\nroyal blood;) the king, as the story relates, sent his son Rhun to\nenquire into the demeanour of Elphin's wife.  Now Rhun was the most\ngraceless man in the world, and there was neither wife nor maiden with\nwhom he had held converse, but was evil spoken of.  While Rhun went in\nhaste towards Elphin's dwelling, being fully minded to bring disgrace\nupon his wife, Taliesin told his mistress how that the king had placed\nhis master in durance in prison, and how that Rhun was coming in haste to\nstrive to bring disgrace upon her.  Wherefore he caused his mistress to\narray one of the maids of her kitchen in her apparel; which the noble\nlady gladly did; and she loaded her hands with the best rings that she\nand her husband possessed.\n\nIn this guise Taliesin caused his mistress to put the maiden to sit at\nthe board in her room at supper, and he made her to seem as her mistress,\nand the mistress to seem as the maid.  And when they were in due time\nseated at their supper in the manner that has been said, Rhun suddenly\narrived at Elphin's dwelling, and was received with joy, for all the\nservants knew him plainly; and they brought him in haste to the room of\ntheir mistress, in the semblance of whom the maid rose up from supper and\nwelcomed him gladly.  And afterwards she sat down to supper again the\nsecond time, and Rhun with her.  Then Rhun began jesting with the maid,\nwho still kept the semblance of her mistress.  And verily this story\nshows that the maiden became so intoxicated, that she fell asleep; and\nthe story relates that it was a powder that Rhun put into the drink, that\nmade her sleep so soundly that she never felt it when he cut from off her\nhand her little finger, whereon was the signet ring of Elphin, which he\nhad sent to his wife as a token, a short time before.  And Rhun returned\nto the king with the finger and the ring as a proof, to show that he had\ncut it from off her hand, without her awaking from her sleep of\nintemperance.\n\nThe king rejoiced greatly at these tidings, and he sent for his\ncouncillors, to whom he told the whole story from the beginning.  And he\ncaused Elphin to be brought out of his prison, and he chided him because\nof his boast.  And he spake unto Elphin on this wise.  \"Elphin, be it\nknown to thee beyond a doubt that it is but folly for a man to trust in\nthe virtues of his wife further than he can see her; and that thou mayest\nbe certain of thy wife's vileness, behold her finger, with thy signet\nring upon it, which was cut from her hand last night, while she slept the\nsleep of intoxication.\"  Then thus spake Elphin.  \"With thy leave, mighty\nking, I cannot deny my ring, for it is known of many; but verily I assert\nstrongly that the finger around which it is, was never attached to the\nhand of my wife, for in truth and certainty there are three notable\nthings pertaining to it, none of which ever belonged to any of my wife's\nfingers.  The first of the three is, that it is certain, by your grace's\nleave, that wheresoever my wife is at this present hour, whether sitting,\nor standing, or lying down, this ring would never remain upon her thumb,\nwhereas you can plainly see that it was hard to draw it over the joint of\nthe little finger of the hand whence this was cut; the second thing is,\nthat my wife has never let pass one Saturday since I have known her\nwithout paring her nails before going to bed, and you can see fully that\nthe nail of this little finger has not been pared for a month.  The third\nis, truly, that the hand whence this finger came was kneading rye dough\nwithin three days before the finger was cut therefrom, and I can assure\nyour goodness that my wife has never kneaded rye dough since my wife she\nhas been.\"\n\nThen the king was mightily wrath with Elphin for so stoutly withstanding\nhim, respecting the goodness of his wife, wherefore he ordered him to his\nprison a second time, saying that he should not be loosed thence until he\nhad proved the truth of his boast, as well concerning the wisdom of his\nbard as the virtues of his wife.\n\nIn the meantime his wife and Taliesin remained joyful at Elphin's\ndwelling.  And Taliesin shewed his mistress how that Elphin was in prison\nbecause of them, but he bade her be glad for that he would go to\nMaelgwn's court to free his master.  