{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_55989/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_55989","id":"gutenberg_55989","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55989","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Celts -- Isle of Man -- Folklore","Celts -- Wales -- Folklore","Folklore -- Isle of Man","Mythology, Celtic -- Isle of Man","Mythology, Celtic -- Wales"],"text":"CELTIC FOLKLORE\n\n                             WELSH AND MANX\n\n                                   BY\n\n                        JOHN RHYS, M.A., D.Litt.\n\n               HON. LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH\n                          PROFESSOR OF CELTIC\n                   PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD\n\n\n                               VOLUME II\n\n                                 OXFORD\n\n                         AT THE CLARENDON PRESS\n                                MDCCCCI\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTRIUMPHS OF THE WATER-WORLD\n\n\n        Une des l\u00e9gendes les plus r\u00e9pandues en Bretagne est celle d'une\n        pr\u00e9tendue ville d'Is, qui, \u00e0 une \u00e9poque inconnue, aurait \u00e9t\u00e9\n        engloutie par la mer. On montre, \u00e0 divers endroits de la c\u00f4te,\n        l'emplacement de cette cit\u00e9 fabuleuse, et les p\u00e9cheurs vous en\n        font d'\u00e9tranges r\u00e9cits. Les jours de temp\u00eate, assurent-ils,\n        on voit, dans les creux des vagues, le sommet des fl\u00e8ches de\n        ses \u00e9glises; les jours de calme, on entend monter de l'ab\u00eeme\n        le son de ses cloches, modulant l'hymne du jour.--Renan.\n\n\nMore than once in the last chapter was the subject of submersions\nand cataclysms brought before the reader, and it may be convenient\nto enumerate here the most remarkable cases, and to add one or two\nto their number, as well as to dwell at somewhat greater length on\nsome instances which may be said to have found their way into Welsh\nliterature. He has already been told of the outburst of the Glasfryn\nLake (p. 367) and Ffynnon Gywer (p. 376), of Llyn Llech Owen (p. 379)\nand the Crymlyn (p. 191), also of the drowning of Cantre'r Gwaelod\n(p. 383); not to mention that one of my informants had something\nto say (p. 219) of the submergence of Caer Arianrhod, a rock now\nvisible only at low water between Celynnog Fawr and Dinas Dinlle,\non the coast of Arfon. But, to put it briefly, it is an ancient\nbelief in the Principality that its lakes generally have swallowed\nup habitations of men, as in the case of Llyn Syfadon (p. 73) and\nthe Pool of Corwrion (p. 57). To these I now proceed to add other\ninstances, to wit those of Bala Lake, Kenfig Pool, Llynclys, and\nHelig ab Glannog's territory including Traeth Lafan.\n\nPerhaps it is best to begin with historical events, namely those\nimplied in the encroachment of the sea and the sand on the coast of\nGlamorganshire, from the Mumbles, in Gower, to the mouth of the Ogmore,\nbelow Bridgend. It is believed that formerly the shores of Swansea Bay\nwere from three to five miles further out than the present strand,\nand the oyster dredgers point to that part of the bay which they\ncall the Green Grounds, while trawlers, hovering over these sunken\nmeadows of the Grove Island, declare that they can sometimes see the\nfoundations of the ancient homesteads overwhelmed by a terrific storm\nwhich raged some three centuries ago. The old people sometimes talk\nof an extensive forest called Coed Arian, 'Silver Wood,' stretching\nfrom the foreshore of the Mumbles to Kenfig Burrows, and there is\na tradition of a long-lost bridle path used by many generations\nof Mansels, Mowbrays, and Talbots, from Penrice Castle to Margam\nAbbey. All this is said to be corroborated by the fishing up every\nnow and then in Swansea Bay of stags' antlers, elks' horns, those\nof the wild ox, and wild boars' tusks, together with the remains of\nother ancient tenants of the submerged forest. Various references\nin the registers of Swansea and Aberavon mark successive stages in\nthe advance of the desolation from the latter part of the fifteenth\ncentury down. Among others a great sandstorm is mentioned, which\noverwhelmed the borough of Cynffig or Kenfig, and encroached on the\ncoast generally: the series of catastrophes seems to have culminated\nin an inundation caused by a terrible tidal wave in the early part\nof the year 1607 [1].\n\nTo return to Kenfig, what remains of that old town is near the sea,\nand it is on all sides surrounded by hillocks of finely powdered sand\nand flanked by ridges of the same fringing the coast. The ruins of\nseveral old buildings half buried in the sand peep out of the ground,\nand in the immediate neighbourhood is Kenfig Pool, which is said to\nhave a circumference of nearly two miles. When the pool formed itself\nI have not been able to discover: from such accounts as have come in\nmy way I should gather that it is older than the growing spread of\nthe sand, but the island now to be seen in it is artificial and of\nmodern make [2]. The story relating to the lake is given as follows\nin the volume of the Iolo Manuscripts, p. 194, and the original,\nfrom which I translate, is crisp, compressed, and, as I fancy, in\nIolo's own words:--\n\n'A plebeian was in love with Earl Clare's daughter: she would not\nhave him as he was not wealthy. He took to the highway, and watched\nthe agent of the lord of the dominion coming towards the castle\nfrom collecting his lord's money. He killed him, took the money,\nand produced the coin, and the lady married him. A splendid banquet\nwas held: the best men of the country were invited, and they made as\nmerry as possible. On the second night the marriage was consummated,\nand when happiest one heard a voice: all ear one listened and caught\nthe words, \"Vengeance comes, vengeance comes, vengeance comes,\"\nthree times. One asked, \"When?\" \"In the ninth generation (\u00e2ch),\"\nsaid the voice. \"No reason for us to fear,\" said the married pair;\n\"we shall be under the mould long before.\" They lived on, however,\nand a goresgynnyd, that is to say, a descendant of the sixth direct\ngeneration, was born to them, also to the murdered man a goresgynnyd,\nwho, seeing that the time fixed was come, visited Kenfig. This was a\ndiscreet youth of gentle manners, and he looked at the city and its\nsplendour, and noted that nobody owned a furrow or a chamber there\nexcept the offspring of the murderer: he and his wife were still\nliving. At cockcrow he heard a cry, \"Vengeance is come, is come,\nis come.\" It is asked, \"On whom?\" and answered, \"On him who murdered\nmy father of the ninth \u00e2ch.\" He rises in terror: he goes towards the\ncity; but there is nothing to see save a large lake with three chimney\ntops above the surface emitting smoke that formed a stinking.... [3]\nOn the face of the waters the gloves of the murdered man float to the\nyoung man's feet: he picks them up, and sees on them the murdered man's\nname and arms; and he hears at dawn of day the sound of praise to God\nrendered by myriads joining in heavenly music. And so the story ends.'\n\nOn this coast is another piece of water in point, namely Crymlyn, or\n'Crumlin Pool,' now locally called the Bog. It appears also to have\nbeen sometimes called Pwll Cynan, after the name of a son of Rhys ab\nTewdwr, who, in his flight after his father's defeat on Hirwaen Wrgan,\nwas drowned in its waters [4]. It lies on Lord Jersey's estate, at a\ndistance of about one mile east of the mouth of the Tawe, and about a\nquarter of a mile from high-water mark, from which it is separated by\na strip of ground known in the neighbourhood as Crymlyn Burrows. The\nname Crymlyn means Crooked Lake, which, I am told, describes the shape\nof this piece of water. When the bog becomes a pool it encloses an\nisland consisting of a little rocky hillock showing no trace of piles,\nor walling, or any other handiwork of man [5]. The story about this\npool also is that it covers a town buried beneath its waters. Mr. Wirt\nSikes' reference to it has already been mentioned, and I have it\non the evidence of a native of the immediate neighbourhood, that he\nhas often heard his father and grandfather talk about the submerged\ntown. Add to this that Cadrawd, to whom I have had already (pp. 23,\n376) to acknowledge my indebtedness, speaks in the columns of the\nSouth Wales Daily News for February 15, 1899, of Crymlyn as follows:--\n\n'It was said by the old people that on the site of this bog once\nstood the old town of Swansea, and that in clear and calm weather the\nchimneys and even the church steeple could be seen at the bottom of the\nlake, and in the loneliness of the night the bells were often heard\nringing in the lake. It was also said that should any person happen\nto stand with his face towards the lake when the wind is blowing\nacross the lake, and if any of the spray of that water should touch\nhis clothes, it would be only with the greatest difficulty he could\nsave himself from being attracted or sucked into the water. The lake\nwas at one time much larger than at present. The efforts made to\ndrain it have drawn a good deal of the water from it, but only to\nconvert it into a bog, which no one can venture to cross except in\nexceptionally dry seasons or hard frost.'\n\nOn this I wish to remark in passing, that, while common sense would\nlead one to suppose that the wind blowing across the water would\nhelp the man facing it to get away whenever he chose, the reasoning\nhere is of another order, one characteristic in fact of the ways and\nmeans of sympathetic magic. For specimens in point the reader may\nbe conveniently referred to page 360, where he may compare the words\nquoted from Mr. Hartland, especially as to the use there mentioned of\nstones or pellets thrown from one's hands. In the case of Crymlyn,\nthe wind blowing off the face of the water into the onlooker's face\nand carrying with it some of the water in the form of spray which wets\nhis clothes, howsoever little, was evidently regarded as establishing a\nlink of connexion between him and the body of the water--or shall I say\nrather, between him and the divinity of the water?--and that this link\nwas believed to be so strong that it required the man's utmost effort\nto break it and escape being drawn in and drowned like Cynan. The\nstatement, supremely silly as it reads, is no modern invention; for one\nfinds that Nennius--or somebody else--reasoned in precisely the same\nway, except that for a single onlooker he substitutes a whole army\nof men and horses, and that he points the antithesis by distinctly\nstating, that if they kept their backs turned to the fascinating\nflood they would be out of danger. The conditions which he had in\nview were, doubtless, that the men should face the water and have\ntheir clothing more or less wetted by the spray from it. The passage\n(\u00a7 69) to which I refer is in the Mirabilia, and Geoffrey of Monmouth\nis found to repeat it in a somewhat better style of Latin (ix. 7):\nthe following is the Nennian version:--\n\nAliud miraculum est, id est Oper Linn Liguan. Ostium fluminis illius\nfluit in Sabrina et quando Sabrina inundatur ad sissam, et mare\ninundatur similiter in ostio supra dicti fluminis et in stagno ostii\nrecipitur in modum voraginis et mare non vadit sursum et est litus\njuxta flumen et quamdiu Sabrina inundatur ad sissam, istud litus non\ntegitur et quando recedit mare et Sabrina, tunc Stagnum Liuan eructat\nomne quod devoravit de mari et litus istud tegitur et instar montis in\nuna unda eructat et rumpit. Et si fuerit exercitus totius regionis,\nin qua est, et direxerit faciem contra undam, et exercitum trahit\nunda per vim humore repletis vestibus et equi similiter trahuntur. Si\nautem exercitus terga versus fuerit contra eam, non nocet ei unda.\n\n'There is another wonder, to wit Aber Llyn Lliwan. The water from the\nmouth of that river flows into the Severn, and when the Severn is in\nflood up to its banks, and when the sea is also in flood at the mouth\nof the above-named river and is sucked in like a whirlpool into the\npool of the Aber, the sea does not go on rising: it leaves a margin\nof beach by the side of the river, and all the time the Severn is in\nflood up to its bank, that beach is not covered. And when the sea and\nthe Severn ebb, then Llyn Lliwan brings up all it had swallowed from\nthe sea, and that beach is covered while Llyn Lliwan discharges its\ncontents in one mountain-like wave and vomits forth. Now if the army\nof the whole district in which this wonder is, were to be present with\nthe men facing the wave, the force of it would, once their clothes are\ndrenched by the spray, draw them in, and their horses would likewise\nbe drawn. But if the men should have their backs turned towards the\nwater, the wave would not harm them [6].'\n\nOne story about the formation of Bala Lake, or Llyn Tegid [7] as\nit is called in Welsh, has been given at p. 376: here is another\nwhich I translate from a version in Hugh Humphreys' Llyfr Gwybodaeth\nGyffredinol (Carnarvon), second series, vol. i, no. 2, p. 1. I may\npremise that the contributor, whose name is not given, betrays a\nsort of literary ambition which has led him to relate the story in a\nconfused fashion; and among other things he uses the word edifeirwch,\n'repentance,' throughout, instead of dial, 'vengeance.' With that\ncorrection it runs somewhat as follows:--Tradition relates that Bala\nLake is but the watery tomb of the palaces of iniquity; and that some\nold boatmen can on quiet moonlight nights in harvest see towers in\nruins at the bottom of its waters, and also hear at times a feeble\nvoice saying, Dial a daw, dial a daw, 'Vengeance will come'; and\nanother voice inquiring, Pa bryd y daw, 'When will it come?' Then\nthe first voice answers, Yn y dryded genhedlaeth, 'In the third\ngeneration.' Those voices were but a recollection over oblivion,\nfor in one of those palaces lived in days of yore an oppressive and\ncruel prince, corresponding to the well-known description of one of\nwhom it is said, 'Whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept\nalive.' The oppression and cruelty practised by him on the poor farmers\nwere notorious far and near. This prince, while enjoying the morning\nbreezes of summer in his garden, used frequently to hear a voice\nsaying, 'Vengeance will come.' But he always laughed the threat away\nwith reckless contempt. One night a poor harper from the neighbouring\nhills was ordered to come to the prince's palace. On his way the harper\nwas told that there was great rejoicing at the palace at the birth of\nthe first child of the prince's son. When he had reached the palace\nthe harper was astonished at the number of the guests, including\namong them noble lords, princes, and princesses: never before had\nhe seen such splendour at any feast. When he had begun playing the\ngentlemen and ladies dancing presented a superb appearance. So the\nmirth and wine abounded, nor did he love playing for them any more\nthan they loved dancing to the music of his harp. But about midnight,\nwhen there was an interval in the dancing, and the old harper had\nbeen left alone in a corner, he suddenly heard a voice singing in a\nsort of a whisper in his ear, 'Vengeance, vengeance!' He turned at\nonce, and saw a little bird hovering above him and beckoning him,\nas it were, to follow him. He followed the bird as fast as he could,\nbut after getting outside the palace he began to hesitate. But the\nbird continued to invite him on, and to sing in a plaintive and\nmournful voice the word 'Vengeance, vengeance!' The old harper\nwas afraid of refusing to follow, and so they went on over bogs\nand through thickets, whilst the bird was all the time hovering in\nfront of him and leading him along the easiest and safest paths. But\nif he stopped for a moment the same mournful note of 'Vengeance,\nvengeance!' would be sung to him in a more and more plaintive and\nheartbreaking fashion. They had by this time reached the top of the\nhill, a considerable distance from the palace. As the old harper felt\nrather fatigued and weary, he ventured once more to stop and rest,\nbut he heard the bird's warning voice no more. He listened, but he\nheard nothing save the murmuring of the little burn hard by. He now\nbegan to think how foolish he had been to allow himself to be led away\nfrom the feast at the palace: he turned back in order to be there in\ntime for the next dance. As he wandered on the hill he lost his way,\nand found himself forced to await the break of day. In the morning,\nas he turned his eyes in the direction of the palace, he could see\nno trace of it: the whole tract below was one calm, large lake,\nwith his harp floating on the face of the waters.\n\nNext comes the story of Llynclys Pool in the neighbourhood of\nOswestry. That piece of water is said to be of extraordinary depth, and\nits name means the 'swallowed court.' The village of Llynclys is called\nafter it, and the legend concerning the pool is preserved in verses\nprinted among the compositions of the local poet, John F. M. Dovaston,\nwho published his works in 1825. The first stanza runs thus:--\n\n\n        Clerk Willin he sat at king Alaric's board,\n          And a cunning clerk was he;\n        For he'd lived in the land of Oxenford\n          With the sons of Grammarie.\n\n\nHow much exactly of the poem comes from Dovaston's own muse, and\nhow much comes from the legend, I cannot tell. Take for instance the\nking's name, this I should say is not derived from the story; but as\nto the name of the clerk, that possibly is, for the poet bases it on\nCroes-Willin, the Welsh form of which has been given me as Croes-Wylan,\nthat is Wylan's Cross, the name of the base of what is supposed to have\nbeen an old cross, a little way out of Oswestry on the north side;\nand I have been told that there is a farm in the same neighbourhood\ncalled Tre' Wylan, 'Wylan's Stead.' To return to the legend, Alaric's\nqueen was endowed with youth and beauty, but the king was not happy;\nand when he had lived with her nine years he told Clerk Willin how he\nfirst met her when he was hunting 'fair Blodwell's rocks among.' He\nmarried her on the condition that she should be allowed to leave him\none night in every seven, and this she did without his once knowing\nwhither she went on the night of her absence. Clerk Willin promised\nto restore peace to the king if he would resign the queen to him,\nand a tithe annually of his cattle and of the wine in his cellar to\nhim and the monks of the White Minster. The king consented, and the\nwily clerk hurried away with his book late at night to the rocks by\nthe Giant's Grave, where there was an ogo' or cave which was supposed\nto lead down to Faery. While the queen was inside the cave, he began\nhis spells and made it irrevocable that she should be his, and that\nhis fare should be what fed on the king's meadow and what flowed in\nhis cellar. When the clerk's potent spells forced the queen to meet\nhim to consummate his bargain with the king, what should he behold\nbut a grim ogress, who told him that their spells had clashed. She\nexplained to him how she had been the king's wife for thirty years,\nand how the king began to be tired of her wrinkles and old age. Then,\non condition of returning to the Ogo to be an ogress one night in\nseven, she was given youth and beauty again, with which she attracted\nthe king anew. In fact, she had promised him happiness\n\n\n        Till within his hall the flag-reeds tall\n          And the long green rushes grow.\n\n\nThe ogress continued in words which made the clerk see how completely\nhe had been caught in his own net:\n\n\n        Then take thy bride to thy cloistered bed,\n          As by oath and spell decreed,\n        And nought be thy fare but the pike and the dare,\n          And the water in which they feed.\n\n\nThe clerk had succeeded in restoring peace at the king's banqueting\nboard, but it was the peace of the dead;\n\n\n        For down went the king, and his palace and all,\n          And the waters now o'er it flow,\n        And already in his hall do the flag-reeds tall\n          And the long green rushes grow.\n\n\nBut the visitor will, Dovaston says, find Willin's peace relieved by\nthe stories which the villagers have to tell of that wily clerk, of\nCroes-Willin, and of 'the cave called the Grim Ogo'; not to mention\nthat when the lake is clear, they will show you the towers of the\npalace below, the Llynclys, which the Brython of ages gone by believed\nto be there.\n\nWe now come to a different story about this pool, namely, one which\nhas been preserved in Latin by the historian Humfrey Lhuyd, or Humphrey\nLlwyd, to the following effect:--\n\n'After the description of Gwynedh, let vs now come to Powys,\nthe seconde kyngedome of VVales, which in the time of German\nAltisiodorensis [St. Germanus of Auxerre], which preached sometime\nthere, agaynst Pelagius Heresie: was of power, as is gathered out of\nhis life. The kynge wherof, as is there read, bycause he refused to\nheare that good man: by the secret and terrible iudgement of God,\nwith his Palace, and all his householde: was swallowed vp into the\nbowels of the Earth, in that place, whereas, not farre from Oswastry,\nis now a standyng water, of an vnknowne depth, called Lhunclys, that\nis to say: the deuouryng of the Palace. And there are many Churches\nfounde in the same Province, dedicated to the name of German [8].'\n\nI have not succeeded in finding the story in any of the lives of\nSt. Germanus, but Nennius, \u00a7 32, mentions a certain Benli, whom he\ndescribes as rex iniquus atque tyrannus valde, who, after refusing\nto admit St. Germanus and his following into his city, was destroyed\nwith all his courtiers, not by water, however, but by fire from\nheaven. But the name Benli, in modern Welsh spelling Benlli [9],\npoints to the Moel Famau range of mountains, one of which is known\nas Moel Fenlli, between Ruthin and Mold, rather than to any place\nnear Oswestry. In any case there is no reason to suppose that this\nstory with its Christian and ethical motive is anything like so old\nas the substratum of Dovaston's verses.\n\nThe only version known to me in the Welsh language of the Llynclys\nlegend is to be found printed in the Brython for 1863, p. 338, and\nit may be summarized as follows:--The Llynclys family were notorious\nfor their riotous living, and at their feasts a voice used to be\nheard proclaiming, 'Vengeance is coming, coming,' but nobody took\nit much to heart. However, one day a reckless maid asked the voice,\n'When?' The prompt reply was to the effect that it was in the sixth\ngeneration: the voice was heard no more. So one night, when the sixth\nheir in descent from the time of the warning last heard was giving\na great drinking feast, and music had been vigorously contributing\nto the entertainment of host and guest, the harper went outside for\na breath of air; but when he turned to come back, lo and behold! the\nwhole court had disappeared. Its place was occupied by a quiet piece\nof water, on whose waves he saw his harp floating, nothing more.\n\nHere must, lastly, be added one more legend of submergence, namely,\nthat supposed to have taken place some time or other on the north\ncoast of Carnarvonshire. In the Brython for 1863, pp. 393-4, we\nhave what purports to be a quotation from Owen Jones' Aberconwy\na'i Chyffiniau, 'Conway and its Environs,' a work which I have not\nbeen able to find. Here one reads of a tract of country supposed\nto have once extended from the Gogarth [10], 'the Great Orme,' to\nBangor, and from Llanfair Fechan to Ynys Seiriol, 'Priestholme or\nPuffin Island,' and of its belonging to a wicked prince named Helig\nab Glannawc or Glannog [11], from whom it was called Tyno Helig,\n'Helig's Hollow.' Tradition, the writer says, fixes the spot where\nthe court stood about halfway between Penmaen Mawr and Pen y Gogarth,\n'the Great Orme's Head,' over against Trwyn yr Wylfa; and the story\nrelates that here a calamity had been foretold four generations before\nit came, namely as the vengeance of Heaven on Helig ab Glannog for his\nnefarious impiety. As that ancient prince rode through his fertile\nheritage one day at the approach of night, he heard the voice of an\ninvisible follower warning him that 'Vengeance is coming, coming.' The\nwicked old prince once asked excitedly, 'When?' The answer was,\n'In the time of thy grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their\nchildren.' Peradventure Helig calmed himself with the thought, that,\nif such a thing came, it would not happen in his lifetime. But on the\noccasion of a great feast held at the court, and when the family down\nto the fifth generation were present taking part in the festivities,\none of the servants noticed, when visiting the mead cellar to draw\nmore drink, that water was forcing its way in. He had only time to\nwarn the harper of the danger he was in, when all the others, in the\nmidst of their intoxication, were overwhelmed by the flood.\n\nThese inundation legends have many points of similarity among\nthemselves: thus in those of Llynclys, Syfadon, Llyn Tegid, and Tyno\nHelig, though they have a ring of austerity about them, the harper\nis a favoured man, who always escapes when the banqueters are all\ninvolved in the catastrophe. The story, moreover, usually treats the\nsubmerged habitations as having sunk intact, so that the ancient spires\nand church towers may still at times be seen: nay the chimes of their\nbells may be heard by those who have ears for such music. In some cases\nthere may have been, underlying the legend, a trace of fact such as\nhas been indicated to me by Mr. Owen M. Edwards, of Lincoln College,\nin regard to Bala Lake. When the surface of that water, he says,\nis covered with broken ice, and a south-westerly wind is blowing,\nthe mass of fragments is driven towards the north-eastern end near the\ntown of Bala; and he has observed that the friction produces a somewhat\nmetallic noise which a quick imagination may convert into something\nlike a distant ringing of bells. Perhaps the most remarkable instance\nremains to be mentioned: I refer to Cantre'r Gwaelod, as the submerged\ncountry of Gwydno Garanhir is termed, see p. 382 above. To one portion\nof his fabled realm the nearest actual centres of population are\nAberdovey and Borth on either side of the estuary of the Dovey. As\nbursar of Jesus College I had business in 1892 in the Golden Valley\nof Herefordshire, and I stayed a day or two at Dorstone enjoying\nthe hospitality of the rectory, and learning interesting facts from\nthe rector, Mr. Prosser Powell, and from Mrs. Powell in particular,\nas to the folklore of the parish, which is still in several respects\nvery Welsh. Mrs. Powell, however, did not confine herself to Dorstone\nor the Dore Valley, for she told me as follows:--'I was at Aberdovey\nin 1852, and I distinctly remember that my childish imagination was\nmuch excited by the legend of the city beneath the sea, and the bells\nwhich I was told might be heard at night. I used to lie awake trying,\nbut in vain, to catch the echoes of the chime. I was only seven years\nold, and cannot remember who told me the story, though I have never\nforgotten it.' Mrs. Powell added that she has since heard it said, that\nat a certain stage of the tide at the mouth of the Dovey, the way in\nwhich the waves move the pebbles makes them produce a sort of jingling\nnoise which has been fancied to be the echo of distant bells ringing.\n\nThese clues appeared too good to be dropped at once, and the result\nof further inquiries led Mrs. Powell afterwards to refer me to The\nMonthly Packet for the year 1859, where I found an article headed\n'Aberdovey Legends,' and signed M. B., the initials, Mrs. Powell\nthought, of Miss Bramston of Winchester. The writer gives a sketch\nof the story of the country overflowed by the neighbouring portion\nof Cardigan Bay, mentioning, p. 645, that once on a time there were\ngreat cities on the banks of the Dovey and the Disynni. 'Cities with\nmarble wharfs,' she says, 'busy factories, and churches whose towers\nresounded with beautiful peals and chimes of bells.' She goes on to say\nthat 'Mausna is the name of the city on the Dovey; its eastern suburb\nwas at the sand-bank now called Borth, its western stretched far out\ninto the sea.' What the name Mausna may be I have no idea, unless it\nis the result of some confusion with that of the great turbary behind\nBorth, namely Mochno, or Cors Fochno, 'Bog of Mochno.' The name Borth\nstands for Y Borth, 'the Harbour,' which, more adequately described,\nwas once Porth Wydno, 'Gwydno's Harbour.' The writer, however, goes\non with the story of the wicked prince, who left open the sluices of\nthe sea-wall protecting his country and its capital: we read on as\nfollows:--'But though the sea will not give back that fair city to\nlight and air, it is keeping it as a trust but for a time, and even\nnow sometimes, though very rarely, eyes gazing down through the green\nwaters can see not only the fluted glistering sand dotted here and\nthere with shells and tufts of waving sea-weed, but the wide streets\nand costly buildings of that now silent city. Yet not always silent,\nfor now and then will come chimes and peals of bells, sometimes near,\nsometimes distant, sounding low and sweet like a call to prayer, or as\nrejoicing for a victory. Even by day these tones arise, but more often\nthey are heard in the long twilight evenings, or by night. English\nears have sometimes heard these sounds even before they knew the tale,\nand fancied that they must come from some church among the hills, or\non the other side of the water, but no such church is there to give\nthe call; the sound and its connexion is so pleasant, that one does\nnot care to break the spell by seeking for the origin of the legend,\nas in the idler tales with which that neighbourhood abounds.'\n\nThe dream about 'the wide streets and costly buildings of that now\nsilent city' seems to have its counterpart on the western coast of\nErin--somewhere, let us say, off the cliffs of Moher [12], in County\nClare--witness Gerald Griffin's lines, to which a passing allusion\nhas already been made, p. 205:--\n\n\n        A story I heard on the cliffs of the West,\n          That oft, through the breakers dividing,\n        A city is seen on the ocean's wild breast,\n          In turreted majesty riding.\n        But brief is the glimpse of that phantom so bright:\n          Soon close the white waters to screen it.\n\n\nThe allusion to the submarine chimes would make it unpardonable to\npass by unnoticed the well-known Welsh air called Clychau Aberdyfi,\n'The Bells of Aberdovey,' which I have always suspected of taking its\nname from fairy bells [13]. This popular tune is of unknown origin,\nand the words to which it is usually sung make the bells say un,\ndau, tri, pedwar, pump,  chwech, 'one, two, three, four, five, six';\nand I have heard a charming Welsh vocalist putting on saith, 'seven,'\nin her rendering of the song. This is not to be wondered at, as her\ninstincts must have rebelled against such a commonplace number as six\nin a song redolent of old-world sentiment. But our fairy bells ought\nto have stopped at five: this would seem to have been forgotten when\nthe melody and the present words were wedded together. At any rate\nour stories seem to suggest that fairy counting did not go beyond the\nfingering of one hand. The only Welsh fairy represented counting is\nmade to do it all by fives: she counts un, dau, tri, pedwar, pump; un,\ndau, tri, pedwar, pump, as hard as her tongue can go. For on the number\nof times she can repeat the five numerals at a single breath depends\nthe number of the live stock of each kind, which are to form her dowry:\nsee p. 8 above, and as to music in fairy tales, see pp. 202, 206, 292.\n\nNow that a number of our inundation stories have been passed in\nreview in this and the previous chapter, some room may be given to\nthe question of their original form. They separate themselves, as\nit will have been seen, into at least two groups: (1) those in which\nthe cause of the catastrophe is ethical, the punishment of the wicked\nand dissolute; and (2) those in which no very distinct suggestion of\nthe kind is made. It is needless to say that everything points to the\ncomparative lateness of the fully developed ethical motive; and we are\nnot forced to rest content with this theoretical distinction, for in\nmore than one of the instances we have the two kinds of story. In\nthe case of Llyn Tegid, the less known and presumably the older\nstory connects the formation of the lake with the neglect to keep\nthe stone door of the well shut, while the more popular story makes\nthe catastrophe a punishment for wicked and riotous living: compare\npp. 377, 408, above. So with the older story of Cantre'r Gwaelod,\non which we found the later one of the tipsy Seithennin as it were\ngrafted, p. 395. The keeping of the well shut in the former case, as\nalso in that of Ffynnon Gywer, was a precaution, but the neglect of\nit was not the cause of the ensuing misfortune. Even if we had stories\nlike the Irish ones, which make the sacred well burst forth in pursuit\nof the intruder who has gazed into its depths, it would by no means\nbe of a piece with the punishment of riotous and lawless living. Our\ncomparison should rather be with the story of the Curse of Pantannas,\nwhere a man incurred the wrath of the fairies by ploughing up ground\nwhich they wished to retain as a green sward; but the threatened\nvengeance for that act of culture did not come to pass for a century,\ntill the time of one, in fact, who is not charged with having done\nanything to deserve it. The ethics of that legend are, it is clear,\nnot easy to discover, and in our inundation stories one may trace\nstages of development from a similarly low level. The case may be\nrepresented thus: a divinity is offended by a man, and for some reason\nor other the former wreaks his vengeance, not on the offender, but on\nhis descendants. This minimum granted, it is easy to see, that in time\nthe popular conscience would fail to rest satisfied with the cruel\nidea of a jealous divinity visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon\nthe children. One may accordingly distinguish the following stages:--\n\n1. The legend lays it down as a fact that the father was very wicked.\n\n2. It makes his descendants also wicked like him.\n\n3. It represents the same punishment overtaking father and sons,\nancestor and descendants.\n\n4. The simplest way to secure this kind of equal justice was, no doubt,\nto let the offending ancestors live on to see their descendants of the\ngeneration for whose time the vengeance had been fixed, and to let them\nbe swept away with them in one and the same cataclysm, as in the Welsh\nversions of the Syfadon and Kenfig legends, possibly also in those\nof Llyn Tegid and Tyno Helig, which are not explicit on this point.\n\nLet us for a moment examine the indications of the time to which the\nvengeance is put off. In the case of the landed families of ancient\nWales, every member of them had his position and liabilities settled\nby his pedigree, which had to be exactly recorded down to the eighth\ngeneration or eighth lifetime in Gwyned, and to the seventh in Gwent\nand Dyfed. Those generations were reckoned the limits of recognized\nfamily relationship according to the Welsh Laws, and to keep any\npractical reckoning of the kind, extending always back some two\ncenturies, must have employed a class of professional men [14]. In\nany case the ninth generation, called in Welsh y nawfed \u00e2ch, which\nis a term in use all over the Principality at the present day, is\ntreated as lying outside all recognized kinship. Thus if AB wishes to\nsay that he is no relation to CD, he will say that he is not related\no fewn y nawfed \u00e2ch, 'within the ninth degree,' or hyd y nawfed \u00e2ch,\n'up to the ninth degree,' it being understood that in the ninth degree\nand beyond it no relationship is reckoned. Folklore stories, however,\nseem to suggest another interpretation of the word \u00e2ch, and fewer\ngenerations in the direct line as indicated in the following table. For\nthe sake of simplicity the founder of the family is here assumed to\nhave at least two sons, A and B, and each succeeding generation to\nconsist of one son only; and lastly the women are omitted altogether:--\n\n\n                     T\u00e2d I (Father)\n                           1\n\n             Brother A  :  II  :  B  M\u00e2b (Son)\n                 2      :      :        2\n        i    Cousin Aa  : III  :  Ba Wyr (Grandson)\n                3       :      :        3\n        ii   Cousin Ab  :  IV  :  Bb Gorwyr (Great-Grandson)\n                4       :      :        4\n        iii  Cousin Ac  :   V  :  Bc Esgynnyd (G.G.Grandson)\n                 5      :      :        5\n        iv   Cousin Ad  :  VI  :  Bd Goresgynnyd (G.G.G.Grandson).\n\n\nIn reckoning the relationships between the collateral members of\nthe family, one counts not generations or begettings, not removes or\ndegrees, but ancestry or the number of ancestors, so that the father\nor founder of the family only counts once. Thus his descendants Ad and\nBd in the sixth generation or lifetime, are fourth cousins separated\nfrom one another by nine ancestors: that is, they are related in the\nninth \u00e2ch. In other words, Ad has five ancestors and Bd has also five,\nbut as they have one ancestor in common, the father of the family,\nthey are not separated by 5 + 5 ancestors, but by 5 + 5 - 1, that is\nby 9. Similarly, one being always subtracted, the third cousins Ac\nand Bc are related in the seventh \u00e2ch, and the second cousin in the\nfifth \u00e2ch: so with the others in odd numbers downwards, and also with\nthe relatives reckoned upwards to the seventh or eighth generation,\nwhich would mean collaterals separated by eleven or thirteen ancestors\nrespectively. This reckoning, which is purely conjectural, is based\nchiefly on the Kenfig story, which foretold the vengeance to come\nin the ninth \u00e2ch and otherwise in the time of the goresgynnyd, that\nis to say in the sixth lifetime. This works out all right if only\nby the ninth \u00e2ch we understand the generation or lifetime when the\ncollaterals are separated by nine ancestors, for that is no other\nthan the sixth from the founder of the family. The Welsh version\nof the Llynclys legend fixes on the same generation, as it says yn\noes wyrion, gorwyrion, esgynnyd a goresgynnyd, 'in the lifetime of\ngrandsons, great-grandsons, ascensors, and their children,' for these\nlast's time is the sixth generation. In the case of the Syfadon legend\nthe time of the vengeance is the ninth cenhedlaeth or generation,\nwhich must be regarded as probably a careless way of indicating the\ngeneration when the collaterals are separated by nine ancestors, that\nis to say the sixth from the father of the family. It can hardly have\nthe other meaning, as the sinning ancestors are represented as then\nstill living. The case of the Tyno Helig legend is different, as we\nhave the time announced to the offending ancestor described as amser\ndy wyrion, dy orwyrion, a dy esgynydion, 'the time of thy grandsons,\nthy great-grandsons, and thy ascensors,' which would be only the\nfifth generation with collaterals separated only by seven ancestors,\nand not nine. But the probability is that goresgynydion has been here\naccidentally omitted, and that the generation indicated originally\nwas the same as in the others. This, however, will not explain\nthe Bala legend, which fixes the time for the third generation,\nnamely, immediately after the birth of the offending prince's\nfirst grandson. If, however, as I am inclined to suppose, the sixth\ngeneration with collaterals severed by nine ancestors was the normal\nterm in these stories, it is easy to understand that the story-teller\nmight wish to substitute a generation nearer to the original offender,\nespecially if he was himself to be regarded as surviving to share in\nthe threatened punishment: his living to see the birth of his first\ngrandson postulated no extraordinary longevity.\n\nThe question why fairy vengeance is so often represented deferred\nfor a long time can no longer be put off. Here three or four answers\nsuggest themselves:--\n\n1. The story of the Curse of Pantannas relates how the offender was\nnot the person punished, but one of his descendants a hundred or more\nyears after his time, while the offender is represented escaping the\nfairies' vengeance because he entreated them very hard to let him\ngo unpunished. All this seems to me but a sort of protest against\nthe inexorable character of the little people, a protest, moreover,\nwhich was probably invented comparatively late.\n\n2. The next answer is the very antithesis of the Pantannas one; for\nit is, that the fairies delay in order to involve all the more men\nand women in the vengeance wreaked by them: I confess that I see no\nreason to entertain so sinister an idea.\n\n3. A better answer, perhaps, is that the fairies were not always in\na position to harm him who offended them. This may well have been\nthe belief as regards any one who had at his command the dreaded\npotency of magic. Take for instance the Irish story of a king of\nErin called Eochaid Airem, who, with the aid of his magician or\ndruid Dal\u00e1n, defied the fairies, and dug into the heart of their\nunderground station, until, in fact, he got possession of his queen,\nwho had been carried thither by a fairy chief named Mider. Eochaid,\nassisted by his druid and the powerful Ogams which the latter wrote\non rods of yew, was too formidable for the fairies, and their wrath\nwas not executed till the time of Eochaid's unoffending grandson,\nConaire M\u00f3r, who fell a victim to it, as related in the epic story of\nBruden D\u00e1derga, so called from the palace where Conaire was slain [15].\n\n4. Lastly, it may be said that the fairies being supposed deathless,\nthere would be no reason why they should hurry; and even in case the\ndelay meant a century or two, that makes no perceptible approach to\nthe extravagant scale of time common enough in our fairy tales, when,\nfor instance, they make a man who has whiled ages away in fairyland,\ndeem it only so many minutes [16].\n\nWhatever the causes may have been which gave our stories their\nform in regard of the delay in the fairy revenge, it is clear that\nWelsh folklore could not allow this delay to extend beyond the sixth\ngeneration with its cousinship of nine ancestries, if, as I gather,\nit counted kinship no further. Had one projected it on the seventh or\nthe eighth generation, both of which are contemplated in the Laws, it\nwould not be folklore. It would more likely be the lore of the landed\ngentry and of the powerful families whose pedigrees and ramifications\nof kinship were minutely known to the professional men on whom it\nwas incumbent to keep themselves, and those on whom they depended,\nwell informed in such matters.\n\nIt remains for me to consider the non-ethical motive of the other\nstories, such as those which ascribe negligence and the consequent\ninundation to the woman who has the charge of the door or lid of the\nthreatening well. Her negligence is not the cause of the catastrophe,\nbut it leaves the way open for it. What then can have been regarded\nthe cause? One may gather something to the point from the Irish story\nwhere the divinity of the well is offended because a woman has gazed\ninto its depths, and here probably, as already suggested (p. 392),\nwe come across an ancient tabu directed against women, which may have\napplied only to certain wells of peculiarly sacred character. It\nserves, however, to suggest that the divinities of the water-world\nwere not disinclined to seize every opportunity of extending their\ndomain on the earth's surface; and I am persuaded that this was\nonce a universal creed of some race or other in possession of these\nislands. Besides the Irish legends already mentioned (pp. 382, 384)\nof the formation of Lough Neagh, Lough Ree, and others, witness the\nlegendary annals of early Ireland, which, by the side of battles, the\nclearing of forests, and the construction of causeways, mention the\nbursting forth of lakes and rivers; that is to say, the formation or\nthe coming into existence, or else the serious expansion, of certain of\nthe actual waters of the country. For the present purpose the details\ngiven by The Four Masters are sufficient, and I have hurriedly counted\ntheir instances as follows:--\n\n\n      Anno Mundi 2532, number of the lakes  formed,  2.\n       ,,    ,,  2533,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,    1.\n       ,,    ,,  2535,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     2.\n       ,,    ,,  2545,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     1.\n       ,,    ,,  2546,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     1.\n       ,,    ,,  2859,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     2.\n       ,,    ,,  2860,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     2.\n       ,,    ,,  3503,   ,,   ,,  ,, rivers   ,,    21.\n       ,,    ,,  3506,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     9.\n       ,,    ,,  3510,   ,,   ,,  ,, rivers   ,,     5.\n       ,,    ,,  3520,   ,,   ,,  ,, rivers   ,,     9.\n       ,,    ,,  3581,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     9.\n       ,,    ,,  3656,   ,,   ,,  ,, rivers   ,,     3.\n       ,,    ,,  3751,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     1.\n       ,,    ,,  3751,   ,,   ,,  ,, rivers   ,,     3.\n       ,,    ,,  3790,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     4.\n       ,,    ,,  4169,   ,,   ,,  ,, rivers   ,,     5.\n       ,,    ,,  4694,   ,,   ,,  ,, lakes    ,,     1.\n\n\nThis makes an aggregate of thirty-five lakes and forty-six rivers,\nthat is to say a total of eighty-one eruptions. But I ought, perhaps,\nto explain that under the head of lakes I have included not only\nseparate pieces of water, but also six inlets of the sea, such as\nStrangford Lough and the like. Still more to the point is it to mention\nthat of the lakes two are said to have burst forth at the digging\nof graves. Thus, A.M. 2535, The Four Masters have the following:\n'Laighlinne, son of Parthalon, died in this year. When his grave\nwas dug, Loch Laighlinne sprang forth in Ui Mac Uais, and from him\nit is named [17].' O'Donovan, the editor and translator of The Four\nMasters, supposes it to be somewhere to the south-west of Tara, in\nMeath. Similarly, A.M. 4694, they say of a certain Melghe Molbthach,\n'When his grave was digging, Loch Melghe burst forth over the land in\nCairbre, so that it was named from him.' This is said to be now called\nLough Melvin, on the confines of the counties of Donegal, Leitrim,\nand Fermanagh. These two instances are mentioned by The Four Masters;\nand here is one given by Stokes in the Rennes Dindsenchas: see the\nRevue Celtique, xv. 428-9. It has to do with Loch Garman, as Wexford\nHarbour was called in Irish, and it runs thus: 'Loch Garman, whence\nis it? Easy to say. Garman Glas, son of Dega, was buried there, and\nwhen his grave was dug then the lake burst throughout the land. Whence\nLoch Garman.' It matters not here that there are alternative accounts\nof the name.\n\nThe meaning of all this seems to be that cutting the green sward or\ndisturbing the earth beneath was believed in certain cases to give\noffence to some underground divinity or other connected with the world\nof waters. That divinity avenged the annoyance or offence given him by\ncausing water to burst forth and form a lake forthwith. The nearness\nof such divinities to the surface seems not a little remarkable, and\nit is shown not only in the folklore which has been preserved for\nus by The Four Masters, but also by the usual kind of story about\na neglected well door. These remarks suggest the question whether\nit was not one of the notions which determined surface burials,\nthat is, burials in which no cutting of the ground took place,\nthe cists or chambers and the bodies placed in them being covered\nover by the heaping on of earth or stones brought from a more or\nless convenient distance. It might perhaps be said that all this\nonly implied individuals of a character to desecrate the ground and\ncall forth the displeasure of the divinities concerned; and for that\nsuggestion folklore parallels, it is true, could be adduced. But it is\nhardly adequate: the facts seem to indicate a more general objection\non the part of the powers in point; and they remind one rather of the\nclause said to be inserted in mining leases in China with the object,\nif one may trust the newspapers, of preventing shafts from being sunk\nbelow a certain depth, for fear of offending the susceptibilities of\nthe demons or dragons ruling underground.\n\nIt is interesting to note the fact, that Celtic folklore connects the\nunderground divinities intimately with water; for one may briefly\nsay that they have access wherever water can take them. With this\nqualification the belief may be said to have lingered lately in Wales,\nfor instance, in connexion with Llyn Barfog, near Aberdovey. 'It is\nbelieved to be very perilous,' Mr. Pughe says, p. 142 above, 'to let\nthe waters out of the lake'; and not long before he wrote, in 1853,\nan aged inhabitant of the district informed him 'that she recollected\nthis being done during a period of long drought, in order to procure\nmotive power for Llyn Pair Mill, and that long-continued heavy rains\nfollowed.' Then we have the story related to Mr. Reynolds as to Llyn\ny Fan Fach, how there emerged from the water a huge hairy fellow of\nhideous aspect, who stormed at the disturbers of his peace, and uttered\nthe threat that unless they left him alone in his own place he would\ndrown a whole town. Thus the power of the water spirit is represented\nas equal to producing excessive wet weather and destructive floods. He\nis in all probability not to be dissociated from the afanc in the\nConwy story which has already been given (pp. 130-3). Now the local\nbelief is that the reason why the afanc had to be dragged out of the\nriver was that he caused floods in the river and made it impossible\nfor people to cross on their way to market at Llanrwst. Some such\na local legend has been generalized into a sort of universal flood\nstory in the late Triad, iii. 97, as follows:--'Three masterpieces of\nthe Isle of Prydain: the Ship of Nefyd Naf Neifion, that carried in\nher male and female of every kind when the Lake of Ll\u00efon burst; and\nHu the Mighty's Ychen Bannog dragging the afanc of the lake to land,\nso that the lake burst no more; and the Stones of Gwydon Ganhebon,\non which one read all the arts and sciences of the world.' A story\nsimilar to the Conwy one, but no longer to be got so complete, as\nfar as I know, seems to have been current in various parts of the\nPrincipality, especially around Llyn Syfadon and on the banks of the\nAnglesey pool called Llyn yr Wyth Eidion, 'the Pool of the Eight Oxen,'\nfor so many is Hu represented here as requiring in dealing with the\nAnglesey afanc. According to Mr. Pughe of Aberdovey, the same feat\nwas performed at Llyn Barfog, not, however, by Hu and his oxen,\nbut by Arthur and his horse. To be more exact the task may be here\nconsidered as done by Arthur superseding Hu: see p. 142 above. That,\nhowever, is of no consequence here, and I return to the afanc: the Fan\nFach legend told to Mr. Reynolds makes the lake ruler huge and hairy,\nhideous and rough-spoken, but he expresses himself in human speech,\nin fact in two lines of doggerel: see p. 19 above. On the other hand,\nthe Llyn Cwm Llwch story, which puts the same doggerel, p. 21, into\nthe mouth of the threatening figure in red who sits in a chair on\nthe face of that lake, suggests nothing abnormal about his personal\nappearance. Then as to the Conwy afanc, he is very heavy, it is true,\nbut he also speaks the language of the country. He is lured, be it\nnoticed, out of his home in the lake by the attractions of a young\nwoman, who lets him rest his head in her lap and fall asleep. When\nhe wakes to find himself in chains he takes a cruel revenge on\nher. But with infinite toil and labour he is dragged beyond the\nConwy watershed into one of the highest tarns on Snowdon; for there\nis here no question of killing him, but only of removing him where\nhe cannot harm the people of the Conwy Valley. It is true that the\nstory of Peredur represents that knight cutting an afanc's head off,\nbut so much the worse for the compiler of that romance, as we have\ndoubtless in the afanc some kind of a deathless being. However, the\ndescription which the Peredur story gives [18] of him is interesting:\nhe lives in a cave at the door of which is a stone pillar: he sees\neverybody that comes without anybody seeing him; and from behind the\npillar he kills all comers with a poisoned spear.\n\nHitherto we have the afanc described mostly from a hostile point of\nview: let us change our position, which some of the stories already\ngiven enable us to do. Take for instance the first of the whole\nseries, where it describes, p. 7, the Fan Fach youth's despair when\nthe lake damsel, whose love he had gained, suddenly dived to fetch\nher father and her sister. There emerged, it says, out of the lake\ntwo most beautiful ladies, accompanied by a hoary-headed man of noble\nmien and extraordinary stature, but having otherwise all the force and\nstrength of youth. This hoary-headed man of noble mien owned herds of\ncattle and flocks of sheep, a number of which were allowed to come\nout of the lake to form his daughter's dowry, as the narrative goes\non to show. In the story of Llyn Du'r Ardu, p. 32, he has a consort\nwho appears with him to join in giving the parental sanction to the\nmarriage which their daughter was about to make with the Snowdon\nshepherd. In neither of these stories has this extraordinary figure\nany name given him, and it appears prima facie probable that the term\nafanc is rather one of abuse in harmony with the unlovely description\nof him supplied by the other stories. But neither in them does the\nterm yr afanc suit the monster meant, for there can be no doubt that\nin the word afanc we have the etymological equivalent of the Irish\nword abacc, 'a dwarf'; and till further light is shed on these words\none may assume that at one time afanc also meant a dwarf or pigmy\nin Welsh. In modern Welsh it has been regarded as meaning a beaver,\nbut as that was too small an animal to suit the popular stories, the\nword has been also gravely treated as meaning a crocodile [19]: this\nis in the teeth of the unanimous treatment of him as anthropomorphic\nin the legends in point. If one is to abide by the meaning dwarf or\npigmy, one is bound to regard afanc as one of the terms originally\napplied to the fairies in their more unlovely aspects: compare the\nuse of crimbil, p. 263. Here may also be mentioned pegor, 'a dwarf\nor pigmy,' which occurs in the Book of Taliessin, poem vii. (p. 135):--\n\n\n        Gog6n py pegor             I know what (sort of) pigmy\n          yssyd ydan vor.          There is beneath the sea.\n        Gogwn eu heissor           I know their kind,\n          pa6b yny oscord.         Each in his troop.\n\n\nAlso the following lines in the twelfth-century manuscript of the\nBlack Book of Carmarthen: see Evans' autotype facsimile, fo. 9b:--\n\n\n        Ar gnyuer pegor            And every dwarf\n          y ssit y dan mor.        There is beneath the sea,\n        Ar gnyuer edeinauc         And every winged thing\n          aoruc kyuoethauc.        The Mighty One hath made,\n        Ac vei. vei. paup.         And were there to each\n          tri trychant tauaud      Thrice three hundred tongues--\n        Nyellynt ve traethaud.     They could not relate\n          kyuoetheu [y] trindaud   The powers of the Trinity.\n\n\nI should rather suppose, then, that the pigmies in the water-world\nwere believed to consist of many grades or classes, and to be\ninnumerable like the Luchorp\u00e1in of Irish legend, which were likewise\nregarded as diminutive. With the Luchorp\u00e1in were also associated [20]\nFomori or Fomoraig (modern Irish spelling Fomhoraigh), and Goborchinn,\n'Horse-heads.' The etymology of the word Fomori has been indicated at\np. 286 above, but Irish legendary history has long associated it with\nmuir, 'sea,' genitive mara, Welsh mor, and it has gone so far as to\nsee in them, as there suggested, not submarine but transmarine enemies\nand invaders of Ireland. So the singular fomor, now written fomhor,\nis treated in O'Reilly's Irish Dictionary as meaning 'a pirate, a\nsea robber, a giant,' while in Highland Gaelic, where it is written\nfomhair or famhair, it is regularly used as the word for giant. The\nManx Gaelic corresponding to Irish fomor and its derivative fomorach,\nis foawr, 'a giant,' and foawragh, 'gigantic,' but also 'a pirate.' I\nremember hearing, however, years ago, a mention made of the Fomhoraigh,\nwhich, without conveying any definite allusion to their stature,\nassociated them with subterranean places:--An undergraduate from\nthe neighbourhood of Killorglin, in Kerry, happened to relate in\nmy hearing, how, when he was exploring some underground r\u00e1ths near\nhis home, he was warned by his father's workmen to beware of the\nFomhoraigh. But on the borders of the counties of Mayo and Sligo\nI have found the word used as in the Scottish Highlands, namely,\nin the sense of giants, while Dr. Douglas Hyde and others inform me\nthat the Giant's Causeway is called in Irish Cloch\u00e1n na bh-Fomhorach.\n\nThe Goborchinns or Horse-heads have also an interest, not only in\nconnexion with the Fomori, as when we read of a king of the latter\ncalled Eocha Eachcheann [21], or Eochy Horse-head, but also as a link\nbetween the Welsh afanc and the Highland water-horse, of whom Campbell\nhas a good deal to say in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands. See\nmore especially iv. 337, where he remarks among other things, that\n'the water-horse assumes many shapes; he often appears as a man,'\nhe adds, 'and sometimes as a large bird.' A page or two earlier\nhe gives a story which illustrates the statement, at the same time\nthat it vividly reminds one of that part of the Conwy legend which\n(p. 130) represents the afanc resting his head on the lap of the\ndamsel forming one of the dramatis person\u00e6. Here follows Campbell's\nown story, omitting all about a marvellous bull, however, that was\nin the end to checkmate the water-horse:--\n\n'A long time after these things a servant girl went with the farmer's\nherd of cattle to graze them at the side of a loch, and she sat\nherself down near the bank. There, in a little while, what should\nshe see walking towards her but a man, who asked her to fasg his hair\n[Welsh lleua]. She said she was willing enough to do him that service,\nand so he laid his head on her knee, and she began to array his locks,\nas Neapolitan damsels also do by their swains. But soon she got a great\nfright, for growing amongst the man's hair, she found a great quantity\nof liobhagach an locha, a certain slimy green weed [22] that abounds\nin such lochs, fresh, salt, and brackish. The girl knew that if she\nscreamed there was an end of her, so she kept her terror to herself,\nand worked away till the man fell asleep as he was with his head\non her knee. Then she untied her apron strings, and slid the apron\nquietly on to the ground with its burden upon it, and then she took\nher feet home as fast as it was in her heart [23]. Now when she was\ngetting near the houses, she gave a glance behind her, and there she\nsaw her caraid (friend) coming after her in the likeness of a horse.'\n\nThe equine form belongs also more or less constantly to the kelpie\nof the Lowlands of Scotland and of the Isle of Man, where we have\nhim in the glashtyn, whose amorous propensities are represented as\nmore repulsive than what appears in Welsh or Irish legend: see p. 289\nabove, and the Lioar Manninagh for 1897, p. 139. Perhaps in Man and\nthe Highlands the horsy nature of this being has been reinforced\nby the influence of the Norse Nykr, a Northern Proteus or old Nick,\nwho takes many forms, but with a decided preference for that of 'a\ngray water-horse': see Vigfusson's Icelandic-English Dictionary. But\nthe idea of associating the equine form with the water divinity is by\nno means confined to the Irish and the Northern nations: witness the\nGreek legend of the horse being of Poseidon's own creation, and the\nbeast whose form he sometimes assumed.\n\nIt is in this sort of a notion of a water-horse one is probably to\nlook for the key to the riddle of such conceptions as that of March\nab Meirchion, the king with horse's ears, and the corresponding Irish\nfigure of Labraid Lorc [24]. In both of these the brute peculiarities\nare reduced almost to a minimum: both are human in form save their ears\nalone. The name Labraid Lorc is distinct enough from the Welsh March,\nbut under this latter name one detects traces of him with the horse's\nears in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany [25]. We have also probably\nthe same name in the Morc of Irish legend: at any rate Morc, Marc,\nor Margg, seems to be the same name as the Welsh March, which is\nno other word than march, 'a steed or charger.' Now the Irish Morc\nis not stated to have had horse's ears, but he and another called\nConaing are represented in the legendary history of early Erin as\nthe naval leaders of the Fomori, a sort of position which would seem\nto fit the Brythonic March also were he to be treated in earnest as\nan historical character. But short of that another treatment may be\nsuspected of having been actually dealt out to him, namely, that of\nresolving the water-horse into a horse and his master. Of this we seem\nto have two instances in the course of the story of the formation of\nLough Neagh in the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 39-41:--\n\nThere was once a good king named Maired reigning over Munster, and he\nhad two sons, Eochaid and Rib. He married a wife named Ebliu (genitive\nEblinde), who fell in love with her stepson, Eochaid. The two brothers\nmake up their minds to leave their father and to take Ebliu with\nthem, together with all that was theirs, including in all a thousand\nmen. They proceed northwards, but their druids persuade them that they\ncannot settle down in the same district, so Rib goes westwards to a\nplain known as T\u00edr Cluchi Midir acus Maic \u00d3ic, 'the Play-ground of\nMider and the Mac \u00d3c,' so called after the two great fairy chiefs of\nIreland. Mider visits Rib's camp and kills their horses, then he gives\nthem a big horse of his own ready harnessed with a pack-saddle. They\nhad to put all their baggage on the big horse's back and go away,\nbut after a while the nag lay down and a well of water formed there,\nwhich eventually burst forth, drowning them all: this is Loch Ri,\n'Rib's Loch, or Lough Ree,' on the Shannon. Eochaid, the other brother,\nwent with his party to the banks of the Boyne near the Brug, where\nthe fairy chief Mac \u00d3c or Mac ind \u00d3c had his residence: he destroyed\nEochaid's horses the first night, and the next day he threatened to\ndestroy the men themselves unless they went away. Thereupon Eochaid\nsaid that they could not travel without horses, so the Mac \u00d3c gave\nthem a big horse, on whose back they placed all they had. The Mac\n\u00d3c warned them not to unload the nag on the way, and not to let him\nhalt lest he should be their death. However, when they had reached the\nmiddle of Ulster, they thoughtlessly took all their property off the\nhorse's back, and nobody bethought him of turning the animal's head\nback in the direction from which they had come: so he also made a well\n[26]. Over that well Eochaid had a house built, and a lid put on the\nwell, which he set a woman to guard. In the sequel she neglected it,\nand the well burst forth and formed Lough Neagh, as already mentioned,\np. 382 above. What became of the big horses in these stories one is not\ntold, but most likely they were originally represented as vanishing\nin a spring of water where each of them stood. Compare the account\nof Undine at her unfaithful husband's funeral. In the procession\nshe mysteriously appeared as a snow-white figure deeply veiled, but\nwhen one rose from kneeling at the grave, where she had knelt nought\nwas to be seen save a little silver spring of limpid water bubbling\nout of the turf and trickling on to surround the new grave:--Da man\nsich aber wieder erhob, war die weisse Fremde verschwunden; an der\nStelle, wo sie geknieet hatte, quoll ein silberhelles Br\u00fcnnlein aus\ndem Rasen; das rieselte und rieselte fort, bis es den Grabh\u00fcgel des\nRitters fast ganz umzogen hatte; dann rann es f\u00fcrder und ergoss sich\nin einen Weiher, der zur Seite des Gottesackers lag.\n\nThe late and grotesque story of the Gilla Decair may be mentioned next:\nhe was one of the Fomorach, and had a wonderful kind of horse on whose\nback most of Finn's chief warriors were induced to mount. Then the\nGilla Decair and his horse hurried towards Corkaguiny, in Kerry, and\ntook to the sea, for he and his horse travelled equally well on sea\nand land. Thus Finn's men, unable to dismount, were carried prisoners\nto an island not named, on which Dermot in quest of them afterwards\nlanded, and from which, after great perils, he made his way to T\u00edr\nfo Thuinn, 'Terra sub Unda,' and brought his friends back to Erin\n[27]. Now the number of Finn's men taken away by force by the Gilla\nDecair was fifteen, fourteen on the back of his horse and one clutching\nto the animal's tail, and the Welsh Triads, i. 93 = ii. 11, seem to\nre-echo some similar story, but they give the number of persons not as\nfifteen but just one half, and describe the horse as Du (y) Moroed,\n'the Black of (the) Seas,' steed of Elidyr Mwynfawr, that carried\nseven human beings and a half from Pen Llech Elidyr in the North to\nPen Llech Elidyr in M\u00f4n, 'Anglesey.' It is explained that Du carried\nseven on his back, and that one who swam with his hands on that horse's\ncrupper was reckoned the half man in this case. Du Moroed is in the\nstory of Kulhwch and Olwen called Du March Moro, 'Black the Steed of\nMoro,' the horse ridden in the hunt of Twrch Trwyth by Gwyn ab Nud,\nking of the other world; and he appears as a knight with his name\nunmistakably rendered into Brun de Morois in the romance of Durmart\nle Galois, who carries away Arthur's queen on his horse to his castle\nin Morois [28]. Lastly, here also might be mentioned the incident in\nthe story of Peredur or Perceval, which relates how to that knight,\nwhen he was in the middle of a forest much distressed for the want\nof a horse, a lady brought a fine steed as black as a blackberry. He\nmounted and he found his beast marvellously swift, but on his making\nstraight for a vast river the knight made the sign of the cross,\nwhereupon he was left on the ground, and his horse plunged into the\nwater, which his touch seemed to set ablaze. The horse is interpreted\nto have been the devil [29], and this is a fair specimen of the way\nin which Celtic paganism is treated by the Grail writers when they\nfeel in the humour to assume an edifying attitude.\n\nIf one is right in setting M\u00f4n, 'Anglesey,' over against the anonymous\nisle to which the Gilla Decair hurries Finn's men away, Anglesey would\nhave to be treated as having once been considered one of the Islands\nof the Dead and the home of Other-world inhabitants. We have a trace\nof this in a couplet in a poem by the medieval poet, Dafyd ab Gwilym,\nwho makes Blodeuwed the Owl give a bit of her history as follows:--\n\n\n        Merch i arglwyd, ail Meirchion,\n        Wyf i, myn Dewi! o Fon [30].\n\n        Daughter to a lord, son of Meirchion,\n        Am I, by St. David! from Mona.\n\n\nThis, it will be seen, connects March ab Meirchion, as it were 'Steed\nson of Steeding,' with the Isle of Anglesey. Add to this that the\nIrish for Anglesey or Mona was M\u00f3in Conaing, 'Conaing's Swamp,' so\ncalled apparently after Conaing associated with Morc, a name which\nis practically March in Welsh. Both were leaders of the Fomori in\nIrish tales: see my Arthurian Legend, p. 356.\n\nOn the great place given to islands in Celtic legend and myth it\nis needless here to expatiate: witness Brittia, to which Procopius\ndescribes the souls of the departed being shipped from the shores of\nthe Continent, the Isle of Avallon in the Romances, that of Gwales\nin the Mabinogion, Ynys Enlli or Bardsey, in which Merlin and his\nretinue enter the Glass House [31], and the island of which we read\nin the pages of Plutarch, that it contains Cronus held in the bonds\nof perennial sleep [32].\n\nLet us return to the more anthropomorphic figure of the afanc,\nand take as his more favoured representative the virile personage\ndescribed emerging from the Fan Fach Lake to give his sanction to\nthe marriage of his daughter with the Mydfai shepherd. It is probable\nthat a divinity of the same order belonged to every other lake of any\nconsiderable dimensions in the country. But it will be remembered that\nin the case of the story of Llyn Du'r Ardu two parents appeared with\nthe lake maiden--her father and her mother--and we may suppose that\nthey were divinities of the water-world. The same thing also may be\ninferred from the late Triad, iii. 13, which speaks of the bursting\nof the lake of Ll\u00efon, causing all the lands to be inundated so that\nall the human race was drowned except Dwyfan and Dwyfach, who escaped\nin a mastless ship: it was from them that the island of Prydain was\nrepeopled. A similar Triad, iii. 97, but evidently of a different\norigin, has already been mentioned as speaking of the Ship of Nefyd\nNaf Neifion, that carried in it a male and female of every kind when\nthe lake of Ll\u00efon burst. This later Triad evidently supplies what\nhad been forgotten in the previous one, namely, a pair of each kind\nof animal life, and not of mankind alone. But from the names Dwyfan\nand Dwyfach I infer that the writer of Triad iii. 13 has developed\nhis universal deluge on the basis of the scriptural account of it,\nfor those names belonged in all probability to wells and rivers:\nin other terms, they were the names of water divinities. At any rate\nthere seems to be some evidence that two springs, whose waters flow\ninto Bala Lake, were at one time called Dwyfan and Dwyfach, these names\nbeing borne both by the springs themselves and the rivers flowing from\nthem. The Dwyfan and the Dwyfach were regarded as uniting in the lake,\nwhile the water on its issuing from the lake is called Dyfrdwy. Now\nDyfrdwy stands for an older Dyfr-dwyf, which in Old Welsh was Dubr\nduiu, 'the water of the divinity.' One of the names of that divinity\nwas Donwy, standing for an early form Danuvios or Danuvia, according\nas it was masculine or feminine. In either case it was practically\nthe same name as that of the Danube or Danuvios, derived from a word\nwhich is represented in Irish by the adjective d\u00e1na, 'audax, fortis,\nintrepidus.' The Dee has in Welsh poetry still another name, Aerfen,\nwhich seems to mean a martial goddess or the spirit of the battlefield,\nwhich is corroborated and explained by Giraldus [33], who represents\nthe river as the accredited arbiter of the fortunes of the wars in\nits country between the Welsh and the English. The name Dyfrdonwy\noccurs in a poem by Llywarch Brydyd y Moch, a poet who flourished\ntowards the end of the twelfth century, as follows [34]:--\n\n\n        Nid kywiw [35] a llwfyr dwfyr dyfyrdonwy\n        Kereist oth uebyd gwryd garwy.\n\n        With a coward Dyfrdonwy water ill agrees:\n        From thy boyhood hast thou loved Garwy's valour.\n\n\nThe prince praised was Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, whom the poet seems to\nidentify here with the Dee, and it looks as if the water of the Dee\nformed some sort of a test which no coward could face: compare the case\nof the discreet cauldron that would not boil meat for a coward [36].\n\nThe dwy, dwyf, duiu, of the river's Welsh name represent an early form\ndeva or deiva, whence the Romans called their station on its banks\nDeva, possibly as a shortening of ad Devam; but that Deva should have\nsimply and directly meant the river is rendered probable by the fact\nthat Ptolemy elsewhere gives it as the name of the northern Dee, which\nenters the sea near Aberdeen. From the same stem were formed the names\nDwyf-an and Dwyf-ach, which are treated in the Triads as masculine and\nfeminine respectively. In its course the Welsh Dee receives a river\nCeirw not far above Corwen, and that river flows through farms called\nAr-dwyfan and Hendre' Ar-dwyfan, and adjoining Ardwyfan is another\nfarm called Foty Ardwyfan, 'Shielings of Ardwyfan,' while Hendre'\nArdwyfan means the old stead or winter abode of Ardwyfan. Ardwyfan\nitself would seem to mean 'On Dwyfan,' and Hendre' Ardwyfan, which\nmay be supposed the original homestead, stands near a burn which flows\ninto the Ceirw. That burn I should suppose to have been the Dwyfan, and\nperhaps the name extended to the Ceirw itself; but Dwyfan is not now\nknown as the name of any stream in the neighbourhood. Elsewhere we have\ntwo rivers called Dwyfor or Dwyfawr and Dwyfach, which unite a little\nbelow the village of Llan Ystumdwy; and from there to the sea, the\nstream is called Dwyfor, the mouth of which is between Criccieth and\nAfon Wen, in Carnarvonshire. Ystumdwy, commonly corrupted into Stindwy,\nseems to mean Ystum-dwy, 'the bend of the Dwy'; so that here also we\nhave Dwyfach and Dwy, as in the case of the Dee. Possibly Dwyfor was\npreviously called simply Dwy or even Dwyfan; but it is now explained\nas Dwy-fawr, 'great Dwy,' which was most likely suggested by Dwyfach,\nas this latter explains itself to the country people as Dwy-fach,\n'little Dwy.' However, it is but right to say that in Llywelyn ab\nGruffyd's grant of lands to the monks of Aber Conwy they seem to be\ncalled Dwyuech and Dwyuaur [37].\n\nAll these waters have in common the reputation of being liable to\nsudden and dangerous floods, especially the Dwyfor, which drains Cwm\nStrallyn and its lake lying behind the great rocky barrier on the left\nas one goes from Tremadoc towards Aber Glaslyn Bridge. Still more so\nis this the case with the Dee and Bala Lake, which is wont to rise at\ntimes from seven to nine feet above its ordinary level. The inundation\nwhich then invades the valley from Bala down presents a sight more\nmagnificent than comfortable to contemplate. In fact nothing could\nhave been more natural than for the story elaborated by the writer\nof certain of the late Triads to have connected the most remarkable\ninundations with the largest piece of water in the Principality,\nand one liable to such sudden changes of level: in other words, that\none should treat Llyn Ll\u00efon as merely one of the names of Bala Lake,\nnow called in Welsh Llyn Tegid, and formerly sometimes Llyn Aerfen.\n\nWhile touching at p. 286 on Gwaen Llifon with its Llyn Pencraig as one\nof those claiming to be the Llyn Ll\u00efon of the Triads, it was hinted\nthat Ll\u00efon was but a thinner form of Llifon. Here one might mention\nperhaps another Llifon, for which, however, no case could be made. I\nallude to the name of the residence of the Wynns descended from Gilmin\nTroeddu, namely, Glyn Llifon, which means the river Llifon's Glen;\nbut one could not feel surprised if the neighbouring Llyfni, draining\nthe lakes of Nantlle, should prove to have once been also known as\na Llifon, with the Nantlle waters conforming by being called Llyn\nLlifon. But however that may be, one may say as to the flood caused\nby the bursting of any such lake, that the notion of the universality\nof the catastrophe was probably contributed by the author of Triad\niii. 13, from a non-Welsh source. He may have, however, not invented\nthe vessel in which he places Dwyfan and Dwyfach: at all events,\none version of the story of the Fan Fach represents the Lake Lady\narriving in a boat. As to the writer of the other Triad, iii. 97,\nhe says nothing about Dwyfan and his wife, but borrows Nefyd Naf\nNeifion's ship to save all that were to be saved; and here one may\nprobably venture to identify Nefyd with Nemed [38], genitive Nemid,\na name borne in Irish legend by a rover who is represented as one\nof the early colonizers of Erin. As to the rest, the name Neifion by\nitself is used in Welsh for Neptune and the sea, as in the following\ncouplet of D. ab Gwilym's poem lv:--\n\n\n    Nofiad a wnaeth hen Neifion    It is old Neptune that has swam\n    O Droia fawr draw i F\u00f4n.       From great Troy afar to Mona.\n\n\nIn the same way M\u00f4r Neifion, 'Sea of Neifion,' seems to have signified\nthe ocean, the high seas.\n\nTo return to the Triad about Dwyfan and Dwyfach, not only does it make\nthem from being water divinities into a man and woman, but there is\nno certainty even that both were not feminine. In modern Welsh all\nrivers are treated as feminine, and even Dyfrdwyf has usually to\nsubmit, though the modern bard Tegid, analysing the word into Dwfr\nDwyf, 'Water of the Divinity or Divine Water,' where dwfr, 'water,'\ncould only be masculine, addressed Llyn Tegid thus, p. 78:\n\n\n        Drwyot, er dydiau'r Drywon,\n        Y rhwyf y Dyfrdwyf ei don.\n\n        Through thee, from the days of the Druids,\n        The Dwfr Dwyf impels his wave.\n\n\nThis question, however, of the gender of river names, or rather the sex\nwhich personification ascribed them, is a most difficult one. If we\nglance at Ptolemy's Geography written in the second century, we find\nin his account of the British Isles that he names more than fifty of\nour river mouths and estuaries, and that he divides their names almost\nequally into masculine and feminine. The modern Welsh usage has, it is\nseen, departed far from this, but not so far the folklore: the afanc is\na male, and we have a figure of the same sex appearing as the father of\nthe lake maiden in the Fan Fach story, and in that of Llyn Du'r Ardu;\nthe same, too, was the sex of the chief dweller of Llyn Cwm Llwch;\nthe same remark is applicable also to the greatest divinity of these\nislands--the greatest, at any rate, so far as the scanty traces of his\ncult enable one to become acquainted with him. As his name comes down\ninto legend it belongs here, as well as to the deities of antiquity,\njust as much, in a sense, as the Dee. I refer to Nudons or Nodons,\nthe remains [39] of whose sanctuary were many years ago brought to\nlight on a pleasant hill in Lydney Park, on the western banks of the\nSevern. In the mosaic floor of the god's temple there is a coloured\ninscription showing the expense of that part of the work to have been\ndefrayed by the contributions (ex stipibus) of the faithful, and that\nit was carried out by two men, of whom one appears to have been an\nofficer in command of a naval force guarding the coasts of the Severn\nSea. In the midst of the mosaic inscription is a round opening in the\nfloor of nine inches in diameter and surrounded by a broad band of red\nenclosed in two of blue. This has given rise to various speculations,\nand among others that it was intended for libations. The mosaics and\nthe lettering of the inscriptions seem to point to the third century as\nthe time when the sanctuary of Nudons was built under Roman auspices,\nthough the place was doubtless sacred to the god long before. In any\ncase it fell in exactly with the policy of the more astute of Roman\nstatesmen to encourage such a native cult as we find traces of in\nLydney Park.\n\nOne of the inscriptions began with D. M. Nodonti, 'to the great god\nNudons,' and a little bronze crescent intended for the diadem of\nthe god or of one of his priests gives a representation of him as\na crowned, beardless personage driving a chariot with four horses;\nand on either side of him is a naked figure supposed to represent\nthe winds, and beyond them on each of the two sides is a triton with\nthe fore feet of a horse. The god holds the reins in his left hand,\nand his right uplifted grasps what may be a sceptre or possibly a\nwhip, while the whole equipment of the god recalls in some measure\nthe Chariot of the Sun. Another piece of the bronze ornament shows\nanother triton with an anchor in one of his hands, and opposite him a\nfisherman in the act of hooking a fine salmon. Other things, such as\noars and shell trumpets, together with mosaic representations of marine\nanimals in the floor of the temple, compel us to assimilate Nudons\nmore closely with Neptune than any other god of classical mythology.\n\nThe name of the god, as given in the inscriptions, varies between\nNudons and Nodens, the cases actually occurring being the dative\nNodonti, Nodenti, and Nudente, and the genitive Nodentis, so I should\nregard o or u as optional in the first syllable, and o as preferable,\nperhaps, to e in the second, for there is no room for reasonably\ndoubting that we have here to do with the same name as Irish Nuadu,\ngenitive Nuadat, conspicuous in the legendary history of Ireland. Now\nthe Nuadu who naturally occurs to one first, was Nuadu Argetl\u00e1m or\nNuadu of the Silver Hand, from argat, 'silver, argentum,' and l\u00e1m,\n'hand.' Irish literature explains how he came to have a hand made of\nsilver, and we can identify with him on Welsh ground a Llud Llawereint;\nfor put back as it were into earlier Brythonic, this would be Ludo(ns)\nLam'-argentios: that is to say, a reversal takes place in the order of\nthe elements forming the epithet out of ereint (for older ergeint),\n'silvern, argenteus,' and llaw, for earlier lama, 'hand.' Then comes\nthe alliterative instinct into play, forcing Nudo(ns) Lamargentio(s)\nto become Ludo(ns) Lamargentio(s), whence the later form, Llud\nLlawereint, derives regularly [40]. Thus we have in Welsh the name\nLl\u00fbd, fashioned into that form under the influence of the epithet,\nwhereas elsewhere it is N\u00fbd, which occurs as a man's name in the\npedigrees, while an intermediate form was probably Nudos or Nudo,\nof which a genitive NVDI occurs in a post-Roman inscription found\nnear Yarrow Kirk in Selkirkshire. It is worthy of note that the\nmodification of Nudo into Ludo must have taken place comparatively\nearly--not improbably while the language was still Goidelic--as we\nseem to have a survival of the name in that of Lydney itself.\n\nIt is very possible that we have Ludo, Llud, also in Porthlud; which\nGeoffrey of Monmouth gives, iii. 20, as the Welsh for Ludesgata or\nLudgate, in London, which gate, according to him, was called after\nan ancient king of Britain named Lud. He seems to have been using\nan ancient tradition, and there would be nothing improbable in the\nconjecture that Geoffrey's Lud was our Llud, and that the great water\ndivinity of that name had another sanctuary on the hill by the Thames,\nsomewhere near the present site of St. Paul's Cathedral, and occupying\na post as it were prophetic of Britain's rule of the water-ways in\nlater times.\n\nPerhaps as one seems to find traces of Nudons from the estuary of the\nThames to that of the Severn and thence to Ireland, one may conclude\nthat the god was one of the divinities worshipped by the Goidels. With\nregard to the Brythonic Celts, there is nothing to suggest that he\nbelonged also to them except in the sense of his having been probably\nadopted by them from the Goidels. It might be further suggested\nthat the Goidels themselves had in the first instance adopted him\nfrom the pre-Celtic natives, but in that case a goddess would have\nbeen rather more probable [41]. In fact in the case of the Severn\nwe seem to have a trace of such a goddess in the Sabrina, Old Welsh\nHabren, now Hafren, so called after a princess whom Geoffrey, ii. 5,\nrepresents drowned in the river: she may have been the pre-Celtic\ngoddess of the Severn, and the name corresponding to Welsh Hafren\noccurs in Ireland in the form of Sabrann, an old name of the river\nLee that flows through Cork. Similarly one now reads sometimes of\nFather Thames after the fashion of classic phraseology, and in the\nCeltic period Nudons may have been closely identified with that river,\nbut the ancient name Tamesa or Tamesis [42] was decidedly feminine,\nand it was, most likely, that of the river divinity from times when\nthe pre-Celtic natives held exclusive possession of these islands. On\nthe whole it appears safer to regard Nudons as belonging to a race\nthat had developed on a larger scale the idea of a patriarchal or\nkingly ruler holding sway over a comparatively wide area. So Nudons\nmay here be treated as ruled out of the discussion as to the origin\nof the fairies, to which a few paragraphs are now to be devoted.\n\nSpeaking of the rank and file of the fairies in rather a promiscuous\nfashion, one may say that we have found manifold proof of their close\nconnexion with the water-world. Not only have we found them supposed\nto haunt places bordering on rivers, to live beneath the lakes,\nor to inhabit certain green isles capable of playing hide-and-seek\nwith the ancient mariner, and perhaps not so very ancient either;\nbut other considerations have been suggested as also pointing\nunmistakably to the same conclusion. Take for instance the indirect\nevidence afforded by the method of proceeding to recover an infant\nstolen by the fairies. One account runs thus: The mother who had lost\nher baby was to go with a wizard and carry with her to a river the\nchild left her in exchange. The wizard would say, Crap ar y wrach,\n'Grip the hag,' and the woman would reply, Rhy hwyr, gyfraglach,\n'Too late, you urchin [43].' Before she uttered those words she had\ndropped the urchin into the river, and she would then return to her\nhouse. By that time the kidnapped child would be found to have come\nback home [44]. The words here used have not been quite forgotten\nin Carnarvonshire, but no distinct meaning seems to be attached to\nthem now; at any rate I have failed to find anybody who could explain\nthem. I should however guess that the wizard addressed his words to\nthe fairy urchin with the intention, presumably, that the fairies in\nthe river should at the same time hear and note what was about to be\ndone. Another, and a somewhat more intelligible version, is given in\nthe Gwyliedyd for 1837, p. 185, by a contributor who publishes it from\na manuscript which Lewis Morris began to write in 1724 and finished\napparently in 1729. He was a native of Anglesey, and it is probably\nto that county the story belongs, which he gives to illustrate one\nof the phonological aspects of certain kinds of Welsh. That account\ndiffers from the one just cited in that it introduces no wizard,\nbut postulates two fairy urchins between whom the dialogue occurs,\nwhich is not unusual in our changeling stories: see p. 62. After this\nexplanation I translate Morris' words thus:--\n\n'But to return to the question of the words approaching to the\nnature of the thing intended, there is an old story current among us\nconcerning a woman whose children had been exchanged by the Tylwyth\nTeg. Whether it is truth or falsehood does not much matter, yet it\nshows what the men of that age thought concerning the sound of words,\nand how they fancied that the language of those sprites was of a\nghastly and lumpy kind. The story is as follows:--The woman whose two\nchildren had been exchanged, chanced to overhear the two fairy heirs,\nwhom she got instead of them, reasoning with one another beyond what\nbecame their age and persons. So she picked up the two sham children,\none under each arm, in order to go and throw them from a bridge into a\nriver, that they might be drowned as she fancied. But hardly had the\none in his fall reached the bottom when he cried out to his comrade\nin the following words:--\n\n\n    Grippiach greppiach             Grippiach Greppiach,\n    Dal d'afel yn y wrach,          Keep thy hold on the hag.\n    Hi aeth yn rhowyr 'faglach--    It got too late, thou urchin--\n    Mi eis i ir mwthlach [45].'     I fell into the....\n\n\nIn spite of the obscurity of these words, it is quite clear that it\nwas thought the most natural thing in the world to return the fairies\nto the river, and no sooner were they dropped there than the right\ninfants were found to have been sent home.\n\nThe same thing may be learned also from the story of the Curse of\nPantannas, pp. 187-8 above; for when the time of the fairies' revenge\nis approaching, the merry party gathered together at Pantannas are\nfrightened by a piercing voice rising from a black and cauldron-like\npool in the river; and after a while they hear it a second time\nrising above the noise of the river as it cascades over the shoulder\nof a neighbouring rock. Shortly afterwards an ugly, diminutive woman\nappears on the table near the window, and had it not been for the\nrudeness of one of those present she would have disclosed the future\nto them, but, as it was, she said very little in a vague way and\nwent away offended; but as long as she was there the voice from the\nriver was silent. Here we have the Welsh counterpart of the ben s\u00edde,\npronounced banshee in Anglo-Irish, and meaning a fairy woman who is\nsupposed to appear to certain Irish families before deaths or other\nmisfortunes about to befall them. It is doubtless to some such fairy\npersons the voices belong, which threaten vengeance on the heir of\nPantannas and on the wicked prince and his descendants previous to\nthe cataclysm which brings a lake into the place of a doomed city:\nwitness such cases as those of Llynclys, Syfadon, and Kenfig.\n\nThe last mentioned deserves some further scrutiny; and I take this\nopportunity of referring the reader back to pp. 403-4, in order to\ndirect his attention to the fact that the voice so closely identifies\nitself with the wronged family that it speaks in the first person, as\nit cries, 'Vengeance is come on him who murdered my father of the ninth\ngeneration!' Now it is worthy of remark that the same personifying is\nalso characteristic of the Cyhiraeth [46]. This spectral female used\nto be oftener heard than seen; but her blood-freezing shriek was as a\nrule to be heard when she came to a cross-road or to water, in which\nshe splashed with her hands. At the same time she would make the most\ndoleful noise and exclaim, in case the frightened hearer happened\nto be a wife, Fy ngwr, fy ngwr! 'my husband, my husband!' If it was\nthe man the exclamation would be, Fy ngwraig, fy ngwraig! 'my wife,\nmy wife!' Or in either case it might be, Fy mhlentyn, fy mhlentyn,\nfy mhlentyn bach! 'my child, my child, my little child!' These cries\nmeant the approaching death of the hearer's husband, wife, or child, as\nthe case might be; but if the scream was inarticulate it was reckoned\nprobable that the hearer himself was the person foremourned. Sometimes\nshe was supposed to come, like the Irish banshee, in a dark mist to\nthe window of a person who has been long ailing, and to flap her wings\nagainst the glass, while repeating aloud his or her name, which was\nbelieved to mean that the patient must die [47]. The picture usually\ngiven of the Cyhiraeth is of the most repellent kind: tangled hair,\nlong black teeth, wretched, skinny, shrivelled arms of unwonted length\nout of all proportion to the body. Nevertheless it is, in my opinion,\nbut another aspect of the banshee-like female who intervenes in the\nstory of the Curse of Pantannas. One might perhaps treat both as\nsurvivals of a belief in a sort of personification of, or divinity\nidentified with, a family or tribe, but for the fact that such language\nis emptied of most of its meaning by the abstractions which it would\nconnect with a primitive state of society. So it is preferable, as\ncoming probably near the truth, to say that what we have here is a\ntrace of an ancestress. Such an idea of an ancestress as against that\nof an ancestor is abundantly countenanced by dim figures like that\nof the D\u00f4n of the Mabinogion, and of her counterpart, after whom the\nTribes of the goddess Donu or Danu [48] are known as Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann\nin Irish literature. But the one who most provokes comparison is the\nOld Woman of Beare, already mentioned, pp. 393-4: she figures largely\nin Irish folklore as a hag surviving to see her descendants reckoned\nby tribes and peoples. It may be only an accident that a poetically\nwrought legend pictures her not so much interested in the fortunes of\nher progeny as engaged in bewailing the unattractive appearance of\nher thin arms and shrivelled hands, together with the general wreck\nof the beauty which had been hers some time or other centuries before.\n\nHowever, the evidence of folklore is not of a kind to warrant our\nbuilding any heavy superstructure of theory on the supposition,\nthat the foundations are firmly held together by a powerful sense of\nconsistency or homogeneity. So I should hesitate to do anything so\nrash as to pronounce the fairies to be all of one and the same origin:\nthey may well be of several. For instance, there may be those that\nhave grown out of traditions about an aboriginal pre-Celtic race,\nand some may be the representatives of the ghosts of departed men\nand women, regarded as one's ancestors; but there can hardly be any\ndoubt that others, and those possibly not the least interesting,\nhave originated in the demons and divinities--not all of ancestral\norigin--with which the weird fancy of our remote forefathers peopled\nlakes and streams, bays and creeks and estuaries. Perhaps it is not\ntoo much to hope that the reader is convinced that in the course of\nthis chapter some interesting specimens have, so to say, been caught\nin their native element, or else in the enjoyment of an amphibious\nlife of mirth and frolic, largely spent hard by sequestered lakes,\nnear placid rivers or babbling brooks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nWELSH CAVE LEGENDS\n\n        Ekei mentoi mian einai n\u00eason, en h\u00ea ton Kronon katheirchthai\n        phrouroumenon hypo tou Briare\u00f4 katheudonta; desmon gar aut\u00f4\n        ton hypnon mem\u00eachan\u00easthai, pollous de peri auton einai daimonas\n        opadous kai therapontas.--Plutarch.\n\n\nIn previous chapters sundry allusions have been made to treasure\ncaves besides that of Marchlyn Mawr, which has been given at length\non pp. 234-7 above. Here follow some more, illustrative of this\nkind of folklore prevalent in Wales: they are difficult to classify,\nbut most of them mention treasure with or without sleeping warriors\nguarding it. The others are so miscellaneous as to baffle any attempt\nto characterize them generally and briefly. Take for instance a\ncave in the part of Rhiwarth rock nearest to Cwm Llanhafan, in the\nneighbourhood of Llangynog in Montgomeryshire. Into that, according to\nCyndelw in the Brython for 1860, p. 57, some men penetrated as far as\nthe pound of candles lasted, with which they had provided themselves;\nbut it appears to be tenanted by a hag who is always busily washing\nclothes in a brass pan.\n\nOr take the following, from J. H. Roberts' essay, as given in Welsh in\nEdwards' Cymru for 1897, p. 190: it reminds one of an ordinary fairy\ntale, but it is not quite like any other which I happen to know:--In\nthe western end of the Arennig Fawr there is a cave: in fact there\nare several caves there, and some of them are very large too; but\nthere is one to which the finger of tradition points as an ancient\nabode of the Tylwyth Teg. About two generations ago, the shepherds\nof that country used to be enchanted by one of them called Mary,\nwho was remarkable for her beauty. Many an effort was made to catch\nher or to meet her face to face, but without success, as she was\ntoo quick on her feet. She used to show herself day after day, and\nshe might be seen, with her little harp, climbing the bare slopes of\nthe mountain. In misty weather when the days were longest in summer,\nthe music she made used to be wafted by the breeze to the ears of the\nlove-sick shepherds. Many a time had the boys of the Filltir Gerrig\nheard sweet singing when passing the cave in the full light of day,\nbut they were subject to some spell, so that they never ventured to\nenter. But the shepherd of Boch y Rhaiadr had a better view of the\nfairies one Allhallows night (ryw noson Calangaeaf) when returning home\nfrom a merry-making at Amnod. On the sward in front of the cave what\nshould he see but scores of the Tylwyth Teg singing and dancing! He\nnever saw another assembly in his life so fair, and great was the\ntrouble he had to resist being drawn into their circles.\n\nLet us now come to the treasure caves, and begin with Ogof Arthur,\n'Arthur's Cave,' in the southern side of Mynyd y Cnwc [49] in the\nparish of Llangwyfan, on the south-western coast of Anglesey. The\nfoot of Mynyd y Cnwc is washed by the sea, and the mouth of the cave\nis closed by its waters at high tide, but the cave, which is spacious,\nhas a vent-hole in the side of the mountain [50]. So it is at any rate\nreported in the Brython for 1859, p. 138, by a writer who explored the\nplace, though not to the end of the mile which it is said to measure\nin length. He mentions a local tradition, that it contains various\ntreasures, and that it temporarily afforded Arthur shelter in the\ncourse of his wars with the Gwydelod or Goidels. But he describes also\na cromlech on the top of Mynyd y Cnwc, around which there was a circle\nof stones, while within the latter there lies buried, it is believed,\nan iron chest full of ancient gold. Various attempts are said to have\nbeen made by the more greedy of the neighbouring inhabitants to dig it\nup, but they have always been frightened away by portents. Here then\nthe guardians of the treasure are creatures of a supernatural kind,\nas in many other instances, and especially that of Dinas Emrys to be\nmentioned presently.\n\nNext comes the first of a group of cave legends involving treasure\nentrusted to the keeping of armed warriors. It is taken from Elijah\nWaring's Recollections and Anecdotes of Edward Williams, Iolo Morgannwg\n(London, 1850), pp. 95-8, where it is headed 'A popular Tale in\nGlamorgan, by Iolo Morgannwg'; a version of it in Welsh will be found\nin the Brython for 1858, p. 162, but Waring's version is in several\nrespects better, and I give it in his words:--'A Welshman walking over\nLondon Bridge, with a neat hazel staff in his hand, was accosted by an\nEnglishman, who asked him whence he came. \"I am from my own country,\"\nanswered the Welshman, in a churlish tone. \"Do not take it amiss, my\nfriend,\" said the Englishman; \"if you will only answer my questions,\nand take my advice, it will be of greater benefit to you than you\nimagine. That stick in your hand grew on a spot under which are hid\nvast treasures of gold and silver; and if you remember the place, and\ncan conduct me to it, I will put you in possession of those treasures.\"\n\n'The Welshman soon understood that the stranger was what he called a\ncunning man, or conjurer, and for some time hesitated, not willing to\ngo with him among devils, from whom this magician must have derived\nhis knowledge; but he was at length persuaded to accompany him into\nWales; and going to Craig-y-Dinas [Rock of the Fortress], the Welshman\npointed out the spot whence he had cut the stick. It was from the\nstock or root of a large old hazel: this they dug up, and under it\nfound a broad flat stone. This was found to close up the entrance into\na very large cavern, down into which they both went. In the middle\nof the passage hung a bell, and the conjurer earnestly cautioned the\nWelshman not to touch it. They reached the lower part of the cave,\nwhich was very wide, and there saw many thousands of warriors lying\ndown fast asleep in a large circle, their heads outwards, every one\nclad in bright armour, with their swords, shields, and other weapons\nlying by them, ready to be laid hold on in an instant, whenever the\nbell should ring and awake them. All the arms were so highly polished\nand bright, that they illumined the cavern, as with the light of ten\nthousand flames of fire. They saw amongst the warriors one greatly\ndistinguished from the rest by his arms, shield, battle-axe, and a\ncrown of gold set with the most precious stones, lying by his side.\n\n'In the midst of this circle of warriors they saw two very large heaps,\none of gold, the other of silver. The magician told the Welshman that\nhe might take as much as he could carry away of either the one or the\nother, but that he was not to take from both the heaps. The Welshman\nloaded himself with gold: the conjurer took none, saying that he did\nnot want it, that gold was of no use but to those who wanted knowledge,\nand that his contempt of gold had enabled him to acquire that superior\nknowledge and wisdom which he possessed. In their way out he cautioned\nthe Welshman again not to touch the bell, but if unfortunately he\nshould do so, it might be of the most fatal consequence to him, as one\nor more of the warriors would awake, lift up his head, and ask if it\nwas day. \"Should this happen,\" said the cunning man, \"you must, without\nhesitation, answer No, sleep thou on; on hearing which he will again\nlay down his head and sleep.\" In their way up, however, the Welshman,\noverloaded with gold, was not able to pass the bell without touching\nit--it rang--one of the warriors raised up his head, and asked, \"Is it\nday?\" \"No,\" answered the Welshman promptly, \"it is not, sleep thou on;\"\nso they got out of the cave, laid down the stone over its entrance,\nand replaced the hazel tree. The cunning man, before he parted from\nhis companion, advised him to be economical in the use of his treasure;\nobserving that he had, with prudence, enough for life: but that if by\nunforeseen accidents he should be again reduced to poverty, he might\nrepair to the cave for more; repeating the caution, not to touch\nthe bell if possible, but if he should, to give the proper answer,\nthat it was not day, as promptly as possible. He also told him that\nthe distinguished person they had seen was Arthur, and the others his\nwarriors; and they lay there asleep with their arms ready at hand,\nfor the dawn of that day when the Black Eagle and the Golden Eagle\nshould go to war, the loud clamour of which would make the earth\ntremble so much, that the bell would ring loudly, and the warriors\nawake, take up their arms, and destroy all the enemies of the Cymry,\nwho afterwards should repossess the Island of Britain, re-establish\ntheir own king and government at Caerlleon, and be governed with\njustice, and blessed with peace so long as the world endures.\n\n'The time came when the Welshman's treasure was all spent: he went to\nthe cave, and as before overloaded himself. In his way out he touched\nthe bell: it rang: a warrior lifted up his head, asking if it was day,\nbut the Welshman, who had covetously overloaded himself, being quite\nout of breath with labouring under his burden, and withal struck\nwith terror, was not able to give the necessary answer; whereupon\nsome of the warriors got up, took the gold away from him, and beat\nhim dreadfully. They afterwards threw him out, and drew the stone\nafter them over the mouth of the cave. The Welshman never recovered\nthe effects of that beating, but remained almost a cripple as long as\nhe lived, and very poor. He often returned with some of his friends\nto Craig-y-Dinas; but they could never afterwards find the spot,\nthough they dug over, seemingly, every inch of the hill.'\n\nThis story of Iolo's closes with a moral, which I omit in order to\nmake room for what he says in a note to the effect, that there are two\nhills in Glamorganshire called Craig-y-Dinas--nowadays the more usual\npronunciation in South Wales is Craig y Dinas--one in the parish of\nLlantrissant and the other in Ystrad Dyfodwg. There was also a hill\nso called, Iolo says, in the Vale of Towy, not far from Carmarthen. He\nadds that in Glamorgan the tale is related of the Carmarthenshire hill,\nwhile in Carmarthenshire the hill is said to be in Glamorgan. According\nto Iolo's son, Taliesin Williams [51] or Taliesin ab Iolo, the Craig y\nDinas with which the Cave of Arthur (or Owen Lawgoch) is associated is\nthe one on the borders of Glamorgan and Brecknockshire. That is also\nthe opinion of my friend Mr. Reynolds, who describes this craig and\ndinas as a very bold rocky eminence at the top of the Neath Valley,\nnear Pont Ned Fechan. He adds that in this tale as related to his\nmother 'in her very young days' by a very old woman, known as Mari\nShencin y Clochyd 'Jenkin the Sexton's Mary,' the place of Arthur\nwas taken by Owen Lawgoch, 'Owen of the Red Hand,' of whom more anon.\n\nThe next Arthurian story is not strictly in point, for it makes no\nallusion to treasure; but as it is otherwise so similar to Iolo's\ntale I cannot well avoid introducing it here. It is included in the\ncomposite story of Bwca 'r Trwyn, 'the Bogie of the Nose,' written\nout for me in Gwentian Welsh by Mr. Craigfryn Hughes. The cave portion\nrelates how a Monmouthshire farmer, whose house was grievously troubled\nby the bogie, set out one morning to call on a wizard who lived near\nCaerleon, and how he on his way came up with a very strange and odd\nman who wore a three-cornered hat. They fell into conversation, and\nthe strange man asked the farmer if he should like to see something of\na wonder. He answered he would. 'Come with me then,' said the wearer\nof the cocked hat, 'and you shall see what nobody else alive to-day\nhas seen.' When they had reached the middle of a wood this spiritual\nguide sprang from horseback and kicked a big stone near the road. It\ninstantly moved aside to disclose the mouth of a large cave; and now\nsaid he to the farmer, 'Dismount and bring your horse in here: tie him\nup alongside of mine, and follow me so that you may see something which\nthe eyes of man have not beheld for centuries.' The farmer, having\ndone as he was ordered, followed his guide for a long distance: they\ncame at length to the top of a flight of stairs, where two huge bells\nwere hanging. 'Now mind,' said the warning voice of the strange guide,\n'not to touch either of those bells.' At the bottom of the stairs there\nwas a vast chamber with hundreds of men lying at full length on the\nfloor, each with his head reposing on the stock of his gun. 'Have you\nany notion who these men are?' 'No,' replied the farmer, 'I have not,\nnor have I any idea what they want in such a place as this.' 'Well,'\nsaid the guide, 'these are Arthur's thousand soldiers reposing and\nsleeping till the Kymry have need of them. Now let us get out as fast\nas our feet can carry us.' When they reached the top of the stairs,\nthe farmer somehow struck his elbow against one of the bells so that\nit rang, and in the twinkling of an eye all the sleeping host rose to\ntheir feet shouting together, 'Are the Kymry in straits?' 'Not yet:\nsleep you on,' replied the wearer of the cocked hat, whereupon they\nall dropped down on their guns to resume their slumbers at once. 'These\nare the valiant men,' he went on to say, 'who are to turn the scale in\nfavour of the Kymry when the time comes for them to cast the Saxon yoke\noff their necks and to recover possession of their country.' When the\ntwo had returned to their horses at the mouth of the cave, his guide\nsaid to the farmer, 'Now go in peace, and let me warn you on the pain\nof death not to utter a syllable about what you have seen for the\nspace of a year and a day: if you do, woe awaits you.' After he had\nmoved the stone back to its place the farmer lost sight of him. When\nthe year had lapsed the farmer happened to pass again that way, but,\nthough he made a long and careful search, he failed completely to\nfind the stone at the mouth of the cave.\n\nTo return to Iolo's yarn, one may say that there are traces of his\nstory as at one time current in Merionethshire, but with the variation\nthat the Welshman met the wizard not on London Bridge but at a fair\nat Bala, and that the cave was somewhere in Merioneth: the hero was\nArthur, and the cave was known as Ogof Arthur. Whether any such cave is\nstill known I cannot tell; but a third and interestingly told version\nis given in the Brython for 1858, p. 179, by the late Gwynionyd, who\ngives the story as the popular belief in his native parish of Troed\nyr Aur, halfway between Newcastle Emlyn and Aber Porth, in South\nCardiganshire. In this last version the hero is not Arthur, but the\nlater man as follows:--Not the least of the wonders of imagination\nwont to exercise the minds of the old people was the story of Owen\nLawgoch. One sometimes hears sung in our fairs the words:--\n\n\n        Yr Owain hwn yw Harri 'r Nawfed\n        Syd yn trigo 'ngwlad estronied, &c.\n\n        This Owen is Henry the Ninth,\n        Who tarries in a foreign land, &c.\n\n\nBut this Owen Lawgoch, the national deliverer of our ancient\nrace of Brythons, did not, according to the Troed yr Aur people,\ntarry in a foreign land, but somewhere in Wales, not far from Offa's\nDyke. They used to say that one Dafyd Meirig of Bettws Bledrws, having\nquarrelled with his father, left for Lloegr [52], 'England.' When he\nhad got a considerable distance from home, he struck a bargain with a\ncattle dealer to drive a herd of his beasts to London. Somewhere at\nthe corner of a vast moor Dafyd cut a very remarkable hazel stick;\nfor a good staff is as essential to the vocation of a good drover as\nteeth are to a dog. So while his comrades had had their sticks broken\nbefore reaching London, Dafyd's remained as it was, and whilst they\nwere conversing together on London Bridge a stranger accosted Dafyd,\nwishing to know where he had obtained that wonderful stick. He replied\nthat it was in Wales he had had it, and on the stranger's assuring\nhim that there were wondrous things beneath the tree on which it had\ngrown, they both set out for Wales. When they reached the spot and dug\na little they found that there was a great hollow place beneath. As\nnight was spreading out her sable mantle, and as they were getting\ndeeper, what should they find but stairs easy to step and great\nlamps illumining the vast chamber! They descended slowly, with mixed\nemotions of dread and invincible desire to see the place. When they\nreached the bottom of the stairs, they found themselves near a large\ntable, at one end of which they beheld sitting a tall man of about\nseven foot. He occupied an old-fashioned chair and rested his head on\nhis left hand, while the other hand, all red, lay on the table and\ngrasped a great sword. He was withal enjoying a wondrously serene\nsleep; and at his feet on the floor lay a big dog. After casting\na glance at them, the wizard said to Dafyd: 'This is Owen Lawgoch,\nwho is to sleep on till a special time, when he will wake and reign\nover the Brythons. That weapon in his hand is one of the swords of\nthe ancient kings of Prydain. No battle was ever lost in which that\nsword was used.' Then they moved slowly on, gazing at the wonders\nof that subterranean chamber; and they beheld everywhere the arms\nof ages long past, and on the table thousands of gold pieces bearing\nthe images of the different kings of Prydain. They got to understand\nthat it was permitted them to take a handful of each, but not to\nput any in their purses. They both visited the cave several times,\nbut at last Dafyd put in his purse a little of the gold bearing the\nimage of one of the bravest of Owen's ancestors. But after coming out\nagain they were never able any more to find Owen's subterranean palace.\n\nThose are, says Gwynionyd, the ideas cherished by the old people\nof Troed yr Aur in Keredigion, and the editor adds a note that the\nsame sort of story is current among the peasantry of Cumberland, and\nperhaps of other parts of Britain. This remark will at once recall to\nthe reader's mind the well-known verses [53] of the Scottish poet,\nLeyden, as to Arthur asleep in a cave in the Eildon Hills in the\nneighbourhood of Melrose Abbey. But he will naturally ask why London\nBridge is introduced into this and Iolo's story, and in answer I have\nto say, firstly, that London Bridge formerly loomed very large in the\npopular imagination as one of the chief wonders of London, itself the\nmost wonderful city in the world. Such at any rate was the notion\ncherished as to London and London Bridge by the country people of\nWales, even within my own memory. Secondly, the fashion of selecting\nLondon Bridge as the opening scene of a treasure legend had been set,\nperhaps, by a widely spread English story to the following effect:--A\ncertain pedlar of Swaffham in Norfolk had a dream, that if he went and\nstood on London Bridge he would have very joyful news; as the dream was\ndoubled and trebled he decided to go. So he stood on the bridge two\nor three days, when at last a shopkeeper, observing that he loitered\nthere so long, neither offering anything for sale nor asking for alms,\ninquired of him as to his business. The pedlar told him his errand,\nand was heartily laughed at by the shopkeeper, who said that he had\ndreamt that night that he was at a place called Swaffham in Norfolk,\nand that if he only dug under a great oak tree in an orchard behind\na pedlar's house there, he would find a vast treasure; but the place\nwas utterly unknown to him, and he was not such a fool as to follow\na silly dream. No, he was wiser than that; so he advised the pedlar\nto go home to mind his business. The pedlar very quietly took in\nthe words as to the dream, and hastened home to Swaffham, where he\nfound the treasure in his own orchard. The rest of the story need\nnot be related here, as it is quite different from the Welsh ones,\nwhich the reader has just had brought under his notice [54].\n\nTo return to Owen Lawgoch, for we have by no means done with him:\non the farm of Cil yr Ychen there stands a remarkable limestone\nhill called y Dinas, 'the Fortress,' hardly a mile to the north of\nthe village of Llandyb\u00efe, in Carmarthenshire. This dinas and the\nlime-kilns that are gradually consuming it are to be seen on the\nright from the railway as you go from Llandeilo to Llandyb\u00efe. It\nis a steep high rock which forms a very good natural fortification,\nand in the level area on the top is the mouth of a very long cavern,\nknown as Ogo'r Dinas, 'the Dinas Cave.' The entrance into it is small\nand low, but it gradually widens out, becoming in one place lofty and\nroomy with several smaller branch caves leading out of it; and it is\nbelieved that some of them connect Ogo'r Dinas with smaller caves at\nPant y Llyn, 'the Lake Hollow,' where, as the name indicates, there is\na small lake a little higher up: both Ogo'r Dinas and Pant y Llyn are\nwithin a mile of the village of Llandyb\u00efe [55]. Now I am informed,\nin a letter written in 1893 by one native, that the local legend\nabout Ogo'r Dinas is that Owen Lawgoch and his men are lying asleep\nin it, while another native, Mr. Fisher, writing in the same year,\nbut on the authority of somewhat later hearsay, expresses himself as\nfollows:--'I remember hearing two traditions respecting Ogo'r Dinas:\n(1) that King Arthur and his warriors lie sleeping in it with their\nright hands clasping the hilts of their drawn swords ready to encounter\nanyone who may venture to disturb their repose--is there not a dinas\nsomewhere in Carnarvonshire with a similar legend? (2) That Owen\nLawgoch lived in it some time or other: that is all that I remember\nhaving heard about him in connection with this ogof.' Mr. Fisher\nproceeds, moreover, to state that it is said of an ogof at Pant y Llyn,\nthat Owen Lawgoch and his men on a certain occasion took refuge in it,\nwhere they were shut up and starved to death. He adds that, however\nthis may be, it is a fact that in the year 1813 ten or more human\nskeletons of unusual stature were discovered in an ogof there [56].\n\nTo this I may append a reference to the Geninen for 1896, p. 84,\nwhere Mr. Lleufer Thomas, who is also a native of the district,\nalludes to the local belief that Owen Lawgoch and his men are asleep,\nas already mentioned, in the cave of Pant y Llyn, and that they are\nto go on sleeping there till a trumpet blast and the clash of arms\non Rhiw Goch rouse them to sally forth to combat the Saxons and to\nconquer, as set forth by Howells: see p. 381 above. It is needless\nto say that there is no reason, as will be seen presently, to suppose\nOwen Lawgoch to have ever been near any of the caves to which allusion\nhas here been made; but that does not appreciably detract from the\nfascination of the legend which has gathered round his personality;\nand in passing I may be allowed to express my surprise that in such\nstories as these the earlier Owen has not been eclipsed by Owen\nGlyndwr: there must be some historical reason why that has not taken\nplace. Can it be that a habit of caution made Welshmen speak of Owen\nLawgoch when the other Owen was really meant?