Then she asked him in what manner he\nwould set him free.  And he answered her,--\n\n   \"A journey will I perform,\n   And to the gate I will come;\n   The hall I will enter,\n   And my song I will sing;\n   My speech I will pronounce\n   To silence royal bards.\n   In presence of their chief,\n   I will greet to deride,\n   Upon them I will break\n   And Elphin I will free.\n   Should contention arise,\n   In presence of the prince,\n   With summons to the bards\n   For the sweet flowing song,\n   And wizards' posing lore\n   And wisdom of Druids.\n   In the court of the sons of the distributor\n   Some are who did appear\n   Intent on wily schemes,\n   By craft and tricking means,\n   In pangs of affliction\n   To wrong the innocent,\n   Let the fools be silent,\n   As erst in Badon's fight,--\n   With Arthur of liberal ones\n   The head, with long red blades;\n   Through feats of testy men,\n   And a chief with his foes.\n   Woe be to them, the fools,\n   When revenge comes on them.\n   I Taliesin, chief of bards,\n   With a sapient druid's words,\n   Will set kind Elphin free\n   From haughty tyrant's bonds.\n   To their fell and chilling cry,\n   By the act of a surprising steed,\n   From the far distant North,\n   There soon shall be an end.\n   Let neither grace nor health\n   Be to Maelgwn Gwynedd,\n   For this force and this wrong;\n   And be extremes of ills\n   And an avenged end\n   To Rhun and all his race:\n   Short be his course of life,\n   Be all his lands laid waste;\n   And long exile be assigned\n   To Maelgwn Gwynedd!\"\n\nAfter this he took leave of his mistress, and came at last to the court\nof Maelgwn, who was going to sit in his hall and dine in his royal state,\nas it was the custom in those days for kings and princes to do at every\nchief feast.  And as soon as Taliesin entered the hall, he placed himself\nin a quiet corner, near the place where the bards and the minstrels were\nwont to come to in doing their service and duty to the king, as is the\ncustom at the high festivals when the bounty is proclaimed.  And so, when\nthe bards and the heralds came to cry largess and to proclaim the power\nof the king and his strength, at the moment that they passed by the\ncorner wherein he was crouching, Taliesin pouted out his lips after them,\nand played \"Blerwm, blerwm,\" with his finger upon his lips.  Neither took\nthey much notice of him as they went by, but proceeded forward till they\ncame before the king, unto whom they made their obeisance with their\nbodies, as they were wont, without speaking a single word, but pouting\nout their lips, and making mouths at the king, playing \"Blerwm, blerwm,\"\nupon their lips with their fingers, as they had seen the boy do\nelsewhere.  This sight caused the king to wonder and to deem within\nhimself that they were drunk with many liquors.  Wherefore he commanded\none of his lords, who served at the board, to go to them and desire them\nto collect their wits, and to consider where they stood, and what it was\nfitting for them to do.  And this lord did so gladly.  But they ceased\nnot from their folly any more than before.  Whereupon he sent to them a\nsecond time, and a third, desiring them to go forth from the hall.  At\nthe last the king ordered one of his squires to give a blow to the chief\nof them named Heinin Vardd; and the squire took a broom, and struck him\non the head, so that he fell back in his seat.  Then he arose and went on\nhis knees, and besought leave of the king's grace to show that this their\nfault was not through want of knowledge, neither through drunkenness, but\nby the influence of some spirit that was in the hall.  And after this\nHeinin spoke on this wise.  \"Oh honourable king, be it known to your\ngrace, that not from the strength of drink, or of too much liquor, are we\ndumb, without power of speech like drunken men, but through the influence\nof a spirit that sits in the corner yonder in the form of a child.\"\nForthwith the king commanded the squire to fetch him; and he went to the\nnook where Taliesin sat, and brought him before the king, who asked him\nwhat he was, and whence he came.  And he answered the king in verse.\n\n      \"Primary chief bard am I to Elphin,\n   And my original country is the region of the summer stars;\n   Idno and Heinin called me Merddin,\n   At length every king will call me Taliesin.