\n\nThe passage I have cited from Mr. Fisher's letter raises the question\nof a dinas in Carnarvonshire, which that of his native parish\nrecalled to his mind; and this is to be considered next. Doubtless he\nmeant Dinas Emrys formerly called Din Emreis [57], 'the Fortress of\nAmbrosius,' situated near Bedgelert, and known in the neighbourhood\nsimply as y Dinas, 'the Fort.' It is celebrated in the Vortigern legend\nas the place where the dragons had been hidden, that frustrated the\nbuilding of that king's castle; and the spot is described in Lewis'\nTopographical Dictionary of Wales, in the article on Bethgelart\n(Bed-Celert), as an isolated rocky eminence with an extensive top area,\nwhich is defended by walls of loose stones, and accessible only on\none side. He adds that the entrance appears to have been guarded by\ntwo towers, and that within the enclosed area are the foundations of\ncircular buildings of loose stones forming walls of about five feet\nin thickness. Concerning that Dinas we read in the Brython for 1861,\np. 329, a legend to the following effect:--Now after the departure\nof Vortigern, Myrdin, or Merlin as he is called in English, remained\nhimself in the Dinas for a long time, until, in fact, he went away\nwith Emrys Ben-aur, 'Ambrosius the Gold-headed'--evidently Aurelius\nAmbrosius is meant. When he was about to set out with the latter, he\nput all his treasure and wealth into a crochan aur, 'a gold cauldron,'\nand hid it in a cave in the Dinas, and on the mouth of the cave he\nrolled a huge stone, which he covered up with earth and sods, so that\nit was impossible for any one to find it. He intended this wealth\nto be the property of some special person in a future generation,\nand it is said that the heir to it is to be a youth with yellow hair\nand blue eyes. When that one comes near to the Dinas a bell will\nring to invite him to the cave, which will open of itself as soon\nas his foot touches it. Now the fact that some such legend was once\ncurrently believed about Bedgelert and Nanhwynain is proved by the\ncurious stories as to various attempts made to find the treasure,\nand the thunderstorms and portents which used to vanquish the local\ngreed for gold. For several instances in point see the Brython,\npp. 329-30; and for others, showing how hidden treasure is carefully\nreserved for the right sort of heir, see p. 148 above. To prove how\nwidely this idea prevailed in Carnarvonshire, I may add a short story\nwhich Mrs. Williams-Ellis of Glasfryn got from the engineer who told\nher of the sacred eel of Llangybi (p. 366):--There was on Pentyrch,\nthe hill above Llangybi, he said, a large stone so heavy and fixed so\nfast in the ground that no horses, no men could move it: it had often\nbeen tried. One day, however, a little girl happened to be playing by\nthe stone, and at the touch of her little hand the stone moved. A hoard\nof coins was found under it, and that at a time when the little girl's\nparents happened to be in dire need of it. Search had long been made\nby undeserving men for treasure supposed to be hidden at that spot; but\nit was always unsuccessful until the right person touched the stone to\nmove. The failure of the wrong person to secure the treasure, even when\ndiscovered, is illustrated by a story given by Mr. Derfel Hughes in\nhis Antiquities of Llandegai and Llanllechid, pp. 35-6, to the effect\nthat a servant man, somewhere up among the mountains near Ogwen Lake,\nchanced to come across the mouth of a cave with abundance of vessels\nof brass (pres) of every shape and description within it. He went\nat once and seized one of them, but, alas! it was too heavy for him\nto stir it. So he resolved to go away and return early on the morrow\nwith a friend to help him; but before going he closed the mouth of the\ncave with stones and sods so as to leave it safe. While thus engaged\nhe remembered having heard how others had like him found caves and\nfailed to refind them. He could procure nothing readily that would\nsatisfy him as a mark, so it occurred to him to dot his path with\nthe chippings of his stick, which he whittled all the way as he went\nback until he came to a familiar track: the chips were to guide him\nback to the cave. So when the morning came he and his friend set out,\nbut when they reached the point where the chips should begin, not one\nwas to be seen: the Tylwyth Teg had picked up every one of them. So\nthat discovery of articles of brass--more probably bronze--was in\nvain. But, says the writer, it is not fated to be always in vain,\nfor there is a tradition in the valley that it is a Gwydel, 'Goidel,\nIrishman,' who is to have these treasures, and that it will happen in\nthis wise:--A Gwydel will come to the neighbourhood to be a shepherd,\nand one day when he goes up the mountain to see to the sheep, just\nwhen it pleases the fates a black sheep with a speckled head will\nrun before him and make straight for the cave: the sheep will go\nin, with the Gwydel in pursuit trying to catch him. When the Gwydel\nenters he sees the treasures, looks at them with surprise, and takes\npossession of them; and thus, in some generation to come, the Gwydyl\nwill have their own restored to them. That is the tradition which\nDerfel Hughes found in the vale of the Ogwen, and he draws from it\nthe inference which it seems to warrant, in words to the following\neffect:--Perhaps this shows us that the Gwydyl had some time or other\nsomething to do with these parts, and that we are not to regard as\nstories without foundations all that is said of that nation; and\nthe sayings of old people to this day show that there is always some\nspite between our nation and the Gwydyl. Thus, for instance, he goes\non to say, if a man proves changeable, he is said to have become a\nGwydel (Y mae wedi troi'n Wydel), or if one is very shameless and\ncheeky he is called a Gwydel and told to hold his tongue (Taw yr hen\nWydel); and a number of such locutions used by our people proves,\nhe thinks, the former prevalence of much contention between the two\nsister-nations. Expressions of the kind mentioned by Mr. Hughes are\nwell known in all parts of the Principality, and it is difficult to\naccount for them except on the supposition that Goidels and Brythons\nlived for a long time face to face, so to say, with one another over\nlarge areas in the west of our island.\n\nThe next story to be mentioned belongs to the same Snowdonian\nneighbourhood, and brings us back to Arthur and his Men. For a writer\nwho has already been quoted from the Brython for 1861, p. 331,\nmakes Arthur and his following set out from Dinas Emrys and cross\nHafod y Borth mountain for a place above the upper reach of Cwmllan,\ncalled Tregalan, where they found their antagonists. From Tregalan\nthe latter were pushed up the bwlch or pass, towards Cwm Dyli; but\nwhen the vanguard of the army with Arthur leading had reached the top\nof the pass, the enemy discharged a shower of arrows at them. There\nArthur fell, and his body was buried in the pass so that no enemy\nmight march that way so long as Arthur's dust rested there. That,\nhe says, is the story, and there to this day remains in the pass, he\nasserts, the heap of stones called Carned Arthur, 'Arthur's Cairn':\nthe pass is called Bwlch y Saethau, 'the Pass of the Arrows.' Then\nOgof Llanciau Eryri is the subject of the following story given at\np. 371 of the same volume:--After Arthur's death on Bwlch y Saethau,\nhis men ascended to the ridge of the Lliwed and descended thence into\na vast cave called Ogof Llanciau Eryri, 'the young Men of Snowdonia's\nCave,' which is in the precipitous cliff on the left-hand side near\nthe top of Llyn Llydaw. This is in Cwm Dyli, and there in that cave\nthose warriors are said to be still, sleeping in their armour and\nawaiting the second coming of Arthur to restore the crown of Britain\nto the Kymry. For the saying is:--\n\n\n        Llancia' 'Ryri a'u gwyn gyll a'i hennill hi.\n\n        Snowdonia's youths with their white hazels will win it.\n\n\nAs the local shepherds were one day long ago collecting their sheep\non the Lliwed, one sheep fell down to a shelf in this precipice,\nand when the Cwm Dyli shepherd made his way to the spot he perceived\nthat the ledge of rock on which he stood led to the hidden cave of\nLlanciau Eryri. There was light within: he looked in and beheld a\nhost of warriors without number all asleep, resting on their arms and\nready equipped for battle. Seeing that they were all asleep, he felt\na strong desire to explore the whole place; but as he was squeezing\nin he struck his head against the bell hanging in the entrance. It\nrang so that every corner of the immense cave rang again, and all\nthe warriors woke uttering a terrible shout, which so frightened the\nshepherd that he never more enjoyed a day's health; nor has anybody\nsince dared as much as to approach the mouth of the cave.\n\nThus far the Brython, and I have only to remark that this legend is\nsomewhat remarkable for the fact of its representing the Youths of\nEryri sleeping away in their cave without Arthur among them. In fact,\nthat hero is described as buried not very far off beneath a carned\nor cairn on Bwlch y Saethau. As to the exact situation of that cairn,\nI may say that my attention was drawn some time ago to the following\nlines by Mr. William Owen, better known as Glaslyn, a living bard\nbred and born in the district:--\n\n\n        Gerllaw Carned Arthur ar ysgwyd y Wydfa\n        Y gorwed gwedillion y cawr enwog Ricca.\n\n        Near Arthur's Cairn on the shoulder of Snowdon\n        Lie the remains of the famous giant Ricca.\n\n\nThese words recall an older couplet in a poem by Rhys Goch Eryri,\nwho is said to have died in the year 1420. He was a native of the\nparish of Bedgelert, and his words in point run thus:--\n\n\n    Ar y drum oer dramawr,      On the ridge cold and vast,\n    Yno gorwed Ricca Gawr.      There the Giant Ricca lies.\n\n\nFrom this it is clear that Rhys Goch meant that the cairn on the top of\nSnowdon covered the remains of the giant whose name has been variously\nwritten Ricca, Ritta, and Rhita. So I was impelled to ascertain from\nGlaslyn whether I had correctly understood his lines, and he has been\ngood enough to help me out of some of my difficulties, as I do not know\nSnowdon by heart, especially the Nanhwynain and Bedgelert side of the\nmountain:--The cairn on the summit of Snowdon was the Giant's before\nit was demolished and made into a sort of tower which existed before\nthe hotel was made. Glaslyn has not heard it called after Ricca's\nname, but he states that old people used to call it Carned y Cawr,\n'the Giant's Cairn.' In 1850 Carned Arthur, 'Arthur's Cairn,' was to\nbe seen on the top of Bwlch y Saethau, but he does not know whether\nit is still so, as he has not been up there since the building of the\nhotel. Bwlch y Saethau is a lofty shoulder of Snowdon extending in the\ndirection of Nanhwynain, and the distance from the top of Snowdon to\nit is not great; it would take you half an hour or perhaps a little\nmore to walk from the one carned to the other. It is possible to\ntrace Arthur's march from Dinas Emrys up the slopes of Hafod y Borth,\nover the shoulder of the Aran and Braich yr Oen to Tregalan--or Cwm\nTregalan, as it is now called--but from Tregalan he would have to\nclimb in a north-easterly direction in order to reach Bwlch y Saethau,\nwhere he is related to have fallen and to have been interred beneath\na cairn. This may be regarded as an ordinary or commonplace account\nof his death. But the scene suggests a far more romantic picture;\nfor down below was Llyn Llydaw with its sequestered isle, connected\nthen by means only of a primitive canoe with a shore occupied by men\nengaged in working the ore of Eryri. Nay with the eyes of Malory we\nseem to watch Bedivere making, with Excalibur in his hands, his three\nreluctant journeys to the lake ere he yielded it to the arm emerging\nfrom the deep. We fancy we behold how 'euyn fast by the banke houed\na lytyl barge wyth many fayr ladyes in hit,' which was to carry\nthe wounded Arthur away to the accompaniment of mourning and loud\nlamentation; but the legend of the Marchlyn bids us modify Malory's\nlanguage as to the barge containing many ladies all wearing black\nhoods, and take our last look at the warrior departing rather in a\ncoracle with three wondrously fair women attending to his wounds [58].\n\nSome further notes on Snowdon, together with a curious account of\nthe Cave of Llanciau Eryri, have been kindly placed at my disposal by\nMr. Ellis Pierce (Elis [59] o'r Nant) of Dolwydelan:--In the uppermost\npart of the hollow called Cwmllan is Tregalan, and in the middle of\nCwm Tregalan is a green hill, or rather an eminence which hardly forms\na hill, but what is commonly called a boncyn [60] in Carnarvonshire,\nand between that green boncyn and the Clogwyn Du, 'Black Precipice,' is\na bog, the depth of which no one has ever succeeded in ascertaining,\nand a town--inferred perhaps from tre in Tregalan--is fabled to\nhave been swallowed up there. Another of my informants speaks of\nseveral hillocks or boncyns as forming one side of this little cwm;\nbut he has heard from geologists, that these green mounds represent\nmoraines deposited there in the glacial period. From the bottom of the\nClogwyn Du it is about a mile to Bwlch y Saethau. Then as to the cave\nof Llanciau Eryri, which nobody can now find, the slope down to it\nbegins from the top of the Lliwed, but ordinarily speaking one could\nnot descend to where it is supposed to have been without the help\nof ropes, which seems incompatible with the story of the Cwm Dyli\nshepherd following a sheep until he was at the mouth of the cave;\nnot to mention the difficulty which the descent would have offered\nto Arthur's men when they entered it. Then Elis o'r Nant's story\nrepresents it shutting after them, and only opening to the shepherd\nin consequence of his having trodden on a particular sod or spot. He\nthen slid down unintentionally and touched the bell that was hanging\nthere, so that it rang and instantly woke the sleeping warriors. No\nsooner had that happened than those men of Arthur's took up their\nguns--never mind the anachronism--and the shepherd made his way out\nmore dead than alive; and the frightened fellow never recovered from\nthe shock to the day of his death. When these warriors take up their\nguns they fire away, we are told, without mercy from where each man\nstands: they are not to advance a single step till Arthur comes to\ncall them back to the world.\n\nTo swell the irrelevancies under which this chapter labours already,\nand to avoid severing cognate questions too rudely, I wish to add\nthat Elis o'r Nant makes the name of the giant buried on the top of\nSnowdon into Rhitta or Rhita instead of Ricca. That is also the form\nof the name with which Mrs. Rhys was familiar throughout her childhood\non the Llanberis side of the mountain. She often heard of Rhita [61]\nGawr having been buried on the top of Snowdon, and of other warriors\non other parts of Snowdon such as Moel Gynghorion and the Gist on\nthat moel. But Elis o'r Nant goes further, and adds that from Rhita\nthe mountain was called Wydfa Rhita, more correctly Gwydfa Rita,\n'Rhita's Gwydfa.' Fearing this might be merely an inference, I have\ntried to cross-examine him so far as that is possible by letter. He\nreplies that his father was bred and born in the little glen called\nEwybrnant [62], between Bettws y Coed and Pen Machno, and that his\ngrandfather also lived there, where he appears to have owned land not\nfar from the home of the celebrated Bishop Morgan. Now Elis' father\noften talked, he says, in his hearing of 'Gwydfa Rhita.' Wishing to\nhave some more definite evidence, I wrote again, and he informs me\nthat his father was very fond of talking about his father, Elis o'r\nNant's grandfather, who appears to have been a character and a great\nsupporter of Sir Robert Williams, especially in a keenly contested\npolitical election in 1796, when the latter was opposed by the then\nhead of the Penrhyn family. Sometimes the old man from Ewybrnant\nwould set out in his clocs, 'clogs or wooden shoes,' to visit Sir\nRobert Williams, who lived at Plas y Nant, near Bedgelert. On starting\nhe would say to his family, Mi a'i hyibio troed Gwydfa Rhita ag mi\ndo'n ol rwbrud cin nos, or sometimes foru. That is, 'I'll go round\nthe foot of Rhita's Gwydfa and come back some time before night':\nsometimes he would say 'to-morrow.' Elis also states that his father\nused to relate how Rhita's Gwydfa was built, namely by the simple\nprocess of each of his soldiers taking a stone to place on Rhita's\ntomb. However the story as to Rhita Gawr being buried on the top of\nSnowdon came into existence, there can be no doubt that it was current\nin comparatively recent times, and that the Welsh name of y Wydfa,\nderived from it, refers to the mountain as distinguished from the\ndistrict in which it is situated. In Welsh this latter is Eryri,\nthe habitat, as it were, of the eryr, 'eagle,' a bird formerly at\nhome there as many local names go to prove, such as Carreg yr Eryr\n[63], 'the Stone of the Eagle,' mentioned in the boundaries of the\nlands on Snowdon granted to the Abbey of Aberconwy in Llewelyn's\ncharter, where also Snowdon mountain is called Wedua vawr, 'the Great\nGwydfa.' Now, as already suggested, the word gwydfa takes us back to\nRhita's Carned or Cairn, as it signified a monument, a tomb or barrow:\nDr. Davies gives it in his Welsh-Latin Dictionary as Locus Sepultur\u00e6,\nMausoleum. This meaning of the word may be illustrated by a reference\nin passing to the mention in Brut y Tywysogion of the burial of Madog\nab Maredyd. For under the year 1159 we are told that he was interred\nat Meifod, as it was there his tomb or the vault of his family,\nthe one intended also for him (y 6ydua [64]), happened to be.\n\nAgainst the evidence just given, that tradition places Rhita's grave\non the top of Snowdon, a passing mention by Derfel Hughes (p. 52)\nis of no avail, though to the effect that it is on the top of the\nneighbouring mountain called Carned Lywelyn, 'Llewelyn's Cairn,'\nthat Rhita's Cairn was raised. He deserves more attention, however,\nwhen he places Carned Drystan, 'Tristan or Tristram's Cairn,' on\na spur of that mountain, to wit, towards the east above Ffynnon y\nLlyffaint [65]. For it is worthy of note that the name of Drystan,\nassociated with Arthur in the later romances, should figure with that\nof Arthur in the topography of the same Snowdon district.\n\nBefore leaving Snowdon I may mention a cave near a small stream not\nfar from Llyn Gwynain, about a mile and a half above Dinas Emrys. In\nthe Llwyd letter (printed in the Cambrian Journal for 1859, pp. 142,\n209), on which I have already drawn, it is called Ogo'r Gwr Blew, 'the\nHairy Man's Cave'; and the story relates how the Gwr Blew who lived in\nit was fatally wounded by a woman who happened to be at home, alone,\nin one of the nearest farm houses when the Gwr Blew came to plunder\nit. Its sole interest here is that a later version [66] identifies the\nHairy Man with Owen Lawgoch, after modifying the former's designation\ny Gwr Blew, which literally meant 'the Hair Man,' into y Gwr Blewog,\n'the Hairy Man.' This doubtful instance of the presence of Owen\nLawgoch in the folklore of North Wales seems to stand alone.\n\nSome of these cave stories, it will have been seen, reveal to us\na hero who is expected to return to interfere again in the affairs\nof this world, and it is needless to say that Wales is by no means\nalone in the enjoyment of imaginary prospects of this kind. The\nsame sort of poetic expectation has not been unknown, for instance,\nin Ireland. In the summer of 1894, I spent some sunny days in the\nneighbourhood of the Boyne, and one morning I resolved to see the\nchief burial mounds dotting the banks of that interesting river;\nbut before leaving the hotel at Drogheda, my attention was attracted\nby a book of railway advertisement of the kind which forcibly impels\none to ask two questions: why will not the railway companies leave\nthose people alone who do not want to travel, and why will they make\nit so tedious for those who do? But on turning the leaves of that\nbooklet over I was inclined to a suaver mood, as I came on a paragraph\ndevoted to an ancient stronghold called the Grianan of Aileach, or\nGreenan-Ely, in the highlands of Donegal. Here I read that a thousand\narmed men sit resting there on their swords, and bound by magic sleep\ntill they are to be called forth to take their part in the struggle\nfor the restoration of Erin's freedom. At intervals they awake, it\nis said, and looking up from their trance they ask in tones which\nsolemnly resound through the many chambers of the Grianan: 'Is the\ntime come?' A loud voice, that of the spiritual caretaker, is heard\nto reply: 'The time is not yet.' They resume their former posture and\nsink into their sleep again. That is the substance of the words I read,\nand they called to my mind the legend of such heroes of the past as\nBarbarossa, with his sleep interrupted only by his change of posture\nonce in seven years; of Dom Sebastian, for centuries expected from\nMoslem lands to restore the glories of Portugal; of the Cid Rodrigo,\nexpected back to do likewise with the kingdom of Castile; and last,\nbut not least, of the O'Donoghue who sleeps beneath the Lakes of\nKillarney, ready to emerge to right the wrongs of Erin. With my head\nfull of these and the like dreams of folklore, I was taken over the\nscene of the Battle of the Boyne; and the car-driver, having vainly\ntried to interest me in it, gave me up in despair as an uncultured\nsavage who felt no interest in the history of Ireland. However he\nsomewhat changed his mind when, on reaching the first ancient burial\nmound, he saw me disappear underground, fearless of the Fomhoraigh;\nand he began to wonder whether I should ever return to pay him his\nfare. This in fact was the sheet anchor of all my hopes; for I thought\nthat in case I remained fast in a narrow passage, or lost my way in\nthe chambers of the prehistoric dead, the jarvey must fetch me out\nagain. So by the time I had visited three of these ancient places,\nDowth, Knowth, and New Grange, I had risen considerably in his\nopinion; and he bethought him of stories older than the Battle of\nthe Boyne. So he told me on the way back several bits of something\nless drearily historical. Among other things, he pointed in the\ndirection of a place called Ardee in the county of Louth, where,\nhe said, there is Garry Geerlaug's enchanted fort full of warriors\nin magic sleep, with Garry Geerlaug himself in their midst. Once on\na time a herdsman is said to have strayed into their hall, he said,\nand to have found the sleepers each with his sword and his spear\nready to hand. But as the intruder could not keep his hands off the\nmetal wealth of the place, the owners of the spears began to rouse\nthemselves, and the intruder had to flee for his life. But there that\narmed host is awaiting the eventful call to arms, when they are to\nsally forth to restore prosperity and glory to Ireland. That was his\nstory, and I became all attention as soon as I heard of Ardee, which\nis in Irish \u00c1th Fhir-dheadh, or the Ford of Fer-deadh, so called from\nFer-deadh, who fought a protracted duel with C\u00fachulainn in that ford,\nwhere at the end, according to a well-known Irish story, he fell by\nC\u00fachulainn's hand. I was still more exercised by the name of Garry\nGeerlaug, as I recognized in Garry an Anglo-Irish pronunciation\nof the Norse name Godhfreydhr, later Godhroedh, sometimes rendered\nGodfrey and sometimes Godred, while in Man and in Scotland it has\nbecome Gorry, which may be heard also in Ireland. I thought, further,\nthat I recognized the latter part of Garry Geerlaug's designation\nas the Norse female name Geirlaug. There was no complete lack of\nGarries in that part of Ireland in the tenth and eleventh centuries;\nbut I have not yet found any historian to identify for me the warrior\nnamed or nicknamed Garry Geerlaug, who is to return blinking to this\nworld of ours when his nap is over. Leaving Ireland, I was told the\nother day of a place called Tom na Hurich, near Inverness, where Finn\nand his following are resting, each on his left elbow, enjoying a\nbroken sleep while waiting for the note to be sounded, which is to\ncall them forth. What they are then to do I have not been told: it\nmay be that they will proceed at once to solve the Crofter Question,\nfor there will doubtless be one.\n\nIt appears, to come back to Wales, that King Cadwaladr, who waged an\nunsuccessful war with the Angles of Northumbria in the seventh century,\nwas long after his death expected to return to restore the Brythons\nto power. At any rate so one is led in some sort of a hazy fashion to\nbelieve in reading several of the poems in the manuscript known as\nthe Book of Taliessin. One finds, however, no trace of Cadwaladr in\nour cave legends: the heroes of them are Arthur and Owen Lawgoch. Now\nconcerning Arthur one need at this point hardly speak, except to say\nthat the Welsh belief in the eventual return of Arthur was at one\ntime a powerful motive affecting the behaviour of the people of Wales,\nas was felt, for instance, by English statesmen in the reign of Henry\nII. But by our time the expected return of Arthur--rexque futurus--has\ndissipated itself into a commonplace of folklore fitted only to point\nan allegory, as when Elvet Lewis, one of the sweetest of living Welsh\npoets, sings in a poem entitled Arthur gyda ni, 'Arthur with us':--\n\n\n    Mae Arthur Fawr yn cysgu,       Great Arthur still is sleeping,\n    A'i dewrion syd o'i deutu,      His warriors all around him,\n        A'u gafael ar y cled:           With grip upon the steel:\n    Pan daw yn dyd yn Nghymru,      When dawns the day on Cambry,\n    Daw Arthur Fawr i fynu          Great Arthur forth will sally\n        Yn fyw--yn fyw o'i fed!         Alive to work her weal!\n\n\nNot so with regard to the hopes associated with the name of Owen\nLawgoch; for we have it on Gwynionyd's testimony, p. 464, that our old\nbaledwyr or ballad men used to sing about him at Welsh fairs: it is not\nin the least improbable that they still do so here and there, unless\nthe horrors of the ghastly murder last reported in the newspapers\nhave been found to pay better. At any rate Mr. Fisher (p. 379) has\nknown old people in his native district in the Llychwr Valley who\ncould repeat stanzas or couplets from the ballads in question. He\ntraces these scraps to a booklet entitled Merlin's Prophecy [67],\ntogether with a brief history of his life, taken from the Book of\nPrognostication. This little book bears no date, but appears to\nhave been published in the early part of the nineteenth century. It\nis partly in prose, dealing briefly with the history of Merlin the\nWild or Silvaticus, and the rest consists of two poems. The first\nof these poems is entitled Dechreu Darogan Myrdin, 'the Beginning\nof Merlin's Prognostication,' and is made up of forty-nine verses,\nseveral of which speak of Owen as king conquering all his foes and\ndriving out the Saxons: then in the forty-seventh stanza comes the\ncouplet which says, that this Owen is Henry the Ninth, who is tarrying\nin a foreign land. The other poem is of a more general character,\nand is entitled the Second Song of Merlin's Prognostication, and\nconsists of twenty-six stanzas of four lines each like the previous\none; but the third stanza describes Arthur's bell at Caerlleon,\n'Caerleon,' ringing with great vigour to herald the coming of Owen;\nand the seventh stanza begins with the following couplet:--\n\n\n        Ceir gweled Owen Law-goch yn d'od i Frydain Fawr,\n        Ceir gweled newyn ceiniog yn nhref Gaerlleon-gawr.\n\n        Owen Lawgoch one shall to Britain coming see,\n        And dearth of pennies find at Chester on the Dee.\n\n\nIt closes with the date in verse at the end, to wit, 1668, which\ntakes us back to very troublous times: 1668 was the year of the\nTriple Alliance of England, Sweden, and Holland against Louis XIV;\nand it was not long after the Plague had raged, and London had had its\nGreat Fire. So it is a matter of no great surprise if some people in\nWales had a notion that the power of England was fast nearing its end,\nand that the baledwyr thought it opportune to refurbish and adapt some\nof Merlin's prophecies as likely to be acceptable to the peasantry of\nSouth Wales. At all events we have no reason to suppose that the two\npoems which have here been described from Mr. Fisher's data represented\neither the gentry of Wales, whose ordinary speech was probably for\nthe most part English, or the bardic fraternity, who would have looked\nwith contempt at the language and style of the Prognostication. For,\napart from careless printing, this kind of literature can lay no claim\nto merit in point of diction or of metre. Such productions represent\nprobably the baledwyr and the simple country people, such as still\nlisten in rapt attention to them doing at Welsh fairs and markets\nwhat they are pleased to regard as singing. All this fits in well\nenough with the folklore of the caves, such as the foregoing stories\nrepresent it. Here I may add that I am informed by Mr. Craigfryn\nHughes of a tradition that Arthur and his men are biding their time\nnear Caerleon on the Usk, to wit, in a cave resembling generally those\ndescribed in the foregoing legends. He also mentions a tradition as\nto Owen Glyndwr--so he calls him, though it is unmistakably the Owen\nof the baledwyr who have been referred to by Mr. Fisher--that he and\nhis men are similarly slumbering in a cave in Craig Gwrtheyrn, in\nCarmarthenshire. That is a spot in the neighbourhood of Llandyssil,\nconsisting of an elevated field terminating on one side in a sharp\ndeclivity, with the foot of the rock laved by the stream of the\nTeifi. Craig Gwrtheyrn means Vortigern's Rock, and it is one of the\nsites with which legend associates the name of that disreputable old\nking. I am not aware that it shows any traces of ancient works, but\nit looks at a distance an ideal site for an old fortification. An\nearlier prophecy about Owen Lawgoch than any of these occurs, as\nkindly pointed out to me by Mr. Gwenogvryn Evans, in the Peniarth\nMS. 94 (= Hengwrt MS. 412, p. 23), and points back possibly to the\nlast quarter of the fourteenth century. See also one quoted by him,\nfrom the Mostyn MS. 133, in his Report on MSS. in the Welsh Language,\ni. 106. Probably many more such prophecies might be discovered if\nanybody undertook to make a systematic search for them.\n\nBut who was Owen Lawgoch, if there ever was such a man? Such a man\nthere was undoubtedly; for we read in one of the documents printed in\nthe miscellaneous volume commonly known as the Record of Carnarvon,\nthat at a court held at Conway in the forty-fourth year of Edward III\na certain Gruffyd Says was adjudged to forfeit all the lands which\nhe held in Anglesey to the Prince of Wales--who was at that time\nno other than Edward the Black Prince--for the reason that the said\nGruffyd had been an adherent of Owen: adherens fuisset Owino Lawegogh\n(or Lawgogh) inimico et proditori predicti domini Principis et de\nconsilio predicti Owyni ad mouendam guerram in Wallia contra predictum\ndominum Principem [68]. How long previously it had been attempted to\nbegin a war on behalf of this Owen Lawgoch one cannot say, but it so\nhappens that at this time there was a captain called Yeuwains, Yewains,\nor Yvain de Gales or Galles, 'Owen of Wales,' fighting on the French\nside against the English in Edward's Continental wars. Froissart in\nhis Chronicles has a great deal to say of him, for he distinguished\nhimself greatly on various critical occasions. From the historian's\nnarrative one finds that Owen had escaped when a boy to the court\nof Philip VI of France, who received him with great favour and had\nhim educated with his own nephews. Froissart's account of him is,\nthat the king of England, Edward III, had slain his father and given\nhis lordship and principality to his own son as Prince of Wales;\nand Froissart gives Owen's father's name as Aymon, which should mean\nEdmond, unless the name intended may have been rather Einion. However\nthat may have been, Owen was engaged in the Battle of Poitiers in\n1356, and when peace was made he went to serve in Lombardy; but when\nwar between England and France broke out again in 1369, he returned\nto France. He sometimes fought on sea and sometimes on land, but\nhe was always entrusted by the French king, who was now Charles V,\nwith important commands [69]. Thus in 1372 he was placed at the head\nof a flotilla with 3,000 men, and ordered to operate against the\nEnglish: he made a descent on the Isle of Guernsey [70], and while\nthere besieging the castle of Cornet, he was charged by the king of\nFrance to sail to Spain to invite the king of Castile to send his\nfleet again to help in the attack on La Rochelle. Whilst staying\nat Santander the earl of Pembroke was brought thither, having been\ntaken prisoner in the course of the destruction of the English fleet\nbefore La Rochelle. Owen, on seeing the earl of Pembroke, asks him\nwith bitterness if he is come there to do him homage for his land,\nof which he had taken possession in Wales. He threatens to avenge\nhimself on him as soon as he can, and also on the earl of Hereford\nand Edward Spencer, for it was by the fathers of these three men,\nhe said, his own father had been betrayed to death. Edward III died\nin 1377, and the Black Prince had died shortly before. Owen survived\nthem both, and was actively engaged in the siege of Mortagne sur Mer\nin Poitou, when he was assassinated by one Lamb, who had insinuated\nhimself into his service and confidence, partly by pretending to\nbring him news about his native land and telling him that all Wales\nwas longing to have him back to be the lord of his country--et lui\nfist acroire que toute li terre de Gales le desiroient mout \u00e0 ravoir \u00e0\nseigneur. So Owen fell in the year 1378, and was buried at the church\nof Saint-L\u00e9ger [71] while Lamb returned to the English to receive\nhis stipulated pay. When this happened Owen's namesake, Owen Glyndwr,\nwas nearly thirty years of age. The latter was eventually to assert\nwith varying fortune on several fields of battle in this country the\nclaims of his elder kinsman, who, by virtue of his memory in France,\nwould seem to have rendered it easy for the later Owen to enter into\nfriendly relations with the French court of his day [72].\n\nNow as to Yvain de Galles, the Rev. Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc)\nin his Hanes Cymru, 'History of Wales,' devotes a couple of pages,\n735-7, to Froissart's account of him, and he points out that Angharad\nLlwyd, in her edition of Sir John Wynne's History of the Gwydir Family\n[73], had found Owen Lawgoch to have been Owen ab Thomas ab Rhodri,\nbrother to Llewelyn, the last native prince of Wales. One of the names,\nhowever, among other things, forms a difficulty: why did Froissart\ncall Yvain's father Aymon? So it is clear that a more searching study\nof Welsh pedigrees and other documents, including those at the Record\nOffice [74], has to be made before Owen can be satisfactorily placed\nin point of succession. For that he was in the right line to succeed\nthe native princes of Wales is suggested both by the eagerness with\nwhich all Wales was represented as looking to his return to be the lord\nof the country, and by the opening words of Froissart in describing\nwhat he had been robbed of by Edward III, as being both lordship and\nprincipality--la signourie et princet\u00e9. Be that as it may, there is,\nit seems to me, little doubt that Yvain de Galles was no other than\nthe Owen Lawgoch, whose adherent Gruffyd Says was deprived of his land\nand property in the latter part of Edward's reign. In the next place,\nthere is hardly room for doubt that the Owen Lawgoch here referred\nto was the same man whom the baledwyr in their jumble of prophecies\nintended to be Henry the Ninth, that is to say the Welsh successor\nto the last Tudor king, Henry VIII, and that he was at the same time\nthe hero of the cave legends of divers parts of the Principality,\nespecially South Wales, as already indicated.\n\nNow without being able to say why Owen and his analogues should become\nthe heroes of cave legends contemplating a second advent, it is easy\nto point to circumstances which facilitated their doing so. It is\nuseless to try to discuss the question of Arthur's disappearance;\nbut take Garry Geerlaug, for instance, a roving Norseman, as we may\nsuppose from his name, who may have suddenly disappeared with his\nfollowers, never more to be heard of in the east of Ireland. In the\nabsence of certain news of his death, it was all the easier to imagine\nthat he was dozing quietly away in an enchanted fortress. Then as\nto King Cadwaladr, who was also, perhaps, to have returned to this\nworld, so little is known concerning his end that historians have\nno certainty to this day when or where he died. So much the readier\ntherefore would the story gain currency that he was somewhere biding\nhis time to come back to retrieve his lost fortunes. Lastly, there is\nOwen Lawgoch, the magic of whose name has only been dissipated in our\nown day: he died in France in the course of a protracted war with the\nkings of England. It is not likely, then, that the peasantry of Wales\ncould have heard anything definite about his fate. So here also the\ncircumstances were favourable to the cave legend and the dream that\nhe was, whether at home or abroad, only biding his time. Moreover,\nin all these cases the hope-inspiring delusion gained currency among a\ndiscontented people, probably, who felt the sore need of a deliverer to\nsave them from oppression or other grievous hardships of their destiny.\n\nThe question can no longer be prevented from presenting itself as to\nthe origin of this idea of a second advent of a hero of the past;\nbut in that form it is too large for discussion here, and it would\ninvolve a review, for instance, of one of the cardinal beliefs of the\nLatter-day Saints as to the coming of Christ to reign on earth, and\nother doctrines supposed to be derived from the New Testament. On the\nother hand, there is no logical necessity why the expected deliverer\nshould have been in the world before: witness the Jews, who are looking\nforward not to the return but to the birth and first coming of their\nMessiah. So the question here may be confined more or less strictly to\nits cave-legend form; and though I cannot answer it, some advance in\nthe direction whence the answer should come may perhaps be made. In\nthe first place, one will have noticed that Arthur and Owen Lawgoch\ncome more or less in one another's way; and the presumption is that\nOwen Lawgoch has been to a certain extent ousting Arthur, who may be\nregarded as having the prior claim, not to mention that in the case\nof the Gwr Blew cave, p. 481, Owen is made by an apparently recent\nversion of the story to evict from his lair a commonplace robber\nof no special interest. In other words, the Owen Lawgoch legend is,\nso to say, detected spreading itself [75]. That is very possibly just\nwhat had happened at a remoter period in the case of the Arthur legend\nitself. In other words, Arthur has taken the place of some ancient\ndivinity, such as that dimly brought within our ken by Plutarch in the\nwords placed at the head of this chapter. He reproduces the report of\na certain Demetrius, sent by the emperor of Rome to reconnoitre and\ninspect the coasts of Britain. It was to the effect that around Britain\nlay many uninhabited islands, some of which are named after deities\nand some after heroes; and of the islands inhabited, he visited the\none nearest to the uninhabited ones. Of this the dwellers were few,\nbut the people of Britain treated them as sacrosanct and inviolable in\ntheir persons. Among other things, they related to him how terrible\nstorms, diseases, and portents happened on the occasion of any one\nof the mighty leaving this life. He adds:--'Moreover there is, they\nsaid, an island in which Cronus is imprisoned, with Briareus keeping\nguard over him as he sleeps; for, as they put it, sleep is the bond\nforged for Cronus. They add that around him are many divinities,\nhis henchmen and attendants [76].'\n\nWhat divinity, Celtic or pre-Celtic, this may have been who recalled\nCronus or Saturn to the mind of the Roman officer, it is impossible\nto say. It is to be noticed that he sleeps and that his henchmen\nare with him, but no allusion is made to treasure. No more is there,\nhowever, in Mr. Fisher's version of the story of Ogo'r Dinas, which,\naccording to him, says that Arthur and his warriors there lie sleeping\nwith their right hands clasping the hilts of their drawn swords, ready\nto encounter any one who may venture to disturb their repose. On the\nother hand, legends about cave treasure are probably very ancient, and\nin some at least of our stories the safe keeping of such treasure must\nbe regarded as the original object of the presence of the armed host.\n\nThe permission supposed to be allowed an intruder to take away a\nreasonable quantity of the cave gold, I should look at in the light\nof a sort of protest on the part of the story-teller against the\nniggardliness of the cave powers. I cannot help suspecting in the same\nway that the presence of a host of armed warriors to guard some piles\nof gold and silver for unnumbered ages must have struck the fancy\nof the story-tellers as disproportionate, and that this began long\nago to cause a modification in the form of the legends. That is to\nsay, the treasure sank into a mere accessory of the presence of the\narmed men, who are not guarding any such thing so much as waiting for\nthe destined hour when they are to sally forth to make lost causes\nwin. Originally the armed warriors were in some instances presumably\nthe henchmen of a sleeping divinity, as in the story told to Demetrius;\nbut perhaps oftener they were the guardians of treasure, just as much\nas the invisible agencies are, which bring on thunder and lightning\nand portents when any one begins to dig at Dinas Emrys or other spots\nwhere ancient treasure lies hidden. There is, it must be admitted,\nno objection to regarding the attendants of a divinity as at the\nsame time the guardians of his treasure. In none, however, of these\ncave stories probably may we suppose the principal figure to have\noriginally been that of the hero expected to return among men: he,\nwhen found in them, is presumably to be regarded as a comparatively\nlate interloper. But it is, as already hinted, not to be understood\nthat the notion of a returning hero is itself a late one. Quite the\ncontrary; and the question then to be answered is, Where was that kind\nof hero supposed to pass his time till his return? There is only one\nanswer to which Welsh folklore points, and that is, In fairyland. This\nis also the teaching of the ancient legend about Arthur, who goes away\nto the Isle of Avallon to be healed of his wounds by the fairy maiden\nMorgen; and, according to an anonymous poet [77], it is in her charms\nthat one should look for the reason why Arthur tarries so long:--\n\n\n        Immodice l\u00e6sus Arthurus tendit ad aulam\n        Regis Avallonis, ubi virgo regia, vulnus\n        Illius tractans, sanati membra reservat\n        Ipsa sibi: vivuntque simul, si credere fas est.\n\n        Avallon's court see suffering Arthur reach:\n        His wounds are healed, a royal maid the leech;\n        His pains assuaged, he now with her must dwell,\n        If we hold true what ancient legends tell.\n\n\nHere may be cited by way of comparison Walter Mapes' statement as to\nthe Trinio, concerning whom he was quoted in the first chapter, p. 72\nabove. He says, that as Trinio was never seen after the losing battle,\nin which he and his friends had engaged with a neighbouring chieftain,\nit was believed in the district around Llyn Syfadon, that Trinio's\nfairy mother had rescued him from the enemy and taken him away with her\nto her home in the lake. In the case of Arthur it is, as we have seen,\na fairy also or a lake lady that intervenes; and there cannot be much\nroom for doubt, that the story representing him going to fairyland\nto be healed is far older than any which pictures him sleeping in a\ncave with his warriors and his gold all around him. As for the gold,\nhowever, it is abundantly represented as nowhere more common than\nin the home of the fairies: so this metal treated as a test cannot\ngreatly help us in essaying the distinction here suggested. With regard\nto Owen Lawgoch, however, one is not forced to suppose that he was\never believed to have sojourned in Faery: the legendary precedent of\nArthur as a cave sleeper would probably suffice to open the door for\nhim to enter the recesses of Craig y Dinas, as soon as the country\nfolk began to grow weary of waiting for his return. In other words,\nmost of our cave legends have combined together two sets of popular\nbelief originally distinct, the one referring to a hero gone to the\nworld of the fairies and expected some day to return, and the other to\na hero or god enjoying an enchanted sleep with his retinue all around\nhim. In some of our legends, however, such as that of Llanciau Eryri,\nthe process of combining the two sets of story has been left to this\nday incomplete.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nPLACE-NAME STORIES\n\n        The Dindsenchas is a collection of stories (senchasa), in\n        Middle-Irish prose and verse, about the names of noteworthy\n        places (dind) in Ireland--plains, mountains, ridges, cairns,\n        lakes, rivers, fords, estuaries, islands, and so forth.... But\n        its value to students of Irish folklore, romance (sometimes\n        called history), and topography has long been recognized\n        by competent authorities, such as Petrie, O'Donovan, and\n        Mr. Alfred Nutt.\n\n                                                         Whitley Stokes.\n\n\nIn the previous chapters some folklore has been produced in which\nwe have swine figuring: see more especially that concerned with the\nHwch Du Gwta, pp. 224-6 above. Now I wish to bring before the reader\ncertain other groups of swine legends not vouched for by oral tradition\nso much as found in manuscripts more or less ancient. The first three\nto be mentioned occur in one of the Triads [78]. I give the substance\nof it in the three best known versions, premising that the Triad is\nentitled that of the Three Stout Swineherds of the Isle of Prydain:--\n\ni. 30a:--Drystan [79] son of Tallwch who guarded the swine of March\nson of Meirchion while the swineherd went to bid Essyllt come to meet\nhim: at the same time Arthur sought to have one sow by fraud or force,\nand failed.\n\nii. 56b:--Drystan son of Tallwch with the swine of March ab Meirchion\nwhile the swineherd went on a message to Essyllt. Arthur and March and\nCai and Bedwyr came all four to him, but obtained from Drystan not even\nas much as a single porker, whether by force, by fraud, or by theft.\n\niii. 101c:--The third was Trystan son of Tallwch, who guarded the\nswine of March son of Meirchion while the swineherd had gone on a\nmessage to Essyllt to bid her appoint a meeting with Trystan. Now\nArthur and Marchell and Cai and Bedwyr undertook to go and make an\nattempt on him, but they proved unable to get possession of as much\nas one porker either as a gift or as a purchase, whether by fraud,\nby force, or by theft.\n\nIn this story the well-known love of Drystan and Essyllt is taken for\ngranted; but the whole setting is so peculiar and so unlike that of\nthe story of Tristan and Iselt or Iseut in the romances, that there\nis no reason to suppose it in any way derived from the latter.\n\nThe next portion of the Triad runs thus:--\n\n1 30b:--And Pryderi son of Pwyll of Annwvyn who guarded the swine of\nPendaran of Dyfed in the Glen of the Cuch in Emlyn.\n\nii. 56a:--Pryderi son of Pwyll Head of Annwn with the swine of\nPendaran of Dyfed his foster father. The swine were the seven brought\naway by Pwyll Head of Annwn and given by him to Pendaran of Dyfed his\nfoster father; and the Glen of the Cuch was the place where they were\nkept. The reason why Pryderi is called a mighty swineherd is that no\none could prevail over him either by fraud or by force [80].\n\niii. 101a:--The first was Pryderi son of Pwyll of Pendaran in Dyfed\n[81], who guarded his father's swine while he was in Annwn, and it\nwas in the Glen of the Cuch that he guarded them.\n\nThe history of the pigs is given, so to say, in the Mabinogion. Pwyll\nhad been able to strike up a friendship and even an alliance with\nArawn king of Annwvyn [82] or Annwn, which now means Hades or the other\nworld; and they kept up their friendship partly by exchanging presents\nof horses, greyhounds, falcons, and any other things calculated to give\ngratification to the receiver of them. Among other gifts which Pryderi\nappears to have received from the king of Annwn were hobeu or moch,\n'pigs, swine,' which had never before been heard of in the island\nof Prydain. The news about this new race of animals, and that they\nformed sweeter food than oxen, was not long before it reached Gwyned;\nand we shall presently see that there was another story which flatly\ncontradicts this part of the Triad, namely to the effect that Gwydion,\nnephew of Math king of Gwyned and a great magician, came to Pryderi's\ncourt at Rhudlan, near Dolau Bach or Highmead on the Teifi in what is\nnow the county of Cardigan, and obtained some of the swine by deceiving\nthe king. But, to pass by that for the present, I may say that Dyfed\nseems to have been famous for rearing swine; and at the present day\none affects to believe in the neighbouring districts that the chief\nindustry in Dyfed, more especially in South Cardiganshire, consists\nin the rearing of parsons, carpenters, and pigs. Perhaps it is also\nworth mentioning that the people of the southern portion of Dyfed\nare nicknamed by the men of Glamorgan to this day Moch Sir Benfro,\n'the Pigs of Pembrokeshire.'\n\nBut why so much importance attached to pigs? I cannot well give a\nbetter answer than the reader can himself supply if he will only\nconsider what r\u00f4le the pig plays in the domestic economy of modern\nIreland. But, to judge from old Irish literature, it was even more so\nin ancient times, as pigs' meat was so highly appreciated, that under\nsome one or other of its various names it usually takes its place at\nthe head of all flesh meats in Irish stories. This seems the case,\nfor instance, in the medieval story called the Vision of MacConglinne\n[83]; and, to go further back, to the Feast of Bricriu for instance,\none finds it decidedly the case with the Champion's Portion [84]\nat that stormy banquet. Then one may mention the story of the fatal\nfeast on Mac-D\u00e1th\u00f3's great swine [85], where that beast would have\napparently sufficed for the braves both of Connaught and Ulster had\nConall Cernach carved fair, and not given more than their share to\nhis own Ultonian friends in order to insult the Connaught men by\nleaving them nothing but the fore-legs. It is right, however, to\npoint out that most of the stories go to show, that the gourmands\nof ancient Erin laid great stress on the pig being properly fed,\nchiefly on milk and the best kind of meal. It cannot have been very\ndifferent in ancient Wales; for we read in the story of Peredur that,\nwhen he sets out from his mother's home full of his mother's counsel,\nhe comes by-and-by to a pavilion, in front of which he sees food, some\nof which he proceeds to take according to his mother's advice, though\nthe gorgeously dressed lady sitting near it has not the politeness\nto anticipate his wish. It consisted, we are told, of two bottles of\nwine, two loaves of white bread, and collops of a milk-fed pig's flesh\n[86]. The home of the fairies was imagined to be a land of luxury and\nhappiness with which nothing could compare in this world. In this\ncertain Welsh and Irish stories agree; and in one of the latter,\nwhere the king of the fairies is trying to persuade the queen of\nIreland to elope with him, we find that among the many inducements\noffered her are fresh pig, sweet milk, and ale [87]. Conversely,\nas the fairies were considered to be always living and to be a very\nold-fashioned and ancient people, it was but natural to suppose that\nthey had the animals which man found useful, such as horses, cattle,\nand sheep, except that they were held to be of superior breeds, as\nthey are represented, for instance, in our lake legends. Similarly,\nit is natural enough that other stories should ascribe to them also\nthe possession of herds of swine; and all this prior to man's having\nany. The next step in the reasoning would be that man had obtained\nhis from the fairies. It is some tradition of this kind that possibly\nsuggested the line taken by the Pwyll story in the matter of the\nderivation of the pig from Annwn: see the last chapter.\n\nThe next story in the Triad is, if possible, wilder still: it runs\nas follows:--\n\ni. 30c:--Coll son of Collfrewi [88] who guarded Henwen [89], Dallweir\nDallben's sow, which went burrowing as far as the Headland of Awstin\nin Kernyw and then took to the sea. It was at Aber Torogi in Gwent\nIs-coed that she came to land, with Coll keeping his grip on her\nbristles whatever way she went by sea or by land. Now in Maes Gwenith,\n'Wheat Field,' in Gwent she dropped a grain of wheat and a bee, and\nthenceforth that has been the best place for wheat. Then she went as\nfar as Llonwen in Penfro and there dropped a grain of barley and a bee,\nand thenceforth Llonwen has been the best place for barley. Then she\nproceeded to Rhiw Gyferthwch in Eryri and dropped a wolf-cub and an\neagle-chick. These Coll gave away, the eagle to the Goidel Brynach\nfrom the North, and the wolf to Menwaed of Arllechwed, and they came\nto be known as Menwaed's Wolf and Brynach's Eagle. Then the sow went\nas far as the Maen Du at Llanfair in Arfon, and there she dropped a\nkitten, and that kitten Coll cast into the Menai: that came later to\nbe known as Cath Paluc, 'Palug's Cat.'\n\nii. 56c:--The third was Coll son of Kallureuy with the swine of Dallwyr\nDallben in Dallwyr's Glen in Kernyw. Now one of the swine was with\nyoung and Henwen was her name; and it was foretold that the Isle\nof Prydain would be the worse for her litter; and Arthur collected\nthe host of Prydain and went about to destroy it. Then one sow went\nburrowing, and at the Headland of Hawstin in Kernyw she took to the\nsea with the swineherd following her. And in Maes Gwenith in Gwent\nshe dropped a grain of wheat and a bee, and ever since Maes Gwenith\nis the best place for wheat and bees. And at Llonyon in Penfro\nshe dropped a grain of barley and another of wheat: therefore the\nbarley of Llonyon has passed into a proverb. And on Rhiw Gyferthwch\nin Arfon she dropped a wolf-cub and an eagle-chick. The wolf was\ngiven to Mergaed and the eagle to Breat a prince from the North,\nand they were the worse for having them. And at Llanfair in Arfon,\nto wit below the Maen Du, she dropped a kitten, and from the Maen Du\nthe swineherd cast it into the sea, but the sons of Paluc reared it to\ntheir detriment. It grew to be Cath Paluc, 'Palug's Cat,' and proved\none of the three chief molestations of Mona reared in the island:\nthe second was Daronwy and the third was Edwin king of England.\n\niii. 101b:--The second was Coll son of Collfrewi who guarded Dallwaran\nDallben's sow, that came burrowing as far as the Headland of Penwedic\nin Kernyw and then took to the sea; and she came to land at Aber\nTarogi in Gwent Is-coed with Coll keeping his hold of her bristles\nwhithersoever she went on sea or land. At Maes Gwenith in Gwent she\ndropped three grains of wheat and three bees, and ever since Gwent\nhas the best wheat and bees. From Gwent she proceeded to Dyfed and\ndropped a grain of barley and a porker, and ever since Dyfed has\nthe best barley and pigs: it was in Llonnio Llonnwen these were\ndropped. Afterwards she proceeded to Arfon (sic) and in Lleyn she\ndropped the grain of rye, and ever since Lleyn and Eifionyd have the\nbest rye. And on the side of Rhiw Gyferthwch she dropped a wolf-cub\nand an eagle-chick. Coll gave the eagle to Brynach the Goidel of Dinas\nAffaraon, and the wolf to Menwaed lord of Arllechwed, and one often\nhears of Brynach's Wolf and Menwaed's Eagle [the writer was careless:\nhe has made the owners exchange pests]. Then she went as far as the\nMaen Du in Arfon, where she dropped a kitten and Coll cast it into\nthe Menai. That was the Cath Balwg (sic), 'Palug's Cat': it proved\na molestation to the Isle of Mona subsequently.\n\nSuch are the versions we have of this story, and a few notes on\nthe names seem necessary before proceeding further. Coll is called\nColl son of Collurewy in i. 30, and Coll son of Kallureuy in ii. 56:\nall that is known of him comes from other Triads, i. 32-3, ii. 20,\nand iii. 90. The first two tell us that he was one of the Three chief\nEnchanters of the Isle of Prydain, and that he was taught his magic\nby Rhudlwm the Giant; while ii. 20 calls the latter a dwarf and adds\nthat Coll was nephew to him. The matter is differently put in iii. 90,\nto the effect that Rhudlwm the Giant learnt his magic from Eid[il]ig\nthe Dwarf and from Coll son of Collfrewi. Nothing is known of Dallwyr's\nGlen in Kernyw, or of the person after whom it was named. Kernyw is the\nWelsh for Cornwall, but if Penryn Awstin or Hawstin is to be identified\nwith Aust Cliff on the Severn Sea in Gloucestershire, the story would\nseem to indicate a time when Cornwall extended north-eastwards as far\nas that point. The later Triad, iii. 101, avoids Penryn Awstin and\nsubstitutes Penwedic, which recalls some such a name as Pengwaed [90]\nor Penwith in Cornwall: elsewhere Penwedic [91] is only given as the\nname of the most northern hundred of Keredigion. Gwent Is-coed means\nGwent below the Wood or Forest, and Aber Torogi or Tarogi--omitted,\nprobably by accident, in ii. 56--is now Caldicot Pill, where the small\nriver Tarogi, now called Troggy, discharges itself not very far from\nPortskewet. Maes Gwenith in the same neighbourhood is still known by\nthat name. The correct spelling of the name of the place in Penfro\nwas probably Llonyon, but it is variously given as Llonwen, Llonyon,\nand Llonion, not to mention the Llonnio Llonnwen of the later form\nof the Triad: should this last prove to be based on any authority\none might suggest Llonyon Henwen, so called after the sow, as the\noriginal. The modern Welsh spelling of Llonyon would be Llonion, and\nit is identified by Mr. Egerton Phillimore with Lanion near Pembroke\n[92]. Rhiw Gyferthwch is guessed to have been one of the slopes of\nSnowdon on the Bedgelert side; but I have failed to discover anybody\nwho has ever heard the name used in that neighbourhood.\n\nArllechwed was, roughly speaking, that part of Carnarvonshire which\ndrains into the sea between Conway and Bangor. Brynach and Menwaed\nor Mengwaed [93] seem to be the names underlying the misreadings\nin ii. 56; but it is quite possible that Brynach, probably for an\nIrish Bronach, has here superseded an earlier Urnach or Eurnach also\na Goidel, to whom I shall have to return in another chapter. Dinas\nAffaraon [94] is the place called Dinas Ffaraon Dande in the story\nof Llud and Llevelys, where we are told that after Llud had had the\ntwo dragons buried there, which had been dug up at the centre of his\nrealm, to wit at Oxford, Ffaraon, after whom the place was called, died\nof grief. Later it came to be called Dinas Emrys from Myrdin Emrys,\n'Merlinus Ambrosius,' who induced Vortigern to go away from there in\nquest of another place to build his castle [95]. So the reader will\nsee that the mention of this Dinas brings us back to a weird spot with\nwhich he has been familiarized in the previous chapter: see pp. 469,\n495 above. Llanfair in Arfon is Llanfair Is-gaer near Port Dinorwic\non the Menai Straits, and the Maen Du should be a black rock or black\nstone on the southern side of those straits. Daronwy and Cath Paluc\nare both personages on whom light is still wanted. Lastly, by Edwin\nking of England is to be understood Edwin king of the Angles of Deira\nand Bernicia, whom Welsh tradition represents as having found refuge\nfor a time in Anglesey.\n\nNow this story as a whole looks like a sort of device for stringing\ntogether explanations of the origin of certain place-names and of\ncertain local characteristics. Leaving entirely out of the reckoning\nthe whole of Mid-Wales, that is to say, the more Brythonic portion\nof the country, it is remarkable as giving to South Wales credit for\ncertain resources, but to North Wales for pests alone and scourges,\nexcept that the writer of the late version bethought himself of Lleyn\nand Eifionyd as having good land for growing rye; but he was very\nhazy as to the geography of North Wales--both he and the redactors of\nthe other Triads equally belonged doubtless to South Wales. Among the\nplace-names, Maes Gwenith, 'the Wheat Field,' is clear; but hardly less\nso is the case of Aber Torogi, 'Mouth of the Troggy,' where torogi\nis 'the pregnancy of animals,' from torrog, 'being with young.' So\nwith Rhiw Gyferthwch, 'the Hillside or Ascent of Cyferthwch,' where\ncyferthwch means 'pantings, pangs, labour.' The name Maen Du, 'Black\nRock,' is left to explain itself; and I am not sure that the original\nstory was not so put as also to explain Llonion, to wit, as a sort of\nplural of llawn, 'full,' in reference, let us say, to the full ears of\nthe barley grown there. But the reference to the place-names seems to\nhave partly escaped the later tellers of the story or to have failed\nto impress them as worth emphasizing. They appear to have thought more\nof explaining the origin of Menwaed's Wolf and Brynach's Eagle. Whether\nthis means in the former case that the district of Arllechwed was more\ninfested by wolves than any other part of Wales, or that Menwaed,\nlord of Arllechwed, had a wolf as his symbol, it is impossible to\nsay. In another Triad, however, i. 23 = ii. 57, he is reckoned one of\nthe Three Battle-knights who were favourites at Arthur's court, the\nothers being Caradog Freichfras and Llyr Ll\u00fcydog or Llud Llurugog,\nwhile in iii. 29 Menwaed's place is taken by a son of his called\nMael Hir. Similarly with regard to Brynach's Eagle one has nothing\nto say, except that common parlance some time or other would seem to\nhave associated the eagle in some way with Brynach the Goidel. The\nformer prevalence of the eagle in the Snowdon district seems to be\nthe explanation of its Welsh name of Eryri--as already suggested,\np. 479 above--and the association of the bird with the Goidelic\nchieftain who had his stronghold under the shadow of Snowdon seems\nto follow naturally enough. But the details are conspicuous by their\nscarcity in Welsh literature, though Brynach's Eagle is probably to be\nidentified with the Aquila Fabulosa of Eryri, of which Giraldus makes\na curious mention [96]. Perhaps the final disuse of Goidelic speech\nin the district is to be, to some extent, regarded as accounting for\nour dearth of data. A change of language involved in all probability\nthe shipwreck of many a familiar mode of thought; and many a homely\nexpression must have been lost in the transition before an equivalent\nacceptable to the Goidel was discovered by him in his adopted idiom.\n\nThis question of linguistic change will be found further illustrated\nby the story to which I wish now to pass, namely that of the hunting\nof Twrch Trwyth. It is one of those incorporated in the larger tale\nknown as that of Kulhwch and Olwen, the hero and heroine concerned:\nsee the Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 135-41, and Guest's translation,\niii. 306-16. Twrch Trwyth is pictured as a formidable boar at the head\nof his offspring, consisting of seven swine, and the Twrch himself\nis represented as carrying between his ears a comb, a razor, and a\npair of shears. The plot of the Kulhwch renders it necessary that\nthese precious articles should be procured; so Kulhwch prevails on\nhis cousin Arthur to undertake the hunt. Arthur began by sending one\nof his men, to wit, Menw [97] son of Teirgwaed, to see whether the\nthree precious things mentioned were really where they were said to\nbe, namely, between Twrch Trwyth's ears. Menw was a great magician who\nusually formed one of any party of Arthur's men about to visit a pagan\ncountry; for it was his business to subject the inhabitants to magic\nand enchantment, so that they should not see Arthur's men, while the\nlatter saw them. Menw found Twrch Trwyth and his offspring at a place\nin Ireland called Esgeir Oervel [98], and in order to approach them\nhe alighted in the form of a bird near where they were. He tried to\nsnatch one of the three precious articles from Twrch Trwyth, but he\nonly succeeded in securing one of his bristles, whereupon the Twrch\nstood up and shook himself so vigorously that a drop of venom from his\nbristles fell on Menw, who never enjoyed a day's health afterwards\nas long as he lived. Menw now returned and assured Arthur that the\ntreasures were really about the Twrch's head as it was reported. Arthur\nthen crossed to Ireland with a host and did not stop until he found\nTwrch Trwyth and his swine at Esgeir Oervel. The hunt began and was\ncontinued for several days, but it did not prevent the Twrch from\nlaying waste a fifth part of Ireland, that is in Medieval Irish c\u00f3iced,\na province of the island. Arthur's men, however, succeeded in killing\none of the Twrch's offspring, and they asked Arthur the history [99]\nof that swine. Arthur replied that it had been a king before being\ntransformed by God into a swine on account of his sins. Here I should\nremark by the way, that the narrator of the story forgets the death\nof this young boar, and continues to reckon the Twrch's herd as seven.\n\nArthur's next move was to send one of his men, Gwrhyr, interpreter of\ntongues [100], to parley with the boars. Gwrhyr, in the form of a bird,\nalighted above where Twrch Trwyth and his swine lay, and addressed\nthem as follows: 'For the sake of Him who fashioned you in this\nshape, if you can speak, I ask one of you to come to converse with\nArthur.' Answer was made by one of the boars, called Grugyn Gwrych\nEreint, that is, Grugyn Silver-bristle; for like feathers of silver,\nwe are told, were his bristles wherever he went, and whether in woods\nor on plains, one saw the gleam of his bristles. The following, then,\nwas Grugyn's answer: 'By Him who fashioned us in this shape, we shall\nnot do so, and we shall not converse with Arthur. Enough evil has God\ndone to us when He fashioned us in this shape, without your coming to\nfight with us.' Gwrhyr replied: 'I tell you that Arthur will fight for\nthe comb, the razor, and the shears that are between the ears of Twrch\nTrwyth.' 'Until his life has first been taken,' said Grugyn, 'those\ntrinkets shall not be taken, and to-morrow morning we set out hence\nfor Arthur's own country, and all the harm we can, shall we do there.'\n\nThe boars accordingly set out for Wales, while Arthur with his host,\nhis horses, and his hounds, on board his ship Prydwen, kept within\nsight of them. Twrch Trwyth came to land at Porth Clais, a small\ncreek south of St. David's, but Arthur went that night to Mynyw,\nwhich seems to have been Menevia or St. David's. The next day Arthur\nwas told that the boars had gone past, and he overtook them killing\nthe herds of Kynnwas Cwrvagyl, after they had destroyed all they could\nfind in Deugledyf, whether man or beast. Then the Twrch went as far as\nPresseleu, a name which survives in that of Preselly or Precelly, as\nin Preselly Top and Preselly Mountains in North Pembrokeshire. Arthur\nand his men began the hunt again, while his warriors were ranged on\nboth sides of the Nyfer or the river Nevern. The Twrch then left the\nGlen of the Nevern and made his way to Cwm Kerwyn, the name of which\nsurvives in that of Moel Cwm Kerwyn, one of the Preselly heights. In\nthe course of the hunt in that district the Twrch killed Arthur's four\nchampions and many of the people of the country. He was next overtaken\nin a district called Peuliniauc [101] or Peuliniog, which appears to\nhave occupied a central area between the mountains, Llandewi Velfrey,\nHenllan Amgoed, and Laugharne: it probably covered portions of the\nparish of Whitland and of that of Llandysilio, the church of which is a\nlittle to the north of the railway station of Clyn Derwen on the Great\nWestern line. Leaving Peuliniog for the Laugharne Burrows, he crossed,\nas it seems, from Ginst Point to Aber Towy or Towy Mouth [102], which\nat low water are separated mostly by tracts of sand interrupted only\nby one or two channels of no very considerable width; for Aber Towy\nwould seem to have been a little south-east of St. Ishmael's, on the\neastern bank of the Towy. Thence the Twrch makes his way to Glynn\nYstu, more correctly perhaps Clyn Ystun, now written Clyn Ystyn [103],\nthe name of a farm between Carmarthen and the junction of the Amman\nwith the Llychwr, more exactly about six miles from that junction and\nabout eight and a half from Carmarthen as the crow flies. The hunt is\nresumed in the Valley of the Llychwr or Loughor [104], where Grugyn\nand another young boar, called Llwydawc Gouynnyat [105], committed\nterrible ravages among the huntsmen. This brought Arthur and his host\nto the rescue, and Twrch Trwyth, on his part, came to help his boars;\nbut as a tremendous attack was now made on him he moved away, leaving\nthe Llychwr, and making eastwards for Mynyd Amanw, or 'the Mountain of\nAmman,' for Amanw is plentifully preserved in that neighbourhood in\nthe shortened form of Aman or Amman [106]. On Mynyd Amanw one of his\nboars was killed, but he is not distinguished by any proper name: he is\nsimply called a banw, 'a young boar.' The Twrch was again hard pressed,\nand lost another called Twrch Llawin. Then a third of the swine is\nkilled, called Gwys, whereupon Twrch Trwyth went to Dyffryn Amanw,\nor the Vale of Amman, where he lost a banw and a benwic, a 'boar'\nand a 'sow.' All this evidently takes place in the same district,\nand Mynyd Amanw was, if not Bryn Amman, probably one of the mountains\nto the south or south-east of the river Amman, so that Dyffryn Amanw\nmay have been what is still called Dyffryn Amman, or the Valley of\nthe Amman from Bryn Amman to where the river Amman falls into the\nLlychwr. From the Amman the Twrch and the two remaining boars of\nhis herd made their way to Llwch Ewin, 'the lake or pool of Ewin,'\nwhich is now represented by a bog mere above a farm house called\nLlwch in the parish of Bettws, which covers the southern slope of the\nAmman Valley. I have found this bog called in a map Llwch is Awel,\n'Pool below Breeze,' whatever that may mean.\n\nWe find them next at Llwch Tawi, the position of which is indicated\nby that of Ynys Pen Llwch, 'Pool's End Isle,' some distance lower\ndown the Tawe than Pont ar Dawe. At this point the boars separate,\nand Grugyn goes away to Din Tywi, 'Towy Fort,' an unidentified position\nsomewhere on the Towy, possibly Grongar Hill near Llandeilo, and thence\nto a place in Keredigion where he was killed, namely, Garth Grugyn. I\nhave not yet been able to identify the spot, though it must have\nonce had a castle, as we read of a castle called Garthgrugyn being\nstrengthened by Maelgwn Vychan in the year 1242: the Bruts locate\nit in Keredigion [107], but this part of the story is obscured by\ncareless copying on the part of the scribe [108] of the Red Book. After\nGrugyn's death we read of Llwydawc having made his way to Ystrad Yw,\nand, after inflicting slaughter on several of his assailants, he is\nhimself killed there. Now Ystrad Yw, which our mapsters would have\nus call Ystrad Wy, as if it had been on the Wye [109], is supposed\nto have covered till Henry VIII's time the same area approximately\nas the hundred of Crickhowel has since, namely, the parishes of (1)\nCrickhowel, (2) Llanbedr Ystrad Yw with Patrishow, (3) Llanfihangel\nCwm Du with Tretower and Penmyarth, (4) Llangattock with Llangenny,\n(5) Llanelly with Brynmawr, and (6) Llangynidr. Of these Llanbedr\nperpetuates the name of Ystrad Yw, although it is situated near the\njunction of the Greater and Lesser Grwyn\u00eb and not in the Strath of\nthe Yw, which Ystrad Yw means. So one can only treat Lanbedr Ystrad\nYw as meaning that particular Llanbedr or St. Peter's Church which\nbelongs to the district comprehensively called Ystrad Yw. Now if\none glances at the Red Book list of cantreds and cymwds, dating in\nthe latter part of the fourteenth century, one will find Ystrad Yw\nand Cruc Howel existing as separate cymwds. So we have to look for\nthe former in the direction of the parish of Cwm Du; and on going\nback to the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV dating about 1291, we find\nthat practically we have to identify with Cwm Du a name Stratden',\np. 273a, which one is probably to treat as Strat d'Eue [110] or some\nsimilar Norman spelling; for most of the other parishes of the district\nare mentioned by the names which they still bear. That is not all;\nfor from Cwm Du a tributary of the Usk called the Rhiangoll comes\ndown and receives at Tretower the waters of a smaller stream called\nthe Yw. The land on both sides of that Yw burn forms the ystrad or\nstrath of which we are in quest. The chief source of this water is\ncalled Llygad Yw, and gives its name to a house of some pretensions\nbearing an inscription showing that it was built in its present form\nabout the middle of the seventeenth century by a member of the Gunter\nfamily well known in the history of the county. Near the house stands\na yew tree on the boundary line of the garden, and close to its trunk,\nbut at a lower level, is a spring of bubbling water: this is Llygad Yw,\n'the Eye of the Yw.' For Llygad Yw is a succinct expression for the\nsource of the Yw burn [111], and the stream retains the name Yw to its\nfall into the Rhiangoll; but besides the spring of Llygad Yw it has\nseveral other similar sources in the fields near the house. There is\nnothing, however, in this brook to account for the name of Ystrad Yw\nhaving been extended to an important district; but if one traces its\nshort course one will at once guess the explanation. For a few fields\nbelow Llygad Yw is the hamlet of the Gaer or fortress, consisting of\nfour farm houses called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Gaer, and Pen y\nGaer: through this hamlet of the Gaer flows the Yw. These, and more\nespecially Pen y Gaer, are supposed to have been the site of a Roman\ncamp of considerable importance, and close by it the Yw is supposed\nto have been crossed by the Roman road proceeding towards Brecon\n[112]. The camp in the Strath of the Yw was the head quarters of the\nruling power in the district, and hence the application of the name of\nYstrad Yw to a wider area. But for our story one has to regard the name\nas confined to the land about the Yw burn, or at most to a somewhat\nlarger portion of the parish of Cwm Du, to which the Yw and Tretower\nbelong. The position of the Gaer in Ystrad Yw at the foot of the Bwlch\nor the gap in the difficult mountain spur stretching down towards the\nUsk is more likely to have been selected by the Romans than by any of\nthe Celtic inhabitants, whose works are to be found on several of the\nneighbouring hills, such as Myarth [113] between the Yw and the Usk.\n\nWe next find Twrch Trwyth, now the sole survivor, making his way\ntowards the Severn: so Arthur summons Cornwall and Devon to meet him\nat Aber Hafren or Severn mouth. Then a furious conflict with the Twrch\ntakes place in the very waters of that river, between Llyn Lliwan\n(p. 407) and Aber Gwy or the mouth of the Wye. After much trouble,\nArthur's men succeed in getting possession of two out of the three\ntreasures of the boar, but he escapes with the third, namely, the\ncomb, across the Severn [114]. Then as soon as he gets ashore he\nmakes his way to Cornwall, where the comb is at length snatched from\nhim. Chased thence, he goes straight into the sea, with the hounds\nAnet and Aethlem after him, and nothing has ever been heard of any\nof the three from that day to this.\n\nThat is the story of Twrch Trwyth, and Dr. Stokes calls my attention\nto a somewhat similar hunt briefly described in the Rennes Dindsenchas\nin the Revue Celtique, xv. 474-5. Then as to the precious articles\ncarried by the Twrch about his head and ears, the comb, the razor,\nand the shears, two out of the three--the comb and the razor--belong\nto the regular stock of a certain group of tales which recount how\nthe hero elopes with the daughter of a giant who loses his life\nin the pursuit [115]. In order to make sure of escaping from the\ninfuriated giant, the daughter abstracts from her father's keeping a\ncomb, a razor, and another article. When she and her lover fleeing\non their horse are hard pressed, the latter throws behind him the\ncomb, which at once becomes a rough impenetrable forest to detain\nthe giant for a while. When he is again on the point of overtaking\nthem, the lover throws behind him the razor, which becomes a steep\nand sharp mountain ridge through which the pursuing giant has to\nwaste time tunnelling his way. The third article is usually such as,\nwhen thrown in the giant's way, becomes a lake in which he is drowned\nwhile attempting to swim across. In the Kulhwch story, however, as we\nhave it, the allusion to these objects is torn away from what might be\nexpected as its context. The giant is Yspadaden Penkawr, whose death\nis effected in another way; but before the giant is finally disposed\nof he requires to be shaved and to have his hair dressed. His hair,\nmoreover, is so rough that the dressing cannot be done without the\ncomb and shears in the possession of Twrch Trwyth, whence the hunt;\nand for the shaving one would have expected the Twrch's razor to\nhave been requisite; but not so, as the shaving had to be done by\nmeans of another article, namely, the tusk of Yskithyrwynn Pennbeid,\n'White-tusk chief of Boars,' for the obtaining of which one is treated\nbriefly to another boar hunt. The Kulhwch story is in this respect\nvery mixed and disjointed, owing, it would seem, to the determination\nof the narrator to multiply the number of things difficult to procure,\neach involving a separate feat to be described.\n\nLet us now consider the hunt somewhat more in detail, with special\nreference to the names mentioned; and let us begin with that of Twrch\nTrwyth: the word twrch means the male of a beast of the swine kind,\nand twrch coed, 'a wood pig,' is a wild boar, while twrch daear,\n'an earth pig,' is the word in North Wales for a mole. In the next\nplace we can practically equate Twrch Trwyth with a name at the head\nof one of the articles in Cormac's Irish Glossary. There the exact\nform is Orc tr\u00e9ith, and the following is the first part of the article\nitself as given in O'Donovan's translation edited by Stokes:--'Orc\nTr\u00e9ith, i. e. nomen for a king's son, triath enim rex vocatur, unde\ndixit poeta O\u00ednach n-uirc tr\u00e9ith \"fair of a king's son,\" i. e. food\nand precious raiment, down and quilts, ale and flesh-meat, chessmen\nand chessboards, horses and chariots, greyhounds and playthings\nbesides.' In this extract the word orc occurs in the genitive as uirc,\nand it means a 'pig' or 'boar'; in fact it is, with the usual Celtic\nloss of the consonant p, the exact Goidelic equivalent of the Latin\nporcus, genitive porci. From another article in Cormac's Glossary, we\nlearn that Tr\u00e9ith is the genitive of Triath, which has been explained\nto mean a king. Thus, Orc Tr\u00e9ith means Triath's Orc, Triath's Boar,\nor the King's Boar; so we take Twrch Trwyth in the same way to mean\n'Trwyth's Boar.' But we have here a discrepancy, which the reader will\nhave noticed, for twrch is not the same word as Irish orc, the nearest\nform to be expected in Welsh being Wrch, not Twrch; but such a word as\nWrch does not, so far as I know, exist. Now did the Welsh render orc\nby a different word unrelated to the Goidelic one which they heard? I\nthink not; for it is remarkable that Irish has besides orc a word\ntorc, meaning a 'boar,' and torc is exactly the Welsh twrch. So there\nseems to be no objection to our supposing that what Cormac calls Orc\nTr\u00e9ith was known in the Goidelic of Wales as Torc Tr\u00e9ith, which had the\nalliteration to recommend it to popular favour. In that case one could\nsay that the Goidelic name Torc Tr\u00e9ith appears in Welsh with a minimum\nof change as Twrch Trwyth, and also with the stamp of popular favour\nmore especially in the retention of the Goidelic th, just as in the\nname of an ancient camp or fortification on the Withy Bush Estate in\nPembrokeshire: it is called the Rath, or the Rath Ring. Here rath is\nidentical with the Irish word r\u00e1th, 'a fortification or earthworks,'\nand we seem to have it also in Cil R\u00e2th Fawr, the name of a farm in\nthe neighbourhood of Narberth. Now the Goidelic word tr\u00e9ith appears\nto have come into Welsh as treth-i, the long vowel of which must in\nWelsh have become oi or ui by about the end of the sixth century;\nand if the th had been treated on etymological principles its proper\nequivalent in the Welsh of that time would have been d or t. The\nretention of the th is a proof, therefore, of oral transmission;\nthat is to say, the Goidelic word passed bodily into Brythonic,\nto submit afterwards to the phonological rules of that language.\n\nA little scrutiny of the tale will, I think, convince the reader that\none of the objects of the original story-teller was to account for\ncertain place-names. Thus Grugyn was meant to account for the name\nof Garth Grugyn, where Grugyn was killed; Gwys, to account similarly\nfor that of Gwys, a tributary of the Twrch, which gives its name to\na station on the line of railway between Ystalyfera and Bryn Amman;\nand Twrch Llawin to account for the name of the river Twrch, which\nreceives the Gwys, and falls into the Tawe some distance below Ystrad\nGynlais, between the counties of Brecknock and Glamorgan.\n\nBesides Grugyn and Twrch Llawin, there was a third brother to whom the\nstory gives a special name, to wit, Llwydawc Gouynnyat, and this was,\nI take it, meant also to account for a place-name, which, however,\nis not given: it should have been somewhere in Ystrad Yw, in the\ncounty of Brecknock. Still greater interest attaches to the swine\nthat have not been favoured with names of their own, those referred\nto simply as banw, 'a young boar,' and benwic, 'a young sow.' Now\nbanw has its equivalent in Irish in the word banbh, which O'Reilly\nexplains as meaning a 'sucking pig,' and that is the meaning also of\nthe Manx bannoo; but formerly the word may have had a somewhat wider\nmeaning. The Welsh appellative is introduced twice into the story of\nTwrch Trwyth; once to account, as I take it, for the name Mynyd Amanw,\n'Amman Mountain,' and once for Dyffryn Amanw, 'Amman Valley.' In\nboth instances Amanw was meant, as I think, to be accounted for by\nthe banw killed at each of the places in question. But how, you will\nask, does the word banw account for Amanw, or throw any light on it\nat all? Very simply, if you will just suppose the name to have been\nGoidelic; for then you have only to provide it with the definite\narticle and it makes in banbh, 'the pig or the boar,' and that could\nnot in Welsh yield anything but ymmanw or ammanw [116], which with\nthe accent shifted backwards, became Ammanw and Amman or Aman.\n\nHaving premised these explanations let us, before we proceed further,\nsee to what our evidence exactly amounts. Here, then, we have a\nmention of seven swine, but as two of them, a banw and a benwic,\nare killed at one and the same place, our figure is practically\nreduced to six [117]. The question then is, in how many of these six\ncases the story of the hunt accounts for the names of the places of\nthe deaths respectively, that is to say, accounts for them in the\nordinary way with which one is familiar in other Welsh stories. They\nmay be enumerated as follows:--\n\n1. A banw is killed at Mynyd Amanw.\n\n2. A twrch is killed in the same neighbourhood, where there is a\nriver Twrch.\n\n3. A swine called Gwys is killed in the same neighbourhood still,\nwhere there is a river called Gwys, falling into the Twrch.\n\n4. A banw and a benwic are killed in Dyffryn Amanw.\n\n5. Grugyn is killed at a place called Garth Grugyn.\n\n6. A swine called Llwydawc is killed at a spot, not named, in Ystrad\nYw or not far off [118].\n\nThus in five cases out of the six, the story accounts for the\nplace-name, and the question now is, can that be a mere accident? Just\nthink what the probabilities of the case would be if you put them\ninto numbers: South Wales, from St. David's to the Vale of the Usk,\nwould supply hundreds of place-names as deserving of mention, to\nsay the least, as those in this story; is it likely then that out\nof a given six among them no less than five should be accounted for\nor alluded to by any mere accident in the course of a story of the\nbrevity of that of Twrch Trwyth. To my thinking such an accident\nis inconceivable, and I am forced, therefore, to suppose that the\nnarrative was originally so designed as to account for them. I said\n'originally so designed,' for the scribe of the Red Book, or let us\nsay the last redactor of the story as it stands in the Red Book, shows\nno signs of having noticed any such design. Had he detected the play\non the names of the places introduced, he would probably have been\nmore inclined to develop that feature of the story than to efface it.\n\nWhat I mean may best be illustrated by another swine story, namely,\nthat which has already been referred to as occurring in the Mabinogi\nof Math. There we find Pryderi, king of Dyfed, holding his court at\nRhudlan on the Teifi, but though he had become the proud possessor of a\nnew race of animals, given him as a present by his friend Arawn, king\nof Annwn, he had made a solemn promise to his people, that he should\ngive none of them away until they had doubled their number in Dyfed:\nthese animals were the hobeu or pigs to which reference was made at\np. 69 above. Now Gwydion, having heard of them, visited Pryderi's\ncourt, and by magic and enchantment deceived the king. Successful in\nhis quest, he sets out for Gwyned with his hobeu, and this is how\nhis journey is described in the Mabinogi: 'And that evening they\njourneyed as far as the upper end of Keredigion, to a place which\nis still called, for that reason, Mochdref, \"Swine-town or Pigs'\nstead.\" On the morrow they went their way, and came across the Elenyd\nmountains, and that night they spent between Kerry and Arwystli, in\nthe stead which is also called for that reason Mochdref. Thence they\nproceeded, and came the same evening as far as a commot in Powys,\nwhich is for that reason called Mochnant [119], \"Swine-burn.\" Thence\nthey journeyed to the cantred of Rh\u00f4s, and spent that night within the\ntown which is still called Mochdref [120].' 'Ah, my men,' said Gwydion,\n'let us make for the fastness of Gwyned with these beasts: the country\nis being raised in pursuit of us.' So this is what they did: they made\nfor the highest town of Arllechwed, and there built a creu or sty\nfor the pigs, and for that reason the town was called Creu-Wyrion,\nthat is, perhaps, 'Wyrion's Sty.' In this, it is needless to state,\nwe have the Corwrion of chap. i: see pp. 47, 50-70 above--the name\nis variously pronounced also Cyrwrion and C'rwrion.\n\nThat is how a portion of the Math story is made to account for a\nseries of place-names, and had the editor of the Kulhwch understood\nthe play on the names of places in question in the story of Twrch\nTrwyth, it might be expected that he would have given it prominence,\nas already suggested. Then comes the question, how it came to pass\nthat he did not understand it? The first thing to suggest itself as an\nanswer is, that he may have been a stranger to the geography of the\ncountry concerned. That, however, is a very inadequate explanation;\nfor his being a stranger, though it might account for his making\nblunders as to the localities, would not be likely to deter him from\nventuring into geography which he had not mastered.\n\nWhat was it, then, that hid from him a portion of the original in\nthis instance? In part, at least, it must have been a difficulty of\nlanguage. Let us take an illustration: Gwys has already been mentioned\nmore than once as a name applied to one of Twrch Trwyth's offspring,\nand the words used are very brief, to the following effect:--'And then\nanother of his swine was killed: Gwys was its name.' As a matter of\nfact, the scribe was labouring under a mistake, for he ought to have\nsaid rather, 'And then another of his swine was killed: it was a sow';\nsince gwys was a word meaning a sow, and not the name of any individual\nhog. The word has, doubtless, long been obsolete in Welsh; but it was\nknown to the poet of the 'Little Pig's Lullaby' in the Black Book of\nCarmarthen, where one of the stanzas begins, fo. 29a, with the line:\n\n\n        Oian aparchellan. aparchell. guin guis.\n\n\nThe late Dr. Pughe translated it thus:\n\n\n        Listen, little porkling! thou forward little white pig.\n\n\nI fear I should be obliged to render it less elegantly:\n\n\n        Lullaby, little porker, white sow porker.\n\n\nFor the last four words Stokes suggests 'O pigling of a white sow';\nbut perhaps the most natural rendering of the words would be 'O white\nporker of a sow!'--which does not recommend itself greatly on the score\nof sense, I must admit. The word occurs, also, in Breton as gwiz or\ngw\u00e9z, 'truie, femelle du porc,' and as gwys or guis in Old Cornish,\nwhile in Irish it was feis. Nevertheless, the editor of the Twrch\nTrwyth story did not know it; but it would be in no way surprising that\na Welshman, who knew his language fairly well, should be baffled by\nsuch a word in case it was not in use in his own district in his own\ntime. This, however, barely touches the fringe of the question. The\nrange of the hunt, as already given, was mostly within the boundaries,\nso to say, of the portion of South Wales where we find Goidelic\ninscriptions in the Ogam character of the fifth or sixth century;\nand I am persuaded that the Goidelic language must have lived down to\nthe sixth or seventh century in the south and in the north of Wales\n[121], a tract of Mid-Wales being then, probably, the only district\nwhich can be assumed to have been completely Brythonic in point of\nspeech. In this very story, probably, such a name as Garth Grugyn is\nbut slightly modified from a Goidelic Gort Grucaind, 'the enclosure\nof Grucand [122] or Grugan': compare C\u00fachulaind or C\u00fachulainn made in\nWelsh into Cocholyn. But the capital instance in the story of Twrch\nTrwyth as has already been indicated is that of Amanw, which I detect\nalso as Ammann (probably to be read Ammanu), in the Book of Llan D\u00e2v\n(or Liber Landavensis), p. 199: it is there borne by a lay witness to\na grant of land called Tir Dimuner, which would appear to have been in\nwhat is now Monmouthshire. Interpreted as standing for in Banbh, 'the\nBoar,' it would make a man's name of the same class as Ibleid, found\nelsewhere in the same manuscript (pp. 178, 184), meaning evidently\ni Bleid, now y Blaid, 'the Wolf.' But observe that the latter was\nWelsh and the former Goidelic, which makes all the difference for our\nstory. The Goidel relating the story would say that a boar, banbh,\nwas killed on the mountain or hill of in Banbh or of 'the Boar';\nand his Goidelic hearer could not fail to associate the place-name\nwith the appellative. But a Brython could hardly understand what the\nwords in Banbh meant, and certainly not after he had transformed them\ninto Ammanw, with the nb assimilated into mm, and the accent shifted\nto the first syllable. It is needless to say that my remarks have no\nmeaning unless Goidelic was the original language of the tale.\n\nIn the summary I have given of the hunt, I omitted a number of proper\nnames of the men who fell at the different spots where the Twrch is\nrepresented brought to bay. I wish now to return to them with the\nquestion, why were their names inserted in the story at all? It may be\nsuspected that they also, or at any rate some of them, were intended to\nexplain place-names; but I must confess to having had little success\nin identifying traces of them in the ordnance maps. Others, however,\nmay fare better, who have a better acquaintance with the districts\nin point, and in that hope I append them in their order in the story:--\n\n1. Arthur sends to the hunt on the banks of the Nevern, in\nPembrokeshire, his men, Eli and Trachmyr, Gwarthegyd son of Caw,\nand Bedwyr; also Tri meib Cledyv Divwlch, 'three Sons of the Gapless\nSword.' The dogs are also mentioned: Drudwyn, Greid son of Eri's whelp,\nled by Arthur himself; Glythmyr Ledewig's two dogs, led by Gwarthegyd\nson of Caw; and Arthur's dog Cavall, led by Bedwyr.\n\n2. Twrch Trwyth makes for Cwm Kerwyn in the Preselly Mountains, and\nturns to bay, killing the following men, who are called Arthur's\nfour rhyswyr [123] or champions--Gwarthegyd son of Caw, Tarawg of\nAllt Clwyd, Rheidwn son of Eli Atver, and Iscovan Hael.\n\n3. He turns to bay a second time in Cwm Kerwyn, and kills Gwydre son\nof Arthur, Garselid Wydel, Glew son of Yscawt, and Iscawyn son of\nBannon or Panon.\n\n4. Next day he is overtaken in the same neighbourhood, and he kills\nGlewlwyd Gavaelvawr's three men, Huandaw, Gogigwr, and Penn Pingon,\nmany of the men of the country also, and Gwlydyn Saer, one of Arthur's\nchief architects.\n\n5. Arthur overtakes the Twrch next in Peuliniauc (p. 512 above);\nand the Twrch there kills Madawc son of Teithion, Gwyn son of Tringad\nson of Neued, and Eiriawn Penlloran.\n\n6. Twrch Trwyth next turns to bay at Aber Towy, 'Towy Mouth,' and\nkills Cynlas son of Cynan, and Gwilenhin, king of France.\n\n7. The next occasion of his killing any men whose names are given,\nis when he reaches Llwch Ewin (p. 515), near which he killed Echel\nVordwyd-twll, Arwyli eil Gwydawg Gwyr, and many men and dogs besides.\n\n8. Grugyn, one of the Twrch's offspring, goes to Garth Grugyn in\nKeredigion with Eli and Trachmyr pursuing him; but what happened to\nthem we are not told in consequence of the omission mentioned above\n(p. 515) as occurring in the manuscript.\n\n9. Llwydawc at bay in an uncertain locality kills Rudvyw Rys [124]\nand many others.\n\n10. Llwydawc goes to Ystrad Yw, where he is met by the Men of Llydaw,\nand he kills Hirpeissawc, king of Llydaw, also Llygatrud Emys and\nGwrbothu H\u00ean, maternal uncles to Arthur.\n\nBy way of notes on these items, I would begin with the last by asking,\nwhat is one to make of these Men of Llydaw? First of all, one notices\nthat their names are singular: thus Hirpeissawc, 'Long-coated or\nLong-robed,' is a curious name for their king, as it sounds more\nlike an epithet than a name itself. Then Llygatrud (also Llysgatrud,\nwhich I cannot understand, except as a scribal error) Emys is also\nunusual: one would have rather expected Emys Lygatrud, 'Emys the\nRed-eyed.' As it stands it looks as if it meant the 'Red-eyed One\nof Emys.' Moreover Emys reminds one of the name of Emyr Llydaw, the\nancestor in Welsh hagiology of a number of Welsh saints. It looks as\nif the redactor of the Red Book had mistaken an r for an s in copying\nfrom a pre-Norman original. That he had to work on such a manuscript\nis proved by the remaining instance, Gwrbothu H\u00ean, 'G. the Ancient,'\nin which we have undoubtedly a pre-Norman spelling of Gwrfodw: the\nsame redactor having failed to recognize the name, left it without\nbeing converted into the spelling of his own school. In the Book\nof Llan D\u00e2v it will be found variously written Gurbodu, Guoruodu,\nand Guruodu. Then the epithet h\u00ean, 'old or ancient,' reminds one of\nsuch instances as Math H\u00ean and Gofynion H\u00ean, to be noticed a little\nlater in this chapter. Let us now direct the reader's attention for\na moment to the word Llydaw, in order to see whether that may not\nsuggest something. The etymology of it is contested, so one has to\ninfer its meaning, as well as one can, from the way in which it is\nfound used. Now it is the ordinary Welsh word for Brittany or Little\nBritain, and in Irish it becomes Letha, which is found applied not\nonly to Armorica but also to Latium. Conversely one could not be\nsurprised if a Goidel, writing Latin, rendered his own Letha or the\nWelsh Llydaw by Latium, even when no part of Italy was meant. Now it\nso happens that Llydaw occurs in Wales itself, to wit in the name of\nLlyn Llydaw, a Snowdonian lake already mentioned, p. 475. It is thus\ndescribed by Pennant, ii. 339:--'We found, on arriving at the top,\nan hollow a mile in length, filled with Llyn Llydaw, a fine lake,\nwinding beneath the rocks, and vastly indented by rocky projections,\nhere and there jutting into it. In it was one little island, the\nhaunt of black-backed gulls, which breed here, and, alarmed by such\nunexpected visitants, broke the silence of this sequestered place by\ntheir deep screams.' But since Pennant's time mining operations [125]\nhave been carried on close to the margin of this lake; and in the\ncourse of them the level of the water is said to have been lowered to\nthe extent of sixteen feet, when, in the year 1856, an ancient canoe\nwas discovered there. According to the late Mr. E. L. Barnwell, who\nhas described it in the Arch\u00e6ologia Cambrensis for 1874, pp. 150-1, it\nwas in the possession of Dr. Griffith Griffith of Tal y Treudyn, near\nHarlech, who exhibited it at the Cambrian Arch\u00e6ological Association's\nmeeting at Machynlleth in 1866 [126]. 'It measures,' Mr. Barnwell\nsays, 'nine feet nine inches--a not uncommon length in the Scotch\nearly canoes,--and has been hollowed out of one piece of wood, as is\nuniversally the case with these early boats.' He goes on to surmise\nthat 'this canoe may have been used to reach the island, for the sake\nof birds or eggs; or what is not impossible, the island may have been\nthe residence of some one who had reasons for preferring so isolated\nan abode. It may, in fact, have been a kind of small natural crannog,\nand, in one sense, a veritable lake-dwelling, access to and from\nwhich was easy by means of such a canoe.' Stokes conjectures Llydaw\nto have meant coast-land, and Thurneysen connects it with the Sanskrit\nprthivi and Old Saxon folda [127], 'earth': and, so far as I can see,\none is at liberty to assume a meaning that would satisfy Llydaw,\n'Armorica,' and the Llydaw of Llyn Llydaw, 'the Lake of Llydaw,'\nnamely that it signified land which one had to reach by boat, so that\nit was in fact applicable to a lake settlement of any kind, in other\nwords, that Llydaw on Snowdon was the name of the lake-dwelling. So I\ncannot help suggesting, with great deference, that the place whence\ncame the Men of Llydaw in the story of the hunting of Twrch Trwyth\nwas the settlement in Syfadon lake (p. 73), and that the name of\nthat stronghold, whether it was a crannog or a stockaded islet, was\nalso Llydaw. For the power of that settlement over the surrounding\ncountry to have extended a few miles around would be but natural to\nsuppose--the distance between the Yw and Llyn Syfadon is, I am told,\nunder three miles. Should this guess prove well founded, we should\nhave to scan with renewed care the allusions in our stories to Llydaw,\nand not assume that they always refer us to Brittany.\n\nThat the name Llydaw did on occasion refer to the region of Llyn\nSyfadon admits of indirect proof as follows:--The church of Llangorse\non its banks is dedicated to a Saint Paulinus, after whom also is\ncalled Capel Peulin, in the upper course of the Towy, adjacent to the\nCardiganshire parish of Llandewi Brefi. Moreover, tradition makes\nPaulinus attend a synod in 519 at Llandewi Brefi, where St. David\ndistinguished himself by his preaching against Pelagianism. Paulinus\nwas then an old man, and St. David had been one of his pupils at the\nTy Gwyn, 'Whitland,' on the Taf, where Paulinus had established a\nreligious house [128]; and some five miles up a tributary brook of\nthe Taf is the church of Llandysilio, where an ancient inscription\nmentions a Paulinus. These two places, Whitland and Llandysilio, were\nprobably in the cymwd of Peuliniog, which is called after a Paulinus,\nand through which we have just followed the hunt of Twrch Trwyth\n(p. 512). Now the inscription to which I have referred reads [129],\nwith ligatures:--\n\n\n                               CLVTORIGI\n                              FILI PAVLINI\n                              MARINILATIO\n\n\nThis probably means '(the Monument) of Clutorix, son of Paulinus from\nLatium in the Marsh'; unless one ought rather to treat Marini as an\nepithet to Paulini. In either case Latio has probably to be construed\n'of or from Latium': compare a Roman inscription found at Bath\n(H\u00fcbner's No. 48), which begins with C. Murrius. | C. F. Arniensis\n| Foro. Iuli. Modestus [130], and makes in English, according to\nMr. Haverfield, 'Gaius Murrius Modestus, son of Gaius, of the tribe\nArniensis, of the town Forum Iulii.' The easiest way to explain the\nlast line as a whole is probably to treat it as a compound with the\nqualifying word deriving its meaning, not from mare, 'the sea,' but\nfrom the Late Latin mara, 'a marsh or bog.' Thus Marini-Latium would\nmean 'Marshy Latium,' to distinguish it from Latium in Italy, and\nfrom Letha or Llydaw in the sense of Brittany, which was analogously\ntermed in Medieval Irish Armuirc Letha [131], that is the Armorica\nof Letha. This is borne out by the name of the church of Paulinus,\nwhich is in Welsh Llan y Gors, anglicized Llangorse, 'the Church of the\nMarsh or Bog,' and that is exactly the meaning of the name given it in\nthe Taxatio of Pope Nicholas, which is that of Ecclesia de Mara. In\nother terms, we have in the qualified Latium of the inscription the\nLatium or Letha which came to be called in Welsh Llydaw. It is, in\nmy opinion, from that settlement as their head quarters, that the\nMen of Llydaw sallied forth to take part in the hunt in Ystrad Yw,\nwhere the boar Llwydog was killed.\n\nThe idea that the story of Twrch Trwyth was more or less topographical\nis not a new one. Lady Charlotte Guest, in her Mabinogion, ii. 363-5,\ntraces the hunt through several places called after Arthur, such\nas Buarth Arthur, 'Arthur's Cattle-pen,' and Bwrd Arthur, 'Arthur's\nTable,' besides others more miscellaneously named, such as Twyn y Moch,\n'the Swine's Hill,' near the source of the Amman, and Llwyn y Moch,\n'the Swine's Grove,' near the foot of the same eminence. But one of\nthe most remarkable statements in her note is the following:--'Another\nsingular coincidence may be traced between the name of a brook in\nthis neighbourhood, called Echel, and the Echel Fordwyttwll who\nis recorded in the tale as having been slain at this period of the\nchase.' I have been unable to discover any clue to a brook called\nEchel, but one called Egel occurs in the right place; so I take\nit that Lady Charlotte Guest's informants tacitly identified the\nname with that of Echel. Substantially they were probably correct,\nas the Egel, called Ecel in the dialect of the district, flows into\nthe upper Clydach, which in its turn falls into the Tawe near Pont\nar Dawe. As the next pool mentioned is Llwch Tawe, I presume it\nwas some water or other which drained into the Tawe in this same\nneighbourhood. The relative positions of Llwch Ewin, the Egel,\nand Llwch Tawe as indicated above offer no apparent difficulty. The\nGoidelic name underlying that of Echel was probably some such a one\nas Eccel or Ecell; and Ecell occurs, for instance, in the Book of the\nDun Cow, fo. 80b, as the name of a noble or prince. In rendering this\nname into Welsh as Echel, due regard was had for the etymological\nequivalence of Goidelic cc or c to Welsh ch, but the unbroken oral\ntradition of a people changing its language by degrees from Goidelic\nto Welsh was subject to no such influence, especially in the matter of\nlocal names; so the one here in question passed into Welsh as Eccel,\nliable only to be modified into Egel. In any case, one may assume that\nthe death of the hero Echel was introduced to account for the name\nof the brook Egel. Indications of something similar in the linguistic\nsense occur in the part of the narrative relating the death of Grugyn,\nat Garth Grugyn. This boar is pursued by two huntsmen called Eli and\nTrachmyr, the name of the former of whom reminds one of Garth Eli,\nin the parish of Llandewi Brefi. Possibly the original story located\nat Garth Eli the death of Eli, or some other incident in which Grugyn\nwas concerned; but the difficulty here is that the exact position of\nGarth Grugyn is still uncertain.\n\nLastly, our information as to the hunting of Twrch Trwyth is not\nexclusively derived from the Kulhwch, for besides an extremely\nobscure poem about the Twrch in the Book of Aneurin, a manuscript\nof the thirteenth century, we have one item given in the Mirabilia\nassociated with the Historia Brittonum of Nennius, \u00a7 73, and this\ncarries us back to the eighth century. It reads as follows:--\n\nEst aliud mirabile in regione qu\u00e6 dicitur Buelt. Est ibi cumulus\nlapidum, et unus lapis superpositus super congestum, cum vestigio\ncanis in eo. Quando venatus est porcum Troit, impressit Cabal, qui\nerat canis Arthuri militis, vestigium in lapide, et Arthur postea\ncongregavit congestum lapidum sub lapide in quo erat vestigium canis\nsui, et vocatur Carn Cabal. Et veniunt homines et tollunt lapidem in\nmanibus suis per spacium diei et noctis, et in crastino die invenitur\nsuper congestum suum.\n\n'Another wonder there is in the district called Buallt: there is there\na heap of stones, and one stone is placed on the top of the pile with\nthe footmark of a dog in it. Cafall, the dog of the warrior Arthur,\nwhen chasing the pig Trwyd printed the mark of his foot on it, and\nArthur afterwards collected a heap of stones underneath the stone\nin which was the footmark of his dog, and it is called Cafall's\nCairn. And men come and take the stone away in their hands for the\nspace of a day and a night, and on the following day the stone is\nfound on the top of its heap [132].'\n\nLady Charlotte Guest, in a note to the Kulhwch story in her Mabinogion,\nii. 360, appears to have been astonished to find that Carn Cavall,\nas she writes it, was no fabulous mound but an actual 'mountain in\nthe district of Builth, to the south of Rhayader Gwy, and within\nsight of that town.' She went so far as to persuade one of her\nfriends to visit the summit, and he begins his account of it to her\nwith the words: 'Carn Cavall, or as it is generally pronounced Corn\nCavall, is a lofty and rugged mountain.' On one of the cairns on the\nmountain he discovered what may have been the very stone to which\nthe Mirabilia story refers; but the sketch with which he accompanied\nhis communication cannot be said to be convincing, and he must have\nbeen drawing on his imagination when he spoke of this somewhat high\nhill as a lofty mountain. Moreover his account of its name only\ngoes just far enough to be misleading: the name as pronounced in the\nneighbourhood of Rhayader is Corn Gafallt by Welsh-speaking people,\nand Corn Gavalt by monoglot Englishmen. So it is probable that at\none time the pronunciation was Carn Gavall [133]. But to return to\nthe incident recorded by Nennius, one has to remark that it does\nnot occur in the Kulhwch; nor, seeing the position of the hill,\ncan it have been visited by Arthur or his dog in the course of the\nTwrch Trwyth hunt as described by the redactor of the story in its\npresent form. This suggests the reflection not only that the Twrch\nstory is very old, but that it was put together by selecting certain\nincidents out of an indefinite number, which, taken all together,\nwould probably have formed a network covering the whole of South Wales\nas far north as the boundary of the portion of Mid-Wales occupied by\nthe Brythons before the Roman occupation. In other words, the Goidels\nof this country had stories current among them to explain the names\nof the places with which they were familiar; and it is known that was\nthe case with the Goidels of Ireland. Witness the place-name legends\nknown in Medieval Irish as Dindsenchas, with which the old literature\nof Ireland abounds. On what principle the narrator of the Kulhwch\nmade his selection from the repertoire I cannot say; but one cannot\nhelp seeing that he takes little interest in the details, and that he\nshows still less insight into the etymological motif of the incidents\nwhich he mentions. However, this should be laid mainly to the charge,\nperhaps, of the early medieval redactor.\n\nAmong the reasons which have been suggested for the latter overlooking\nand effacing the play on the place-names, I have hinted that he did\nnot always understand them, as they sometimes involved a language\nwhich may not have been his. This raises the question of translation:\nif the story was originally in Goidelic, what was the process by which\nit passed into Brythonic? Two answers suggest themselves, and the first\ncomes to this: if the story was in writing, we may suppose a literary\nman to have sat down to translate it word for word from Goidelic to\nBrythonic, or else to adapt it in a looser fashion. In either case,\none should suppose him a master of both languages, and capable of doing\njustice to the play on the place-names. But it is readily conceivable\nthat the fact of his understanding both languages might lead him to\nmiscalculate what was exactly necessary to enable a monoglot Brython\nto grasp his meaning clearly. Moreover, if the translator had ideas\nof his own as to style, he might object on principle to anything like\nan explanation of words being interpolated in the narrative. In short,\none could see several loopholes through which a little confusion might\nforce itself in, and prevent the monoglot reader or hearer of the\ntranslation from correctly grasping the story at all points as it was\nin the original. The other view, and the more natural one, as I think,\nis that we should postulate the interference of no special translator,\nbut suppose the story, or rather a congeries of stories, to have been\ncurrent among the natives of a certain part of South Wales, say the\nLoughor Valley, at a time when their language was still Goidelic, and\nthat, as they gradually gave up Goidelic and adopted Brythonic, they\nretained their stories and translated the narrative, while they did not\nalways translate the place-names occurring in that narrative. Thus,\nfor instance, would arise the discrepancy between banw and Amanw,\nthe latter of which to be Welsh should have been rendered y Banw,\n'the Boar.' If this is approximately what took place, it is easy to\nconceive the possibility of many points of nicety being completely\neffaced in the course of such a rough process of transformation. In one\nor two small matters it happens that we can contrast the community as\ntranslator with the literary individual at work: I allude to the word\nTrwyth. That vocable was not translated, not metaphoned, if I may so\nterm it, at all at the time: it passed, when it was still Treth-i, from\nGoidelic into Brythonic, and continued in use without a break; for the\nchanges whereby Treth-i has become Trwyth have been such as other words\nhave undergone in the course of ages, as already stated. On the other\nhand, the literary man who knew something of the two languages seems\nto have reasoned, that where a Goidelic th occurred between vowels,\nthe correct etymological equivalent in Brythonic was t, subject to be\nmutated to d. So when he took the name over he metaphoned Treth-i into\nTret-i, whence we have the Porcus Troit of Nennius, and Twrch Trwyd\n[134] in Welsh poetry: these Troit and Trwyd were the literary forms\nas contrasted with the popular Trwyth. Now, if my surmises as to Echel\nand Egel are near the truth, their history must be similar; that is to\nsay, Echel would be the literary form and Ecel, Egel the popular one\nrespectively of the Goidelic Ecell. A third parallel offers itself\nin the case of the personal name Arwyli, borne by one of Echel's\ncompanions: the Arwyl of that name has its etymological equivalent\nin the Arwystl- of Arwystli, the name of a district comprising the\neastern slopes of Plinlimmon, and represented now by the Deanery of\nArwystli. So Arwystli challenges comparison with the Irish Airgialla\nor Airg\u00e9ill, anglicized Oriel, which denotes, roughly speaking, the\nmodern counties of Armagh, Louth, and Monaghan. For here we have the\nsame prefix ar placed in front of one and the same vocable, which in\nWelsh is gwystl, 'a hostage,' and in Irish giall, of the same meaning\nand origin. The reader will at once think of the same word in German\nas geisel, 'a hostage,' Old High German gisal. But the divergence\nof sound between Arwystl-i and Arwyl-i arises out of the difference\nof treatment of sl in Welsh and Irish. In the Brythonic district\nof Mid-Wales we have Arwystli with sl treated in the Brythonic way,\nwhile in Arwyli we have the combination treated in the Goidelic way,\nthe result being left standing when the speakers of Goidelic in South\nWales learnt Brythonic [135].\n\nCareful observation may be expected to add to the number of these\ninstructive instances. It is, however, not to be supposed that all\ndouble forms of the names in these stories are to be explained in\nexactly the same way. Thus, for instance, corresponding to Lug,\ngenitive Loga, we have the two forms Lleu and Llew, of which the\nformer alone matches the Irish. But it is to be observed that Lleu\nremains in some verses [136] in the story of Math, whereas in the\nprose he appears to be called Llew. It is not improbable that the\nediting which introduced Llew dates comparatively late, and that it\nwas done by a man who was not familiar with the Venedotian place-names\nof which Lleu formed part, namely, Dinlleu and Nantlleu, now Dinlle\nand Nantlle. Similarly the two brothers, Gofannon and Amaethon, as\nthey are called in the Mabinogi of Math and in the Kulhwch story, are\nfound also called Gofynyon and Amathaon. The former agrees with the\nIrish form Goibniu, genitive Goibnenn, whereas Gofannon does not. As\nto Amaethon or Amathaon the Irish counterpart has, unfortunately,\nnot been identified. Gofannon and Amaethon have the appearance of\nbeing etymologically transparent in Welsh, and they have probably been\nremodelled by the hand of a literary redactor. There were also two\nforms of the name of Manawydan in Welsh; for by the side of that there\nwas another, namely, Manawydan, liable to be shortened to Manawyd:\nboth occur in old Welsh poetry [137]. But manawyd or mynawyd is the\nWelsh word for an awl, which is significant here, as the Mabinogi\ncalled after Manawydan makes him become a shoemaker on two occasions,\nwhence the Triads style him one of the Three golden Shoemakers of\nthe Isle of Prydain: see the Oxford Mabinogion, p. 308.\n\nWhat has happened in the way of linguistic change in one of our\nstories, the Kulhwch, may have happened in others, say in the\nfour branches of the Mabinogi, namely, Pwyll, prince of Dyved;\nBranwen, daughter of Llyr; Math, son of Mathonwy; and Manawydan,\nson of Llyr. Some time ago I endeavoured to show that the principal\ncharacters in the Mabinogi of Math, namely, the sons and daughters\nof D\u00f4n, are to be identified as a group with the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann,\n'Tribes of the Goddess Danu or Donu,' of Irish legend. I called\nattention to the identity of our Welsh D\u00f4n with the Irish Donu,\ngenitive Donann, Gofynion or Gofannon with Goibniu, genitive Goibnenn,\nand of Lleu or Llew with Lug. Since then Professor Zimmer has gone\nfurther, and suggested that the Mabinogion are of Irish origin; but\nthat I cannot quite admit. They are of Goidelic origin, but they do\nnot come from the Irish or the Goidels of Ireland: they come rather,\nas I think, from this country's Goidels, who never migrated to the\nsister island, but remained here eventually to adopt Brythonic\nspeech. There is no objection, however, so far as this argument\nis concerned, to their being regarded as this country's Goidels\ndescended either from native Goidels or from early Goidelic invaders\nfrom Ireland, or else partly from the one origin and partly from the\nother. This last is perhaps the safest view to accept as a working\nhypothesis. Now Professor Zimmer fixes on that of Mathonwy, among\nother names, as probably the Welsh adaptation of some such an Irish\nname as the genitive Mathgamnai [138], now anglicized Mahony. This\nI am also prepared to accept in the sense that the Welsh form is a\nloan from a Goidelic one current some time or other in this country,\nand represented in Irish by Mathgamnai. The preservation of Goidelic\nth in Mathonwy stamps it as ranking with Trwyth, Egel, and Arwyli,\nas contrasted with a form etymologically more correct, of which we\nseem to have an echo in the Breton names Madganoe and Madgone [139].\n\nAnother name which I am inclined to regard as brought in from Goidelic\nis that of Gilvaethwy, son of D\u00f4n: it would seem to involve some\nsuch a word as the Irish gilla, 'a youth, an attendant or servant,'\nand some form of the Goidelic name Maughteus or Mochta, so that the\nname Gilla-mochtai meant the attendant of Mochta. This last vocable\nappears in Irish as the name of several saints, but previously it\nwas probably that of some pagan god of the Goidels, and its meaning\nwas most likely the same as that of the Irish participial mochta,\nwhich Stokes explains as 'magnified, glorified': see his Calendar of\nOengus, p. ccxiv, and compare the name Mael-mochta. Adamnan, in his\nVita S. Columb\u00e6, writes the name Maucteus in the following passage,\npref. ii. p. 6:--\n\nNam quidam proselytus Brito, homo sanctus, sancti Patricii episcopi\ndiscipulus, Maucteus nomine, ita de nostro prophetizavit Patrono,\nsicuti nobis ab antiquis traditum expertis compertum habetur.\n\nThis saint, who is said to have prophesied of St. Columba and died in\nthe year 534, is described in his Life (Aug. 19) as ortus ex Britannia\n[140], which, coupled with Adamnan's Brito, probably refers him\nto Wales; but it is remarkable that nevertheless he bore the very\nun-Brythonic name of Mochta or Mauchta [141].\n\nTo return to the Mabinogion: I have long been inclined to identify\nLlwyd, son of Kilcoed, with the Irish Liath, son of Celtchar, of\nCualu in the present county of Wicklow. Liath, whose name means\n'grey,' is described as the comeliest youth of noble rank among\nthe fairies of Erin; and the only time the Welsh Llwyd, whose name\nalso means 'grey,' appears in the Mabinogion he is ascribed, not\nthe comeliest figure, it is true, or the greatest personal beauty,\nbut the most imposing disguise of a bishop attended by his suite: he\nwas a great magician. The name of his father, Kil-coet, seems to me\nmerely an inexact popular rendering of Celtchar, the name of Liath's\nfather: at any rate one fails here to detect the touch of the skilled\ntranslator or literary redactor. [142] But the Mabinogi of Manawydan,\nin which Llwyd figures, is also the one in which Pryderi king of\nDyfed's wife is called Kicua or Cigfa, a name which has no claim to\nbe regarded as Brythonic. It occurs early, however, in the legendary\nhistory of Ireland: the Four Masters, under the year A.M. 2520,\nmention a Ciocbha as wife of a son of Parthalon; and the name seems\nto be related to that of a man called Cioccal, A.M. 2530. Lastly,\nManawydan, from whom the Mabinogi takes its name, is called mab Llyr,\n'son of Llyr,' in Welsh, and Manann\u00e1n mac Lir in Irish. Similarly\nwith his brother Br\u00e2n, and his sister Branwen, except that she has not\nbeen identified in Irish story. But in Irish literature the genitive\nLir, as in mac Lir, 'son of Ler,' is so common, and the nominative so\nrare, that Lir came to be treated in late Irish as the nominative too;\nbut a genitive of the form Lir suggests a nominative-accusative Ler,\nand as a matter of fact it occurs, for instance, in the couplet:--\n\n\n        Fer co n-ilur gnim dar ler\n        Labraid Luath Lam ar Claideb [143].\n\n        A man of many feats beyond sea,\n        Labraid swift of Hand on Sword is he.\n\n\nSo it seems probable that the Welsh Llyr [144] is no other word than\nthe Goidelic genitive Lir, retained in use with its pronunciation\nmodified according to the habits of the Welsh language; and in that\ncase [145] it forms comprehensive evidence, that the stories about\nthe Llyr family in Welsh legend were Goidelic before they put on a\nBrythonic garb.