\n\n   I was with my Lord in the highest sphere,\n   On the fall of Lucifer into the depth of hell:\n   I have borne a banner before Alexander;\n   I know the names of the stars from north to south;\n   I have been on the galaxy at the throne of the Distributor;\n   I was in Canaan when Absalom was slain;\n   I conveyed the divine Spirit to the level of the vale of Hebron;\n   I was in the court of Don before the birth of Gwydion.\n   I was instructor to Eli and Enoc;\n   I have been winged by the genius of the splendid crosier;\n   I have been loquacious prior to being gifted with speech;\n   I was at the place of the crucifixion of the merciful Son of God;\n   I have been three periods in the prison of Arianrod;\n   I have been the chief director of the work of the tower of Nimrod;\n   I am a wonder whose origin is not known.\n\n   I have been in Asia with Noah in the ark,\n   I have seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra;\n   I have been in India when Roma was built,\n   I am now come here to the remnant of Troia.\n\n   I have been with my Lord in the manger of the ass;\n   I strengthened Moses through the water of Jordan;\n   I have been in the firmament with Mary Magdalene;\n   I have obtained the muse from the cauldron of Ceridwen;\n   I have been bard of the harp to Lleon of Lochlin.\n   I have been on the White Hill, in the court of Cynvelyn,\n   For a day and a year in stocks and fetters,\n   I have suffered hunger for the Son of the Virgin.\n   I have been fostered in the land of the Deity,\n   I have been teacher to all intelligences,\n   I am able to instruct the whole universe.\n   I shall be until the day of doom on the face of the earth;\n   And it is not known whether my body is flesh or fish.\n\n      Then I was for nine months\n      In the womb of the hag Ceridwen;\n      I was originally little Gwion,\n      And at length I am Taliesin.\"\n\nAnd when the king and his nobles had heard the song, they wondered much,\nfor they had never heard the like from a boy so young as he.  And when\nthe king knew that he was the bard of Elphin, he bade Heinin, his first\nand wisest bard, to answer Taliesin and to strive with him.  But when he\ncame, he could do no other, but play \"blerwm\" on his lips; and when he\nsent for the others of the four and twenty bards, they all did likewise,\nand could do no other.  And Maelgwn asked the boy Taliesin what was his\nerrand, and he answered him in song.\n\n   \"Puny bards, I am trying\n   To secure the prize, if I can;\n   By a gentle prophetic strain\n   I am endeavouring to retrieve\n   The loss I may have suffered;\n   Complete the attempt, I hope,\n   Since Elphin endures trouble\n   In the fortress of Teganwy,\n   On him may there not be laid\n   Too many chains and fetters;\n   The Chair of the fortress of Teganwy\n   Will I again seek;\n   Strengthened by my muse I am powerful;\n   Mighty on my part is what I seek,\n   For three hundred songs and more\n   Are combined in the spell I sing.\n   There ought not to stand where I am\n   Neither stone, neither ring;\n   And there ought not to be about me\n   Any bard who may not know\n   That Elphin the son of Gwyddno\n   Is in the land of Artro,\n   Secured by thirteen locks,\n   For praising his instructor;\n   And then I Taliesin,\n   Chief of the bards of the west,\n   Shall loosen Elphin\n   Out of a golden fetter.\"\n\n   * * * * *\n\n   \"If you be primary bards\n   To the master of sciences,\n   Declare ye mysteries\n   That relate to the inhabitants of the world;\n   There is a noxious creature,\n   From the rampart of Satanas,\n   Which has overcome all\n   Between the deep and the shallow;\n   Equally wide are his jaws\n   As the mountains of the Alps;\n   Him death will not subdue,\n   Nor hand or blades;\n   There is the load of nine hundred waggons\n   In the hair of his two paws;\n   There is in his head an eye\n   Green as the limpid sheet of icicle;\n   Three springs arise\n   In the nape of his neck;\n   Sea-roughs thereon\n   Swim through it;\n   There was the dissolution of the oxen\n   Of Deivrdonwy the water-gifted.