\n\nAs to the Mabinogion generally, one may say that they are devoted\nto the fortunes chiefly of three powerful houses or groups, the\nchildren of D\u00f4n, the children of Llyr, and Pwyll's family. This last is\nbrought into contact with the Llyr group, which takes practically the\nposition of superiority. Pwyll's family belonged chiefly to Dyfed;\nbut the power and influence of the sons of Llyr had a far wider\nrange: we find them in Anglesey, at Harlech, in Gwales or the Isle\nof Grasholm off Pembrokeshire, at Aber Henvelen somewhere south of\nthe Severn Sea, and in Ireland. But the expedition to Ireland under\nBr\u00e2n, usually called Bendigeituran, 'Br\u00e2n [146] the Blessed,' proved\nso disastrous that the Llyr group, as a whole, disappears, making\nway for the children of D\u00f4n. These last came into collision with\nPwyll's son, Pryderi, in whose country Manawydan, son of Llyr, had\nended his days. Pryderi, in consequence of Gwydion's deceit (pp. 69,\n501, 525), makes war on Math and the children of D\u00f4n: he falls in it,\nand his army gives hostages to Math. Thus after the disappearance of\nthe sons of Llyr, the children of D\u00f4n are found in power in their\nstead in North Wales [147], and that state of things corresponds\nclosely enough to the relation between the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann and the\nLir family in Irish legend. There Lir and his family are reckoned in\nthe number of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, but within that community Lir\nwas so powerful that it was considered but natural that he should\nresent a rival candidate being elected king in preference to him. So\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9 took pains to conciliate Lir, as did also their king,\nwho gave his daughter to Lir to wife, and when she died he gave\nhim another of his daughters [148]; and with the treatment of her\nstepchildren by that deceased wife's sister begins one of the three\nSorrowful Tales of Erin, known to English readers as the Fate of the\nChildren of Lir. But the reader should observe the relative position:\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9 remain in power, while the children of Lir belong to\nthe past, which is also the sequence in the Mabinogion. Possibly this\nis not to be considered as having any significance, but it is to be\nborne in mind that the Lir-Llyr group is strikingly elemental in its\npatronymic Lir, Llyr. The nominative, as already stated, was ler,\n'sea,' and so Cormac renders mac Lir by filius maris. How far we may\nventure to consider the sea to have been personified in this context,\nand how early, it is impossible to say. In any case it is deserving\nof notice that one group of Goidels to this day do not say mac Lir,\n'son of Lir,' filium maris, but always 'son of the lir': I allude to\nthe Gaels of the Isle of Man, in whose language Manann\u00e1n mac Lir is\nalways Mannanan mac y Lir, or as they spell it, Lear; that is to say\n'Mannanan, son of the ler.' Manxmen have been used to consider Manannan\ntheir eponymous hero, and first king of their island: they call him\nmore familiarly Mannanan beg mac y Lear, 'Little Mannanan, son of\nthe ler'. This we may, though no Manxman of the present day attaches\nany meaning to the word lir or lear, interpreted as 'Little Mannanan,\nson of the Sea.' The wanderings at large of the children of Lir before\nbeing eclipsed by the Danann-D\u00f4n group, remind one of the story of\nthe labours of Hercules, where it relates that hero's adventures on\nhis return from robbing Geryon of his cattle. Pomponius Mela, ii. 5\n(p. 50), makes Hercules on that journey fight in the neighbourhood\nof Aries with two sons of Poseidon or Neptune, whom he calls (in\nthe accusative) Albiona and Bergyon. To us, with our more adequate\nknowledge of geography, the locality and the men cannot appear the most\ncongruous, but there can hardly be any mistake as to the two personal\nnames being echoes of those of Albion and Iverion, Britain and Ireland.\n\nThe whole cycle of the Mabinogion must have appeared strange to the\nstory-teller and the poet of medieval Wales, and far removed from the\nworld in which they lived. We have possibly a trace of this feeling\nin the epithet h\u00ean, 'old, ancient,' given to Math in a poem in the\nRed Book of Hergest, where we meet with the line [149]:--\n\n\n        Gan uath hen gan gouannon.\n\n        With Math the ancient, with Gofannon.\n\n\nSimilarly in the confused list of heroes which the story-teller of\nthe Kulhwch (Mabinogion, p. 108) was able to put together, we seem to\nhave Gofannon, Math's relative, referred to under the designation of\nGouynyon Hen, 'Gofynion the Ancient.' To these might be added others,\nsuch as Gwrbothu H\u00ean, mentioned above, p. 531, and from another\nsource Lleu Hen [150], 'Llew the Ancient.' So strange, probably, and\nso obscure did some of the contents of the stories themselves seem to\nthe story-tellers, that they may be now and then suspected of having\neffaced some of the features which it would have interested us to find\npreserved. This state of things brings back to my mind words of Matthew\nArnold's, to which I had the pleasure of listening more years ago than\nI care to remember. He was lecturing at Oxford on Celtic literature,\nand observing 'how evidently the medi\u00e6val story-teller is pillaging\nan antiquity of which he does not fully possess the secret; he is\nlike a peasant,' Matthew Arnold went on to say, 'building his hut on\nthe site of Halicarnassus or Ephesus; he builds, but what he builds\nis full of materials of which he knows not the history, or knows by\na glimmering tradition merely--stones \"not of this building,\" but of\nan older architecture, greater, cunninger, more majestical. In the\nmedi\u00e6val stories of no Latin or Teutonic people does this strike one as\nin those of the Welsh.' This becomes intelligible only on the theory of\nthe stories having been in Goidelic before they put on a Welsh dress.\n\nWhen saying that the Mabinogion and some of the stories contained\nin the Kulhwch, such as the Hunting of Twrch Trwyth, were Goidelic\nbefore they became Brythonic, I wish to be understood to use the\nword Goidelic in a qualified sense. For till the Brythons came, the\nGoidels were, I take it, the ruling race in most of the southern\nhalf of Britain, with the natives as their subjects, except in so\nfar as that statement has to be limited by the fact, that we do not\nknow how far they and the natives had been amalgamating together. In\nany case, the hostile advent of another race, the Brythons, would\nprobably tend to hasten the process of amalgamation. That being\nso, the stories which I have loosely called Goidelic may have been\nlargely aboriginal in point of origin, and by that I mean native,\npre-Celtic and non-Aryan. It comes to this, then: we cannot say for\ncertain whose creation Br\u00e2n, for instance, should be considered to\nhave been--that of Goidels or of non-Aryan natives. He sat, as the\nMabinogi of Branwen describes him, on the rock of Harlech, a figure\ntoo colossal for any house to contain or any ship to carry. This would\nseem to challenge comparison with Cernunnos, the squatting god of\nancient Gaul, around whom the other gods appear as mere striplings,\nas proved by the monumental representations in point. In these [151]\nhe sometimes appears antlered like a stag; sometimes he is provided\neither with three normal heads or with one head furnished with three\nfaces; and sometimes he is reduced to a head provided with no body,\nwhich reminds one of Br\u00e2n, who, when he had been rid of his body in\nconsequence of a poisoned wound inflicted on him in his foot in the\nslaughter of the Meal-bag Pavilion, was reduced to the Urdawl Ben,\n'Venerable or Dignified Head,' mentioned in the Mabinogi of Branwen\n[152]. The Mabinogi goes on to relate how Br\u00e2n's companions began to\nenjoy, subject to certain conditions, his 'Venerable Head's' society,\nwhich involved banquets of a fabulous duration and of a nature not\nreadily to be surpassed by those around the Holy Grail. In fact here\nwe have beyond all doubt one of the heathen originals of which the\nGrail is a Christian version. But the multiplicity of faces or heads\nof the Gaulish divinity find their analogues in a direction hitherto\nunnoticed as far as I know, namely, among the Letto-Slavic peoples\nof the Baltic sea-board. Thus the image of Svatovit in the island of\nR\u00fcgen is said to have had four faces [153]; and the life of Otto of\nBamberg relates [154] how that high-handed evangelist proceeded to\nconvert the ancient Prussians to Christianity. Among other things\nwe are told how he found at Stettin an idol called Triglaus, a word\nreferring to the three heads for which the god was remarkable. The\nsaint took possession of the image and hewed away the body, reserving\nfor himself the three heads, which are represented adhering together,\nforming one piece. This he sent as a trophy to Rome, and in Rome it\nmay be still. Were it perchance to be found, it might be expected to\nshow a close resemblance to the tricephal of the Gaulish altar found\nat Beaune in Burgundy.\n\nBefore closing this chapter a word may be permitted as to the Goidelic\nelement in the history of Wales: it will come again before the reader\nin a later chapter, but what has already been advanced or implied\nconcerning it may here be recapitulated as follows:--\n\nIt has been suggested that the hereditary dislike of the Brython for\nthe Goidel argues their having formerly lived in close proximity to\none another: see p. 473 above.\n\nThe tradition that the cave treasures of the Snowdon district belong\nby right to the Goidels, means that they were formerly supposed\nto have hidden them away when hard pressed by the Brythons: see\npp. 471-2 above.\n\nThe sundry instances of a pair of names for a single person or place,\none Goidelic (Brythonicized) still in use, and the other Brythonic\n(suggested by the Goidelic one), literary mostly and obsolete, go to\nprove that the Goidels were not expelled, but allowed to remain to\nadopt Brythonic speech.\n\nEvidence of the indebtedness of story-tellers in Wales to their\nbrethren of the same profession in Ireland is comparatively scarce; and\nalmost in every instance of recent research establishing a connexion\nbetween topics or incidents in the Arthurian romances and the native\nliterature of Ireland, the direct contact may be assumed to have been\nwith the folklore and legend of the Goidelic inhabitants of Wales,\nwhether before or after their change of language.\n\nProbably the folklore and mythology of the Goidels of Wales and of\nIreland were in the mass much the same, though in some instances they\nreach us in different stages of development: thus in such a case as\nthat of D\u00f4n and Danu (genitive Danann) the Welsh allusions in point\nrefer to D\u00f4n at a conspicuously earlier stage of her r\u00f4le than that\nrepresented by the Irish literature touching the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann\n[155].\n\nThe common point of view from which our ancestors liked to look at\nthe scenery around them is well illustrated by the fondness of the\nGoidel, in Wales and Ireland alike, for incidents to explain his\nplace-names. He required the topography--indeed he requires it still,\nand hence the activity of the local etymologist--to connote story or\nhistory: he must have something that will impart the cold light of\nphysical nature, river and lake, moor and mountain, a warmer tint,\na dash of the pathetic element, a touch of the human, borrowed from\nthe light and shade of the world of imagination and fancy in which\nhe lives and dreams.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nDIFFICULTIES OF THE FOLKLORIST\n\n                    For priests, with prayers and other godly gear,\n                    Have made the merry goblins disappear;\n                    And, where they played their merry pranks before,\n                    Have sprinkled holy water on the floor.--Dryden.\n\n\nThe attitude of the Kymry towards folklore and popular superstitions\nvaries according to their training and religious views; and I\ndistinguish two classes of them in this respect. First of all,\nthere are those who appear to regret the ebb of the tide of ancient\nbeliefs. They maintain that people must have been far more interesting\nwhen they believed in the fairies; and they rave against Sunday schools\nand all other schools for having undermined the ancient superstitions\nof the peasantry: it all comes, they say, of over-educating the\nworking classes. Of course one may occasionally wish servant maids\nstill believed that they might get presents from the fairies for being\nneat and tidy; and that, in the contrary case of their being sluts,\nthey would be pinched black and blue during their sleep by the little\npeople: there may have been some utility in beliefs of that kind. But,\nif one takes an impartial view of the surroundings in which this\nkind of mental condition was possible, no sane man could say that\nthe superstitious beliefs of our ancestors conduced on the whole to\ntheir happiness. Fancy a state of mind in which this sort of thing is\npossible:--A member of the family is absent, let us say, from home\nin the evening an hour later than usual, and the whole household is\nthrown into a panic because they imagine that he has strayed on fairy\nground, and has been spirited away to the land of fairy twilight,\nwhence he may never return; or at any rate only to visit his home\nyears, or maybe ages, afterwards, and then only to fall into a heap\nof dust just as he has found out that nobody expects or even knows\nhim. Or take another instance:--A man sets out in the morning on an\nimportant journey, but he happens to sneeze, or he sees an ill-omened\nbird, or some other dreaded creature, crossing his path: he expects\nnothing that day but misfortune, and the feeling of alarm possibly\nmakes him turn back home, allowing the object of his journey to be\nsacrificed. That was not a satisfactory state of things or a happy one,\nand the unhappiness might be wholly produced by causes over which the\npatient had absolutely no control, so long at any rate as the birds\nof the air have wings, and so long as sneezing does not belong to\nthe category of voluntary actions. Then I might point to the terrors\nof magic; but I take it to be unnecessary to dwell on such things,\nas most people have heard about them or read of them in books. On\nthe whole it is but charitable to suppose that those who regret the\npassing away of the ages of belief and credulity have not seriously\nattempted to analyse the notions which they are pleased to cherish.\n\nNow, as to the other class of people, namely, those who object to\nfolklore in every shape and form, they may be roughly distinguished\ninto different groups, such as those to whom folklore is an\nabomination, because they hold that it is opposed to the Bible, and\nthose who regard it as too trivial to demand the attention of any\nserious person. I have no occasion for many words with the former,\nsince nearly everything that is harmful in popular superstition has\nceased in Wales to be a living force influencing one's conduct; or if\nthis be not already the case, it is fast becoming so. Those therefore\nwho condemn superstitions have really no reason to set their faces\nagainst the student of folklore: it would be just as if historians were\nto be boycotted because they have, in writing history--frequently,\nthe more the pity--to deal with dark intrigues, cruel murders, and\nsanguinary wars. Besides, those who study folklore do not thereby\nhelp to strengthen the hold of superstition on the people. I have\nnoticed that any local peculiarity of fashion, the moment it becomes\nknown to attract the attention of strangers, is, one may say, doomed:\na Celt, like anybody else, does not like to be photographed in a light\nwhich may perchance show him at a disadvantage. It is much the same,\nI think, with him as the subject of the studies of the folklorist:\nhence the latter has to proceed with his work very quietly and very\nwarily. If, then, I pretended to be a folklorist, which I can hardly\nclaim to be, I should say that I had absolutely no quarrel with him\nwho condemns superstition on principle. On the other hand, I should\nnot consider it fair of him to regard me as opposed to the progress\nof the race in happiness and civilization, just because I am curious\nto understand its history.\n\nWith regard to him, however, who looks at the collecting and\nthe studying of folklore as trivial work and a waste of time,\nI should gather that he regards it so on account, first perhaps,\nof his forgetting the reality their superstitions were to those\nwho believed in them; and secondly, on account of his ignorance\nof their meaning. As a reality to those who believed in them,\nthe superstitions of our ancestors form an integral part of their\nhistory. However, I need not follow that topic further by trying to\nshow how 'the proper study of mankind is man,' and how it is a mark of\nan uncultured people not to know or care to know about the history of\nthe race. So the ancient Roman historian, Tacitus, evidently thought;\nfor, when complaining how little was known as to the original peopling\nof Britain, he adds the suggestive words ut inter barbaros, 'as usual\namong barbarians.' Conversely, I take it for granted that no liberally\neducated man or woman of the present day requires to be instructed\nas to the value of the study of history in all its aspects, or to be\ntold that folklore cannot be justly called trivial, seeing that it\nhas to do with the history of the race--in a wider sense, I may say\nwith the history of the human mind and the record of its development.\n\nAs history has been mentioned, it may be here pointed out that one\nof the greatest of the folklorist's difficulties is that of drawing\nthe line between story and history. Nor is that the worst of it; for\nthe question as between fact and fiction, hard as it is in itself,\nis apt to be further complicated by questions of ethnology. This\nmay be illustrated by reference to a group of legends which project\na vanishing distinction between the two kindred races of Brythons\nand Goidels in Wales; and into the story of some of them Arthur is\nintroduced playing a principal r\u00f4le. They seem to point to a time\nwhen the Goidels had as yet wholly lost neither their own language\nnor their own institutions in North Wales: for the legends belong\nchiefly to Gwyned, and cluster especially around Snowdon, where the\ncharacteristics of the Goidel as the earlier Celt may well have\nlingered latest, thanks to the comparatively inaccessible nature\nof the country. One of these legends has already been summarized as\nrepresenting Arthur marching up the side of Snowdon towards Bwlch y\nSaethau, where he falls and is buried under a cairn named from him\nCarned Arthur: see p. 473. We are not told who his enemies were;\nbut with this question has usually been associated the late Triad,\niii. 20, which alludes to Arthur meeting in Nanhwynain with Medrawd\nor Medrod (Modred) and Idawc Corn Prydain, and to his being betrayed,\nfor the benefit and security of the Saxons in the island. An earlier\nreference to the same story occurs in the Dream of Rhonabwy in the\nRed Book of Hergest [156], in which Idawc describes himself as Idawc\nson of Mynio, and as nicknamed Idawc Cord Prydain--which means 'Idawc\nthe Churn-staff of Prydain'--in reference presumably to his activity\nin creating dissension. He confesses to having falsified the friendly\nmessages of Arthur to Medrod, and to succeeding thereby in bringing\non the fatal battle of Camlan, from which Idawc himself escaped to\ndo penance for seven years on the Llech Las, 'Grey Stone [157],'\nin Prydain or Pictland.\n\nAnother story brings Arthur and the giant Rhita into collision, the\nlatter of whom has already been mentioned as having, according to\nlocal tradition, his grave on the top of Snowdon: see pp. 474-9. The\nstory is a very wild one. Two kings who were brothers, Nyniaw or Nynio\nand Peibiaw or Peibio, quarrelled thus: one moonlight night, as they\nwere together in the open air, Nynio said to Peibio, 'See, what a\nfine extensive field I possess.' 'Where is it?' asked Peibio. 'There\nit is,' said Nynio, 'the whole firmament.' 'See,' said Peibio,\n'what innumerable herds of cattle and sheep I have grazing in thy\nfield.' 'Where are they?' asked Nynio. 'There they are,' said Peibio,\n'the whole host of stars that thou seest, each of golden brightness,\nwith the moon shepherding them.' 'They shall not graze in my field,'\nsaid Nynio. 'But they shall,' said Peibio; and the two kings got\nso enraged with one another, that they began a war in which their\nwarriors and subjects were nearly exterminated. Then comes Rhita Gawr,\nking of Wales, and attacks them on the dangerous ground of their\nbeing mad. He conquered them and shaved off their beards [158]; but\nwhen the other kings of Prydain, twenty-eight in number, heard of it,\nthey collected all their armies together to avenge themselves on Rhita\nfor the disgrace to which he had subjected the other two. But after a\ngreat struggle Rhita conquers again, and has the beards of the other\nkings shaved. Then the kings of neighbouring kingdoms in all directions\ncombined to make war on Rhita to avenge the disgrace to their order;\nbut they were also vanquished forthwith, and treated in the same\nignominious fashion as the thirty kings of Prydain. With the beards\nhe had a mantle made to cover him from head to foot, and that was a\ngood deal, we are told, since he was as big as two ordinary men. Then\nRhita turned his attention to the establishment of just and equitable\nlaws as between king and king and one realm with another [159]. But\nthe sequel to the shaving is related by Geoffrey of Monmouth, x. 3,\nwhere Arthur is made to tell how the giant, after destroying the\nother kings and using their beards in the way mentioned, asked him\nfor his beard to fix above the other beards, as he stood above them in\nrank, or else to come and fight a duel with him. Arthur, as might be\nexpected, chose the latter course, with the result that he slew Rhita,\nthere called Ritho, at a place said to be in Aravio Monte, by which\nthe Welsh translator understood the chief mountain of Eryri [160] or\nSnowdon. So it is but natural that his grave should also be there, as\nalready mentioned. I may here add that it is the name Snowdon itself,\nprobably, that underlies the Senaudon or Sinadoun of such Arthurian\nromances as the English version of Libeaus Desconus, though the place\nmeant has been variously supposed to be situated elsewhere than in\nthe Snowdon district: witness Sinodun Hill in Berkshire [161].\n\nThe story of Rhita is told also by Malory, who calls that giant Ryons\nand Ryence; and there the incident seems to end with Ryons being led\nto Arthur's court by knights who had overcome him. Ryons' challenge,\nas given by Malory [162], runs thus:--\n\n'This meane whyle came a messager from kynge Ryons of Northwalys. And\nkynge he was of all Ireland and of many Iles. And this was his message\ngretynge wel kynge Arthur in this manere wyse sayenge . that kynge\nRyons had discomfyte and ouercome xj kynges . and eueryche of hem\ndid hym homage . and that was this . they gaf hym their berdys clene\nflayne of . as moche as ther was . wherfor the messager came for kyng\nArthurs berd. For kyng Ryons had purfyled a mantel with kynges berdes\n. and there lacked one place of the mantel . wherfor he sente for his\nberd or els he wold entre in to his landes . and brenne and slee . &\nneuer leue tyl he haue the hede and the berd.'\n\nRhita is not said, it is true, to have been a Gwydel, 'Goidel';\nbut he is represented ruling over Ireland, and his name, which is\nnot Welsh, recalls at first sight those of such men as Boya the Pict\nor Scot figuring in the life of St. David, and such as Llia Gvitel,\n'Llia the Goidel,' mentioned in the Stanzas of the Graves in the\nBlack Book of Carmarthen as buried in the seclusion of Ardudwy\n[163]. Malory's Ryons is derived from the French Romances, where,\nas for example in the Merlin, according to the Huth MS., it occurs\nas Rion-s in the nominative, and Rion in r\u00e9gime. The latter, owing\nto the old French habit of eliding d or th, derives regularly enough\nfrom such a form as the accusative Rithon-em [164], which is the\none occurring in Geoffrey's text; and we should probably be right in\nconcluding therefrom that the correct old Welsh form of the name was\nRithon. But the Goidelic form was at the same time probably Ritta,\nwith a genitive Rittann, for an earlier Ritton. Lastly, that the\nlocal legend should perpetuate the Goidelic Ritta slightly modified,\nhas its parallel in the case of Trwyd and Trwyth, and of Echel and\nEgel or Ecel, pp. 541-2 and 536-7.\n\nThe next story [165] points to a spot between y Dinas or Dinas\nEmrys and Llyn y Dinas as containing the grave of Owen y Mhacsen,\nthat is to say, 'Owen son of Maxen.' Owen had been fighting with a\ngiant--whose name local tradition takes for granted--with balls of\nsteel; and there are depressions (panylau [166]) still to be seen\nin the ground where each of the combatants took his stand. Some,\nhowever, will have it that it was with bows and arrows they fought,\nand that the hollows are the places they dug to defend themselves. The\nresult was that both died at the close of the conflict; and Owen,\nbeing asked where he wished to be buried, ordered an arrow to be shot\ninto the air and his grave to be made where it fell. The story is\nsimilarly given in the Iolo MSS., pp. 81-2, where the combatants are\ncalled Owen Findu ab Macsen Wledig, 'Owen of the Dark Face, son of\nPrince Maxen,' and Eurnach Hen, 'E. the Ancient,' one of the Gwydyl\nor 'Goidels' of North Wales, and otherwise called Urnach Wydel. He is\nthere represented as father (1) of the Serrigi defeated by Catwallawn\nor Cadwallon Law-hir, 'C. the Long-handed,' at Cerrig y Gwydyl,\n'the Stones of the Goidels,' near Malldraeth [167], in Anglesey,\nwhere the great and final rout of the Goidels is represented as having\ntaken place [168]; (2) of Daronwy, an infant spared and brought up in\nAnglesey to its detriment, as related in the other story, p. 504; and\n(3) of Solor, who commands one of the three cruising fleets of the\nIsle of Prydain [169]. The stronghold of Eurnach or Urnach is said\nto have been Dinas Ffaraon, which was afterwards called Din Emreis\nand Dinas Emrys. The whole story about the Goidels in North Wales,\nhowever, as given in the Iolo MSS., pp. 78-80, is a hopeless jumble,\nthough it is probably based on old traditions. In fact, one detects\nEurnach or Urnach as Wrnach or Gwrnach in the story of Kulhwch and\nOlwen [170] in the Red Book, where we are told that Kei or Cai, and\nothers of Arthur's men, got into the giant's castle and cut off his\nhead in order to secure his sword, which was one of the things required\nfor the hunting of Twrch Trwyth. In an obscure passage, also in a poem\nin the Black Book, we read of Cai fighting in the hall of this giant,\nwho is then called Awarnach [171]. Some such a feat appears to have\nbeen commemorated in the place-name Gwryd Cai, 'Cai's Feat of Arms,'\nwhich occurs in Llewelyn's grant of certain lands on the Bedgelert\nand Pen Gwryd side of Snowdon in 1198 to the monks of Aberconwy,\nor rather in an inspeximus of the same: see Dugdale's Monasticon,\nv. 673a, where it stands printed gwryt, kei. Nor is it unreasonable\nto guess that Pen Gwryd is only a shortening of Pen Gwryd Cai,\n'Cai's Feat Knoll or Terminus'; but compare p. 217 above. Before\nleaving Cai I may point out that tradition seems to ascribe to him\nas his residence the place called Caer Gai, 'Cai's Fort,' between\nBala and Llanuwchllyn. If one may treat Cai as a historical man, one\nmay perhaps suppose him, or some member of his family, commemorated\nby the vocable Burgocavi on an old stone found at Caer Gai, and said\nto read: Ic iacit Salvianus Burgocavi filius Cupitiani [172]--'Here\nlies Salvianus Burgocavis, son of Cupitianus.' The reader may also\nbe referred back to such non-Brythonic and little known figures as\nDaronwy, Cathbalug, and Brynach, together perhaps with Mengwaed,\nthe wolf-lord of Arllechwed, pp. 504-5. It is worth while calling\nattention likewise to Goidelic indications afforded by the topography\nof Eryri, to wit such cases as Bwlch Mwrchan or Mwlchan, 'Mwrchan's\nPass,' sometimes made into Bwlch Mwyalchen or even Bwlch y Fwyalchen,\n'the Ousel's Gap,' near Llyn Gwynain; the remarkable remains called\nMuriau'r Dre, 'the Town Walls'--otherwise known as Tre'r Gwydelod\n[173], 'the Goidels' town'--on the land of Gwastad Annas at the top\nof Nanhwynain; and Bwlch y Gwydel, still higher towards Pen Gwryd,\nmay have meant the 'Goidel's Pass.'\n\nProbably a study of the topography on the spot would result in the\nidentification of more names similarly significant; but I will call\nattention to only one of them, namely Bedgelert or, as it is locally\npronounced, Bethgelart, though the older spellings of the name appear\nto be Beth Kellarth and Beth Kelert. Those who are acquainted with\nthe story, as told there, of the man who rashly killed his hound might\nthink that Bedgelert, 'Gelert or Kelert's Grave,' refers to the hound;\nbut there is a complete lack of evidence to show this widely known\nstory to have been associated with the neighbourhood by antiquity\n[174]; and the compiler of the notes and pedigrees known as Boned y\nSaint was probably right in treating Kelert as the name of an ancient\nsaint: see the Myvyr. Arch., ii. 36. In any case, Kelert or Gelert\nwith its rt cannot be a genuine Welsh name: the older spellings seem to\nindicate two pronunciations--a Goidelic one, Kelert, and a Welsh one,\nKelarth or Kellarth, which has not survived. The documents, however,\nin which the name occurs require to be carefully examined for the\nreadings which they supply.\n\nLastly, from the Goidels of Arfon must not be too violently severed\nthose of Mona, among whom we have found, pp. 504-5, the mysterious\nCathbalug, whose name, still half unexplained, reminds one of such\nIrish ones as Cathbuadach, 'battle-victorious or conquering in war';\nand to the same stratum belongs Daronwy, p. 504, which survives as the\nname of a farm in the parish of Llanfachreth. The Record of Carnarvon,\np. 59, speaks both of a Molendinum de Darronwy et Cornewe, 'Mill of\nDaronwy [175] and Cornwy,' and of Vill\u00e6 de Dorronwy et Kuwghdornok,\n'Vills of Daronwy and of the Cnwch Dernog,' which has been mentioned\nas now pronounced Clwch Dernog, p. 457: it is situated in the adjoining\nparish of Llandeusant. The name is given in the same Record as Dernok,\nand is doubtless to be identified with the Tern\u00f3c not very uncommon\nin Irish hagiology. With these names the Record further associates a\nholding called Wele Conus, and Conus survives in Weun Gonnws, the name\nof a field on the farm of Bron Heulog, adjoining Clwch Dernog. That\nis not all, for Connws turns out to be the Welsh pronunciation of the\nGoidelic name Cunagussus, of which we have the Latinized genitive on\nthe Bodfedan menhir, some distance north-east of the railway station\nof Ty Croes. It reads: CVNOGVSI HIC IACIT, 'Here lies (the body) of\nCunagussus,' and involves a name which has regularly become in Irish\nConghus, while the native Welsh equivalent would be Cynwst [176]. These\nnames, and one [177] or two more which might be added to them, suggest\na very Goidelic population as occupying, in the fifth or sixth century,\nthe part of the island west of a line from Amlwch to Malldraeth.\n\nLastly, the chronological indications of the crushing of the power\nof the Goidels, and the incipient merging of that people with the\nBrythons into a single nation of Kymry or 'Compatriots,' are worthy\nof a passing remark. We seem to find the process echoed in the\nTriads when they mention as a favourite at Arthur's Court the lord\nof Arllechwed, named Menwaed, who has been guessed, p. 507 above,\nto have been a Goidel. Then Serrigi and Daronwy are signalized as\ncontemporaries of Cadwallon Law-hir, who inflicted on the former,\naccording to the later legend, the great defeat of Cerrig y Gwydyl\n[178]. The name, however, of the leader of the Goidels arrayed against\nCadwallon may be regarded as unknown, and Serrigi as a later name,\nprobably of Norse origin, introduced from an account of a tenth\ncentury struggle with invaders from the Scandinavian kingdom of Dublin\n[179]. In this conqueror we have probably all that can be historical\nof the Caswallon of the Mabinogion of Branwen and Manawydan, that is,\nthe Caswallon who ousts the Goidelic family of Llyr from power in this\ncountry, and makes Pryderi of Dyfed pay homage to him as supreme king\nof the island. His name has there undergone assimilation to that of\nCassivellaunos, and he is furthermore represented as son of Beli,\nking of Prydain in the days of its independence, before the advent\nof the legions of Rome. But as a historical man we are to regard\nCaswallon probably as Cadwallon Law-hir, grandson of Cuneda and father\nof Maelgwn of Gwyned. Now Cuneda and his sons, according to Nennius (\u00a7\n62), expelled the Goidels with terrible slaughter; and one may say,\nwith the Triads, which practically contradict Nennius' statement as\nto the Goidels being expelled, that Cuneda's grandson continued the\nstruggle with them. In any case there were Goidels still there, for\nthe Book of Taliessin seems to give evidence [180] of a persistent\nhostility, on the part of the Goidelic bards of Gwyned, to Maelgwn\nand the more Brythonic institutions which he may be regarded as\nrepresenting. This brings the Goidelic element down to the sixth\ncentury [181]. Maelgwn's death took place, according to the oldest\nmanuscript of the Annales Cambri\u00e6, in the year 547, or ten years\nafter the Battle of Camlan--in which, as it says, Arthur and Medrod\nfell. Now some of this is history and some is not: where is the line\nto be drawn? In any case, the attempt to answer that question could\nnot be justly met with contempt or treated as trivial.\n\nThe other cause, to which I suggested that contempt for folklore\nwas probably to be traced, together with the difficulties springing\ntherefrom to beset the folklorist's paths, is one's ignorance of the\nmeaning of many of the superstitions of our ancestors. I do not wish\nthis to be regarded as a charge of wilful ignorance; for one has\nfrankly to confess that many old superstitions and superstitious\npractices are exceedingly hard to understand. So much so, that\nthose who have most carefully studied them cannot always agree\nwith one another in their interpretation. At first sight, some of\nthe superstitions seem so silly and absurd, that one cannot wonder\nthat those who have not gone deeply into the study of the human mind\nshould think them trivial, foolish, or absurd. It is, however, not\nimprobable that they are the results of early attempts to think out\nthe mysteries of nature; and our difficulty is that the thinking was\nso infantile, comparatively speaking, that one finds it hard to put\none's self back into the mental condition of early man. But it should\nbe clearly understood that our difficulty in ascertaining the meaning\nof such superstitions is no proof whatsoever that they had no meaning.\n\nThe chief initial difficulty, however, meeting any one who would\ncollect folklore in Wales arises from the fact that various influences\nhave conspired to laugh it out of court, so to say, so that those who\nare acquainted with superstitions and ancient fads become ashamed to\nown it: they have the fear of ridicule weighing on their minds, and\nthat is a weight not easily removed. I can recall several instances:\namong others I may mention a lady who up to middle age believed\nimplicitly in the existence of fairies, and was most anxious that\nher children should not wander away from home at any time when there\nhappened to be a mist, lest the fairies should carry them away to\ntheir home beneath a neighbouring lake. In her later years, however,\nit was quite useless for a stranger to question her on these things:\nfairy lore had been so laughed out of countenance in the meantime,\nthat at last she would not own, even to the members of her own family,\nthat she remembered anything about the fairies. Another instance in\npoint is supplied by the story of Castellmarch, and by my failure\nfor a whole fortnight to elicit from the old blacksmith of Aber Soch\nthe legend of March ab Meirchion with horse's ears. Of course I can\nreadily understand the old man's shyness in repeating the story of\nMarch. Science, however, knows no such shyness, as it is her business\nto pry into everything and to discover, if possible, the why and\nwherefore of all things. In this context let me for a moment revert to\nthe story of March, silly as it looks:--March was lord of Castellmarch\nin Lleyn, and he had horse's ears; so lest the secret should be known,\nevery one who shaved him was killed forthwith; and in the spot where\nthe bodies were buried there grew reeds, which a bard cut in order to\nprovide himself with a pipe. The pipe when made would give no music\nbut words meaning March has horse's ears! There are other forms of\nthe story, but all substantially the same as that preserved for us\nby Llwyd (pp. 233-4), except that one of them resembles more closely\nthe Irish version about to be summarized. It occurs in a manuscript\nin the Peniarth collection, and runs thus:--March had horse's ears,\na fact known to nobody but his barber, who durst not make it known for\nfear of losing his head. But the barber fell ill, so that he had to\ncall in a physician, who said that the patient was being killed by a\nsecret; and he ordered him to tell it to the ground. The barber having\ndone so became well again, and fine reeds grew on the spot. One day,\nas the time of a great feast was drawing nigh, certain of the pipers\nof Maelgwn Gwyned coming that way saw the reeds, some of which they\ncut and used for their pipes. By-and-by they had to perform before\nKing March, when they could elicit from their pipes no strain but\n'Horse's ears for March ab Meirchion' (klvstiav march i varch ab\nMeirchion). Hence arose the saying--'That is gone on horns and pipes'\n(vaeth hynny ar gyrn a ffibav), which was as much as to say that the\nsecret is become more than public [182].\n\nThe story, it is almost needless to say, can be traced also in Cornwall\nand in Brittany [183]; and not only among the Brythonic peoples of\nthose countries, but among the Goidels of Ireland likewise. The Irish\nstory runs thus [184]:--Once on a time there was a king over Ireland\nwhose name was Labraid Lorc, and this is the manner of man he was--he\nhad two horse's ears on him. And every one who shaved the king used\nto be slain forthwith. Now the time of shaving him drew nigh one\nday, when the son of a widow in the neighbourhood was enjoined to do\nit. The widow went and besought the king that her son should not be\nslain, and he promised her that he would be spared if he would only\nkeep his secret. So it came to pass; but the secret so disagreed with\nthe widow's son that he fell ill, and nobody could divine the cause\nuntil a druid came by. He at once discovered that the youth was ill\nof an uncommunicated secret, and ordered him to go to the meeting of\nfour roads. 'Let him,' said he, 'turn sunwise, and the first tree he\nmeets on the right side let him tell the secret to it, and he will\nbe well.' This you might think was quite safe, as it was a tree and\nnot his mother, his sister, or his sweetheart; but you would be quite\nmistaken in thinking so. The tree to which the secret was told was\na willow; and a famous Irish harper of that day, finding he wanted a\nnew harp, came and cut the makings of a harp from that very tree; but\nwhen the harp was got ready and the harper proceeded to play on it,\nnot a note could he elicit but 'Labraid Lorc has horse's ears!' As to\nthe barber's complaint, that was by no means unnatural: it has often\nbeen noticed how a secret disagrees with some natures, and how uneasy\nand restless it makes them until they can out with it. The same thing\nalso, in an aggravated form, occurs now and then to a public man who\nhas prepared a speech in the dark recesses of his heart, but has to\nleave the meeting where he intended to have it out, without finding\nhis opportunity. Our neighbours on the other side of the Channel have\na technical term for that sort of sufferer: they say of him that he is\nmalade d'un discours rentr\u00e9, or ill of a speech which has gone into\nthe patient's constitution, like the measles or the small-pox when\nit fails to come out. But to come back to the domain of folklore,\nI need only mention the love-lorn knights in Malory's Morte Darthur,\nwho details their griefs in doleful strains to solitary fountains in\nthe forests: it seems to have relieved them greatly, and it sometimes\nreached other ears than those of the wells. Now with regard to him\nof the equine ears, some one might thoughtlessly suggest, that, if it\never became a question of improving this kind of story, one should make\nthe ears into those of an ass. As a matter of fact there was a Greek\nstory of this kind, and in that story the man with the abnormal head\nwas called Midas, and his ears were said to be those of an ass. The\nreader will find him figuring in most collections of Greek stories;\nso I need not pursue the matter further, except to remark that the\nexact kind of brute ears was possibly a question which different\nnations decided differently. At any rate Stokes mentions a Serbian\nversion in which the ears were those of a goat.\n\nWhat will, however, occur to everybody to ask, is--What was the\norigin of such a story? what did it mean, if it had a meaning? Various\nattempts have been made to interpret this kind of story, but nobody,\nso far as I know, has found a sure key to its meaning. The best\nguess I can make has been suggested in a previous chapter, from\nwhich it will be seen that the horse fits the Welsh context, so to\nsay, best, the goat less well, and the ass probably least of all:\nsee pp. 433-9 above. Supposing, then, the interpretation of the\nstory established for certain, the question of its origin would\nstill remain. Did it originate among the Celts and the Greeks and\nother nations who relate it? or has it simply originated among one of\nthose peoples and spread itself to the others? or else have they all\ninherited it from a common source? If we take the supposition that\nit originated independently among a variety of people in the distant\npast, then comes an interesting question as to the conditions under\nwhich it arose, and the psychological state of the human race in the\ndistant past. On the other supposition one is forced to ask: Did the\nCelts get the story from the Greeks, or the Greeks from the Celts,\nor neither from either, but from a common source? Also when and how\ndid the variations arise? In any case, one cannot help seeing that\na story like the one I have instanced raises a variety of profoundly\ndifficult and interesting questions.\n\nHard as the folklorist may find it to extract tales and legends from\nthe people of Wales at the present day, there is one thing which he\nfinds far more irritating than the taciturnity of the peasant, and\nthat is the hopeless fashion in which some of those who have written\nabout Welsh folklore have deigned to record the stories which were\nknown to them. Take as an instance the following, which occurs in\nHowells' Cambrian Superstitions, pp. 103-4:--\n\n'In Cardiganshire there is a lake, beneath which it is reported that\na town lies buried; and in an arid summer, when the water is low,\na wall, on which people may walk, extending across the lake is seen,\nand supposed to appertain to the inundated city or town; on one side\nis a gigantic rock, which appears to have been split, as there is\na very extensive opening in it, which nearly divides it in twain,\nand which tradition relates was thus occasioned:--Once upon a time\nthere was a person of the name of Pannog, who had two oxen, so large\nthat their like was never known in any part of the world, and of whom\nit might be said,\n\n\n        They ne'er will look upon their like again.\n\n\nIt chanced one day that one of them (and it appears that they were\nnot endued with a quantum of sense proportionate to their bulk)\nwas grazing near a precipice opposite the rock, and whether it was\nhis desire to commit suicide, or to cool his body by laving in the\nlake below, one knows not, but certain it is that down he plunged,\nand was never seen more: his partner searching for him a short time\nafter, and not perceiving any signs of his approach, bellowed almost\nas loud as the Father of the Gods, who when he spake \"Earth to his\ncentre shook\"; however, the sound of his bleating [sic] split the\nopposite rock, which from the circumstance is called Uchain Pannog\n(Pannog's Oxen). These oxen were said to be two persons, called in\nWales, Nyniaf and Phebiaf, whom God turned into beasts for their sins.\n\nHere it is clear that Mr. Howells found a portion, if not the whole,\nof his story in Welsh, taken partly from the Kulhwch story, and\napparently in the old spelling; for his own acquaintance with the\nlanguage did not enable him to translate Nynnya6 a pheiba6 into\n'Nynio and Peibio.' The slenderness of his knowledge of Welsh is\notherwise proved throughout his book, especially by the way in which\nhe spells Welsh words: in fact one need not go beyond this very story\nwith its Uchain Pannog. But when he had ascertained that the lake was\nin Cardiganshire he might have gone a little further and have told\nhis readers which lake it was. It is not one of the lakes which I\nhappen to know in the north of the county--Llyn Llygad y Rheidol on\nPlinlimmon, or the lake on Moel y Llyn to the north of Cwm Ceulan,\nor either of the Iwan Lakes which drain into the Merin (or Meri),\na tributary of the Mynach, which flows under Pont ar Fynach, called\nin English the Devil's Bridge. From inquiry I cannot find either that\nit is any one of the pools in the east of the county, such as those of\nthe Teifi, or Llyn Ferwyn, not far from the gorge known as Cwm Berwyn,\nmentioned in Edward Richards' well known lines, p. 43:--\n\n\n        Mae'n bwrw' 'Nghwm Berwyn a'r cysgod yn estyn,\n        Gwna heno fy mwthyn yn derfyn dy daith.\n\n        It rains in Cwm Berwyn, the shadows are growing,\n        To-night make my cabin the end of thy journey.\n\n\nThere is, it is true, a pool at a place called Maes y Llyn in the\nneighbourhood of Tregaron, as to which there is a tradition that a\nvillage once occupied the place of its waters: otherwise it shows\nno similarity to the lake of Howells' story. Then there is a group\nof lakes in which the river Aeron takes its rise: they are called\nLlyn Eidwen, Llyn Fanod, and Llyn Farch. As to Llyn Eidwen, I had\nit years ago that at one time there was a story current concerning\n'wild cattle,' which used to come out of its waters and rush back into\nthem when disturbed. In the middle of this piece of water, which has\na rock on one side of it, is a small island with a modern building on\nit; and one would like to know whether it shows any traces of early\noccupation. Then as to Llyn Farch, there is a story going that there\ncame out of it once on a time a wonderful animal, which was shot by a\nneighbouring farmer. Lastly, at Llyn Fanod there are boundary walls\nwhich go right out into the lake; and my informant thinks the same\nis the case with Llyn Eidwen [185]. One of these walls is probably\nwhat in Howells' youthful hands developed itself into a causeway. The\nother part of his story, referring to the lowing of the Bannog Oxen,\ncomes from a well known doggerel which runs thus:--\n\n\n        Llan Dewi Frefi fraith [186],\n        Lle brefod yr ych naw gwaith,\n        Nes hollti craig y Foelallt.\n\n        Llandewi of Brefi the spotted,\n        Where bellowed the ox nine times,\n        Till the Foelallt rock split in two.\n\n\nBrefi is the name of the river from which this Llandewi takes its\ndistinctive name; and it is pronounced there much the same as brefu,\n'the act of lowing, bellowing, or bleating.' Now the Brefi runs down\nthrough the Foelallt Farm, which lies between two very big rocks\npopularly fancied to have been once united, and treated by Howells,\nsomewhat inconsistently, as the permanent forms taken by the two\noxen. The story which Howells seems to have jumbled up with that\nof one or more lake legends, is to be found given in Samuel Rush\nMeyrick's County of Cardigan: see pp. 265-6, where one reads of a\nwild tradition that when the church was building there were two oxen\nto draw the stone required; and one of the two died in the effort to\ndrag the load, while the other bellowed nine times and thereby split\nthe hill, which before presented itself as an obstacle. The single\nox was then able to bring the load unassisted to the site of the\nchurch. It is to this story that the doggerel already given refers;\nand, curiously enough, most of the district between Llandewi and\nYstrad Fflur, or Strata Florida, is more or less associated with the\nYchen Bannog. Thus a ridge running east and west at a distance of some\nthree miles from Tregaron, and separating Upper and Lower Caron from\none another, bears the name of Cwys yr Ychen Bannog, or the Furrow\nof the Ychen Bannog. It somewhat resembles in appearance an ancient\ndyke, but it is said to be nothing but 'a long bank of glacial till\n[187].' Moreover there used to be preserved within the church of\nLlandewi a remarkable fragment of a horn commonly called Madcorn\nyr Ych Bannog, 'the mabcorn or core of the Bannog Ox's Horn.' It is\nnow in the possession of Mr. Parry of Llidiardau, near Aberystwyth;\nand it has been pronounced by Prof. Boyd Dawkins to have belonged to\n'the great urus (Bos Primigenius), that Charlemagne hunted in the\nforests of Aachen, and the monks of St. Galle ate on their feast\ndays.' He adds that the condition of the horn proves it to have been\nderived from a peat bog or alluvium [188]. On the whole, it seems\nto me probable that the wild legends about the Ychen Bannog [189]\nin Cardiganshire have underlying them a substratum of tradition going\nback to a time when the urus was not as yet extinct in Wales. How far\nthe urus was once treated in this country as an emblem of divinity,\nit is impossible to say; but from ancient Gaul we have such a name\nas Urogeno-nertus [190], meaning a man of the strength of an Urogen,\nthat is, of the offspring of a urus; not to mention the Gaulish Tarvos\nTrigaranus, or the bull with three cranes on his back. With this\ndivine animal M. d'Arbois de Jubainville would identify the Donnos\nunderlying such Gallo-Roman names as Donnotaurus, and that of the\nwonderful bull called Donn in the principal epic story of Ireland\n[191], where we seem to trace the same element in the river-name\ngiven by Ptolemy as Mo-donnos, one of the streams of Wicklow, or\nelse the Slaney. This would be the earliest instance known of the\nprefixing of the pronoun mo, 'my,' in its reverential application,\nwhich was confined in later ages to the names of Goidelic saints.\n\nTo return, however, to the folklorist's difficulties, the first\nthing to be done is to get as ample a supply of folklore materials\nas possible; and here I come to a point at which some of the readers\nof these pages could probably help; for we want all our folklore\nand superstitions duly recorded and rescued from the yawning gulf of\noblivion, into which they are rapidly and irretrievably dropping year\nby year, as the oldest inhabitant passes away.\n\nSome years ago I attempted to collect the stories still remembered in\nWales about fairies and lake dwellers; and I seem to have thrown some\namount of enthusiasm into that pursuit. At any rate, one editor of a\nWelsh newspaper congratulated me on being a thorough believer in the\nfairies. Unfortunately, I was not nearly so successful in recommending\nmyself as a believer to the old people who could have related to me\nthe kind of stories I wanted. Nevertheless, the best plan I found was\nto begin by relating a story about the fairies myself: if that method\ndid not result in eliciting anything from the listener, then it was\ntime to move on to try the experiment on another subject. Among the\nthings which I then found was the fact, that most of the well known\nlakes and tarns of Wales were once believed to have had inhabitants\nof a fairy kind, who owned cattle that sometimes came ashore and\nmixed with the ordinary breeds, while an occasional lake lady became\nthe wife of a shepherd or farmer in the neighbourhood. There must,\nhowever, be many more of these legends lurking in out of the way\nparts of Wales in connexion with the more remote mountain tarns;\nand it would be well if they were collected systematically.\n\nOne of the most complete and best known of these lake stories is\nthat of Llyn y Fan Fach in the Beacons of Carmarthenshire, called in\nWelsh Bannau Sir Gaer. The story is so much more circumstantial than\nall the others, that it has been placed at the beginning of this\nvolume. Next to it may be ranked that of the Ystrad Dyfodwg pool,\nnow known as Llyn y Forwyn, the details of which have only recently\nbeen unearthed for me by a friend: see pp. 27-30 above. Well, in the\nFan Fach legend the lake lady marries a young farmer from Mydfai,\non the Carmarthenshire side of the range; and she is to remain his\nwife so long as he lives without striking her three times without\ncause. When that happens, she leaves him and calls away with her\nall her live stock, down to the little black calf in the process of\nbeing flayed; for he suddenly dons his hide and hurries away after\nthe rest of the stock into the lake. The three blows without cause\nseem to belong to a category of very ancient determinants which\nhave been recently discussed, with his usual acumen and command of\ninstances from other lands, by Mr. Hartland, in the chapters on the\nSwan Maidens in his Science of Fairy Tales. But our South Welsh story\nallows the three blows only a minimum of force; and in North Wales the\ndeterminant is of a different kind, though probably equally ancient:\nfor there the husband must not strike or touch the fairy wife with\nanything made of iron, a condition which probably points back to the\nStone Age. For arch\u00e6ologists are agreed, that before metal, whether\niron or bronze, was used in the manufacturing of tools, stone was the\nuniversal material for all cutting tools and weapons. But as savages\nare profoundly conservative in their habits, it is argued that on\nceremonial and religious occasions knives of stone continued to be the\nonly ones admissible long after bronze ones had been in common use\nfor ordinary purposes. Take for example the text of Exodus iv. 25,\nwhere Zipporah is mentioned circumcising her son with a flint. From\ninstances of the kind one may comprehend the sort of way in which iron\ncame to be regarded as an abomination and a horror to the fairies. The\nquestion will be found discussed by Mr. Hartland at length in his\nbook mentioned above: see more especially pp. 305-9.\n\nSuch, to my mind, are some of the questions to which the fairies\ngive rise: I now wish to add another turning on the reluctance of\nthe fairies to disclose their names. There is one story in particular\nwhich would serve to illustrate this admirably; but it is one which,\nI am sorry to say, I have never been able to discover complete or\ncoherent in Wales. The substance of it should be, roughly speaking,\nas follows:--A woman finds herself in great distress and is delivered\nout of it by a fairy, who claims as reward the woman's baby. On a\ncertain day the baby will inevitably be taken by the fairy unless the\nfairy's true name is discovered by the mother. The fairy is foiled by\nbeing in the meantime accidentally overheard exulting, that the mother\ndoes not know that his or her name is Rumpelstiltzchen, or whatever it\nmay be in the version which happens to be in question. The best known\nversion is the German one, where the fairy is called Rumpelstiltzchen;\nand it will be found in the ordinary editions of Grimm's M\u00e4rchen. The\nmost complete English version is the East Anglian one published by\nMr. Edward Clodd, in his recent volume entitled Tom Tit Tot, pp. 8-16;\nand previously in an article full of research headed 'The Philosophy\nof Rumpelstiltskin,' in Folk-Lore for 1889, pp. 138-43. It is first\nto be noted that in this version the fairy's name is Tom Tit Tot, and\nthat the German and the East Anglian stories run parallel. They agree\nin making the fairy a male, in which they differ from our Welsh Silly\nFrit and Silly go Dwt: in what other respect the story of our Silly\ndiffered from that of Rumpelstiltzchen and Tom Tit Tot it is, in the\npresent incomplete state of the Welsh one, impossible to say. Here\nit may be found useful to recall the fragments of the Welsh story:\n(1) A fairy woman used to come out of Corwrion Pool to spin on fine\nsummer days, and whilst spinning she sang or hummed to herself s\u00ecli\nffrit, s\u00ecli ffrit--it does not rise even to a doggerel couplet: see\np. 64 above. (2) A farmer's wife in Lleyn used to have visits from\na fairy woman who came to borrow things from her; and one day when\nthe goodwife had lent her a troell bach, or wheel for spinning flax,\nshe asked the fairy to give her name, which she declined to do. She\nwas, however, overheard to sing to the whir of the wheel as follows\n(p. 229):--\n\n\n        Bychan a wyda' hi           Little did she know\n        Mai S\u00ecli go Dwt             That Silly go Dwt\n        Yw f'enw i.                 Is my name.\n\n\nThis throws some light on Silly Frit, and we know where we are; but\nthe story is inconsequent, and far from representing the original. We\ncannot, however, reconstruct it quite on the lines of Grimm's or\nClodd's version. But I happened to mention my difficulty one day\nto Dr. J. A. H. Murray, when he assured me of the existence of a\nScottish version in which the fairy is a female. He learnt it when\nhe was a child, he said, at Denholm, in Roxburghshire; and he was\nafterwards charmed to read it in Robert Chambers' Popular Rhymes of\nScotland (Edinburgh, 1858), pp. 221-5, whence Mr. Clodd has given an\nabstract of it in his 'Philosophy of Rumpelstiltskin.' Among those\npopular rhymes the reader will find it as related at length by Nurse\nJenny in her inimitable fashion; but the Scotch is so broad, that I\nthink it advisable, at the risk of some havoc to the local colouring,\nto southronize it somewhat as follows:--\n\n'I see that you are fond of talks about fairies, children; and a story\nabout a fairy and the goodwife of Kittlerumpit has just come into\nmy mind; but I can't very well tell you now whereabouts Kittlerumpit\nlies. I think it is somewhere in the Debatable Ground; anyway I shall\nnot pretend to know more than I do, like everybody nowadays. I wish\nthey would remember the ballad we used to sing long ago:--\n\n\n        Mony ane sings the gerss, the gerss,\n        And mony ane sings the corn;\n        And mony ane clatters o' bold Robin Hood,\n        Ne'er kent where he was born.\n\n\nBut howsoever about Kittlerumpit: the goodman was a rambling sort\nof body; and he went to a fair one day, and not only never came home\nagain, but nevermore was heard of. Some said he 'listed, and others\nthat the tiresome pressgang snatched him up, though he was furnished\nwith a wife and a child to boot. Alas! that wretched pressgang! They\nwent about the country like roaring lions, seeking whom they might\ndevour. Well do I remember how my eldest brother Sandy was all but\nsmothered in the meal-chest, hiding from those rascals. After they\nwere gone, we pulled him out from among the meal, puffing and crying,\nand as white as any corpse. My mother had to pick the meal out of\nhis mouth with the shank of a horn spoon.\n\n'Ah well, when the goodman of Kittlerumpit was gone, the goodwife\nwas left with small means. Little resources had she, and a baby boy\nat her breast. All said they were sorry for her; but nobody helped\nher--which is a common case, sirs. Howsoever the goodwife had a sow,\nand that was her only consolation; for the sow was soon to farrow,\nand she hoped for a good litter.\n\n'But we all know hope is fallacious. One day the woman goes to the\nsty to fill the sow's trough; and what does she find but the sow lying\non her back, grunting and groaning, and ready to give up the ghost.\n\n'I trow this was a new pang to the goodwife's heart; so she sat down\non the knocking-stone [192], with her bairn on her knee, and cried\nsorer than ever she did for the loss of her own goodman.\n\n'Now I premise that the cottage of Kittlerumpit was built on a brae,\nwith a large fir-wood behind it, of which you may hear more ere we go\nfar on. So the goodwife, when she was wiping her eyes, chances to look\ndown the brae; and what does she see but an old woman, almost like a\nlady, coming slowly up the road. She was dressed in green, all but\na short white apron and a black velvet hood, and a steeple-crowned\nbeaver hat on her head. She had a long walking-staff, as long as\nherself, in her hand--the sort of staff that old men and old women\nhelped themselves with long ago; I see no such staffs now, sirs.\n\n'Ah well, when the goodwife saw the green gentlewoman near her, she\nrose and made a curtsy; and \"Madam,\" quoth she, weeping, \"I am one\nof the most misfortunate women alive.\"\n\n'\"I don't wish to hear pipers' news and fiddlers' tales, goodwife,\"\nquoth the green woman. \"I know you have lost your goodman--we had\nworse losses at the Sheriff Muir [193]; and I know that your sow is\nunco sick. Now what will you give me if I cure her?\"\n\n'\"Anything your ladyship's madam likes,\" quoth the witless goodwife,\nnever guessing whom she had to deal with.\n\n'\"Let us wet thumbs on that bargain,\" quoth the green woman; so thumbs\nwere wetted, I warrant you; and into the sty madam marches.\n\n'She looks at the sow with a long stare, and then began to mutter to\nherself what the goodwife couldn't well understand; but she said it\nsounded like--\n\n\n        Pitter patter,\n        Holy Water.\n\n\n'Then she took out of her pocket a wee bottle, with something like\noil in it; and she rubs the sow with it above the snout, behind the\nears, and on the tip of the tail. \"Get up, beast,\" quoth the green\nwoman. No sooner said than done--up jumps the sow with a grunt,\nand away to her trough for her breakfast.\n\n'The goodwife of Kittlerumpit was a joyful goodwife now, and would\nhave kissed the very hem of the green woman's gowntail; but she\nwouldn't let her. \"I am not so fond of ceremonies,\" quoth she;\n\"but now that I have righted your sick beast, let us end our settled\nbargain. You will not find me an unreasonable, greedy body--I like\never to do a good turn for a small reward: all I ask, and will have,\nis that baby boy in your bosom.\"\n\n'The goodwife of Kittlerumpit, who now knew her customer, gave a shrill\ncry like a stuck swine. The green woman was a fairy, no doubt; so\nshe prays, and cries, and begs, and scolds; but all wouldn't do. \"You\nmay spare your din,\" quoth the fairy, \"screaming as if I was as deaf\nas a door-nail; but this I'll let you know--I cannot, by the law we\nlive under, take your bairn till the third day; and not then, if you\ncan tell me my right name.\" So madam goes away round the pig-sty end;\nand the goodwife falls down in a swoon behind the knocking-stone.\n\n'Ah well, the goodwife of Kittlerumpit could not sleep any that night\nfor crying, and all the next day the same, cuddling her bairn till\nshe nearly squeezed its breath out; but the second day she thinks of\ntaking a walk in the wood I told you of; and so with the bairn in her\narms, she sets out, and goes far in among the trees, where was an\nold quarry-hole, grown over with grass, and a bonny spring well in\nthe middle of it. Before she came very near, she hears the whirring\nof a flax wheel, and a voice singing a song; so the woman creeps\nquietly among the bushes, and peeps over the brow of the quarry;\nand what does she see but the green fairy tearing away at her wheel,\nand singing like any precentor:--\n\n\n        Little kens our guid dame at hame,\n        That Whuppity Stoorie is my name.\n\n\n'\"Ha, ha!\" thinks the woman, \"I've got the mason's word at last; the\ndevil give them joy that told it!\" So she went home far lighter than\nshe came out, as you may well guess--laughing like a madcap with the\nthought of cheating the old green fairy.\n\n'Ah well, you must know that this goodwife was a jocose woman,\nand ever merry when her heart was not very sorely overladen. So she\nthinks to have some sport with the fairy; and at the appointed time\nshe puts the bairn behind the knocking-stone, and sits on the stone\nherself. Then she pulls her cap over her left ear and twists her\nmouth on the other side, as if she were weeping; and an ugly face\nshe made, you may be sure. She hadn't long to wait, for up the brae\nclimbs the green fairy, neither lame nor lazy; and long ere she got\nnear the knocking-stone she screams out--\"Goodwife of Kittlerumpit,\nyou know well what I come for--stand and deliver!\"\n\n'The woman pretends to cry harder than before, and wrings her hands,\nand falls on her knees, with \"Och, sweet madam mistress, spare my\nonly bairn, and take the wretched sow!\"\n\n'\"The devil take the sow, for my part,\" quoth the fairy; \"I come not\nhere for swine's flesh. Don't be contramawcious, huzzy, but give me\nthe child instantly!\"\n\n'\"Ochone, dear lady mine,\" quoth the crying goodwife; \"forgo my poor\nbairn, and take me myself!\"\n\n'\"The devil is in the daft jade,\" quoth the fairy, looking like the\nfar end of a fiddle; \"I'll bet she is clean demented. Who in all the\nearthly world, with half an eye in his head, would ever meddle with\nthe likes of thee?\"\n\n'I trow this set up the woman of Kittlerumpit's bristle: for though she\nhad two blear eyes and a long red nose besides, she thought herself\nas bonny as the best of them. So she springs off her knees, sets the\ntop of her cap straight, and with her two hands folded before her,\nshe makes a curtsy down to the ground, and, \"In troth, fair madam,\"\nquoth she, \"I might have had the wit to know that the likes of me is\nnot fit to tie the worst shoe-strings of the high and mighty princess,\nWhuppity Stoorie.\"\n\n'If a flash of gunpowder had come out of the ground it couldn't have\nmade the fairy leap higher than she did; then down she came again\nplump on her shoe-heels; and whirling round, she ran down the brae,\nscreeching for rage, like an owl chased by the witches.\n\n'The goodwife of Kittlerumpit laughed till she was like to split;\nthen she takes up her bairn, and goes into her house, singing to it\nall the way:--\n\n\n        A goo and a gitty, my bonny wee tyke,\n        Ye'se noo ha'e your four-oories;\n        Sin' we've gien Nick a bane to pyke,\n        Wi' his wheels and his Whuppity Stoories.'\n\n\nThat is practically Chambers' version of this Scottish story; and as\nto the name of the fairy Whuppity Stoorie, the first syllable should\nbe the equivalent of English whip, while stoor is a Scotch word for\ndust in motion: so the editor asks in a note whether the name may\nnot have originated in the notion 'that fairies were always present\nin the whirls of dust occasioned by the wind on roads and in streets\n[194].' But he adds that another version of the story calls the green\nwoman Fittletetot, which ends with the same element as the name Tom\nTit Tot and Silly go Dwt. Perhaps, however, the Welsh versions of\nthe story approached nearest to one from Mochdrum in Wigtownshire,\npublished in the British Association's Papers of the Liverpool Meeting,\n1896, p. 613. This story was contributed by the Rev. Walter Gregor,\nand the name of the fairy in it is Marget Totts: in this we have a\nwife, who is in great distress, because her husband used to give her\nso much flax to spin by such and such a day, that the work was beyond\nhuman power. A fairy comes to the rescue and takes the flax away,\npromising to bring it back spun by the day fixed, provided the woman\ncan tell the fairy's name. The woman's distress thereupon becomes\nas great as before, but the fairy was overheard saying as she span,\n'Little does the guidwife ken it, my name is Marget Totts.' So the\nwoman got her flax returned spun by the day; and the fairy, Marget\nTotts, went up the chimney in a blaze of fire as the result of rage\nand disappointment. Here one cannot help seeing that the original,\nof which this is a clumsy version, must have been somewhat as follows\n\n\n        Little does the guidwife wot\n        That my name is Marget Tot.\n\n\nTo come back to Wales, we have there the names Silly Frit and\nSilly go Dwt, which are those of females. The former name is purely\nEnglish--Silly Frit, which has been already guessed (p. 66) to mean\na silly sprite, or silly apparition, with the idea of its being a\nfright of a creature to behold: compare the application elsewhere to\na fairy changeling of the terms crimbil (p. 263) and cyrfaglach or\ncryfaglach (p. 450), which is explained as implying a haggard urchin\nthat has been half starved and stunted in its growth. Leaving out\nof the reckoning this connotation, one might compare the term with\nthe Scottish habit of calling the fairies silly wights, 'the Happy\nWights.' See J. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, where s. v. seily,\nseely, 'happy,' he purports to quote the following lines from 'the\nLegend of the Bishop of St. Androis' in a collection of Scottish\nPoems of the Sixteenth Century (Edinburgh, 1801), pp. 320-1:--\n\n\n        For oght the kirk culd him forbid,\n        He sped him sone, and gat the thrid;\n        Ane Carling of the Quene of Phareis,\n        That ewill win gair to elphyne careis,\n\n        Through all Braid Albane scho hes bene,\n        On horsbak on Hallow ewin;\n        And ay in seiking certayne nyghtis,\n        As scho sayis, with sur [read our] sillie wychtis.\n\n\nSimilarly, he gives the fairies the name of Seely Court, and cites as\nillustrating it the following lines from R. Jamieson's Popular Ballads,\n(i. 236, and) ii. 189:--\n\n\n        But as it fell out on last Hallowe'en,\n        When the Seely Court was ridin' by,\n        The queen lighted down on a gowan bank,\n        Nae far frae the tree where I wont to lye.\n\n\nInto Welsh, however, the designation Silly Frit must have come,\nnot from Scotland, but from the Marches; and the history of S\u00ecli go\nDwt must be much the same. For, though construed as Welsh, the name\nwould mean the Silly who is go Dwt [195], 'somewhat tidy or natty';\nbut the dwt (mutated from twt) was suggested doubtless by the tot of\nsuch fairy names as Tom Tit Tot. That brings me to another group,\nwhere the syllable is trot or trut, and this we have in the Welsh\ndoggerel, mentioned at p. 229, as follows:--\n\n\n        Bychan a wyda' hi       Little did she know\n        Mai Trwtyn-Tratyn       That Trwtyn Tratyn\n        Yw f'enw i.             Is my name.\n\n\nBut this name Trwtyn-Tratyn sounds masculine, and not that of\na she-fairy such as Silly Frit. The feminine would have been\nTrwtan-Tratan in the Carnarvonshire pronunciation, and in fact\ntrwtan is to be heard there; but more frequently a kind of derivative\ntrwdlan, meaning an ungainly sort of woman, a drudge, a short-legged\nor deformed maid of all work. Some Teutonic varieties of this group\nof stories will be found mentioned briefly in Mr. Clodd's article on\nthe 'Philosophy of Rumpelstiltskin [196].' Thus from the Debatable\nGround on the borders of England and Scotland there comes a story\nin which the fairy woman's name was Habetrot; and he alludes to an\nIcelandic version in which the name is Gillitrut; but for us still\nmore interest attaches to the name in the following rhyme [197]:--\n\n\n        Little does my lady wot\n        That my name is Trit-a-Trot.\n\n\nThis has been supposed to belong to a story coming from Ireland; but\nwhether that may prove true or not, it is hardly to be doubted that\nour Trwtyn Tratyn is practically to be identified with Trit-a-Trot,\nwho is also a he-fairy.\n\nThat is not all; for since the foregoing notes were penned, a tale\nhas reached me from Mr. Craigfryn Hughes about a fairy who began\nby conducting himself like the brownies mentioned at pp. 287, 324-5\nabove. The passages here in point come from the story of which a part\nwas given at pp. 462-4; and they are to the following effect:--Long\nago there was in service at a Monmouthshire farm a young woman who was\nmerry and strong. Who she was or whence she came nobody knew; but many\nbelieved that she belonged to the old breed of Bendith y Mamau. Some\ntime after she had come to the farm, the rumour spread that the house\nwas sorely troubled by a spirit. But the girl and the elf understood\none another well, and they became the best of friends. So the elf\nproved very useful to the maid, for he did everything for her--washing,\nironing, spinning and twisting wool; in fact they say that he was\nremarkably handy at the spinning-wheel. Moreover, he expected only\na bowlful of sweet milk and wheat bread, or some flummery, for his\nwork. So she took care to place the bowl with his food at the bottom\nof the stairs every night as she went to bed. It ought to have been\nmentioned that she was never allowed to catch a sight of him; for he\nalways did his work in the dark. Nor did anybody know when he ate his\nfood: she used to leave the bowl there at night, and it would be empty\nby the time when she got up in the morning, the bwca having cleared\nit. But one night, by way of cursedness, what did she do but fill the\nbowl with some of the stale urine which they used in dyeing wool and\nother things about the house. But heavens! it would have been better\nfor her not to have done it; for when she got up next morning what\nshould he do but suddenly spring from some corner and seize her by\nthe neck! He began to beat her and kick her from one end of the house\nto the other, while he shouted at the top of his voice at every kick:--\n\n\n        Y faidan din dwmp--\n        Yn rhoi bara haid a thrwnc\n                  I'r bwca!\n\n        The idea that the thick-buttocked lass\n        Should give barley bread and p--\n                  To the bogie!\n\n\nMeanwhile she screamed for help, but none came for some time; when,\nhowever, he heard the servant men getting up, he took to his heels\nas hard as he could; and nothing was heard of him for some time. But\nat the end of two years he was found to be at another farm in the\nneighbourhood, called Hafod yr Ynys, where he at once became great\nfriends with the servant girl: for she fed him like a young chicken,\nby giving him a little bread and milk all the time. So he worked\nwillingly and well for her in return for his favourite food. More\nespecially, he used to spin and wind the yarn for her; but she wished\nhim in time to show his face, or to tell her his name: he would by no\nmeans do either. One evening, however, when all the men were out, and\nwhen he was spinning hard at the wheel, she deceived him by telling\nhim that she was also going out. He believed her; and when he heard\nthe door shutting, he began to sing as he plied the wheel:--\n\n\n        Hi warda'n iawn pe gwypa hi,\n        Taw Gwarwyn-a-throt yw'm enw i.\n\n        How she would laugh, did she know\n        That Gwarwyn-a-throt is my name!\n\n\n'Ha! ha!' said the maid at the bottom of the stairs; 'I know thy name\nnow.' 'What is it, then?' he asked. She replied, 'Gwarwyn-a-throt';\nand as soon as she uttered the words he left the wheel where it was,\nand off he went. He was next heard of at a farmhouse not far off,\nwhere there happened to be a servant man named Moses, with whom he\nbecame great friends at once. He did all his work for Moses with\ngreat ease. He once, however, gave him a good beating for doubting\nhis word; but the two remained together afterwards for some years\non the best possible terms: the end of it was that Moses became\na soldier. He went away to fight against Richard Crookback, and\nfell on the field of Bosworth. The bogie, after losing his friend,\nbegan to be troublesome and difficult to live with. He would harass\nthe oxen when they ploughed, and draw them after him everywhere,\nplough and all; nor could any one prevent them. Then, when the sun\nset in the evening he would play his pranks again, and do all sorts\nof mischief about the house, upstairs, and in the cowhouses. So the\nfarmer was advised to visit a wise man (dyn cynnil), and to see if\nhe could devise some means of getting rid of the bogie. He called\non the wise man, who happened to be living near Caerleon on the\nUsk; and the wise man, having waited till the moon should be full,\ncame to the farmer's house. In due time the wise man, by force of\nmanoeuvring, secured the bogie by the very long nose which formed\nthe principal ornament of his face, and earned for him the name of\nBwca'r Trwyn, 'the Bogie of the Nose.' Whilst secured by the nose,\nthe bogie had something read to him out of the wise man's big book;\nand he was condemned by the wise man to be transported to the banks of\nthe Red Sea for fourteen generations, and to be conveyed thither by\n'the upper wind' (yr uwchwynt). No sooner had this been pronounced\nby the cunning man than there came a whirlwind which made the whole\nhouse shake. Then came a still mightier wind, and as it began to\nblow the owner of the big book drew the awl out of the bogie's nose;\nand it is supposed that the bogie was carried away by that wind,\nfor he never troubled the place any more.\n\nAnother version of the story seems to have been current, which\nrepresented the bogie as in no wise to blame [198]: but I attach\nsome importance to the foregoing tale as forming a link of connexion\nbetween the Rumpelstiltzchen group of fairies, always trying to get\nhold of children; the brownie kind, ever willing to serve in return\nfor their simple keep; and the troublesome bogie, that used to haunt\nWelsh farm houses and delight in breaking crockery and frightening\nthe inmates out of their wits. In fact, the brownie and the bogie\nreduce themselves here into different humours of the same uncanny\nbeing. Their appearance may be said to have differed also: the bogie\nhad a very long nose, while the brownie of Blednoch had only 'a hole\nwhere a nose should have been.' But one of the most remarkable points\nabout the brownie species is that the Lincolnshire specimen was a\nsmall creature, 'a weeny bit of a fellow'--which suggests a possible\ncommunity of origin with the banshee of the Irish, and also of the\nWelsh: witness the wee little woman in the story of the Curse of\nPantannas (pp. 188-9), who seems to come up out of the river. All\nalike may perhaps be said to suggest various aspects of the dead\nancestor or ancestress; but Bwca'r Trwyn is not to be severed from\nthe fairy woman in the Pennant Valley, who undertakes some of the\nduties, not of a dairymaid, as in other cases mentioned, but those\nof a nurse. Her conduct on being offered a gown is exactly that of\nthe brownie similarly placed: see p. 109 above. But she and Bwca'r\nTrwyn are unmistakably fairies who take to domestic service, and\nwork for a time willingly and well in return for their food, which,\nas in the case of other fairies, appears to have been mostly milk.\n\nAfter this digression I wish only to point out that the Welsh bogie's\nname, Gwarwyn-a-throt, treated as Welsh, could only mean white-necked\nand (or with) a trot; for a throt could only mean 'and (or with) a\ntrot.' So it is clear that a throt is simply the equivalent of a-Trot,\nborrowed from such an English combination as Trit-a-Trot, and that\nit is idle to translate Gwarwyn-a-throt. Now trot and twt are not\nnative Welsh words; and the same remark applies to Trwtyn Tratyn, and\nof course to S\u00ecli ffrit and S\u00ecli go Dwt. Hence it is natural to infer\nthat either these names have in the Welsh stories merely superseded\nolder ones of Welsh origin, or else that there was no question of name\nin the Welsh stories till they had come under English influence. The\nformer conjecture seems the more probable of the two, unless one should\nrather suppose the whole story borrowed from English sources. But\nit is of no consequence here as regards the reluctance of fairies to\ndisclose their names; for we have other instances to which the reader\nmay turn, on pp. 45, 87-8, 97 above. One of them, in particular,\nis in point here: see pp. 54, 61. It attaches itself to the Pool of\nCorwrion in the neighbourhood of Bangor; and it relates how a man\nmarried a fairy on the express condition that he was neither to know\nher name nor to touch her with iron, on pain of her instantly leaving\nhim. Of course in the lapse of years the conditions are accidentally\nviolated by the luckless husband, and the wife flies instantly away\ninto the waters of the pool: her name turned out to be Belene.\n\nThus far of the unwillingness of the fairies to tell their names: I\nmust now come to the question, why that was so. Here the anthropologist\nor the student of comparative folklore comes to our aid; for it is\nan important part of his business to compare the superstitions of\none people with those of another; and in the case of superstitions\nwhich have lost their meaning among us, for instance, he searches\nfor a parallel among other nations, where that parallel forms part\nof living institutions. In this way he hopes to discover the key to\nhis difficulties. In the present case he finds savages who habitually\nlook at the name as part and parcel of the person [199]. These savages\nfurther believe that any part of the person, such as a hair off one's\nhead or the parings of one's nails, if they chanced to be found by an\nenemy, would give that enemy magical power over their lives, and enable\nhim to injure them. Hence the savage tendency to conceal one's name. I\nhave here, as the reader will perceive, crowded together several\nimportant steps in the savage logic; so I must try to illustrate them,\nsomewhat more in detail, by reference to some of the survivals of them\nafter the savage has long been civilized. To return to Wales, and to\nillustrate the belief that possession of a part of one's person, or\nof anything closely identified with one's person, gives the possessor\nof it power over that person, I need only recall the Welsh notion,\nthat if one wished to sell one's self to the devil one had merely\nto give him a hair of one's head or the tiniest drop of one's blood,\nthen one would be for ever his for a temporary consideration. Again,\nif you only had your hair cut, it must be carefully gathered and hidden\naway: by no means must it be burnt, as that might prove prejudicial\nto your health. Similarly, you should never throw feathers into the\nfire; for that was once held, as I infer, to bring about death among\none's poultry: and an old relative of mine, Modryb Mari, 'Aunt Mary,'\nset her face against my taste for toasted cheese. She used to tell\nme that if I toasted my cheese, my sheep would waste away and die:\nstrictly speaking, I fancy this originally meant only the sheep\nfrom whose milk the cheese had been made. But I was not well versed\nenough in the doctrines of sympathetic magic to reply, that it did\nnot apply to our cheese, which was not made from sheep's milk. So\nher warning used to frighten me and check my fondness for toasted\ncheese, a fondness which I had doubtless quite innocently inherited,\nas anybody will see who will glance at one of the Hundred Mery Talys,\nprinted by John Rastell in the sixteenth century, as follows:--'I\nfynde wrytten amonge olde gestes, howe God mayde Saynt Peter porter of\nheuen, and that God of hys goodnes, sone after his passyon, suffered\nmany men to come to the kyngdome of Heuen with small deseruynge; at\nwhyche tyme there was in heuen a great companye of Welchemen, whyche\nwith their crakynge and babelynge troubled all the other. Wherfore\nGod sayde to Saynte Peter that he was wery of them, and that he wolde\nfayne haue them out of heuen. To whome Saynte Peter sayd: Good Lorde,\nI warrente you, that shall be done. Wherfore Saynt Peter wente out of\nheuen gates and cryed wyth a loud voyce Cause bobe [200], that is as\nmoche to saye as rosted chese, whiche thynge the Welchemen herynge,\nranne out of Heuen a great pace. And when Saynt Peter sawe them all\nout, he sodenly wente into Heuen, and locked the dore, and so sparred\nall the Welchemen out. By this ye may se, that it is no wysdome for a\nman to loue or to set his mynde to moche upon any delycate or worldely\npleasure, wherby he shall lose the celestyall and eternall ioye.'\n\nTo leave the Mery Talys and come back to the instances mentioned,\nall of them may be said to illustrate the way in which a part, or\nan adjunct, answered for the whole of a person or thing. In fact,\nhaving due regard to magic as an exact science, an exceedingly exact\nscience, one may say that according to the wisdom of our ancestors\nthe leading axiom of that science practically amounted to this: the\npart is quite equal to the whole. Now the name, as a part of the man,\nwas once probably identified with the breath of life or with the soul,\nas we shall see later; and the latter must have been regarded as a\nkind of matter; for I well remember that when a person was dying in\na house, it was the custom about Ponterwyd, in North Cardiganshire,\nto open the windows. And a farmer near Ystrad Meurig, more towards\nthe south of the county, told me some years ago that he remembered\nhis mother dying when he was a boy: a neighbour's wife who had been\nacting as nurse tried to open the window of the room, and as it would\nnot open she deliberately smashed a pane of it. This was doubtless\noriginally meant to facilitate the escape of the soul; and the same\nidea has been attested for Gloucestershire, Devon, and other parts\nof the country [201]. This way of looking at the soul reminds one of\nProfessor Tylor's words when he wrote in his work on Primitive Culture,\ni. 440: 'and he who says that his spirit goes forth to meet a friend,\ncan still realize in the phrase a meaning deeper than metaphor.'\n\nThen if the soul was material, you may ask what its shape was; and\neven this I have a story which will answer: it comes from the same\nModryb Mari who set her face against caws pobi, and cherished a good\nmany superstitions. Therein she differed greatly from her sister,\nmy mother, who had a far more logical mind and a clearer conception\nof things. Well, my aunt's story was to the following effect:--A\nparty of reapers on a farm not far from Ponterwyd--I have forgotten\nthe name--sat down in the field to their midday meal. Afterwards\nthey rested awhile, when one of their number fell fast asleep. The\nothers got up and began reaping again, glancing every now and then\nat the sleeping man, who had his mouth wide open and breathed very\nloudly. Presently they saw a little black man, or something like a\nmonkey, coming out of his mouth and starting on a walk round the\nfield: they watched this little fellow walking on and on till he\ncame to a spot near a stream. There he stopped and turned back:\nthen he disappeared into the open mouth of the sleeper, who at once\nwoke up. He told his comrades that he had just been dreaming of his\nwalking round the field as far as the very spot where they had seen\nthe little black fellow stop. I am sorry to say that Modryb Mari\nhad wholly forgotten this story when, years afterwards, I asked her\nto repeat it to me; but the other day I found a Welshman who still\nremembers it. I happened to complain, at a meeting of kindred spirits,\nhow I had neglected making careful notes of bits of folklore which I\nhad heard years ago from informants whom I had since been unable to\ncross-examine: I instanced the story of the sleeping reaper, when my\nfriend Professor Sayce at once said that he had heard it. He spent part\nof his childhood near Llanover in Monmouthshire; and in those days he\nspoke Welsh, which he learned from his nurse. He added that he well\nremembered the late Lady Llanover rebuking his father for having his\nchild, a Welsh boy, dressed like a little Highlander; and he remembered\nalso hearing the story here in question told him by his nurse. So far\nas he could recall it, the version was the same as my aunt's, except\nthat he does not recollect hearing anything about the stream of water.\n\nSeveral points in the story call for notice: among others, one\nnaturally asks at the outset why the other reapers did not wake the\nsleeping man. The answer is that the Welsh seem to have agreed with\nother peoples, such as the Irish [202], in thinking it dangerous to\nwake a man when dreaming, that is, when his soul might be wandering\noutside his body; for it might result in the soul failing to\nfind the way back into the body which it had temporarily left. To\nillustrate this from Wales I produce the following story, which has\nbeen written out for me by Mr. J. G. Evans. The scene of it was a\nfield on the farm of Cadabowen, near Llan y Bydair, in the Vale of\nthe Teifi:--'The chief point of the madfall incident, which happened\nin the early sixties, was this. During one mid-morning hoe hogi,\nthat is to say, the usual rest for sharpening the reaping-hooks,\nI was playing among the thirty or forty reapers sitting together:\nmy movements were probably a disturbing element to the reapers, as\nwell as a source of danger to my own limbs. In order, therefore, to\nquiet me, as seems probable, one of the men directed my attention to\nour old farm labourer, who was asleep on his back close to the uncut\ncorn, a little apart from the others. I was told that his soul (ened)\nhad gone out of his mouth in the form of a black lizard (madfall\ndu), and was at that moment wandering among the standing corn. If I\nwoke the sleeper, the soul would be unable to return; and old Thomas\nwould die, or go crazy; or something serious would happen. I will not\ntrust my memory to fill in details, especially as this incident once\nformed the basis of what proved an exciting story told to my children\nin their childhood. A generation hence they may be able to give an\nastonishing instance of \"genuine\" Welsh folklore. In the meanwhile,\nI can bear testimony to that \"black lizard\" being about the most\nliving impression in my \"memory.\" I see it, even now, wriggling at\nthe edge of the uncut corn. But as to its return, and the waking of\nthe sleeper, my memory is a blank. Such are the tricks of \"memory\";\nand we should be charitable when, with bated breath, the educated no\nless than the uneducated tell us about the uncanny things they have\n\"seen with their own eyes.\" They believe what they say, because they\ntrust their memory: I do not. I feel practically certain I never saw\na lizard in my life, in that particular field in which the reapers\nwere.' Mr. Evans' story differs, as it has been seen, from my aunt's\nversion in giving the soul the shape of a lizard; but the little black\nfellow in the one and the black lizard in the other agree not only\nin representing the soul as material, but also as forming a complete\norganism within a larger one. In a word, both pictures must be regarded\nas the outcome of attempts to depict the sleeper's inner man.\n\nIf names and souls could be regarded as material substances, so could\ndiseases; and I wish to say a word or two now on that subject, which a\nshort story of my wife's will serve to introduce. She is a native of\nthe Llanberis side of Snowdon; and she remembers going one morning,\nwhen a small child, across to the neighbourhood of Rhyd-du with a\nservant girl called Cadi, whose parents lived there. Now Cadi was a\nvery good servant, but she had little regard for the more civilized\nmanners of the Llanberis folk; and when she returned with the child in\nthe evening from her mother's cottage, she admitted that the little\ngirl was amazed at the language of Cadi's brothers and sisters;\nfor she confessed that, as she said, they swore like colliers,\nwhereas the little girl had never before heard any swearing worth\nspeaking of. Well, among other things which the little girl saw\nthere was one of Cadi's sisters having a bad leg dressed: when the\nrag which had been on the wound was removed, the mother made one of\nher other children take it out and fix it on the thorn growing near\nthe door. The little girl being inquisitive asked why that was done,\nand she was told that it was in order that the wound might heal all the\nfaster. She was not very satisfied with the answer, but she afterwards\nnoticed the same sort of thing done in her own neighbourhood. Now the\noriginal idea was doubtless that the disease, or at any rate a part\nof it--and in such matters it will be remembered that a part is quite\nequal to the whole--was attached to the rag; so that putting the rag\nout, with a part of the disease attached to it, to rot on the bush,\nwould bring with it the disappearance of the whole disease.\n\nAnother and a wider aspect of this practice was the subject of\nnotice in the chapter on the Folklore of the Wells, pp. 359-60,\nwhere Mr. Hartland's hypothesis was mentioned. This was to the effect\nthat if any clothing, or anything else which had been identified\nwith your person, were to be placed in contact with a sacred tree,\nsacred well, or sacred edifice, it would be involved in the effluence\nof the divinity that imparts its sacred character to the tree, well,\nor temple; and that your person, identified with the clothing or other\narticle, would also be involved or soaked in the same divine effluence,\nand made to benefit thereby. We have since had this kind of reasoning\nillustrated, pp. 405-7 above, by the modern legend of Crymlyn, and\nthe old one of Llyn Lliwan; but the difficulty which it involves is\na very considerable one: it is the difficulty of taking seriously the\ninfantile order of reasoning which underlies so much of the philosophy\nof folklore. I cannot readily forget one of the first occasions of\nmy coming, so to say, into living contact with it. It was at Tuam in\nConnaught, whither I had gone to learn modern Irish from the late\nCanon Ulick J. Bourke. There one day in 1871 he presented me with\na copy of The Bull 'Ineffabilis' in Four Languages (Dublin, 1868),\ncontaining the Irish version which he had himself contributed. On\nthe blue cover was a gilt picture of the Virgin, inscribed Sine Labe\nConcepta. No sooner had I brought it to my lodgings than the woman\nwho looked after the house caught sight of it. She was at once struck\nwith awe and admiration; so I tried to explain to her the nature of\nthe contents of the volume. 'So the Father has given you that holy\nbook!' she exclaimed; 'and you are now a holy man!' I was astonished\nat the simple and easy way in which she believed holiness could be\ntransferred from one person or thing to another; and it has always\nhelped me to realize the fact that folklorists have no occasion\nto invent their people, or to exaggerate the childish features of\ntheir minds. They are still with us as real men and real women, and\nat one time the whole world belonged to them; not to mention that\nthose who may, by a straining of courtesy, be called their leaders\nof thought, hope speedily to reannex the daring few who are trying\nto tear asunder the bonds forged for mankind in the obscurity of a\ndistant past. I shall never forget the impression made on my mind\nby a sermon I heard preached some years later in the cathedral of\nSt. Stephen in Vienna. That magnificent edifice in a great centre of\nGerman culture was crowded with listeners, who seemed thoroughly to\nenjoy what they heard, though the chief idea which they were asked\nto entertain could not possibly be said to rise above the level of\nthe philosophy of the Stone Age.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nFOLKLORE PHILOSOPHY\n\n        To look for consistency in barbaric philosophy is to\n        disqualify ourselves for understanding it, and the theories\n        of it which aim at symmetry are their own condemnation. Yet\n        that philosophy, within its own irregular confines, works\n        not illogically.--Edward Clodd.\n\n\nIt will be remembered that in the last chapter a story was given,\np. 602, which represented the soul as a little fellow somewhat\nresembling a monkey; and it will probably have struck the reader\nhow near this approaches the idea prevalent in medieval theology and\nChristian art, which pictured the soul as a pigmy or diminutive human\nbeing. I revert to this in order to point out that the Christian fancy\nmay possibly have given rise to the form of the soul as represented\nin the Welsh story which I heard in Cardiganshire and Professor Sayce\nin Monmouthshire; but this could hardly be regarded as touching the\nother Cardiganshire story, in which the soul is likened to a madfall\nor lizard. Moreover I would point out that a belief incompatible with\nboth kinds of story is suggested by one of the uses of the Welsh\nword for soul, namely, enaid. I heard my father, a native of the\nneighbourhood of Eglwys Fach, near the estuary of the Dyfi, use the\nword of some portion of the inside of a goose, but I have forgotten\nwhat part it was exactly. Professor Anwyl of Aberystwyth, however,\nhas sent me the following communication on the subject:--'I am quite\nfamiliar with the expression yr enaid, \"the soul,\" as applied to the\nsoft flesh sticking to the ribs inside a goose. The flesh in question\nhas somewhat the same appearance and structure as the liver. I have no\nrecollection of ever hearing the term yr enaid used in the case of any\nbird other than a goose; but this may be a mere accident, inasmuch as\nno one ever uses the term now except to mention it as an interesting\ncuriosity.' This application of the word enaid recalls the use of\nthe English word 'soul' in the same way, and points to a very crude\nidea of the soul as material and only forming an internal portion of\nthe body: it is on the low level of the notion of an English pagan\nof the seventeenth century who thought his soul was 'a great bone\nin his body [203].' It is, however, not quite so foolish, perhaps,\nas it looks at first sight; and it reminds one of the Mohammedan\nbelief that the os coccygis is the first formed in the human body,\nand that it will remain uncorrupted till the last day as a seed from\nwhich the whole is to be renewed in the resurrection [204].\n\nOn either savage theory, that the soul is a material organism inside\na bulkier organism, or the still lower one that it is an internal\nportion of the larger organism itself, the idea of death would be\nnaturally much the same, namely, that it was what occurred when the\nbody and the soul became permanently severed. I call attention to this\nbecause we have traces in Welsh literature of a very different notion\nof death, which must now be briefly explained. The Mabinogi of Math\nab Mathonwy relates how Math and Gwydion made out of various flowers\na most beautiful woman whom they named Blodeuwed [205], that is to\nsay anth\u00f4d\u00eas, or flowerlike, and gave to wife to Llew Llawgyffes;\nhow she, as it were to prove what consummate artists they had been,\nbehaved forthwith like a woman of the ordinary origin, in that she\nfell in love with another man named Gronw Pebyr of Penllyn; and how\nshe plotted with Gronw as to the easiest way to put her husband to\ndeath. Pretending to be greatly concerned about the welfare of Llew\nand very anxious to take measures against his death (angheu), she\nsucceeded in finding from him in what manner one could kill (llad)\nhim. His reply was, 'Unless God kill me ... it is not easy to kill me';\nand he went on to describe the strange attitude in which he might be\nkilled, namely, in a certain position when dressing after a bath: then,\nhe said, if one cast a spear at him it would effect his death (angheu),\nbut that spear must have been a whole year in the making, during\nthe hour only when the sacrifice was proceeding on Sunday. Blodeuwed\nthanked heaven, she said, to find that all this was easy to avoid. But\nstill her curiosity was not satisfied; so one day she induced Llew\nto go into the bath and show exactly what he meant. Of course she had\nGronw with his enchanted spear in readiness, and at the proper moment,\nwhen Llew was dressing after the bath, the paramour cast his spear at\nhim. He hit him in the side, so that the head of the spear remained\nin Llew, whilst the shaft fell off: Llew flew away in the form of an\neagle, uttering an unearthly cry. He was no more seen until Gwydion,\nsearching for him far and wide in Powys and Gwyned, came to Arfon,\nwhere one day he followed the lead of a mysterious sow, until the beast\nstopped under an oak at Nantlle. There Gwydion found the sow devouring\nrotten flesh and maggots, which fell from an eagle whenever the bird\nshook himself at the top of the tree. He suspected this was Llew,\nand on singing three englyns to him the eagle came lower and lower,\ntill at last he descended on Gwydion's lap. Then Gwydion struck him\nwith his wand, so that he assumed his own shape of Llew Llawgyffes,\nand nobody ever saw a more wretched looking man, we are told: he was\nnothing but skin and bones. But the best medical aid that could be\nfound in Gwyned was procured, and before the end of the year he was\nquite well again.\n\nHere it will be noticed, that though the fatal wounding of Llew, at\nany rate visibly, means his being changed into the form of an eagle,\nit is treated as his death. When the Mabinogion were edited in their\npresent form in a later atmosphere, this sort of phraseology was not\nnatural to the editor, and he shows it when he comes to relate how\nGwydion punished Blodeuwed, as follows:--Gwydion, having overtaken\nher in her flight, is made to say, 'I shall not kill thee (Ny ladaf\ni di): I shall do what is worse for thee, and that is to let thee\ngo in the form of a bird.' He let her go in fact in the form of an\nowl. According to the analogy of the other part of the story this\nmeant his having killed her: it was her death, and the words 'I shall\nnot kill thee' are presumably not to be regarded as belonging to the\noriginal story. To come back to the eagle, later Welsh literature,\nre-echoing probably an ancient notion, speaks of a nephew of Arthur,\ncalled Eliwlod, appearing to Arthur as an eagle seated likewise among\nthe branches of an oak. He claims acquaintance and kinship with Arthur,\nbut he has to explain to him that he has died: they have a dialogue\n[206] in the course of which the eagle gives Arthur some serious\nChristian advice. But we have in this sort of idea doubtless the\nkind of origin to which one might expect to trace the prophesying\neagle, such as Geoffrey mentions more than once: see his Historia,\nii. 9 and xii. 18 [207]. Add to these instances of transformation\nthe belief prevalent in Cornwall almost to our own day, that Arthur\nhimself, instead of dying, was merely changed by magic into a raven,\na form in which he still goes about; so that a Cornishman will not\nwittingly fire at a raven [208]. This sort of transformation is not\nto be severed from instances supplied by Irish literature, such as\nthe story of Tuan mac Cairill, related in the Book of the Dun Cow,\nfo. 15a-16b. Tuan relates to St. Finnen of Magbile, in the sixth\ncentury, the early history of Ireland from the time of Partholan\ndown, which he was enabled to do because he had lived through it all,\npassing from one form to another without losing his memory. First of\nall he was a man, and when old age had come upon him he was transformed\ninto a stag of the forest. For a while he was youthful and vigorous;\nbut again old age overtook him, and he next became a wild boar. When\nold age and decrepitude overcame him next he was renewed in the form\nof a powerful bird, called in the original seig. The next renewal\nwas in the form of a salmon: here the manuscript fails us. The\nform of a salmon was also the one taken by the woman Liban when\nshe was overwhelmed by the flood, which became the body of water\nknown as Lough Neagh: her handmaid at the same time became an otter\n(fo. 40b). There was an ancient belief that the soul leaves the body\nlike a bird flying out of the mouth of the man or woman dying, and\nthis maybe said to approach the favourite Celtic notion illustrated\nby the transformations here instanced, to which may be added the case\nof the Children of Lir, pp. 93, 549, changed by the stroke of their\nwicked stepmother's wand into swans, on Lough Erne. The story has,\nin the course of ages, modified itself into a belief that the swans\nhaunting that beautiful water at all seasons of the year, are the\nsouls of holy women who fell victims to the repeated visitations of\nthe pagan Norsemen, when Ireland was at their cruel mercy [209]. The\nChristian form which the Irish peasant has given the legend does not\ntouch its relevancy here. Perhaps one might venture to generalize,\nthat in these islands great men and women were believed to continue\ntheir existence in the form of eagles, hawks or ravens, swans or\nowls. But what became of the souls of the obscurer majority of the\npeople? For an answer to this perhaps we can only fall back on the\nPsyche butterfly, which may here be illustrated by the fact that\nCornish tradition applies the term 'pisky' both to the fairies and to\nmoths, believed in Cornwall by many to be departed souls [210]. So in\nIreland: a certain reverend gentleman named Joseph Ferguson, writing\nin 1810 a statistical account of the parish of Ballymoyer, in the\ncounty of Armagh, states that one day a girl chasing a butterfly was\nchid by her companions, who said to her: 'That may be the soul of\nyour grandmother [211].' This idea, to survive, has modified itself\ninto a belief less objectionably pagan, that a butterfly hovering\nnear a corpse is a sign of its everlasting happiness.\n\nThe shape-shifting is sometimes complicated by taking place on the\nlines of rebirth: as cases in point may be mentioned Lug, reborn as\nC\u00fachulainn [212], and the repeated births of \u00c9t\u00e1in. This was rendered\npossible in the case of C\u00fachulainn, for instance, by Lug taking the\nform of an insect which was unwittingly swallowed by Dechtere, who\nthereby became C\u00fachulainn's mother; and so in the case of \u00c9t\u00e1in [213]\nand her last recorded mother, the queen of Etar king of Eochraidhe. On\nWelsh ground we have a combination of transformations and rebirth in\nthe history of Gwion Bach in the story of Taliessin. Gwion was in the\nservice of the witch Ceridwen; but having learned too much of her\narts, he became the object of her lasting hatred; and the incident\nis translated as follows in Lady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogion,\niii. 358-9:--'And she went forth after him, running. And he saw her,\nand changed himself into a hare and fled. But she changed herself into\na greyhound and turned him. And he ran towards a river, and became a\nfish. And she in the form of an otter-bitch chased him under the water,\nuntil he was fain to turn himself into a bird of the air. Then she,\nas a hawk, followed him and gave him no rest in the sky. And just\nas she was about to swoop upon him, and he was in fear of death, he\nespied a heap of winnowed wheat on the floor of a barn, and he dropped\namongst the wheat, and turned himself into one of the grains. Then\nshe transformed herself into a high-crested black hen, and went to the\nwheat and scratched it with her feet, and found him out and swallowed\nhim. And, as the story says, she bore him nine months, and when she\nwas delivered of him, she could not find it in her heart to kill him,\nby reason of his beauty. So she wrapped him in a leathern bag, and\ncast him into the sea to the mercy of God on the twenty-ninth day of\nApril. And at that time the weir of Gwydno was on the strand between\nDyvi and Aberystwyth, near to his own castle, and the value of an\nhundred pounds was taken in that weir every May eve.' The story goes\non to relate how Gwydno's son, Elphin, found in the weir the leathern\nbag containing the baby, who grew up to be the bard Taliessin. But\nthe fourteenth century manuscript called after the name of Taliessin\nteems with such transformations as the above, except that they are by\nno means confined to the range of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. I\nheard an amusing suggestion of metempsychosis the other day: it is\nrelated of a learned German, who was sitting at table, let us say,\nin an Oxford hotel, with most of his dinner in front of him. Being,\nhowever, a man of immediate foresight, and anxious to accustom himself\nto fine English, he was not to be restrained by scruples as to any\npossible discrepancy between words like bekommen and become. So to\nthe astonishment of everybody he gravely called out to the waiter,\n'Hereafter I vish to become a Velsh rabbit.' This would have done\nadmirably for the author of certain poems in the Book of Taliessin,\nwhere the bard's changes are dwelt upon. From them it appears that the\ntransformation might be into anything that the mind of man could in\nany way individualize. Thus Taliessin claims to have been, some time\nor other, not only a stag or a salmon, but also an axe, a sword, and\neven a book in a priest's hand, or a word in writing. On the whole,\nhowever, his history as a grain of corn has most interest here, as\nit differs from that which has just been given: the passage [214]\nis sadly obscure, but I understand it to say that the grain was duly\nsown on a hill, that it was reaped and finally brought on the hearth,\nwhere the ears of corn were emptied of their grains by the ancient\nmethod of dexterously applying a flame to them [215]. But while the\nlight was being applied the grain which was Taliessin, falling from\nthe operator's hand, was quickly received and swallowed by a hostile\nhen, in whose interior it remained nine nights; but though this\nseemingly makes Taliessin's mother a bird, he speaks of himself,\nwithout mentioning any intervening transformation, as a gwas or\nyoung man. Such an origin was perhaps never meant to be other than\nincomprehensible. Lastly as to rebirth, I may say that it has often\nstruck me that the Welsh habit, especially common in Carnarvonshire and\nAnglesey, of one child in a family being named, partially or wholly,\nafter a grandparent, is to be regarded as a trace of the survival from\nearly times of a belief in such atavism as has been suggested above\n[216].\n\nThe belief in transformations or transmigrations, such as have been\nmentioned, must have lent itself to various developments, and two\nat least of them are deserving of some notice here. First may be\nmentioned one which connects itself intimately with the druid or\nmagician: he is master of his own transformations, as in the case of\nCeridwen and Gwion, for he had acquired his magic by tasting of the\ncontents of Ceridwen's Cauldron of Sciences, and he retained his memory\ncontinuously through his shape-shiftings, as is best illustrated,\nperhaps, by the case of Tuan mac Cairill. The next step was for him\nto realize his changes, not as matters of the past but as present\nand possible; in fact, to lay claim to being anybody or anything he\nlikes at any moment. Of this we have a remarkable instance in the case\nof Amairgen, seer and judge of the Milesians or Sons of M\u00edl, in the\nstory of their conquest of Ireland, as told in the Book of Leinster,\nfo. 12b. As he first sets his right foot on the land of Erin he sings a\nlay in which he says, that he is a boar, a bull, and a salmon, together\nwith other things also, such as the sea-breeze, the rolling wave,\nthe roar of the billows, and a lake on the plain. Nor does he forget\nto pretend to wisdom and science beyond other men, and to hint that\nhe is the divinity that gives them knowledge and sense. The similarity\nbetween this passage and others in the Book of Taliessin has attracted\nthe attention of scholars: see M. d'Arbois de Jubainville's Cycle\nmythologique irlandais, pp. 242 et seq. On the whole, Taliessin revels\nmost in the side of the picture devoted to his knowledge and science:\nhe has passed through so many scenes and changes that he has been an\neye-witness to all kinds of events in Celtic story. Thus he was with\nBr\u00e2n on his expedition to Ireland, and saw when Mordwyt Tyllion was\nslain in the great slaughter of the Meal-bag Pavilion. This, however,\nwas not all; he represents himself as also a sywedyd [217], 'vates or\nprophet, astrologer and astronomer,' a sage who boasts his knowledge\nof the physical world and propounds questions which he challenges\nhis rivals to answer concerning earth and sea, day and night, sun and\nmoon. He is not only Taliessin, but also Gwion, and hence one infers\nhis magical powers to have been derived. If he regards anybody as\nhis equal or superior, that seems to have been Talhaiarn, to whom he\nascribes the greatest science. Talhaiarn is usually thought of only as\na great bard by Welsh writers, but it is his science and wisdom that\nTaliessin admires [218], whereby one is to understand, doubtless,\nthat Talhaiarn, like Taliessin, was a great magician. To this day\nWelsh bards and bardism have not been quite dissociated from magic,\nin so far as the witch Ceridwen is regarded as their patroness.\n\nThe boasts of Amairgen are characterized by M. d'Arbois de Jubainville\nas a sort of pantheism, and he detects traces of the same doctrine,\namong other places, in the teaching of the Irishman, known as Scotus\nErigena, at the court of Charles the Bald in the ninth century:\nsee the Cycle mythologique, p. 248. In any case, one is prepared\nby such utterances as those of Amairgen to understand the charge\nrecorded in the Senchus M\u00f3r, i. 23, as made against the Irish druids\nor magicians of his time by a certain Connla Cainbhrethach, one of the\nremarkable judges of Erin, conjectured by O'Curry--on what grounds\nI do not know--to have lived in the first century of our era. The\nstatement there made is to the following effect:--'After her came\nConnla Cainbhrethach, chief doctor of Connaught; he excelled the\nmen of Erin in wisdom, for he was filled with the grace of the Holy\nGhost; he used to contend with the druids, who said that it was they\nthat made heaven and earth, and the sea, &c., and the sun and moon,\n&c.' This view of the pretensions of the druids is corroborated by\nthe fact that magic, especially the power of shape-shifting at will,\nwas regarded as power par excellence [219], and by the old formula\nof wishing one well, which ran thus: Bendacht dee ocus andee fort,\n'the blessing of gods and not-gods upon thee!' The term 'gods' in this\ncontext is explained to have meant persons of power [220], and the term\n'not-gods' farmers or those connected with the land, probably all those\nwhose lives were directly dependent on farming and the cultivation\nof the soil, as distinguished from professional men such as druids\nand smiths. This may be further illustrated by a passage from the\naccount of the second battle of Moytura, published by Stokes with a\ntranslation, in the Revue Celtique, xii. 52-130. See more especially\npp. 74-6, where we find Lug offering his services to the king, Nuada\nof the Silver Hand. Among other qualifications which Lug possessed, he\nnamed that of being a sorcerer, to which the porter at once replied:\n'We need thee not; we have sorcerers already. Many are our wizards\nand our folk of might'--that is, those of our people who possess\npower--ar lucht cumachtai. Wizards (druith) and lucht cumachtai came,\nit is observed, alike under the more general designation of sorcerers\n(corrguinigh).\n\nOne seems to come upon traces of the same classification of a\ncommunity into professionals and non-professionals, for that is\nwhat it comes to, in an obscure Welsh term, Teulu Oeth ac Anoeth,\nwhich may be conjectured to have meant 'the Household of Oeth and\nAnoeth' in the sense of Power and Not-power [221]. However that\nmay be, the professional class of men who were treated as persons\nof power and gods seem to have attained to their position by virtue\nof the magic of which they claimed to be masters, and especially of\ntheir supposed faculty of shape-shifting at will. In other words,\nthe druidic pantheism [222] which Erigena was able to dress in the\ngarb of a fairly respectable philosophy proves to have been, in point\nof genesis, but a few removes from a primitive kind of savage folklore.\n\nNone of these stories of shape-shifting, and of being born again, make\nany allusion to a soul. To revert, for instance, to Llew Llawgyffes,\nit is evident that the eagle cannot be regarded as his soul. The\ndecayed state of the eagle's body seems to imply that it was somehow\nthe same body as that of Llew at the time when he was wounded by\nGronw's poisoned spear: the festering of the eagle's flesh looks as\nif considered a continuation of the wound. It is above all things,\nhowever, to be noted that none of the stories in point, whether Irish\nor Welsh, contain any suggestion of the hero's life coming to an end,\nor in any way perishing; Llew lives on to be transformed, under the\nstroke of Gwydion's wand, from being an eagle to be a man again; and\nTuan mac Cairill persists in various forms till he meets St. Finnen in\nthe sixth century. Then in the case of \u00c9t\u00e1in, we are told in the Book\nof the Dun Cow, fo. 129a, that her first-mentioned birth and the next\none were separated by more than a thousand years. So practically we may\nsay that these stories implied that men and women were imperishable,\nthat they had no end necessarily to their existence. This sort of\nnotion may be detected in Llew's words when he says, 'Unless God kill\nme ... it is not easy to kill me.' The reference to the Almighty may\nprobably be regarded as a comparatively late interpolation due to\nChristian teaching. A similar instance seems to occur in a poem in\nthe Black Book of Carmarthen, fos. 47b-8b, where Arthur loudly sings\nthe praises of his friend Cai. The couplet in point runs thus:--\n\n\n        Ny bei duv ae digonhei.\n        Oet diheit aghev kei.\n\n        Unless it were God that wrought it,\n        Hard to effect were the death of Cai.\n\n\nI am not sure, however, of the meaning; for, among other things,\ndiheit, which I am inclined to interpret as 'hard to reach' or 'not\neasy to effect,' has been rendered otherwise by others [223]. In any\ncase, the other instance seems to imply that at one time the heroes\nof Llew's world were not necessarily expected to die at all; and when\nthey happened to do so, it was probably regarded, as among savages at\nthe present day, as a result brought about by magic. Any reader who may\nfeel astonished at such a crudeness of belief, will find something to\ncontrast and compare in the familiar doctrine, that but for the fall\nof Adam and Eve we should have never heard of death, whether of man\nor of beast. But if he proceeds to ask questions about the economy of\nour world in case nobody died, he must be satisfied to be told that\nto ask any such question is here not only useless but also irrelevant.