\n   The names of the three springs\n   From the midst of the ocean;\n   One generated brine\n   Which is from the Corina,\n   To replenish the flood\n   Over seas disappearing;\n   The second, without injury\n   It will fall on us,\n   When there is rain abroad.\n   Through the whelming sky;\n   The third will appear\n   Through the mountain veins,\n   Like a flinty banquet.\n   The work of the King of kings.\n   You are blundering bards,\n   In too much solicitude;\n   You cannot celebrate\n   The kingdom of the Britons;\n   And I am Taliesin,\n   Chief of the bards of the west,\n   Who will loosen Elphin\n   Out of the golden fetter.\"\n\n   * * * * *\n\n   \"Be silent, then, ye unlucky rhyming bards,\n   For you cannot judge between truth and falsehood.\n   If you be primary bards formed by Heaven,\n   Tell your king what his fate will be.\n   It is I who am a diviner and a leading bard,\n   And know every passage in the country of your king;\n   I shall liberate Elphin from the belly of the stony tower;\n   And will tell your king what will befall him.\n   A most strange creature will come from the sea marsh of Rhianedd\n   As a punishment of iniquity on Maelgwn Gwynedd;\n   His hair, his teeth, and his eyes being as gold,\n   And this will bring destruction upon Maelgwn Gwynedd.\"\n\n   * * * * *\n\n   \"Discover thou what is\n   The strong creature from before the flood,\n   Without flesh, without bone,\n   Without vein, without blood,\n   Without head, without feet;\n   It will neither be older nor younger\n   Than at the beginning;\n   For fear of a denial,\n   There are no rude wants\n   With creatures.\n   Great God! how the sea whitens\n   When first it come!\n   Great are its gusts\n   When it comes from the south;\n   Great are its evaporations\n   When it strikes on coasts.\n   It is in the field, it is in the wood,\n   Without hand and without foot,\n   Without signs of old age,\n   Though it be co-eval\n   With the five ages or periods;\n   And older still,\n   Though they be numberless years.\n   It is also so wide\n   As the surface of the earth;\n   And it was not born,\n   Nor was it seen.\n   It will cause consternation\n   Wherever God willeth.\n   On sea, and on land,\n   It neither sees, nor is seen.\n   Its course is devious,\n   And will not come when desired.\n   On land and on sea,\n   It is indispensible.\n   It is without an equal,\n   It is four-sided;\n   It is not confined,\n   It is incomparable;\n   It comes from four quarters\n   It will not be advised,\n   It will not be without advice.\n   It commences its journey\n   Above the marble rock. {136}\n   It is sonorous, it is dumb,\n   It is mild,\n   It is strong, it is bold,\n   When it glances over the land.\n   It is silent, it is vocal,\n   It is clamorous,\n   It is the most noisy\n   On the face of the earth.\n   It is good, it is bad,\n   It is extremely injurious.\n   It is concealed,\n   Because sight cannot perceive it.\n   It is noxious, it is beneficial;\n   It is yonder, it is here;\n   It will discompose,\n   But will not repair the injury;\n   It will not suffer for its doings,\n   Seeing it is blameless.\n   It is wet, it is dry,\n   It frequently comes,\n   Proceeding from the heat of the sun,\n   And the coldness of the moon.\n   The moon is less beneficial,\n   Inasmuch as her heat is less.\n   One Being has prepared it,\n   Out of all creatures,\n   By a tremendous blast,\n   To wreak vengeance\n   On Maelgwn Gwynedd.\"\n\nAnd while he was thus singing his verse near the door there arose a\nmighty storm of wind, so that the king and all his nobles thought that\nthe castle would fall upon their heads.  And the king caused them to\nfetch Elphin in haste from his dungeon, and placed him before Taliesin.\nAnd it is said that immediately he sang a verse, so that the chains\nopened from about his feet.\n\n   \"I adore the Supreme, Lord of all animation,--\n   Him that supports the heaven, Ruler of every extreme,\n   Him that made the water good for all,\n   Him who has bestowed each gift, and blesses it;--\n   May abundance of mead be given Maelgwn of Anglesey, who supplies us,\n   From his foaming meadhorns, with the choicest pure liquor.\n   Since bees collect, and do not enjoy,\n   We have sparkling distilled mead, which is universally praised.