\n\nNow, suppose that in a society permeated by the crude kind of\nnotions of which one finds traces in the Mabinogion and other old\nWelsh literature, a man arose who had a turn for philosophizing and\ntrying to think things out: how would he reason? It seems probable\nthat he would argue, that underneath all the change there must be some\nsubstratum which is permanent. If Tuan, he would say, changed from one\nform to another and remembered all that he had gone through, there must\nhave been something which lasted, otherwise Tuan would have come to an\nend early in the story, and the later individual would not be Tuan at\nall. Probably one thing which, according to our folklore philosopher's\nway of thinking, lasted through the transformations, was the material\nof Tuan's body, just as one is induced to suppose that Llew's body, and\nthat of the eagle into which he was transformed, were considered to be\none and the same body labouring under the mortifying influence of the\nwound inflicted on Llew by Gronw's enchanted spear. Further, we have\nalready found reasons to regard the existence of the soul as forming a\npart of the creed of some at any rate of the early inhabitants of this\ncountry, though we have no means of gathering what precise attributes\nour philosopher might ascribe to it besides the single one, perhaps,\nof continuing to exist. In that case he might otherwise describe\nTuan's shape-shifting as the entrance of Tuan's soul into a series\nof different bodies. Now the philosopher here sketched agrees pretty\nclosely with the little that is known of the Gaulish druid, such as he\nis described by ancient authors [224]. The latter seem to have been\nagreed in regarding him as believing in the immortality of the soul,\nand several of them appear to have thought his views similar to those\nof Pythagoras and his school. So we may perhaps venture to suppose that\nthe druids, like Pythagoras, believed in the transmigration of souls,\nincluding that from the human to an animal form and the reverse. If,\nin the absence of an explicit statement, one may ascribe this latter\nform of that belief to the druids, the identity of their creed becomes\nalmost complete with that of our conjectured folklore philosopher. At\none time I was inclined to fancy that the druids of Gaul had received\nno unimportant part of their teaching from Greek philosophy by way\nof Massilia, but I am now more disposed to believe their doctrines\nto have been gradually developed, in the way above suggested, from\nthe unfailing resources of that folklore which revelled in scenes of\nshape-shifting and rebirth. Possibly the doctrines of Pythagoras may\nhave themselves had a like origin and a somewhat parallel development,\nor let us say rather that the Orphic notions had, which preceded\nPythagoreanism.\n\nBut as to Gaul generally, it is not to be assumed that the Gaulish\ndruids and all the other Gauls held the same opinion on these\nquestions: we have some evidence that they did not. Thus the Gauls\nin the neighbourhood of Massilia [225], who would accept a creditor's\npromise to pay up in the next world, can hardly have contemplated the\npossibility of any such creditor being then a bird or a moth. Should\nit be objected that the transformations, instanced above as Brythonic\nand Goidelic, were assumed only in the case of magicians and other\nprofessional or privileged persons, and that we are not told what was\nheld to happen in the case of the rank and file of humanity, it is\nenough to answer that neither do we know what the druids of Gaul held\nto be the fate of the common people of their communities. No lever\ncan be applied in that direction to disturb the lines of the parallel.\n\nIn previous chapters, pp. 45, 54, 61, 88, 97, 229, instances\nfrom Welsh sources have been given of the fairies concealing\ntheir names. But Wales is not the only Celtic land where we find\ntraces of this treatment of one's name: it is to be detected also\non Irish ground. Thus, when a herald from an enemy's camp comes to\nparley with C\u00fachulainn and his charioteer, the latter, being first\napproached, describes himself as the 'man of the man down there,'\nmeaning C\u00fachulainn, to whom he pointed; and when the herald comes to\nC\u00fachulainn himself, he asks him whose man he is: C\u00fachulainn describes\nhimself as the 'man of Conchobar mac Nessa.' The herald then inquires\nif he has no more definite designation, and C\u00fachulainn replies that\nwhat he has given will suffice [226]: neither of the men gives his\nname. Thus Celts of both groups, Brythons and Goidels, are at one in\nyielding evidence to the same sort of cryptic treatment of personal\nnames, at some stage or other in their past history.\n\nThe student of man tells us, as already pointed out, that the reason\nfor the reluctance to disclose one's name was of the same nature as\nthat which makes savages, and some men belonging to nations above the\nsavage state feel anxious that an enemy should not get possession of\nanything identified with their persons, such as a lock of one's hair,\na drop of one's blood, or anything closely connected with one's person,\nlest it should give the enemy power over one's person as a whole,\nespecially if such enemy is suspected of possessing any skill in\nhandling the terrors of magic. In other words, the anthropologist would\nsay that the name was regarded as identified with the person; and,\nhaving said this, he has mostly felt satisfied that he has definitively\ndisposed of the matter. Therein, however, he is possibly wrong; for\nwhen he says that the name was probably treated as a part of the man,\nthat only leads one to ask the question, What part of the man? At any\nrate, I can see nothing very unreasonable in such a question, though\nI am quite willing to word it differently, and to ask: Is there any\nevidence to show with what part of a man his name was associated?\n\nAs regards the Aryan nations, we seem to have a clue to an answer in\nthe interesting group of Aryan words in point, from which I select\nthe following:--Irish ainm, 'a name,' plural anmann; Old Welsh anu,\nnow enw, also 'a name'; Old Bulgarian imen (for *ienmen, *anman);\nOld Prussian emnes, emmens, accusative emnan; and Armenian anwan\n(for a stem *anman)--all meaning a name. To these some scholars [227]\nwould add, and it may be rightly, the English word name itself, the\nLatin nomen, the Sanskrit naman, and the Greek ynoma; but, as some\nothers find a difficulty in thus grouping these words, I abstain\nfrom laying any stress on them. In fact, I have every reason to be\nsatisfied with the wide extent of the Aryan world covered by the other\ninstances enumerated as Celtic, Prussian, Bulgarian, and Armenian.\n\nNow, such is the similarity between Welsh enw, 'name,' and enaid,\n'soul,' that I cannot help referring the two words to one and the same\norigin, especially when I see the same or rather greater similarity\nillustrated by the Irish words, ainm, 'name,' and anim, 'soul.' This\nsimilarity between the Irish words so pervades the declension of\nthem, that a beginner frequently falls into the error of confounding\nthem in medieval texts. Take, for instance, the genitive singular,\nanma, which may mean either anim\u00e6 or nominis; the nominative plural,\nanmand, which may be either anim\u00e6 or nomina; and the gen. anmand,\neither animarum or nominum, as the dative anmannaib may likewise be\neither animabus or nominibus. In fact, one is at first sight almost\ntempted to suppose that the partial differentiation of the Irish forms\nwas only brought about under the influence of Latin, with its distinct\nforms of anima and nomen. That would be pressing the point too far;\nbut the direct teaching of the Celtic vocables is that they are\nall to be referred to the same origin in the Aryan word for 'breath\nor breathing,' which is represented by such words as Latin anima,\nWelsh anadl, 'breath,' and a Gothic anan, 'blow or breathe,' whence\nthe compound preterite uz-on, twice used by Ulfilas in the fifteenth\nchapter of St. Mark's Gospel to render exepneuse, 'gave up the ghost.'\n\nNow the lessons which the words here grouped together contain for the\nstudent of man is, that the Celts, and certain other widely separated\nAryans, unless we should rather say the whole of the Aryan family,\nwere once in the habit of closely associating both the soul and one's\nname with the breath of life. The evidence is satisfactory so far as\nit goes; but let us go a little more into detail, and see as exactly\nas we can to what it commits us. Commencing at the beginning, we may\nset out with the axiom that breathing is a physical action, and that\nin the temperate zone one's breath is not unfrequently visible. Then\none may say that the men who made the words--Welsh, enaid (for an\nearlier anatio-s), 'soul'; Irish, anim (from an earlier stem, animon);\nLatin, anima, also animus, 'feeling, mind, soul'; and Greek, anemos,\n'air, wind'--must have in some way likened the soul to one's breath,\nwhich perhaps first suggested the idea. At all events they showed\nnot only that they did not contemplate the soul as a bone, or any\nsolid portion of a man's frame, or even as a manikin residing inside\nit: in fact they had made a great advance in the direction of the\nabstract notion of a spirit, in which some of them may have been\nhelped by another association of ideas, namely, that indicated by\nspeaking of the dead as shades or shadows, umbr\u00e6, skiai. Similarly,\nthe words in point for 'name' seem to prove that some of the ancient\nAryans must have, in some way, associated one's name with the breath\nof life. On the other hand, we find nothing to show that the name and\nthe soul were directly compared or associated with one another, while\nthe association of the name with the breath represents, probably, a\nprocess as much earlier as it is cruder, than likening the soul to the\nbreath and naming it accordingly. This is countenanced to some extent\nby the general physiognomy, so to say, of words like enaid, anima,\nas contrasted with enw, ainm, nomen, name. Speaking relatively, the\nformer might be of almost any date in point of comparative lateness,\nwhile the latter could not, belonging as they do to a small declension\nwhich was not wont to receive accessions to its numbers.\n\nIn what way, then, or in what respect did early folklore identify the\nname with the breath? Before one could expect to answer this question\nin anything like a convincing fashion, one would have to examine\nthe collector of the folklore of savages, or rather to induce him to\ncross-examine them on the point. For instance, among the Singhalese\n[228], when in the ceremony of name-giving the father utters the baby's\nname in a low whisper in the baby's ear, is that called breathing the\nname? and is the name so whispered called a breath or a breathing? In\nthe case of the savages who name their children at their birth, is\nthe reason ever advanced that a name must be given to the child in\norder to make it breathe, or, at least, in order to facilitate its\nbreathing? Some such a notion of reinforcing the child's vitality and\nsafety would harmonize well enough with the fact that, as Mr. Clodd\n[229] puts it, 'Barbaric, Pagan, and Christian folklore is full of\nexamples of the importance of naming and other birth-ceremonies,\nin the belief that the child's life is at the mercy of evil spirits\nwatching the chance of casting spells upon it, of demons covetous to\npossess it, and of fairies eager to steal it and leave a \"changeling\"\nin its place.' Provisionally, one must perhaps rest content to\nsuppose the association of the name to have taken place with the\nbreath regarded as an accompaniment of life. Looked at in that sense,\nthe name becomes associated with one's life, and, speaking roughly,\nwith one's person; and it is interesting to notice that one seems to\ndetect traces in Welsh literature of some confusion of the kind. Thus,\nwhen the hero of the story of Kulhwch and Olwen was christened he\nwas named Kulhwch, which is expressed in Welsh as 'forcing or driving\nKulhwch on him' (gyrru kulh6ch arna6 [230]); Kulh6ch, be it noticed,\nnot the name Kulhwch. Similarly when Br\u00e2n, on the eve of his expedition\nto Ireland, left seven princes, or knights as they are also called,\nto take charge of his dominions, we have an instance of the kind. The\nstead or town was named after the seven knights, and it is a place\nwhich is now known as Bryn y Saith Marchog, 'the Hill of the Seven\nKnights,' near Gwydelwern, in Merionethshire. But the wording of the\nMabinogi of Branwen is o acha6s hynny y dodet seith marcha6c ar y dref\n[231], meaning 'for that reason the stead was called Seven Knights,'\nliterally 'for that reason one put Seven Knights on the stead.' In\nGuest's Mabinogion, iii. 116, this will be found rendered wrongly,\nthough not wholly without excuse--'for this reason were the seven\nknights placed in the town.' It is probable that the redactor of the\nstories from which the two foregoing instances come--and more might\nbe cited--was not so much courting ambiguities as adhering to an old\nform of expression which neglected from the first to distinguish,\nin any formal way, between names and the persons or things which they\nwould, in modern phraseology, be said to represent [232].\n\nAn instance has been already mentioned of a man's name being put or\nset on him, or rather forced on him: at any rate, his name is on him\nboth in Welsh and Irish, and the latter language also speaks of it as\ncleaving or adhering to him. Neither language contemplates the name,\nhowever closely identified with him, as having become an inseparable\npart of him, or else as something he has secured for himself. In the\nneo-Celtic tongues, both Welsh and Irish, all things which a man owns,\nand all things for which he takes credit, are with him or by him;\nbut all things which he cannot help having, whether creditable or\ndiscreditable, if they are regarded as coming from without are on him,\nnot with him. Thus, if he is wealthy there is money with him; but if\nhe is in debt and owes money, the money is on him. Similarly, if he\nrejoices there is joy with him; whereas if he is ashamed or afraid,\nshame or fear is on him. This is a far-reaching distinction, of capital\nimportance in Celtic phraseology, and judged by this criterion the\nname is something from without the man, something which he cannot\ntake credit to himself for having acquired by his own direct willing\nor doing. This is to be borne in mind when one speaks of the name as\nidentified or closely bound up with one's life and personality. But\nthis qualified identification of the name with the man is also what\none may infer from savage folklore; for many, perhaps most, of the\nnations who name their children at their birth, have those names\nchanged when the children grow up. That is done when a boy has to be\ninitiated into the mysteries of his tribe or of a guild, or it may\nbe when he has achieved some distinction in war. In most instances,\nit involves a serious ceremony and the intervention of the wise man,\nwhether the medicine-man of a savage system, or the priest of a higher\nreligion [233]. In the ancient Wales of the Mabinogion, and in pagan\nIreland, the name-giving was done, subject to certain conditions,\nat the will and on the initiative of the druid, who was at the same\ntime tutor and teacher of the youth to be renamed [234]. Here I may\nbe allowed to direct attention to the two following facts: the druid,\nrecalling as he does the magician of the Egypt of the Pentateuch\nand the shaman of the Mongolian world of our own time, represented\na profession probably not of Celtic origin. In the next place, his\nmethod of selecting names from incidents was palpably incompatible\nwith what is known to have been the Aryan system of nomenclature,\nby means of compounds, as evinced by the annals of most nations of\nthe Aryan family of speech: such compounds, I mean, as Welsh Pen-wyn,\n'white-headed,' Gaulish Penno-ouindos, or Greek Hipparchos, Archippos,\nand the like. Briefly, one may say that the association of the name\nwith the breath of life was probably Aryan, but without, perhaps,\nbeing unfamiliar to the aborigines of the British Isles before their\nconquest by the Celts. On the other hand, in the druid and his method\nof naming we seem to touch the non-Aryan substratum, and to detect\nsomething which was not Celtic, not Aryan [235].\n\nPerhaps the reader will not regard it as wholly irrelevant if here\nI change the subject for a while from one's name to other words and\nlocutions in so far as they may be regarded as illustrative of the\nmental surroundings in which the last paragraph leaves the name. I\nallude especially to the exaggerated influence associated with\na form of words, more particularly among the Irish Celts. O'Curry\ngives a tragic instance: the poet N\u00e9de mac Adnai, in order to obtain\npossession of the throne of Connaught, asked an impossible request of\nthe king, who was his own father's brother and named Caier. When the\nking declared his inability to accede to his demand the poet made the\nrefusal his excuse for composing on the king what was called in Irish\nan \u00e1ir or \u00e1er, written later aor, 'satire,' which ran approximately\nthus:--\n\n\n        Evil, death, short life to Caier!\n        May spears of battle wound Caier!\n        Caier quenched, Caier forced, Caier underground!\n        Under ramparts, under stones with Caier!\n\n\nO'Curry goes on to relate how Caier, washing his face at the\nfountain next morning, discovered that it had three blisters on it,\nwhich the satire had raised, to wit, disgrace, blemish, and defect,\nin colours of crimson, green, and white. So Caier fleeing, that\nhis plight might not be seen of his friends, came to Dun Cearmna\n(now the Old Head of Kinsale, in county Cork), the residence of\nCaichear, chief of that district. There Caier was well received as\na stranger of unknown quality, while N\u00e9de assumed the sovereignty\nof Connaught. In time, N\u00e9de came to know of Caier being there, and\nrode there in Caier's chariot. But as N\u00e9de approached Caier escaped\nthrough his host's house and hid himself in the cleft of a rock,\nwhither N\u00e9de followed Caier's greyhound; and when Caier saw N\u00e9de,\nthe former dropped dead of shame [236]. This abstract of the story\nas told by O'Curry, will serve to show how the words of the satirist\nwere dreaded by high and low among the ancient Irish, and how their\ndemands had to be at once obeyed. It is a commonplace of Irish\nliterature that the satirist's words unfailingly raised blisters on\nthe face of him at whom they were aimed. A portion at least of the\npotency of the poet's words seems to have been regarded as due to\ntheir being given a certain metrical form. That, however, does not\nshow how the poet had acquired his influence, and one cannot shut\none's eyes to the fact that the means he might adopt to make his\ninfluence felt and his wishes instantly attended to, implied that\nthe race with which he had to deal was a highly sensitive one: I may\nperhaps apply to it the adjective thin-skinned, in the literal sense\nof that word. For the blisters on the face are only an exaggeration\nof a natural phenomenon. On this point my attention has been called\nby a friend to the following passages in a review of a work on the\npathology of the emotions [237]:--\n\n'To both the hurtful and curative effects of the emotions M. F\u00e9r\u00e9\ndevotes much attention, and on these points makes some interesting\nremarks. That the emotions act on the body, more by their effects on\nthe circulation than by anything else, is no new thesis, but M. F\u00e9r\u00e9\nis developing some new branches of it. That the heart may be stopped\nfor a few seconds, and that there may be localised flush and pallor of\nthe skin, owing to almost any strong emotion, whether it be joy, anger,\nfear, or pain, is a matter of common observation; and that there may\nbe many changes of nutrition due to vaso-motor disturbance is a point\neasy to establish. The skin is particularly easily affected; passion\nand pain may produce a sweat that is truly hemorrhagic (Parrot);\nand the scientific world is obliged to admit that in the stigmata of\nLouise Lateau the blood vessels were really broken, and not broken by\nanything else than an emotional state as cause. In a shipwreck Follain\ntells us that the pilot was covered in an hour with pustules from his\nfear; and the doctor sees many dermato-neuroses, such as nettle-rash,\nherpes, pemphigus, vitiligo, &c, from the choc moral.'\n\nI can illustrate this from my own observation: when I was an\nundergraduate there was with me at college a Welsh undergraduate, who,\nwhen teased or annoyed by his friends, was well known to be subject\nto a sort of rash or minute pustules on his face: it would come on\nin the course of an hour or so. There is a well-known Welsh line on\nthis subject of the face which is to the point:--\n\n\n        Ni chel grud gystud c\u00e0lon.\n\n        The cheek hides not the heart's affliction.\n\n\nSo a man who was insulted, or whose honour was assailed, might be\nsaid to be thereby put to the blush or to be otherwise injured in his\nface; and the Irish word enech, 'face,' is found commonly used as a\nsynonym for one's honour or good name. The same appears to have been\nthe case with the Welsh equivalent, wyneb, 'face,' and dyn di-wyneb,\nliterally 'a faceless man,' appears to be now used in Carnarvonshire\nand Glamorgan in the sense of one who is without a sense of honour,\nan unprincipled fellow. So when Welsh law dealt with insults and\nattacks on one's honour the payment to be made to the injured person\nwas called gwynebwerth, 'the price of one's face,' or gwynebwarth,\n'the payment for disgracing one's face.' Irish law arranged for similar\ndamages, and called them by analogous names, such as enech-gris,\n'a fine for injuring or raising a blush on the face,' and enech-l\u00f3g or\nenech-lann, 'honour price'; compare also enech-ruice, 'a face-reddening\nor blushing caused by some act or scandal which brought shame on\na family.' Possibly one has to do with traces of somewhat the same\ntype of 'face,' though it has faded away to the verge of vanishing,\nwhen one speaks in English of keeping another in countenance.\n\nIt has been suggested that if a magician got a man's name he could\ninjure him by means of his arts: now the converse seems to have been\nthe case with the Irish \u00e1er or satire, for to be effective it had,\nas in the instance of Caier, to mention the victim's name; and a\ncurious instance occurs in the Book of Leinster, fo. 117, where\nthe poet Atherne failed to curse a person whose name he could not\nmanipulate according to the rules of his satire. This man Atherne is\ndescribed as inhospitable, stingy, and greedy to the last degree. So\nit is related how he sallied forth one day, taking with him a cooked\npig and a pot of mead, to a place where he intended to gorge himself\nwithout being observed. But no sooner had he settled down to his meal\nthan he saw a man approaching, who remarked to him on his operating\non the food all alone, and unceremoniously picked up the porker and\nthe pot of mead. As he was coolly walking away with them, Atherne\ncried out after him, 'What is thy name?' The stranger replied that\nit was nothing very grand, and gave it as follows:--\n\n\n        Sethor . ethor . othor . sele . dele . dreng gerce\n        Mec gerlusce . ger ger . d\u00edr d\u00edr issed moainmse.\n\n        Sethor-Ethor-Othor-Sele-Dele-Dreng gerce\n        Son of Gerlusce ger-ger-d\u00edr-d\u00edr, that is my name.\n\n\nThe story goes on to say that Atherne neither saw his meal any more\nnor succeeded in making a satire on the name of the stranger, who\naccordingly got away unscathed. It was surmised, we are told, that\nhe was an angel come from God to teach the poet better manners. This\ncomic story brings us back to the importance of the name, as it implies\nthat the cursing poet, had he been able to seize it and duly work it\ninto his satire, could not have failed to bring about the intruder's\ndiscomfiture. The magician and folklore philosopher, far from asking\nwith Juliet, 'What's in a name?' would have rather put it the other\nway, 'What's not in a name?' At any rate the ancients believed that\nthere was a great deal in a name, and traces of the importance which\nthey gave it are to be found in modern speech: witness the article on\nname or its equivalent in a big dictionary of any language possessed\nof a great literature.\n\nIt has been seen that it is from the point of view of magic that the\nfull importance of one's name was most keenly realized by our ancient\nCelts; that is, of magic more especially in that stage of its history\nwhen it claimed as its own a certain degree of skill in the art of\nverse-making. Perhaps, indeed, it would be more accurate to suppose\nthat verse-making appertained from the outset to magic, and that\nit was magicians, medicine-men, or seers, who, for their own use,\nfirst invented the aids of rhythm and metre. The subject, however,\nof magic and its accessories is far too vast to be treated here: it\nhas been touched upon here and there in some of the previous chapters,\nand I may add that wizardry and magic form the machinery, so to say,\nof the stories called in Welsh the 'Four Branches of the Mabinogi'\nnamely those of Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan, and Math. Now these four,\ntogether with the adventure of Ll\u00fbd and Llevelys, and, in a somewhat\nqualified sense, the story of Kulhwch and Olwen, represent in a\nBrythonicized form the otherwise lost legends of the Welsh Goidels;\nand, like those of the Irish Goidels, they are remarkable for their\nwizardry. Nor is that all, for in the former the kings are mostly\nthe greatest magicians of their time: or shall I rather put it the\nother way, and say that in them the greatest magicians function as\nkings? Witness Math son of Mathonwy king of Gwyned, and his sister's\nson, Gwydion ab D\u00f4n, to whom as his successor he duly taught his magic;\nthen come the arch-enchanter Arawn, king of Annwn, and Caswallon\nab Beli, represented as winning his kingdom by the sheer force of\nmagic. To these might be added other members of the kingly families\nwhose story shows them playing the r\u00f4le of magicians, such as Rhiannon,\nwho by her magic arts foiled her powerful suitor, Gwawl ab Cl\u00fbd,\nand secured as her consort the man of her choice, Pwyll prince of\nDyfed. Here also, perhaps, one might mention Manawydan ab Llyr, who,\nas Manann\u00e1n mac Lir, figures in the stories of the Goidels of Erin\nand Man as a consummate wizard and first king of the Manx people: see\np. 314 above. In the Mabinogi, however, no act of magic is ascribed\nto Manawydan, though he is represented successfully checkmating the\nmost formidable wizard arrayed against him and his friends, to wit,\nLlwyd ab Kilcoed. Not only does one get the impression that the ruling\nclass in these stories of the Welsh Goidels had their magic handed down\nfrom generation to generation according to a fixed rule of maternal\nsuccession (pp. 326, 503, 505), but it supplies the complete answer\nto and full explanation of questions as to the meaning of the terms\nalready mentioned, Tuatha D\u00e9 ocus And\u00e9, and Lucht Cumachtai, together\nwith its antithesis. Within the magic-wielding class exercising\ndominion over the shepherds and tillers of the soil of the country, it\nis but natural to suppose that the first king was the first magician\nor greatest medicine-man, as in the case of Manann\u00e1n in the Isle of\nMan. This must of course be understood to apply to the early history\nof the Goidelic race, or, perhaps more correctly speaking, to one of\nthe races which had contributed to its composition: to the aborigines,\nlet us say, by whatsoever name or names you may choose to call them,\nwhether Picts or Ivernians. It is significant, among other things,\nthat our traditions should connect the potency of ancient wizardry\nwith descent in the female line of succession, and, in any case, one\ncannot be wrong in assuming magic to have begun very low down in the\nscale of social progress, probably lower than religion, with which\nit is essentially in antagonism. As the crude and infantile pack of\nnotions, collectively termed sympathetic magic--beginning with the\nbelief that any effect may be produced by imitating the action of the\ncause of it, or even doing anything that would recall it [238]--grew\ninto the panoply of the magician, he came to regard himself, and to\nbe regarded by others, as able for his own benefit and that of his\nfriends to coerce all possible opponents, whether men or demons,\nheroes or gods. This left no room for the attitude of prayer and\nworship: religion in that sense could only come later.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nRACE IN FOLKLORE AND MYTH\n\n        The method of philological mythology is thus discredited by the\n        disputes of its adherents. The system may be called orthodox,\n        but it is an orthodoxy which alters with every new scholar\n        who enters the sacred enclosure.--Andrew Lang.\n\n\nIt has been well said, that while it is not science to know the\ncontents of myths, it is science to know why the human race has\nproduced them. It is not my intention to trace minutely the history\nof that science, but I may hazard the remark, that she could not\nbe said to have reached years of discretion till she began to\ncompare one thing with another; and even when mythology had become\ncomparative mythology, her horizon remained till within recent years\ncomparatively narrow. In other words, the comparisons were wont to\nbe very circumscribed: you might, one was told, compare the myths of\nGreeks and Teutons and Hindus, because those nations were considered\nto be of the same stock; but even within that range comparisons were\nscarcely contemplated, except in the case of myths enshrined in the\nmost classical literatures of those nations. This kind of mythology\nwas eclectic rather than comparative, and it was apt to regard myths\nas a mere disease of language. By-and-by, however, the student showed\na preference for a larger field and a wider range; and in so doing he\nwas, whether consciously or unconsciously, beginning to keep step with\na larger movement extending to the march of all the kindred sciences,\nand especially that of language.\n\nAt one time the student of language was satisfied with mummified\nspeech, wrapped up, as it were, in the musty coils of the records\nof the past: in fact, he often became a mere researcher of the dead\nletter of language, instead of a careful observer of the breath\nof life animating her frame. So long as that remained the case,\nglottology deserved the whole irony of Voltaire's well-known account\nof etymology as being in fact, 'une science o\u00f9 les voyelles ne font\nrien, et les consonnes fort peu de chose.' In the course, however, of\nrecent years a great change has come over the scene: not only have the\nlaws of the Aryan consonants gained greatly in precision, but those\nof the Aryan vowels have at last been discovered to a considerable\nextent. The result for me and others who learnt that the Aryan\npeasant of idyllic habits harped eternally on the three notes of a,\ni, u, is that we have to unlearn this and a great deal more: in fact,\nthe vowels prove to be far more troublesome than the consonants. But\ndifficult as these lessons are, the glottologist must learn them,\nunless he is content to remain with the stragglers who happen to be\nunable to move on. Now the change to which I allude, in connexion\nwith the study of language, has been inseparably accompanied with the\npaying of increased attention to actual speech, with a more careful\nscrutiny of dialects, even obscure dialects such as the literary man\nis wont to regard with scorn.\n\nSimilarly the student of mythology now seeks the wherewithal of\nhis comparisons from the mouth of the traveller and the missionary,\nwherever they may roam; not from the Rig-Veda or the Iliad alone,\nbut from the rude stories of the peasant, and the wild fancies of\nthe savage from Tierra del Fuego to Greenland's icy mountains. The\nparallel may be drawn still closer. Just as the glottologist,\nfearing lest the written letter may have slurred over or hidden\naway important peculiarities of ancient speech, resorts for a\ncorrective to the actuality of modern Aryan, so the mythologist,\napt to suspect the testimony of the highly respectable bards of the\nRig-Veda, may on occasion give ear to the fresh evidence of a savage,\nhowever inconsequent it may sound. The movements to which I allude\nin glottology and mythology began so recently that their history has\nnot yet been written. Suffice it to say that in glottology, or the\nscience of language, the names most intimately connected with the new\ndeparture are those of Ascoli, J. Schmidt, and Fick, those of Leskien,\nBrugmann, Osthoff, and De Saussure; while of the names of the teachers\nof the anthropological method of studying myths, several are by this\ntime household words in this country. But, so far as I know, the first\nto give a systematic exposition of the subject was Professor Tylor,\nin his work on Primitive Culture, published first in 1871.\n\nSuch has been the intimate connexion between mythology and glottology\nthat I may be pardoned for going back again to the latter. It\nis applicable in its method to all languages, but, as a matter\nof fact, it came into being in the domain of Aryan philology, so\nthat it has been all along principally the science of comparing the\nAryan languages with one another. It began with Sir William Jones'\ndiscovery of the kinship of Sanskrit with Greek and Latin, and for\na long time it took the lead of the more closely related sciences:\nthis proved partly beneficial and partly the reverse. In the case of\nethnology, for instance, the influence of glottology has probably\ndone more harm than good, since it has opened up a wide field for\nconfounding race with language. In the case of mythology the same\ninfluence has been partly helpful, and it has partly fallen short of\nbeing such. Where names could be analysed with certainty, and where\nthey could be equated, leaving little room for doubt, as in the case\nof that of the Greek Zeus, the Norse T\u00fdr, and the Sanskrit Dyaus,\nthe science of language rendered a veritable help to mythology; but\nwhere the students of language, all pointing in different directions,\nclaimed each to hold in his hand the one safety-lamp, beyond the\nrange of which the mythologist durst not take a single step except at\nthe imminent risk of breaking his neck, the help may be pronounced,\nto say the least of it, as somewhat doubtful. The anthropological\nmethod of studying myths put an end to the unequal relation between\nthe students of the two sciences, and it is now pretty well agreed\nthat the proper relationship between them is that of mutual aid. This\nwill doubtless prove the solution of the whole matter, but it would be\npremature to say that the period of strained relations is quite over,\nsince the mythologist has so recently made good his escape from the\nembarrassing attentions of the students of language, that he has not\nyet quite got out of his ears the bewildering notes of the chorus of\ndiscordant cries of 'Dawn,' 'Sun,' and 'Storm-cloud.'\n\nNow that I have touched on the friendly relations which ought to exist\nbetween the science of language and the science of myth, I may perhaps\nbe allowed to notice a point or two where it is possible or desirable\nfor the one to render service to the other. The student of language\nnaturally wants the help of the student of myth, ritual, and religion\non matters which most immediately concern his own department of study;\nand I may perhaps be excused for taking my stand on Celtic ground, and\ncalling attention to some of my own difficulties. Here is one of them:\nwhen one would say in English 'It rains' or 'It freezes,' I should have\nto say in my own language, Y mae hi'n bwrw glaw and Y mae hi'n rhewi,\nwhich literally means 'She is casting rain' and 'She is freezing.' Nor\nis this sort of locution confined to weather topics, for when you\nwould say 'He is badly off' or 'He is hard up,' a Welshman might say,\nY mae hi'n drwg arno or Y mae hi'n galed arno, that is literally,\n'She is evil on him' or 'She is hard on him.' And the same feminine\npronoun fixes itself in other locutions in the language. Now I wish\nto invoke the student of myth, ritual, and religion to help in the\nidentification of this ubiquitous 'she' of the Welsh. Whenever it is\nmentioned to Englishmen, it merely calls to their minds the Highland\n'she' of English and Scotch caricature, as for instance when Sir Walter\nScott makes Donald appeal in the following strain to Lord Menteith's\nman, Anderson, who had learnt manners in France: 'What the deil, man,\ncan she no drink after her ain master without washing the cup and\nspilling the ale, and be tamned to her!' The Highlander denies the\ncharge which our caricature tries to fasten on him; but even granting\nthat it was once to some extent justified, it is easy to explain it\nby a reference to Gaelic, where the pronouns se and sibh, for 'he'\nand 'you' respectively, approach in pronunciation the sound of the\nEnglish pronoun 'she.' This may have led to confusion in the mouths\nof Highlanders who had but very imperfectly mastered English. In any\ncase, it is far too superficial to be quoted as a parallel to the hi,\n'she,' in question in Welsh. A cautious Celtist, if such there be,\nmight warn us, before proceeding further with the search, to make sure\nthat the whole phenomenon is not a mere accident of Welsh phonetics,\nand that it is not a case of two pronouns, one meaning 'she' and\nthe other 'it,' being confounded as the result merely of phonetic\ndecay. The answer to that is, that the language knows nothing of any\nneuter pronoun which could assume the form of the hi which occupies us;\nand further, that in locutions where the legitimate representative of\nthe neuter might be expected, the pronoun used is a different one,\nef, e, meaning both 'he' and 'it,' as in \u00ef-e for \u00ef-ef, 'it is he,\nshe, it or they,' nag-e, 'not he, she, it or they,' ef a allai or\nfe allai, 'perhaps, peradventure, peut-\u00eatre, il est possible.' The\nFrench sentence suggests the analogous question, what was the original\nforce of denotation of the 'il' in such sentences as 'il fait beau,'\n'il pleut,' and 'il neige'? In such cases it now denotes nobody in\nparticular, but has it always been one of his names? French historical\ngrammar may be able, unaided, to dispose of the attenuated fortunes of\nM. Il, but we have to look for help to the student of myth and allied\nsubjects to enable us to identify the great 'she' persistently eluding\nour search in the syntax of the Welsh language. Only two feminine names\nsuggest themselves to me as in any way appropriate: one is tynghed,\n'fate or fortune,' and the other is D\u00f4n, mother of some of the most\nnebulous personages in Celtic literature.\n\nThere is, however, no evidence to show that either of them is\nreally the 'she' of whom we are in quest; but I have something to\nsay about both as illustrating the other side of the theme, how\nthe study of language may help mythology. This I have so far only\nillustrated by a reference to the equation of Zeus with Dyaus and\ntheir congeners. Within the range of Celtic legend the case is similar\nwith D\u00f4n, who figures on Welsh ground, as I have hinted, as mother\nof certain heroes of the oldest chapters of the Mabinogion. For it\nis from her that Gwydion, the bard and arch-magician, and Gofannon\nthe smith his brother, are called sons of D\u00f4n; and so in the case of\nArianrhod, daughter of D\u00f4n, mother of Llew, and owner of the sea-laved\ncastle of Caer Arianrhod, not far distant from the prehistoric mound\nof Dinas Dinlle, near the western mouth of the Menai Straits, as\nalready mentioned in another chapter, p. 208 above. In Irish legend,\nwe detect D\u00f4n under the Irish form of her name, Danu or Donu, genitive\nDanann or Donann, and she is almost singular there in always being\nstyled a divinity. From her the great mythical personages of Irish\nlegend are called Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, or 'the Goddess Danu's Tribes,'\nand sometimes Fir D\u00e9a, or 'the Men of the Divinity.' The last stage\nin the Welsh history of D\u00f4n consists of her translation to the skies,\nwhere the constellation of Cassiopeia is supposed to constitute Llys\nD\u00f4n or D\u00f4n's Court, as the Corona Borealis is identified with Caer\nArianrhod or 'the Castle of D\u00f4n's Daughter'; but, as was perhaps\nfitting, the dimensions of both are reduced to comparative littleness\nby Caer Gwydion, 'the Magician Gwydion's Battlements,' spread over the\nradiant expanse of the whole Milky Way [239]. Now the identification\nof this ancient goddess Danu or D\u00f4n as that in whom the oldest legends\nof the Irish Goidels and the Welsh Goidels converge, has been the\nwork not so much of mythology as of the science of language; for it\nwas the latter that showed how to call back a little colouring into\nthe vanishing lineaments of this faded ancestral divinity [240].\n\nFor my next illustration, namely tynghed, 'fate,' I would cite a\npassage from the opening of one of the most Celtic of Welsh stories,\nthat of Kulhwch and Olwen. Kulhwch's father, after being for some\ntime a widower, marries again, and conceals from his second wife\nthe fact that he has a son. She finds it out and lets her husband\nknow it; so he sends for his son Kulhwch, and the following is the\naccount of the son's interview with his stepmother, as given in Lady\nCharlotte Guest's translation, ii. 252:--'His stepmother said unto him,\n\"It were well for thee to have a wife, and I have a daughter who is\nsought of every man of renown in the world.\" \"I am not of an age to\nwed,\" answered the youth. Then said she unto him, \"I declare to thee,\nthat it is thy destiny not to be suited with a wife until thou obtain\nOlwen, the daughter of Yspadaden Penkawr.\" And the youth blushed,\nand the love of the maiden diffused itself through all his frame,\nalthough he had never seen her. And his father inquired of him, \"What\nhas come over thee, my son, and what aileth thee?\" \"My stepmother\nhas declared to me, that I shall never have a wife until I obtain\nOlwen, the daughter of Yspadaden Penkawr.\" \"That will be easy for\nthee,\" answered his father. \"Arthur is thy cousin. Go, therefore,\nunto Arthur to cut thy hair, and ask this of him as a boon.\"'\n\nThe physical theory of love for an unknown lady at the first mention\nof her name, and the allusion to the Celtic tonsure, will have\ndoubtless caught the reader's attention, but I only wish to speak\nof the words which the translator has rendered, 'I declare to thee,\nthat it is thy destiny not to be suited with a wife until thou obtain\nOlwen.' More closely rendered, the original might be translated thus:\n'I swear thee a destiny that thy side touch not a wife till thou\nobtain Olwen.' The word in the Welsh for destiny is tynghet (for an\nearlier tuncet), and the corresponding Irish word is attested as\ntocad. Both these words have a tendency, like 'fate,' to be used\nmostly in peiorem partem. Formerly, however, they might be freely\nused in an auspicious sense likewise, as for instance in the woman's\nname Tunccetace, on an early inscribed stone in Pembrokeshire. If her\nname had been rendered into Latin she would have probably been called\nFortunata, as a namesake of good fortune. I render the Welsh mi a\ntynghaf dynghet itt [241] into English, 'I swear thee a destiny';\nbut, more literally still, one might possibly render it 'I swear\nthee a swearing,' that is, 'I swear thee an oath,' meaning 'I swear\nfor thee an oath which will bind thee.' The stepmother, it is true,\nis not represented going through the form of words, for what she said\nappears to have been a regular formula, just like that of putting a\nperson in Medieval Irish story under gessa or bonds of magic; but an\noath or form of imprecation was once doubtless a dark reality behind\nthis formula. In the southern part of my native county of Cardigan,\nthe phrase in question has been in use within the last thirty years,\nand the practice which it denotes is still so well known as to be\nthe subject of local stories. A friend of mine, who is not yet fifty,\nvividly remembers listening to an uncle of his relating how narrowly he\nonce escaped having the oath forced on him. He was in the hilly portion\nof the parish of Llanwenog, coming home across country in the dead of a\nmidsummer's night, when leaping over a fence he unexpectedly came down\nclose to a man actively engaged in sheep-stealing. The uncle instantly\ntook to his heels, while the thief pursued him with a knife. If the\nthief had caught him, it is understood that he would have held his\nknife at his throat and forced on him an oath of secrecy. I have not\nbeen able to ascertain the wording of the oath, but all I can learn\ngoes to show that it was dreaded only less than death itself. In\nfact, there are stories current of men who failed to recover from the\neffects of the oath, but lingered and died in a comparatively short\ntime. Since I got the foregoing story I have made inquiries of others\nin South Cardiganshire, and especially of a medical friend of mine,\nwho speaks chiefly as to his native parish of Llangynllo. I found\nthat the idea is perfectly familiar to him and my other informants;\nbut, strange to say, from nobody could I gather that the illness is\nconsidered to result necessarily from the violent administration of the\ntynghed to the victim, or from the latter's disregarding the secrecy\nof it by disclosing to his friends the name of the criminal. In fact,\nI cannot discover that any such secrecy is emphasized so long as the\ncriminal is not publicly brought before a court of justice. Rather is\nit that the tynghed effects blindly the ruin of the sworn man's health,\nregardless of his conduct. At any rate, that is the interpretation\nwhich I am forced to put on what I have been told.\n\nThe phrase tyngu tynghed [242], intelligible still in Wales, recalls\nanother instance of the importance of the spoken word, to wit,\nthe Latin fatum. Nay, it seems to suggest that the latter might\nhave perhaps originally been part of some such a formula as alicui\nfatum fari, 'to say one a saying,' in the pregnant sense of applying\nto him words of power. This is all the more to the point, as it is\nwell known how closely Latin and Celtic are related to one another,\nand how every advance in the study of those languages goes to add\nemphasis to their kinship. From the kinship of the languages one may\nexpect, to a certain extent, a similarity of rites and customs, and\none has not to go further for this than the very story which I have\ncited. When Kulhwch's father first married, he is said to have sought\na gwreic kynmwyt ac ef [243], which means 'a wife of the same food\nwith him.' Thus the wedded wife was she, probably, who ate with her\nhusband, and we are reminded of the food ceremony which constituted\nthe aristocratic marriage in ancient Rome: it was called confarreatio,\nand in the course of it an offering of cake, called farreum libum,\nused to be made to Jupiter. A great French student of antiquity,\nM. Fustel de Coulanges, describes the ceremony thus [244]:--'Les\ndeux \u00e9poux, comme en Gr\u00e8ce, font un sacrifice, versent la libation,\nprononcent quelques pri\u00e8res, et mangent ensemble un g\u00e2teau de fleur\nde farine (panis farreus).' Lastly, my attention has been directed\nto the place given to bread in the stories of Llyn y Fan Fach and\nLlyn Elfarch. For on turning back to pp. 3-6, 17-8, 28, the reader\nwill find too much made of the bread to allow us to suppose that it\nhad no meaning in the courtship. The young farmer having fallen in\nlove at first sight with the lake maiden, it looks as if he wished,\nby inducing her to share the bread he was eating, to go forthwith\nthrough a form of marriage by a kind of confarreation that committed\nher to a contract to be his wife without any tedious delay.\n\nTo return to the Latin fatum, I would point out that the Romans had\na plurality of fata; but how far they were suggested by the Greek\nmoirai is not quite clear: nor is it known that the ancient Welsh had\nmore than one tynghed. In the case, however, of old Norse literature,\nwe come across the Fate there as one bearing a name which is perhaps\ncognate with the Welsh tynghed. I allude to a female figure, called\n\u00deokk, who appears in the touching myth of Balder's death. When Balder\nhad fallen at the hands of Loki and H\u00f6dr, his mother Frigg asked who\nwould like to earn her good will by going as her messenger to treat\nwith Hell for the release of Balder. Herm\u00f3dr the Swift, another\nof the sons of Woden, undertook to set out on that journey on his\nfather's charger Sleipnir. For nine dreary nights he pursued his\nperilous course without interruption, through glens dark and deep,\ntill he came to the river called Yell, when he was questioned as to\nhis errand by the maid in charge of the Yell bridge. On and on he rode\nafterwards till he came to the fence of Hell's abode, which his horse\ncleared at full speed. Herm\u00f3dr entered the hall, and there found his\nbrother Balder seated in the place of honour. He abode with him that\nnight, and in the morning he asked Hell to let Balder ride home with\nhim to the Anses. He urged Hell to consider the grief which everybody\nand everything felt for Balder. She replied that she would put that to\nthe test by letting Balder go if everything animate and inanimate would\nweep for him; but he would be detained if anybody or anything declined\nto do so. Herm\u00f3dr made his way back alone to the Anses, and announced\nto Frigg the answer which Hell had given to her request. Messengers\nwere sent forth without delay to bid all the world beweep Woden's son\nout of the power of Hell. This was done accordingly by all, by men and\nanimals, by earth and stones, by trees and all metals, 'as you have\ndoubtless seen these things weep,' says the writer of the Prose Edda,\n'when they pass from frost to warmth.' When the messengers, however,\nwere on their way home, after discharging their duty, they chanced\non a cave where dwelt a giantess called \u00deokk, whom they ordered to\njoin in the weeping for Balder; but she only answered:--\n\n\n        \u00deokk will weep dry tears\n          At Balder's bale-fire.\n        What is the son of man, quick or dead, to me!\n          Let Hell keep what she holds [245].\n\n\nIn this ogress \u00deokk, deaf to the appeals of the tenderer feelings,\nwe seem to have the counterpart of our Celtic tocad and tynghed;\nand the latter's name as a part of the formula in the Welsh story,\nwhile giving us the key of the myth, shows how the early Aryan knew of\nnothing more binding than the magic force of an oath. On the one hand,\nthis conception of destiny carries with it the marks of its humble\norigin, and one readily agrees with Cicero's words, De Divinatione,\nii. 7, when he says, anile sane et plenum superstitionis fati nomen\nipsum. On the other hand, it rises to the grim dignity of a name\nfor the dark, inexorable power which the whole universe is conceived\nto obey, a power before which the great and resplendent Zeus of the\nAryan race is a mere puppet.\n\nPerhaps I have dwelt only too long on the policy of 'give and take'\nwhich ought to obtain between mythology and glottology. Unfortunately,\none can add without fear of contradiction, that, even when that\npolicy is carried out to the utmost, both sciences will still have\ndifficulties more than enough. In the case of mythology these\ndifficulties spring chiefly from two distinct sources, from the\nblending of history with myth, and from the mixing of one race with\nanother. Let us now consider the latter: the difficulties from this\nsource are many and great, but every fresh acquisition of knowledge\ntending to make our ideas of ethnology more accurate, gives us a\nbetter leverage for placing the myths of mixed peoples in their\nproper places as regards the races composing those peoples. Still,\nwe have far fewer propositions to lay down than questions to ask:\nthus to go no further afield than the well-known stories attaching to\nthe name of Heracles, how many of them are Aryan, how many Semitic,\nand how many Aryan and Semitic at one and the same time? That is\nthe sort of question which besets the student of Celtic mythology at\nevery step; for the Celtic nations of the present day are the mixed\ndescendants of Aryan invaders and the native populations which those\nAryan invaders found in possession. So the question thrusts itself\non the student, to which of these races a particular myth, rite, or\ncustom is to be regarded as originally belonging. Take, for instance,\nBr\u00e2n's colossal figure, to which attention has already been called,\npp. 552-3 above. Br\u00e2n was too large to enter a house or go on board\na ship: is he to be regarded as the outcome of Celtic imagination,\nor of that of a people that preceded the Celts in Celtic lands? The\ncomparison with the Gaulish Tricephal would seem to point in the\ndirection of the southern seaboard of the Baltic (p. 553): what then?\n\nThe same kind of question arises in reference to the Irish hero\nC\u00fachulainn: take, for instance, the stock description of C\u00fachulainn\nin a rage. Thus when angered he underwent strange distortions: the\ncalves of his legs came round to where his shins should have been; his\nmouth enlarged itself so that it showed his liver and lungs swinging\nin his throat; one of his eyes became as small as a needle's, or else\nit sank back into his head further than a crane could have reached,\nwhile the other protruded itself to a corresponding length; every\nhair on his body became as sharp as a thorn, and held on its point a\ndrop of blood or a spark of fire. It would be dangerous then to stop\nhim from fighting, and even when he had fought enough, he required\nfor his cooling to be plunged into three baths of cold water; the\nfirst into which he went would instantly boil over, the second would\nbe too hot for anybody else to bear, and the third only would be of\ncongenial warmth. I do not ask whether that strange picture betrays\na touch of the solar brush, but I should be very glad to know whether\nit can be regarded as an Aryan creation or not.\n\nIt is much the same with matters other than mythological: take,\nfor instance, the bedlamite custom of the couvade [246], which is\npresented to us in Irish literature in the singular form of a cess,\n'suffering or indisposition,' simultaneously attacking the braves of\nancient Ulster. We are briefly informed in the Book of the Dun Cow,\nfo. 60a, that the women and boys of Ulster were free from it. So was\nany Ultonian, we are told, who happened to be outside the boundaries\nof his country, and so were C\u00fachulainn and his father, even when\nin Ulster. Any one who was rash enough to attack an Ultonian warrior\nduring this his period of helplessness could not, it is further stated,\nexpect to live afterwards either prosperously or long. The question for\nus, however, is this: was the couvade introduced by the Aryan invaders\nof Ireland, or are we rather to trace it to an earlier race? I should\nbe, I must confess, inclined to the latter view, especially as the\ncouvade was known among the Iberians of old, and among the ancient\nCorsicans [247]. It may, of course, have been both Aryan and Iberian,\nbut it will all the same serve as a specimen of the sort of question\nwhich one has to try to answer.\n\nAnother instance, the race origin of which one would like to ascertain,\noffers itself in the curious belief, that, when a child is born, it is\none of the ancestors of the family come back to live again. Traces of\nthis occur in Irish literature, namely, in one of the stories about\nC\u00fachulainn. There we read to the following effect:--The Ultonians\ntook counsel on account of C\u00fachulainn, because their wives and girls\nloved him greatly; for C\u00fachulainn had no consort at that time. This\nwas their counsel, namely, that they should seek for C\u00fachulainn a\nconsort pleasing to him to woo. For it was evident to them that a man\nwho has the consort of his companionship with him would be so much\nthe less likely to attempt the ruin of their girls and to receive\nthe affection of their wives. Then, moreover, they were anxious\nand afraid lest the death of C\u00fachulainn should take place early,\nso they were desirous for that reason to give him a wife in order\nthat he might leave an heir; for they knew that it was from himself\nthat his rebirth (athgein) would be. That is what one reads in the\neleventh-century copy of the ancient manuscript of the Book of the\nDun Cow, fo. 121b; and this atavistic belief, which was touched upon\nin connexion with the transformations discussed in the last chapter,\nI need scarcely say, is well known elsewhere to the anthropologist,\nas one will find on consulting the opening pages of Dr. Tylor's second\nvolume on Primitive Culture. He there mentions the idea as familiar\nto American Indians, to various African peoples, to the Maoris and\nthe aborigines of Australia, to Cheremiss Tartars and Lapps. Among\nsuch nations the words of Don Di\u00e8gue to his victorious son, the Cid,\ncould hardly fail to be construed in a sort of literal sense when\nhe exclaims:--\n\n\n        ............ ton illustre audace\n        Fait bien revivre en toi les h\u00e9ros de ma race.\n\n\nLet us return to C\u00fachulainn, and note the statement, that he and his\nfather, Sualdaim, were exempt from the couvade, which marks them out\nas not of the same race as the Ultonians, that is to say, as the\nF\u00edr Ulaid, or 'True Ultonians'--presumably ancient inhabitants of\nUlster. Furthermore, we have an indication whence his family had come,\nfor C\u00fachulainn's first name was Setanta Beg, 'the Little Setantian,'\nwhich points to the coast of what is now Lancashire, as already\nindicated at p. 385 above. Another thing which marks C\u00fachulainn as\nof a different racial origin from the other Ultonians is the belief\nof the latter, that his rebirth must be from himself. The meaning of\nthis remarkable statement is that there were two social systems face\nto face in Ulster at the time represented by the C\u00fachulainn story, and\nthat one of them recognized fatherhood, while the other did not. Thus\nfor C\u00fachulainn's rebirth to be from himself, he must be the father\nof a child from whom should descend a man who would be a rebirth or\navatar of C\u00fachulainn. The other system implied was one which reckoned\ndescent by birth alone [248]; and the C\u00fachulainn story gives one the\nimpression that it contemplated this system as the predominant one,\nwhile the C\u00fachulainn family, with its reckoning of fatherhood, comes\nin as an exception. At all events, that is how I now understand a\npassage, the full significance of which had till recently escaped me.