\n   The multitude of creatures which the earth nourishes,\n   God made for man, with a view to enrich him;--\n   Some are violent, some are mute, he enjoys them,\n   Some are wild, some are tame; the Lord makes them;--\n   Part of their produce becomes clothing;\n   For food and beverage till doom will they continue.\n   I entreat the Supreme, Sovereign of the region of peace,\n   To liberate Elphin from banishment,\n   The man who gave me wine, and ale, and mead,\n   With large princely steeds, of beautiful appearance;\n   May he yet give me; and at the end,\n   May God of His good will grant me, in honour,\n   A succession of numberless ages, in the retreat of tranquillity.--\n   Elphin, knight of mead, late be thy dissolution!\"\n\nAnd afterwards he sang the ode which is called \"The Excellence of the\nBards.\"\n\n   \"What was the first man\n   Made by the God of heaven;\n   What the fairest flattering speech\n   That was prepared by Ieuav;\n   What meat, what drink,\n   What roof his shelter;\n   What the first impression\n   Of his primary thinking;\n   What became his clothing;\n   Who carried on a disguise,\n   Owing to the wiles of the country,\n   In the beginning?\n   Wherefore should a stone be hard;\n   Why should a thorn be sharp-pointed;\n   Who is hard like a flint;\n   Who is salt like brine;\n   Who sweet like honey;\n   Who rides on the gale;\n\n   Why ridged should be the nose;\n   Why should a wheel be round;\n   Why should the tongue be gifted with speech\n   Rather than another member?\n   If thy bards, Heinin, be competent,\n   Let them reply to me, Taliesin.\"\n\nAnd after that he sang the address which is called \"The Reproof of the\nBards.\"\n\n   \"If thou art a bard completely imbued\n   With genius not to be controlled,\n   Be thou not untractable\n   Within the court of thy king;\n   Until thy rigmarole shall be known,\n   Be thou silent Heinin\n   As to the name of thy verse,\n   And the name of thy vaunting;\n   And as to the name of thy grandsire\n   Prior to his being baptized.\n   And the name of the sphere,\n   And the name of the element,\n   And the name of thy language,\n   And the name of thy region.\n   Avaunt, ye bards above,\n   Avaunt, ye bards below!\n   My beloved is below,\n   In the fetter of Arianrod.\n   It is certain you know not\n   How to understand the song I utter,\n   Nor clearly how to discriminate\n   Between the truth and what is false;\n   Puny bards, crows of the district,\n   Why do you not take to flight?\n   A bard that will not silence me,\n   Silence may he not obtain,\n   Till he goes to be covered\n   Under gravel and pebbles;\n   Such as shall listen to me,\n   May God listen to him.\"\n\nThen sang he the piece called \"The Spite of the Bards.\"\n\n   \"Minstrels persevere in their false custom,\n   Immoral ditties are their delight;\n   Vain and tasteless praise they recite;\n   Falsehood at all times do they utter;\n   The innocent persons they ridicule;\n   Married women they destroy,\n   Innocent virgins of Mary they corrupt;\n   As they pass their lives away in vanity;\n   Poor innocent persons they ridicule;\n   At night they get drunk, they sleep the day;\n   In idleness without work they feed themselves;\n   The Church they hate, and the tavern they frequent;\n   With thieves and perjured fellows they associate;\n   At courts they inquire after feasts;\n   Every senseless word they bring forward;\n   Every deadly sin they praise;\n   Every vile course of life they lead;\n   Through every village, town, and country they stroll;\n   Concerning the gripe of death they think not;\n   Neither lodging nor charity do they give;\n   Indulging in victuals to excess.\n   Psalms or prayers they do not use,\n   Tithes or offerings to God they do not pay,\n   On holidays or Sundays they do not worship;\n   Vigils or festivals they do not heed.\n   The birds do fly, the fish do swim,\n   The bees collect honey, worms do crawl,\n   Every thing travails to obtain its food,\n   Except minstrels and lazy useless thieves.\n\n   I deride neither song nor minstrelsy,\n   For they are given by God to lighten thought;\n   But him who abuses them,\n   For blaspheming Jesus and his service.\"\n\nTaliesin having set his master free from prison, and having protected the\ninnocence of his wife, and silenced the Bards so that not one of them\ndared to say a word, now brought Elphin's wife before them, and shewed\nthat she had not one finger wanting.  Right glad was Elphin, right glad\nwas Taliesin.\n\nThen he bade Elphin wager the king, that he had a horse both better and\nswifter than the king's horses.  And this Elphin did, and the day, and\nthe time, and the place were fixed, and the place was that which at this\nday is called Morva Rhiannedd; and thither the king went with all his\npeople, and four and twenty of the swiftest horses he possessed.  And\nafter a long process the course was marked, and the horses were placed\nfor running.  Then came Taliesin with four and twenty twigs of holly,\nwhich he had burnt black, and he caused the youth who was to ride his\nmaster's horse to place them in his belt, and he gave him orders to let\nall the king's horses get before him, and as he should overtake one horse\nafter the other, to take one of the twigs and strike the horse with it\nover the crupper, and then let that twig fall; and after that to take\nanother twig, and do in like manner to every one of the horses, as he\nshould overtake them, enjoining the horseman strictly to watch when his\nown horse should stumble, and to throw down his cap on the spot.  All\nthese things did the youth fulfil, giving a blow to every one of the\nking's horses, and throwing down his cap on the spot where his horse\nstumbled.  And to this spot Taliesin brought his master after his horse\nhad won the race.  And he caused Elphin to put workmen to dig a hole\nthere; and when they had dug the ground deep enough, they found a large\ncauldron full of gold.  And then said Taliesin, \"Elphin, behold a payment\nand reward unto thee, for having taken me out of the weir, and for having\nreared me from that time until now.\"  And on this spot stands a pool of\nwater, which is to this time called Pwllbair.\n\nAfter all this, the king caused Taliesin to be brought before him, and he\nasked him to recite concerning the creation of man from the beginning;\nand thereupon he made the poem which is now called \"One of the Four\nPillars of Song.\"\n\n   \"The Almighty made,\n   Down the Hebron vale,\n   With his plastic hands,\n      Adam's fair form;\n\n   And five hundred years,\n   Void of any help,\n   There he remained and lay\n      Without a soul.\n\n   He again did form,\n   In calm paradise,\n   From a left-side rib,\n      Bliss-throbbing Eve.\n\n   Seven hours they were\n   The orchard keeping,\n   Till Satan brought strife,\n      With wiles from hell.\n\n   Thence were they driven,\n   Cold and shivering,\n   To gain their living,\n      Into this world.\n\n   To bring forth with pain\n   Their sons and daughters,\n   To have possession\n      Of Asia's land.\n\n   Twice five, ten and eight,\n   She was self-bearing,\n   The mixed burden\n      Of man-woman.\n\n   And once, not hidden,\n   She brought forth Abel,\n   And Cain the forlorn,\n      The homicide.\n\n   To him and his mate\n   Was given a spade,\n   To break up the soil,\n      Thus to get bread.\n\n   The wheat pure and white,\n   Summer tilth to sow,\n   Every man to feed,\n      Till great yule feast.\n\n   An angelic hand\n   From the high Father,\n   Brought seed for growing\n      That Eve might sow;\n\n   But she then did hide\n   Of the gift a tenth,\n   And all did not sow\n      Of what was dug.\n\n   Black rye then was found,\n   And not pure wheat grain,\n   To show the mischief\n      Thus of thieving.\n\n   For this thievish act,\n   It is requisite,\n   That all men should pay\n      Tithe unto God.\n\n   Of the ruddy wine,\n   Planted on sunny days,\n   And on new moon nights;\n      And the white wine.\n\n   The wheat rich in grain\n   And red flowing wine\n   Christ's pure body make,\n      Son of Alpha.\n\n   The wafer is flesh,\n   The wine is spilt blood,\n   The Trinity's words\n      Sanctify them.\n\n   The concealed books\n   From Emmanuel's hand\n   Were brought by Raphael\n      As Adam's gift.\n\n   When in his old age,\n   To his chin immersed\n   In Jordan's water,\n      Keeping a fast,\n\n   Moses did obtain,\n   In Jordan's water,\n   The aid of the three\n      Most special rods.\n\n   Solomon did obtain,\n   In Babel's tower,\n   All the sciences\n      In Asia land.\n\n   So did I obtain,\n   In my bardic books,\n   All the sciences\n      Of Europe and Africa.\n\n   Their course, their bearing\n   Their permitted way,\n   And their fate I know,\n      Unto the end.\n\n   Oh! what misery,\n   Through extreme of woe,\n   Prophecy will show\n      On Troia's race!\n\n   A coiling serpent,\n   Proud and merciless,\n   On her golden wings,\n      From Germany.\n\n   She will overrun\n   England and Scotland,\n   From Lychlyn sea-shore\n      To the Severn.\n\n   Then will the Brython\n   Be as prisoners,\n   By strangers swayed,\n      From Saxony.\n\n   Their Lord they will praise,\n   Their speech they will keep,\n   Their land they will lose,\n      Except wild Walia.\n\n   Till some change shall come,\n   After long penance,\n   When equally rife\n      The two crimes come.\n\n   Britons then shall have\n   Their land and their crown,\n   And the strangers swarm\n      Shall disappear.\n\n   All the angel's words,\n   As to peace and war,\n   Will be fulfilled\n      To Britain's race.\n\nHe further told the king various prophecies of things that should be in\nthe world, in songs, as follows.\n\n* * * * *\n\n{Picture: p143.jpg}\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes:\n\n\n{11a}  Diarwya.\n\n{11b}  While the day was still young.\n\n{13}  Arawn, king of Annwvyn.\n\n{15}  And as thou seest.\n\n{17}  \"It may be that I shall repent for what I have done unto thee.  Seek\nwhom thou wiliest to slay thee, I shall not slay thee.\"\n\n{26}  \"If thou wilt ask for a reasonable gift, thou shalt have it\ngladly.\"  \"A reasonable one, lord,\" answered he.\n\n{28}  Pwyll rose, and caused silence to be proclaimed, to command all\nsuitors and minstrels to show what they desired, and to tell them that\nevery one of them would be satisfied according to his wish and desire.\n\n{29}  And they summoned him to them.\n\n{30}  \"Wretched women,\" said Rhiannon, \"for the sake of the God who knows\neverything, charge me not falsely.  The God who knows everything knows\nthat that is false.\"\n\n{31a}  Whether she persuaded or pleaded.\n\n{31b}  Unbeseeming.\n\n{33}  According to the kind of baptism that was then made.\n\n{35}  \"Oh fair lady,\" said Teirnon, \"it is not very likely to me that any\nof these will be carried on thy back.\"  \"Let who will do so,\" said the\nson, \"I shall not.\"  \"Truly, my soul,\" said Teirnon, \"neither shall we\ngo.\"\n\n{36a}  The Welsh is _vy'm pryder i_ (= my trouble).\n\n{36b}  If he will be of gentle bearing.\n\n{37a}  And if he is in power, it will be more right for him to maintain\nthee than it was even for me.\n\n{37b}  After that.\n\n{38}  Wallt.\n\n{39a}  And splendid wearer of the crown of London.\n\n{39b}  Over-looking the sea.\n\n{40}  Penordim.\n\n{42}  Mane.\n\n{45}  And I am not sure it was not there he got it.\n\n{48a}  Taunted him openly.\n\n{48b}  Bake.\n\n{50a}  On the township.\n\n{50b}  There were but two rivers, Lli and Archan were they called.  After\nthat the ocean separated the kingdoms.\n\n{52a}  Was.\n\n{52b}  \"Yes,\" said Bendigeid Vran, \"unless I myself can get the\nkingship.\"\n\n{56a}  Glivieri.\n\n{56b}  Grodyeu.\n\n{59a}  At that very moment.\n\n{59b}  And from that hour they could not rest.\n\n{62a}  Meek.\n\n{62b}  Wilt thou follow another counsel?\n\n{62c}  And even now thou wilt not be disappointed with her appearance.\n\n{65}  Add \"and fish.\"\n\n{71}  He furnished gilded clasps for the shoes.\n\n{73}  And then, half in guile and half in anger, he rushed into the midst\nof the mice.  But he could no more keep one of them within sight than he\ncould gnats or birds in the air, except one, which he saw was heavy with\nyoung, and which he thought could not run.\n\n{79}  Knockers and Collars.\n\n{81}  Eveyd.\n\n{87}  Tyviawc.\n\n{88}  A maiden.\n\n{91a}  Aranrod _throughout_.\n\n{91b}  Infamous.\n\n{93}  Sea-weed.\n\n{96}  Destiny.\n\n{98a}  Add \"according to the rite of baptism they then performed.\"\n\n{98b}  \"I will give him that one Cantrev that is best for a young man to\nhave.\"\n\n{100}  Blow.\n\n{111}  Add \"henceforth.\"\n\n{118a}  Of the books of the magician.  [Vergil = Fferyllt = magician or\nchemist.]\n\n{118b}  Head.\n\n{121}  Taliesin\n\n{123}  This should be Elphin son of Gwyddno.\n\n{136}  Possibly an allusion to the Cave of AEolus.","title":"The Mabinogion Vol. 3","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":36504}