\n\nAllusion has already been made to the story of C\u00fachulainn being\nhimself a rebirth, namely, of Lug, and the story deserves still\nfurther consideration in its bearing on the question of race,\nto which the reader's attention has been called. It is needless,\nhowever, to say that there are extant fragments of more stories than\none as to C\u00fachulainn's origin. Sometimes, as in the Book of Leinster,\nfo. 119a, he is called gein Loga, or Lug's offspring, and in the epic\ntale of the T\u00e1in B\u00f3 Cuailnge, Lug as his father comes from the S\u00edd or\nFaery to take C\u00fachulainn's place in the field, when the latter was\nworn out with sleeplessness and toil. Lug sings over him \u00e9li Loga,\nor 'Lug's enchantment,' and C\u00fachulainn gets the requisite rest and\nsleep [249]: this we read in the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 78a. In\nanother version of the story, C\u00fachulainn is an incarnation of Lug:\nthe narrative relates how a foster-son was accepted by Dechtere,\nsister to Conchobar MacNessa, king of Ulster. But her foster-son died\nyoung, to the great grief of Dechtere; and her lamentations for him\non the day of his funeral having made her thirsty, she inadvertently\nswallowed with her drink a diminutive creature which sprang into her\nmouth. That night she had a dream, in which a man informed her that\nshe was pregnant, that it was he who was in her womb, that he had been\nher foster-son, and that he was Lug; also that when his birth should\ntake place, the name was to be Setanta. After an incident which I can\nonly regard as a clumsy attempt to combine the more primitive legend\nwith the story which makes him son of Sualdaim, she gives birth to the\nboy, and he is duly called Setanta [250]: that was C\u00fachulainn's first\nname. Now compare this with what Dr. Tylor mentions in the case of\nthe Lapps, namely, that 'the future mother was told in a dream what\nname to give her child, this message being usually given her by the\nvery spirit of the deceased ancestor, who was about to be incarnate\nin her [251].' If the mother got no such intimation in a dream, the\nrelatives of the child had to have recourse to magic and the aid of\nthe wise man, to discover the name to be given to the child.\n\nHere let it suffice to say, that the similarity is so close between\nthe Irish and the Lapp idea, and so unlike anything known to have\nbeen Aryan, that it is well worth bearing in mind. The belief in\nrebirth generally seems to fit as a part of the larger belief in the\ntransmigration of souls which is associated with the teachings of the\nancient druids, a class of shamans or medicine-men who were probably,\nas already hinted, not of Celtic or Aryan origin; and probably the\nbeliefs here in question were those of some non-Aryan people of these\nislands, rather than of any Aryans who settled in them. This view need\nhardly be regarded as incompatible with the fact, that Lug's name,\ngenitive Loga, would seem to have meant light, and that Lug was a\nsun-god, very possibly a Celtic sun-god: or more correctly speaking,\nthat there was a series of Lugs, so to say, or sun-gods, called in\nancient Spain, Switzerland, and on the banks of the Rhine, Lugoves\n[252]. For one is sorely tempted to treat this much as a rescue from\nthe wreckage of the solar myth theory, as against those who, having\nregard mainly to Lug's professional skill and craft as described in\nIrish story, make of him a kind of Hermes or Mercury. In other words,\nwe have either to regard a Celtic Lug as having become the centre of\ncertain non-Celtic legends, or else to suppose neither Lug nor his\nname to be of Aryan origin at all. It is hard to say which is the\nsounder view to take.\n\nThe next question which I wish to suggest is as to the ethnology\nof the fairies; but before coming to that, one has to ask how the\nfairies have been evolved. The idea of fairies, such as Welshmen have\nbeen familiar with from their childhood, clearly involves elements of\ntwo distinct origins. Some of those elements come undoubtedly from\nthe workshop of the imagination, as, for example, the stock notion\nthat their food and drink are brought to the fairies by the mere\nforce of wishing, and without the ministration of servants; or the\nnotion, especially prevalent in Arfon, that the fairies dwell in a\ncountry beneath the lakes of Snowdon; not to mention the more general\nconnexion of a certain class of fairies with the world of waters,\nas indicated in chapter vii. Add to this that the dead ancestor has\nalso probably contributed to our bundle of notions about them; but\nthat contains also an element of fact or something which may at any\nrate be conceived as historical. Under this head I should place the\nfollowing articles of faith concerning them: the sallowness of their\nskins and the smallness of their stature, their dwelling underground,\ntheir dislike of iron, and the comparative poverty of their homes in\nthe matter of useful articles of furniture, their deep-rooted objection\nto the green sward being broken up by the plough, the success of the\nfairy wife in attending to the domestic animals and to the dairy, the\nlimited range generally of the fairies' ability to count; and lastly,\none may perhaps mention their using a language of their own (p. 279),\nwhich would imply a time when the little people understood no other,\nand explain why they should be represented doing their marketing\nwithout uttering a syllable to anybody (p. 161).\n\nThe attribution of these and similar characteristics to the fairies\ncan scarcely be all mere feats of fancy and imagination: rather do they\nseem to be the result of our ancestors projecting on an imaginary world\na primitive civilization through which tradition represented their\nown race as having passed, or, more probably, a civilization in which\nthey saw, or thought they saw, another race actually living. Let us\nrecur for examples also to the two lake legends which have just been\nmentioned (p. 650): in both of them a distinction is drawn between\nthe lake fairy's notion of bread and that of the men and women of the\ncountry. To the fairy the latter's bread appeared crimped or overbaked:\npossibly the backward civilization, to which she was supposed to\nbelong, was content to support itself on some kind of unleavened bread,\nif not rather on a fare which included nothing deserving to be called\nbread at all. Witness Giraldus Cambrensis' story of Eliodorus, in which\nbread is conspicuous by its absence, the nearest approach to it being\nsomething of the consistency of porridge: see p. 270 above. Then take\nanother order of ideas: the young man in both lake legends lives with\nhis mother (pp. 3, 27): there is no father to advise or protect him:\nhe is in this respect on a level with Undine, who is the protegee of\nher tiresome uncle, K\u00fchleborn. Seemingly, he belongs to a primitive\nsociety where matriarchal ideas rule, and where paternity is not\nreckoned [253]. This we are at liberty at all events to suppose to\nhave been the original, before the narrator had painted the mother\na widow, and given the picture other touches of his later brush.\n\nTo speak, however, of paternity as merely not reckoned is by no means\nto go far enough; so here we have to return to take another look at\nthe imaginary aspect of the fairies, to which a cursory allusion has\njust been made. The reader will possibly recall the sturdy smith of\nYstrad Meurig, who would not reduce the notions which he had formed of\nthe fairies when he was a child to conformity with those of a later\ngeneration around him. In any case, he will remember the smith's\nstatement that the fairies were all women: see p. 245. The idea was\nalready familiar to me as a Welshman, though I cannot recollect how\nI got it. But the smith's words brought to my mind at once the story\nof Condla R\u00faad or the Red, one of the fairy tales first recorded in\nIrish literature (p. 291). There the damsel who takes Condla away in\nher boat of glass to the realm of the Everliving sings the praises of\nthat delectable country, and uses, among others, the following words,\nwhich occur in the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 120:--\n\n\n        Ni fil cenel and namm\u00e1 acht mn\u00e1 ocus ingena [254].\n\n        There is no race there but women and maidens alone.\n\n\nNow what people could have come by the idea of a race of women\nonly? Surely no people who considered that they themselves had fathers:\nit must have been some community so low in the scale of civilization\nas never to have had any notion whatsoever of paternity: it is their\nignorance that would alone render possible the notion of a race all\nwomen. That this was a matter of belief in the past of many nations,\nis proved by the occurrence of widely known legends about virgin\nmothers [255]; not to mention that it has been lately established,\nthat there are savages who to this day occupy the low place here\nindicated in the scale of civilization. Witness the evidence of Spencer\nand Gillen in their recently published work on The Native Tribes of\nCentral Australia, and also what Frazer, author of The Golden Bough,\nsays of a passage in point, in the former, as follows:--\n\n'Thus, in the opinion of these savages, every conception is what we\nare wont to call an immaculate conception, being brought about by the\nentrance into the mother of a spirit apart from any contact with the\nother sex. Students of folklore have long been familiar with notions\nof this sort occurring in the stories of the birth of miraculous\npersonages, but this is the first case on record of a tribe who\nbelieve in immaculate conception as the sole cause of the birth of\nevery human being who comes into the world. A people so ignorant of\nthe most elementary of natural processes may well rank at the very\nbottom of the savage scale [256].'\n\nNevertheless, it is to some population in that low position, in the\nremote prehistory of this country, that one is to trace the belief\nthat the fairies were all women. It is to be regarded as a position\ndistinctly lower than that of the Ultonians in the time of C\u00fachulainn;\nfor the couvade seems to me to argue a notion of paternity--perhaps,\nin their case, as clear a notion of paternity as was possible for a\ncommunity which was not quite out of the promiscuous stage of society.\n\nThe neo-Celtic nations of these islands consist, speaking roughly,\nof a mixture of the invading Celts with the earlier inhabitants whom\nthe Celts found in possession. These two or more groups of peoples may\nhave been in very different stages of civilization when they first came\nin contact with one another. They agreed doubtless in many things,\nand perhaps, among others, in cherishing an inherited reluctance to\ndisclose their names, but the Celts as Aryans were never without the\ndecimal system of counting. Like the French, the Celtic nations of\nthe present day show a tendency, more or less marked, to go further\nand count by scores instead of by tens. But the Welsh are alone among\nthem in having, in certain instances, gone back from counting by tens\nto counting by fives, which they do when they count between 10 and\n20: for 16, 17, 18, and 19 are in Welsh 1 on 15, 2 on 15, 3 on 15,\nand 4 on 15 respectively; and similarly with 13 and 14 [257]. We have\nseen how the lake fairy reckoned by fives (pp. 8, 418) all the live\nstock she was to have as her dowry; and one otherwise notices that\nthe fairies deal invariably in the simplest of numbers. Thus if you\nwish, for example, to find a person who has been led away by them,\nten to one you have to go 'this day next year' to the spot where he\ndisappeared. Except in the case of the alluring light of the full\nmoon, it is out of the question to reckon months or weeks, though\nit is needless to say that to reckon the year correctly would have\nbeen in point of fact far more difficult; but nothing sounds simpler\nthan 'this day next year.' In that simple arithmetic of the fairies,\nthen, we seem to have a trace of a non-Aryan race, that is to say,\nprobably of some early inhabitants of these islands.\n\nUnfortunately, the language of those inhabitants has died out, so\nthat we cannot appeal to its numerals directly; and the next best\ncourse to adopt is to take as a sort of substitute for their language\nthat of possible kinsmen of a pre-Celtic race in this country. Now the\nstudents of ethnology, especially those devoted to the investigation of\nskulls and skins, tell us that we have among us, notably in Wales and\nIreland, living representatives of a dark-haired, long-skulled race of\nthe same description as one of the types which occur, as they allege,\namong the Basque populations of the Pyrenees. We turn accordingly to\nBasque, and what do we find? Why, that the first five numerals in that\nlanguage are bat, bi, iru, lau, bost, all of which appear to be native;\nbut when we come to the sixth numeral we have sei, which looks like an\nAryan word borrowed from Latin, Gaulish, or some related tongue. The\ncase is much the same with 'seven,' for that is in Basque zazpi,\nwhich is also probably an Aryan loan-word. Basque has native words,\nzortzi and bederatzi, for eight and nine, but they are longer than\nthe first five, and appear to be of a later formation affecting, in\ncommon with sei and zazpi, the termination i. I submit, therefore,\nthat here we have evidence of the former existence of a people in the\nWest of Europe who at one time only counted as far as five. Some of\nthe early peoples of the British Isles may have been on the same level,\nso that our notions about the fairies have probably been derived, to a\ngreater or less extent, from ideas formed by the Celts concerning those\nnon-Celtic, non-Aryan natives of whose country they took possession.\n\nAs regards my appeal to the authority of craniology, I have to confess\nthat it is made with a certain amount of reservation, since the case\nis far less simple than it looks at first sight. Thus, in August,\n1891, the Cambrian Arch\u00e6ological Association, including among them\nProfessor Sayce, visited the south-west of Ireland. During our pleasant\nexcursions in Kerry, the question of race was one of our constant\ntopics; and Professor Sayce was reminded by what he saw in Ireland\nof his visit to North Africa, especially the hilly regions of the\ncountry inhabited by the Berbers. Among other things, he used to say\nthat if a number of Berbers from the mountains were to be brought to\nan Irish village and clad as Irishmen, he felt positive that he should\nnot be able to tell them from the Irishmen themselves, such as we saw\non our rambles in Kerry. This struck me as all the more remarkable,\nsince his reference was to fairly tall, blue-eyed men whose hair could\nnot be called black. On the other hand, owing perhaps to ignorance\nand careless ways of looking at things around me, I am a little\nsceptical as to the swarthy long-skulls: they did not seem to meet\nus at every turn in Ireland; and as for Wales, which I know as well\nas most people do, I cannot in my ignorance of craniology say with\nany confidence that I have ever noticed vast numbers of that type. I\nshould like, however, to see the heads of some of the singers whom\nI have noticed at our Eistedfodau at Cardiff, Aberdare, and Swansea,\nplaced under the hands of an experienced skull-man. For I have long\nsuspected that we cannot regard as of Aryan origin the vocal talent\nso general in Wales, and so conspicuous in our choirs of working\npeople as to astonish all the great musicians who have visited our\nnational festival. Beyond all doubt, race has not a little to do with\nthe artistic feelings: a short-skull may be as unmusical, for example,\nas I am; but has anybody in this country ever known a narrow long-skull\nto be the reverse of unmusical? or has any one ever considered how few\nclergymen of the tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed type have been converted\nto the ritualistic and \u00e6sthetic movement in the Church of England?\n\nAs it seems to me that the bulk of the Welsh people would have to be\ndescribed as short-skulls, it would be very gratifying to see those\nwho are wont to refer freely to the dark-complexioned long-skulls\nof Wales catch a respectable number of specimens. I trust there are\nplenty to be found; and of course I do not care how they are taken,\nwhether it be by an instantaneous process of photography or in the\nmeshes of some anthropometric sportsman, like Dr. Beddoe. Let them\nbe secured anyhow, so that one may rest assured that the type is\nstill numerically safe, and be able to judge with one's own eyes how\nheads long and swarthy look on the shoulders of living Welshmen. We\nmight then be in a position also to compare with them the prevalent\ndescription of fairy changelings; for when the fairies steal nice,\nblond babies, they usually place in their stead their own aged-looking\nbrats with short legs, sallow skins, and squeaky voices. Unfortunately\nfor me, all the adult changelings of whom I happen to have heard any\naccount had died some years before I began to turn my attention to\nthe population of Faery, with the exception, perhaps, of one whose\nname I obtained under the seal of secrecy. It was that of the wife of\na farmer living near Nefyn, in West Carnarvonshire. It was whispered\nthat she was a changeling, so I am inclined to regard her as no other\nthan one of the representatives of the same aboriginal stock to which\none might conjecture some of her neighbours also to belong; she ought\nto be an extreme specimen of the type. It is to be hoped that the\nphotographer and his anthropometric brother have found her out in\ntime and in good humour; but it is now many years since I heard of her.\n\nTo return again to the fairies, some of them are described as\nmore comely and good-looking than the rest (pp. 83, 250), but\nthe fairy women are always pictured as fascinating, though their\noffspring as changelings are as uniformly presented in the light\nof repulsive urchins; but whole groups of the fairy population are\nsometimes described as being as ugly of face as they were thievish\nin disposition--those, for instance, of Llanfabon, in Glamorganshire\n(p. 262). There is one district, however, which is an exception to the\ntenor of fairy physiognomy: it is that of the Pennant neighbourhood, in\nCarnarvonshire, together with the hills and valleys, roughly speaking,\nfrom Cwm Strallyn to Llwytmor and from Drws y Coed to Dolbenmaen. The\nfairies of that tract are said to have been taller than the others,\nand characterized by light or even flaxen hair, together with eyes of\nclear blue: see pp. 89, 93-7, 105-8. Nor is that all, for we are told\nthat they would not let a person of dark complexion come near them\n(p. 96). The other fairies, when kidnapping, it is true, preferred\nthe blond infants of other people to their own swarthy brats, which,\nperhaps, means that it was a policy of their people to recruit itself\nwith men of the superior physique of the more powerful population\naround them. The supposed fairy ancestress of the people of the Pennant\nValley bears, in the stories in point, such names as Penelope, Bella,\nPelisha, and Sibi, while her descendants are still taunted with their\ndescent--a quarrel which, within living memory, used to be fought\nout with fists at the fairs at Penmorfa and elsewhere. This seems to\nindicate a comparatively late settlement [258] in the district of a\nfamily or group of families from without, and an origin, therefore,\nsomewhat similar to that of the Simychiaid and Cowperiaid (p. 67) of a\nmore eastern portion of the same county, rather than anything deserving\nto be considered with the rest of the annals of Faery. Passing by\nthis oasis, then, such snap-shot photographs as I have been able\nto take, so to speak, of fairyland cleared of the glamour resting\non its landscape, seem to disclose to the eye a swarthy population\nof short stumpy men occupying the most inaccessible districts of\nour country. They appear to have cared more for soap than clothing\n[259], and they lived on milk taken once a day, when they could\nget it. They probably fished and hunted, and kept domestic animals,\nincluding, perhaps, the pig; but they depended largely on what they\ncould steal at night or in misty weather. Their thieving, however,\nwas not resented, as their visits were believed to bring luck and\nprosperity (p. 251). Their communities formed as it were islands,\nowing to the country round about them having been wrested from them\nby later comers of a more warlike disposition and provided with better\nweapons. But the existence of the scattered groups of the fairies was\nin no danger of coming to a violent end: they were safe in consequence\nof the superstitious beliefs of their stronger neighbours, who probably\nregarded them as formidable magicians, powerful, among other things,\nto cause or to cure disease as they pleased. Such, without venturing\nto refresh my memory by perusing what has been written about dwarf\nraces in other parts of the world, are the impressions made on my mind\nin the course of analysing and sifting the folklore materials crowded\ninto this volume. That applies, of course, in so far only as regards\nthe fairies in their character of a real people as distinguished from\nthem as creatures of the imagination. But, as I have no wish to earn\nthe displeasure of my literary friends, let me hasten to say that I\nacknowledge the latter, the creatures of the imagination, to be the\ntrue fairies, the admiration of one's childhood and the despair of\none's later years: the other folk--the aborigines whom I have been\ntrying to depict--form only a sort of substratum, a kind of background\nto the fairy picture, which I should be the last man to wish to mar.\n\nIt is needless to say that we have no trace of any fairies approaching\nthe minute dimensions of Shakespeare's Queen Mab; for, after all,\nour fairies are mostly represented as not extravagantly unlike other\npeople in personal appearance--not so unlike, in fact, that other folk\nmight not be mistaken for them now and then as late as the latter\npart of the fifteenth century. Witness the following passage from\nSir John Wynne's History of the Gwydir Family, p. 74:--\n\n'Haveing purchased this lease, he removed his dwelling to the castle\nof Dolwydelan, which at that time was in part thereof habitable,\nwhere one Howell ap Jevan ap Rys Gethin, in the beginning of Edward\nthe Fourth his raigne, captaine of the countrey and an outlaw, had\ndwelt. Against this man David ap Jenkin rose, and contended with him\nfor the sovreignety of the countrey; and being superiour to him,\nin the end he drew a draught for him, and took him in his bed at\nPenanmen with his concubine, performing by craft, what he could\nnot by force, and brought him to Conway Castle. Thus, after many\nbickerings betweene Howell and David ap Jenkin, he being too weake,\nwas faigne to flie the countrey, and to goe to Ireland, where he was\na yeare or thereabouts. In the end he returned in the summer time,\nhaveing himselfe, and all his followers clad in greene, who, being\ncome into the countrey, he dispersed here and there among his friends,\nlurking by day, and walkeing in the night for feare of his adversaries;\nand such of the countrey as happened to have a sight of him and his\nfollowers, said they were the fairies, and soe ran away.'\n\nBut what has doubtless helped, above all other things, to perpetuate\nthe belief in the existence of fairies may be said to be the popular\nassociation with them of the circles in the grass, commonly known\nin English as fairy rings. This phenomenon must have answered\nfor ages the purpose for our ancestors, practically speaking, of\nocular demonstration, as it still does no doubt in many a rustic\nneighbourhood.\n\nThe most common name for the fairies in Welsh is y Tylwyth Teg,\n'the Fair or Beautiful Family'; but in South Cardiganshire we have\nfound them called Plant Rhys Dwfn, 'the Children of Rhys the Deep'\n(pp. 151, 158), while in Gwent and Morgannwg they are more usually\nknown as Bendith y Mamau, 'the Blessing of the Mothers' (p. 174). Our\nfourteenth century poet, D. ab Gwilym, uses the first-mentioned term,\nTylwyth Teg, in poem xxxix, and our prose literature has a word corr,\ncor in the sense of a dwarf, and corres for a she dwarf. The old\nCornish had also cor, which in Breton is written korr [260], with a\nfeminine korrez, and among the other derivatives one finds korrik,\n'a dwarf, a fairy, a wee little sorcerer,' and korrigez or korrigan,\n'a she dwarf, a fairy woman, a diminutive sorceress.' The use of\nthese words in Breton recalls the case of the cor, called Rhudlwm\nor else Eidilig, teaching his magic to Coll, son of Collfrewi:\nsee pp. 326, 503, 505. Then we have uncanny dwarfs in the romances,\nsuch, for example, as the rude cor in the service of Edern ab Nud,\nas described in French in Chr\u00e9tien's romance of Erec et Enide and in\nWelsh in that of Gereint vab Erbin, also the cor and corres who figure\nin the story of Peredur. The latter had belonged to that hero's father\nand mother till the break-up of the family, when the dwarfs went to\nArthur's Court, where they lived a whole year without speaking to\nanybody. When, however, Peredur made his rustic appearance there,\nthey hailed him loudly as the chief of warriors and the flower of\nknighthood, which brought on them the wrath of Cai, on whom they were\neventually avenged by Peredur. In the case [261] of both Edern and\nPeredur we find the dwarfs loyally interested in the fortunes of their\nmasters and their masters' friends. With them also the shape-shifting\nMenw, though not found placed in the same unfavourable light, is\nprobably to be ranged, as one may gather from his name and his r\u00f4le\nof wizard scout for Arthur's men (p. 510). In the like attachment on\nthe part of the fairies, which was at times liable to develop into\ndevotedness of an embarrassing nature (p. 250), we seem to have one of\nthe germs of the idea of a household fairy or banshee, as illustrated\nby the case of the ugly wee woman in the Pantannas legend (p. 188);\nand it seems natural to regard the interested voices in the Kenfig\nlegend, and other stories of the same kind (p. 452), as instances of\namalgamating the idea of a fairy with that of an ancestral person.\n\nAt all events, we have obtained something to put by the side of the\ninstances already noticed of the fairy girl who gives, against her will\nat first, her services in the dairy of her captor (pp. 45, 87); of the\nother fairy who acts as a nurse for a family in the Pennant Valley,\ntill she is asked to dress better (p. 109); and of Bwca'r Trwyn who\nworks willingly and well, both at the house and in the field, till\nhe has tricks played on him (pp. 593-6). To make this brief survey\ncomplete, one has to mention the fairies who used to help Eilian\nwith her spinning (pp. 211-3), and not to omit those who were found\nto come to the rescue of a woman in despair and to assist her on the\ncondition of getting her baby. The motive here is probably not to be\nconfounded with that of the fairies who stealthily exchanged babies:\nthe explanation seems in this case to be that the fairies, or some of\nthe fairies, were once regarded as cannibals, which is countenanced by\nsuch a story as that of Canrig Bwt, 'Canrig the Stumpy.' At Llanberis\nthe latter is said to have lived beneath the huge stone called y\nGromlech, 'the Dolmen,' opposite Cwmglas and near the high-road to\nthe Pass. When the man destined to dispatch her came, she was just\nfinishing her dinner off a baby's flesh. There are traces of a similar\nstory in another district, for a writer who published in the year 1802\nuses the following words:--'There was lately near Cerrig y Drudion,\nin Merionethshire, a subterraneous room composed of large stones,\nwhich was called Carchar Cynric Rwth, i. e. \"The Prison of Cynric\nRwth,\" which has been taken notice of by travellers.' Cynric Rwth\nmay be rendered 'Cynric the Greedy or Broad-mouthed.' A somewhat\nsimilar ogress is located by another story on the high ground at\nBwlch y Rhiw Felen, on the way from Llangollen to Llandegla, and she\nis represented by the local tradition as contemporary with Arthur\n[262]. I am inclined to think the Cwmglas cromlech natural rather than\nartificial; but I am, however, struck by the fact that the fairies are\nnot unfrequently located on or near ancient sites, such as seem to\nbe Corwrion (pp. 57, 526), the margin of Llyn Irdyn (pp. 148, 563),\nBryn y Pibion (pp. 212-4), Dinllaen (p. 227), Carn Bod\u00fcan (p. 227),\non which there are, I am told, walls and hut foundations similar to\nthose which I have recently seen on Carn Fadrun in the same district,\nMoedin camp (p. 245), and, perhaps, Ynys Geinon Rock and the immediate\nvicinity of Craig y Nos, neither of which, however, have I ever visited\n(p. 254). Local acquaintance with each fairy centre would very possibly\nenable one to produce a list that would be suggestive.\n\nIn passing one may point out that the uncanny dwarf of Celtic story\nwould seem to have served, in one way or another, as a model for\nother dwarfs in the French romances and the literatures of other\nnations that came under the influence of those romances, such as that\nof the English. But the subject is too large to be dealt with here;\nso I return to the word cor, in order to recall to the reader's mind\nthe allusion made, at p. 196, to a certain people called Coranneit or\nCoranyeit, pronounced in later Welsh Cor\u00e1niaid, 'Corannians.' They come\nin the Adventure of Ll\u00fbd and Llevelys, and there they have ascribed\nto them one of the characteristics of consummate magicians, namely,\nthe power of hearing any word that comes in contact with the wind;\nso it was, we are told, impossible to harm them. Ll\u00fbd, however, was\nadvised to circumvent them in the following manner:--he was to bruise\ncertain insects in water and sprinkle the water on the Corannians and\nhis own people indiscriminately, after calling them together under\nthe pretence of making peace between them; for the sprinkling would\ndo no harm to his own subjects, while it would kill the others. This\nunholy water proved effective, and the Corannians all perished. Now\nthe magic power ascribed to them, and the method of disposing of them,\ncombine to lend them a fabulous aspect, while their name, inseparable\nas it seems from cor, 'a dwarf,' warrants us in treating them as\nfairies, and in regarding their strange characteristics as induced\non a real people. If we take this view, that Coraniaid was the name\nof a real people, we are at liberty to regard it as possible, that\ntheir name suggested to the Celts the word cor for a dwarf, rather\nthan that cor has suggested the name of the Corannians. In either\ncase, I may mention that Welsh writers have sometimes thought--and\nthey are probably right--that we have a closely related word in the\nname of Ptolemy's Coritani or Coritavi. He represents the people so\ncalled as dwelling, roughly speaking, between the Trent and Norfolk,\nand possessed of the two towns of Lindum, 'Lincoln,' and Rat\u00e6 (p. 547),\nsupposed to have been Leicester. There we should have accordingly to\nsuppose the old race to have survived so long and in such numbers,\nthat the Celtic lords of southern Britain called the people of that\narea by a name meaning dwarfs. There also they may be conjectured\nto have had quiet from invaders from the Continent, because of the\ninaccessible nature of the fens, and the lack of inviting harbours\non the coast from the country of the Iceni up to the neighbourhood\nof the Humber. How far their territory extended inland from the\nfens and the sea one cannot say, but it possibly took in one-half\nof what is now Northamptonshire, with the place called Pytchley,\nfrom an older Pihtes L\u00e9a, meaning the Meadow of the Pict, or else\nof a man named Pict. In any case it included Croyland in the fens\nbetween Peterborough and the Wash. It was there, towards the end of\nthe seventh century, that St. Guthlac built his cell on the side of an\nancient mound or tumulus, and it was there he was assailed by demons\nwho spoke Bryttisc or Brythonic, a language which the saint knew, as\nhe had been an exile among Brythons. For this he had probably not to\ntravel far; and it is remarkable that his father's cognomen or surname\nwas Penwall, which we may regard as approximately the Brythonic for\n'Wall's End.' That is to say, he was 'So-and-so of the Wall's End,'\nand had got to be known by the latter designation instead of his own\nnomen, which is not recorded, for the reason, possibly, that it was\nso Brythonic as not to admit of being readily reduced into an Anglian\nor Latin form. It is not quite certain that he belonged to the royal\nrace of Mercia, whose genealogy, however, boasts such un-English names\nas Pybba, Penda, and Peada; but the life [263] states, with no little\nemphasis, that he was a man whose pedigree included the most noble\nnames of illustrious kings from the ancient stock of Icel: that is,\nhe was one of the Iclingas or Icklings [264]. Here one is tempted\nto perpetrate a little glottologic alchemy by changing l into n,\nand to suppose Iclingas the form taken in English by the name of\nthe ancient people of the Iceni. In any case, nothing could be more\nreasonable to suppose than that some representatives of the royal\nrace of Prasutagus and Boudicca, escaping the sword of the Roman,\nfound refuge among the Coritanians at the time of the final defeat\nof their own people: it is even possible that they were already the\nruling family there. At all events several indications converge to\nshow that communities speaking Brythonic were not far off, to wit,\nthe p names in the Mercian genealogy, Guthlac's father's surname,\nGuthlac's exile among Brythons, and the attack on him at Croyland by\nBrythonic speaking foes. Portions of the Coritanian territory were\neminently fitted by nature to serve as a refuge for a broken people\nwith a belated language: witness as late as the eleventh century the\nstand made in the Isle of Ely by Hereward against the Norman conqueror\nand his mail-clad knights [265].\n\nAmong the speakers of Goidelic in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland\nthe fairies take their designation chiefly from a word s\u00edd or s\u00edth\n(genitive s\u00edde or s\u00edda), which one may possibly consider as of a common\norigin with the Latin word sedes, and as originally meaning a seat or\nsettlement, but it sooner or later came to signify simply an abode\nof the fairies, whence they were called in Medieval Irish aes s\u00edde,\n'fairy folk,' fer s\u00edde, 'a fairy man,' and ben s\u00edde, 'a fairy woman\nor banshee.' By the side of s\u00edd, an adjective s\u00edde, 'of or belonging\nto the s\u00edd,' appears to have been formed, so that they are found also\ncalled simply s\u00edde, as in Fiacc's Hymn, where we are told that before\nthe advent of St. Patrick the pagan tribes of Erin used to worship\ns\u00edde or fairies [266]. Borrowed from this, or suggested by it [267],\nwe have in Welsh Caer Sidi, 'the Fortress of the Fairies,' which is\nmentioned twice in the Book of Taliessin [268]. It first occurs at\nthe end of poem xiv, where we have the following lines, which recall\nIrish descriptions of T\u00edr na n\u00d3g or the Land of the Young:--\n\n\n        Ys kyweir vyg kadeir ygkaer sidi.\n        Nys pla6d heint a heneint a uo yndi.\n        Ys gwyr mana6yt a phryderi.\n        Teir oryan y am tan agan recdi.\n        Ac am y banneu ffrydyeu g6eilgi.\n        Ar ffynnha6n ffr6ythla6n yssyd oduchti.\n        Ys whegach nor g6in g6yn yllyn yndi.\n\n        Perfect is my seat in the fort of Sidi,\n        Nor pest nor age plagues him who dwells therein:\n        Manawydan and Pryderi know it.\n        Three organs play before it about a fire.\n        Around its corners Ocean's currents flow,\n        And above it is the fertile fountain,\n        And sweeter than white wine is the drink therein.\n\n\nThe wine is elsewhere mentioned, but the arrangement of the organs\naround a fire requires explanation, which I cannot give. The fortress\nis on an island, and in poem xxx of the Book of Taliessin we read\nof Arthur and his men sailing thither in his ship Prydwen: the poem\nis usually called the 'Spoils of Annwn,' and the lines in point\nrun thus:--\n\n\n        Bu kyweir karchar g6eir ygkaer sidi.\n        Tr6y ebostol p6yll aphryderi.\n        Neb kyn noc ef nyt aeth idi.\n        Yr gad6yn tromlas kywirwas ae ketwi.\n        Arac preideu ann6fyn tost yt geni.\n        Ac yt ura6t paraha6t ynbard wedi.\n        Tri lloneit prytwen yd aetham ni idi.\n        Nam seith ny dyrreith o gaer sidi.\n\n        Perfect was the prison of Gwair in Caer Sidi,\n        Thanks to Pwyll and Pryderi's emissary.\n        Before him no one entered into it,\n        To the heavy, dark chain held by a faithful youth;\n        And before the spoils of Annwn sorely he sang,\n        And thenceforth remains he till doom a bard.\n        Three freights of Prydwen went we thither,\n        But only seven returned from Caer Sidi.\n\n\nThe incidents in these lines are mostly unintelligible to me, but the\nincarceration of Gweir or Gwair, together with other imprisonments,\nincluding that of Arthur in Caer Oeth and Anoeth (p. 619), are\nmentioned also in the Triads: see i. 50, ii. 7, 49, iii. 61. It is not\nimprobable that the legend about Gwair located his prison on Lundy,\nas the Welsh name of that island appears to have been Ynys Wair,\n'Gwair's Isle.' Pwyll and Pryderi did not belong to Annwn, nor did\nPryderi's friend Manawydan; but the Mabinogi of Pwyll relates how\nfor a whole year Pwyll exchanged crown and kingdom with Arawn king\nof Annwn, from whom he obtained the first breed of domestic pigs for\nhis own people (pp. 69, 525).\n\nIn the lowlands of Scotland, together with the Orkneys and Shetlands,\nthe Picts have to a certain extent taken the place of our fairies,\nand they are colloquially called Pechts. Now judging from the\nremains there ascribed to the Pechts, their habitations were either\nwholly underground or else so covered over with stones and earth and\ngrass as to look like natural hillocks and to avoid attracting the\nattention of strangers. This was helped by making the entrance very\nlow and as inconspicuous as possible. But one of the most remarkable\nthings about these s\u00edds is that the cells within them are frequently\nso small as to prove beyond doubt, that those who inhabited them\nwere of a remarkably short stature, though it is demonstrated by the\nweight of the stones used, that the builders were not at all lacking\nin bodily strength [269]. Here we have, accordingly, a small people\nlike our own fairies. In Ireland one of the most famous kings of\nthe fairies was called Mider of Br\u00ed L\u00e9ith, where he resided in a s\u00edd\nor mound in the neighbourhood of Ardagh, in the county of Longford;\nand thither Irish legend represents him carrying away \u00c9tain, queen of\nEochaid Airem, king of Ireland during a part of Conchobar MacNessa's\ntime. Now Eochaid was for a whole year unable to find where she was,\nbut his druid, Dal\u00e1n, wrote Ogams and at last found it out. Eochaid\nthen marched to Br\u00ed L\u00e9ith, and began to demolish Mider's s\u00edd, whereupon\nMider was eventually so frightened that he sent forth the queen to\nher husband, who then went his way, leaving the mound folk to digest\ntheir wrath. For it is characteristic of them that they did not fight,\nbut chose to bide their time for revenge. In this instance it did not\narrive till long after Eochaid's day [270]. I may add that \u00c9tain was\nherself one of the s\u00edde or fairies; and one of Mider's reasons for\ntaking her away was, that she had been his wife in a previous stage\nof existence. Now it is true that the fairy Mider is described as\nresembling the other heroes of Irish story, in having golden yellow\nhair and bright blue eyes [271], but he differs completely from them in\nbeing no warrior but a great wizard; and though he is not said to have\nbeen of small stature, the dwarfs were not far off. For in describing\nthe poet Atherne, who was notorious for his stinginess (p. 635), the\nstory-teller emphasizes his words by representing him taking from Mider\nthree of his dwarfs and stationing them around his own house, in order\nthat their truculent looks and rude words might drive away anybody who\ncame to seek hospitality or to present an unwelcome request [272],\na r\u00f4le which recalls that of Edern ab Nud's dwarf already mentioned\n(p. 672). Here the Irish word used is corr, which is probably to\nbe identified with the Brythonic cor, 'a dwarf,' though the better\nknown meaning of corr in Irish is 'crane or heron.' From the former\nalso is hardly to be severed the Irish corrguinigh, 'sorcerers,' and\ncorrguinacht [273], or the process of cursing to which the corrguinigh\nresorted, as, for instance, when N\u00e9de called forth the fatal blisters\non Caier's face (p. 632). The r\u00f4le would seem exactly to suit the\nlittle people, who were consummate magicians.\n\nLet me for a moment leave the little people, in order to call attention\nto another side of this question of race. It has recently been shown\n[274] by Professor J. Morris Jones, of the University College of North\nWales, that the non-Aryan traits of the syntax of our insular Celtic\npoint unmistakably to that of old Egyptian and Berber, together with\nkindred idioms belonging to the southern shore of the Mediterranean\nSea. He has thereby reduced to articulate speech, so to say, the\nphysiognomical convictions of Professor Sayce (p. 665), to which\nthe reader's attention has been called. To the linguistic argument\nhe appends a statement cited from a French authority and bearing on\nthe question of descent by birth, to the effect, that when among the\nBerbers the king dies or is deposed, as happens often enough, it is\nnot his son that is called to succeed, but the son of his sister, as\nin the case of the historical Picts of Scotland down to the twelfth\ncentury or thereabouts. Here I would add, that my attention has been\ncalled by Professor Sayce to old Egyptian monuments representing\nthe Libyan chiefs with their bodies tattooed, a habit which seems\nnot to be yet extinct among the Touaregs and Kabyles [275]. Lastly,\nMr. Nicholson has recently directed attention to the fact that some\nprinces of ancient Gaul are represented with their faces tattooed\non certain coins found in the west of France so far south as the\nregion once occupied by the ancient Pictones. We have a compendious\ncommentary on this in the occurrence of a word Chortonicum in a\nHigh German manuscript written before the year 814: I allude to the\nWessobrunn Codex at Munich, in which, among a number of geographical\nnames connected with Gaul and other countries, that vocable is so\nplaced as to allow of our referring it to Poitou or to all Gaul as the\ncountry once of the ancient Pictones. The great German philologist\nPott, who called attention to it, brought it at once into relation\nwith Cruithne, plural Cruithni, 'the Picts of Britain and Ireland,'\na word which has been explained at p. 281 above [276].\n\nNow at last I come to the question, what pre-Celtic race or races\nmake themselves evident in the mass of things touched on in this\nand the foregoing chapters? The answer must, I think, recognize at\nleast two. First comes the race of the mound folk, consisting of the\nshort swarthy people variously caricatured in our fairy tales. They\nformed isolated fractions of a widely spread race possessed of\nno political significance whatsoever; but, with the inconsistency\never clinging to everything connected with the fairies, the weird\nand uncanny folk emerging from its underground lairs seems to have\nexercised on other races a sort of permanent spell of mysteriousness\namounting to adoration. In fact, Irish literature tells us that the\ns\u00edde were worshipped (p. 678). Owing to his faculty of exaggeration,\ncombined with his inability to comprehend the little people, the Celt\nwas enabled to bequeath to the great literatures of Western Europe a\nmotley train of dwarfs and brownies, a whole world of wizardry and\nmagic. The real race of the little people forms the lowest stratum\nwhich we can reach, to wit, at a level no higher, seemingly, than\nthat of the present-day natives of Central Australia. Thus some of\nthe birth stories of C\u00fachulainn and \u00c9t\u00e1in seem to have passed through\ntheir hands, and they bear a striking resemblance to certain notions of\nthe Lapps (pp. 657-8). In fact, the nature of the habitations of our\nlittle people, together with other points which might be mentioned,\nwould seem at first sight to betoken affinity with the Lapps; but\nI am warned by experts [277] that there are serious craniological\ndifficulties in the way of any racial comparison with the Lapps,\nand that one must look rather to the dwarf populations once widely\nspread over our hemisphere, and still to be found here and there\nin Europe, as, for example, in Sicily. To come nearer our British\nIsles, the presence of such dwarfs has been established with regard\nto Switzerland in neolithic times [278].\n\nThe other race may be called Picts, which is probably the earliest\nof the names given it by the Celts; and their affinities appear\nto be Libyan, possibly Iberian. It was a warlike stock, and stood\nhigher altogether than the mound inhabitants; for it had a notion of\npaternity, though, on account of its promiscuity, it had to reckon\ndescent by birth (pp. 654-6). To it probably belonged all the great\nfamily groups figuring in the Mabinogion and the corresponding class of\nliterature in Irish: this would include the Danann-D\u00f4n group and the\nLir-Llyr group, together with the families represented by Pwyll and\nRhiannon, who were inseparable from the Llyr group in Welsh, just as\nthe Lir group was inseparable from the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann in Irish legend\n(pp. 548-9). The Picts made slaves and drudges of the mound-haunting\nrace, but how far any amalgamation may have taken place between them\nit is impossible to say. Even without any amalgamation, however, the\nlittle people, if employed as nurses to their Pictish lords' children,\ncould not help leaving their impress in time on the language of the\nruling nationality. But it may be that the treatment of the Picts, by\nScottish legend, as a kind of fairies really points to amalgamation,\nthough it is not impossible that arch\u00e6ology may be able to classify the\nremains of the dwellings ascribed to the Pechts, that is, to assign\na certain class to the warlike Picts of history and another to the\ndwarf race of the s\u00edds. A certain measure of amalgamation may also be\nthe meaning of the Irish tradition, that when the Milesian Irish came\nand conquered, the defeated Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann gave up their life above\nground and retired inside the hills like the fairies. This account of\nthem may be as worthless as the story of the extermination of the Picts\nof Scotland: both peoples doubtless lived on to amalgamate in time\nwith the conquering race; but it may mean that some of them retreated\nbefore the Celts, and concealed themselves after the manner of the\nlittle people--in underground dwellings in the less accessible parts\nof the country. In any case, it may well be that they got their magic\nand druidism from the dwellers of the s\u00edds. In the next place, it has\nbeen pointed out (pp. 550-1) how the adjective h\u00ean, 'old, ancient,'\nis applied in Welsh to several of the chief men of the D\u00f4n group,\nand by this one may probably understand that they were old not merely\nto those who told the stories about them in Welsh, but to those who\nput those stories together in Goidelic ages earlier. The geography\nof the Mabinogion gives the prehistoric remains of Penmaen Mawr and\nTre'r Ceiri to the D\u00f4n group; but by its name, Tre'r Ceiri should\nbe the 'Town of the Keiri,' a word probably referring to the Picts\n(pp. 279-83): this, so far as it goes, makes the sons of D\u00f4n belong\nby race to the Picts. Lastly, it is the widely spread race of the\nPicts, conquered by the Celts of the Celtican or Goidelic branch and\namalgamating with their conquerors in the course of time, that has\nleft its non-Aryan impress on the syntax of the Celtic languages of\nthe British Isles.\n\nThese, it is needless to say, are conjectures which I cannot establish;\nbut possibly somebody else may. For the present, however, they cannot\nfail to suggest a moral, habitually ignored with a light heart by most\npeople--including the writer of these words--that men in his plight,\nmen engaged in studies which, owing to a rapid accumulation of fresh\nfacts or the blossoming of new theories, are in a shifting condition,\nshould abstain from producing books or anything longer than a magazine\narticle now and then. Even such minor productions should be understood\nto be liable to be cast into a great bonfire lit once a year, say on\nHalloween. This should help to clear the air of mistaken hypotheses,\nwhether of folklore and myth or of history and language, and also\nserve to mark Nos Calangaeaf as the commencement of the ancient Celtic\nyear. The business of selecting the papers to be saved from the burning\nmight be delegated to an academy constituted, roughly speaking, on\nthe lines of Plato's aristocracy of intellect. Such academy, once\nin the enjoyment of its existence, would also find plenty of work\nin addition to the inquisitional business which I have suggested:\nit should, for example, be invested with summary jurisdiction over\nfond parents who venture to show any unreasonable anxiety to save\ntheir mental progeny from the annual bonfire. The best of that class\nof writers should be ordered by the academy to sing songs or indite\noriginal verse. As for the rest, some of them might be told off to\ngesticulate to the gallery, and some to administer the consolations\nof platitude to stragglers tired of the march of science. There is a\nmass of other useful work which would naturally devolve on an academy\nof the kind here suggested. I should be happy, if space permitted,\nto go through the particulars one by one, but let a single instance\nsuffice: the academy might relieve us of the painful necessity of\nhaving seriously to consider any further the proposal that professors\nfound professing after sixty should be shot. This will serve to\nindicate the kind of work which might advantageously be entrusted to\nthe august body which is here but roughly projected.\n\nThere are some branches of learning in the happy position of having\nno occasion for such a body academical. Thus, if a man will have\nit that the earth is flat, as flat in fact as some people do their\nutmost to make it, 'he will most likely,' as the late Mr. Freeman\nin the Saturday Review once put it, 'make few converts, and will be\nforgotten after at most a passing laugh from scientific men.' If a\nman insists that the sum of two and two is five, he will probably\nfind his way to a lunatic asylum, as the economy of society is, in\na manner, self-acting. So with regard to him who carries his craze\ninto the more material departments of such a science as chemistry: he\nmay be expected to blow out his own eyes, for the almighty molecule\nexecutes its own vengeance. 'But,' to quote again from Mr. Freeman,\nif that man's 'craze had been historical or philological'--and above\nall if it had to do with the science of man or of myth--'he might\nhave put forth notions quite as absurd as the notion that the earth\nis flat, and many people would not have been in the least able to\nsee that they were absurd. If any scholar had tried to confute him we\nshould have heard of \"controversies\" and \"differences of opinion.\"' In\nfact, the worst that happens to the false prophet who shines in any\nsuch a science is, that he has usually only too many enthusiastic\nfollowers. The machinery is, so to say, not automatic, and hence\nit is that we want the help of an academy. But even supposing such\nan academy established, no one need feel alarmed lest opportunities\nenough could no longer be found for cultivating the example of those\nof the early Christians who had the rare grace to suffer fools gladly.\n\nPersonally, however, I should be against doing anything in a hurry;\nand, considering how little his fellows dare expect from the man\nwho is just waiting to be final and perfect before he commit himself\nto type, the establishment of an academy invested with the summary\npowers which have been briefly sketched might, perhaps, after all,\nconveniently wait a while: my own feeling is that almost any time,\nsay in the latter half of the twentieth century, would do better\nthan this year or the next. In the meantime one must be content to\nentrust the fortunes of our studies to the combined forces of science\nand common sense. Judging by what they have achieved in recent years,\nthere is no reason to be uneasy with regard to the time to come, for\nit is as true to-day as when it was first written, that the best of\nthe prophets of the Future is the Past.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS\n\n\nP. 81. I learn that the plural of bodach glas was in Welsh bodachod\ngleision, a term which Elis o'r Nant remembers his mother applying to a\nkind of fairies dressed in blue and fond of leading people astray. She\nused to relate how a haymaking party once passed a summer's night\nat the cowhouse (beudy) of Bryn Bygelyd (also Bryn Mygelyd), and how\nthey saw in the dead of night a host of these dwarfs (corynnod) in blue\ndancing and capering about the place. The beudy in question is not very\nfar from Dolwydelan, on the way to Capel Curig. A different picture\nof the bodach is given in Jenkins' Bed Gelert, p. 82; and lastly\none may contrast the Highland Bodach Glas mentioned at p. 520 above,\nnot to mention still another kind, namely the one in Scott's Waverley.\n\nP. 130. To Sarn yr Afanc add Llyn yr Afanc, near Llandinam (Beauties\nof Wales, N. Wales, p. 841), and Bed yr Afanc, 'the Afanc's Grave,'\nthe name of some sort of a tumulus, I am told, on a knoll near the\nPembrokeshire stream of the Nevern. Mr. J. Thomas, of Bancau Bryn\nBerian close by, has communicated to me certain echoes of a story\nhow an afanc was caught in a pool near the bridge of Bryn Berian,\nand how it was taken up to be interred in what is now regarded as its\ngrave. A complete list of the afanc place-names in the Principality\nmight possibly prove instructive. As to the word afanc, what seems\nto have happened is this: (1) from meaning simply a dwarf it came to\nbe associated with such water dwarfs as those mentioned at p. 432;\n(2) the meaning being forgotten, the word was applied to any water\nmonster; and (3) where afanc occurs in place-names the Hu story has\nbeen introduced to explain it, whether it fitted or not. This I should\nfancy to be the case with the Bryn Berian barrow, and it would be\nsatisfactory to know whether it contains the remains of an ordinary\ndwarf. Peredur's lake afanc may have been a dwarf; but whether that\nwas so or not, it is remarkable that the weapon which the afanc handled\nwas a llechwaew or flake-spear, that is, a missile tipped with stone.\n\nP. 131. With the r\u00f4le of the girl in the afanc story compare that of\nTegau, wife of Caradog Freichfras, on whom a serpent fastens and can\nonly be allured away to seize on one of Tegau's breasts, of which\nshe loses the nipple when the beast is cut off. The defect being\nreplaced with gold, she is ever after known as Tegau Eur-fron, or\n'Tegau of the golden Breast.' That is a version inferred of a story\nwhich is discussed by M. Gaston Paris in an article, on Caradoc et\nle Serpent, elicited by a paper published (in the November number of\nModern Language Notes for 1898) by Miss C. A. Harper, of Bryn Mawr\nCollege, U.S.: see the Romania, xxviii. 214-31. One of Miss Harper's\nparallels, mentioned by M. Paris at p. 220, comes from Campbell:\nit is concerning a prince who receives from his stepmother a magic\nshirt which converts itself into a serpent coiled round his neck,\nand of which he is rid by the help of a woman acting in much the\nsame way as Tegau. We have an echo of this in the pedigrees in the\nJesus College MS. 20: see the Cymmrodor, viii. 88, where one reads\nof G6ga6n keneu menrud a vu neidyr vl6ydyn am y von6gyl, 'Gwgon the\nwhelp of Menrud (?) who was a year with a snake round his neck'--his\npedigree is also given. In M. Paris' suggested reconstruction of\nthe story (p. 228) from the different versions, he represents the\nmaiden who is to induce the serpent to leave the man on whom it has\nfastened, as standing in a vessel filled with milk, while the man\nstands in a vessel filled with vinegar. The heroine exposes herself\nto the reptile, which relinquishes his present victim to seize on\none of the woman's breasts. Now the appropriateness of the milk is\nexplained by the belief that snakes are inordinately fond of milk,\nand that belief has, I presume, a foundation in fact: at any rate I am\nreminded of its introduction into the plot of more than one English\nstory, such as Stanley Weyman's book From the Memoirs of a Minister\nof France (London, 1895), p. 445, and A. Conan Doyle's Adventures\nof Sherlock Holmes (London, 1893), pp. 199-209. In Wales, however,\nit is to a woman's milk that one's interest attaches: I submit two\nreferences which will explain what I mean. The first of them is to\nOwen's Welsh Folk-Lore, p. 349, where he says that 'traditions of\nflying snakes were once common in all parts of Wales,' and adds as\nfollows:--'The traditional origin of these imaginary creatures was\nthat they were snakes, which by having drunk the milk of a woman,\nand by having eaten of bread consecrated for the Holy Communion,\nbecame transformed into winged serpents or dragons.' The other is\nto the Brython for 1861, p. 190, where one reads in Welsh to the\nfollowing effect:--'If a snake chances to have an opportunity to\ndrink of a woman's milk it is certain to become a gwiber. When a\nwoman happens to be far from her child, and her breasts are full and\nbeginning to give her pain, she sometimes milks them on the ground in\norder to ease them. To this the peasantry in parts of Cardiganshire\nhave a strong objection, lest a snake should come there and drink the\nmilk, and so become a gwiber.' The word gwiber is used in the Welsh\nBible for a viper, but the editor of the Brython explains, that in\nour folklore it means a huge kind of snake or dragon that has grown\nwings and has its body cased in hard scales: for a noted instance\nin point he refers the reader to the first number of the Brython,\np. 3. It is believed still all over Wales that snakes may, under\nfavourable circumstances, develop wings: in fact, an Anglesey man\nstrongly wished, to my knowledge, to offer to the recent Welsh Land\nCommission, as evidence of the wild and neglected state of a certain\nfarm, that the gorse had grown so high and the snakes so thriven in\nit that he had actually seen one of the latter flying right across\na wide road which separated two such gorse forests as he described:\nsurprised and hurt to find that this was not accepted, he inferred\nthat the Commissioners knew next to nothing about their business.\n\nPp. 148, 170. With 'the spell of security' by catching hold of grass\nmay perhaps be compared a habit which boys in Cardiganshire have of\nsuddenly picking up a blade of grass when they want a truce or stoppage\nin a sort of game of tig or touchwood. The grass gives the one who\navails himself of it immunity for a time from attack or pursuit,\nso as to allow him to begin the game again just where it was left off.\n\nP. 228. Bodermud would probably be more correctly written Bodermyd,\nand analysed possibly into Bod-Dermyd, involving the name which\nappears in Irish as Diarmait and Dermot.\n\nP. 230. Since this was printed I have been assured by Mr. Thomas\nPrichard of Llwydiarth Esgob, in Anglesey, that the dolur byr is\nmore commonly called clwy' byr, and that it is the disease known in\nEnglish as 'black quarter.'\n\nPp. 259, 268. I am assured on the part of several literary natives of\nGlamorgan that they do not know d\u00e2r for daear, 'ground, earth.' Such\nnegative evidence, though proving the literary form daear to prevail\nnow, is not to be opposed to the positive statement, sent by Mr. Hughes\n(p. 173) to me, as to the persistence in his neighbourhood of d\u00e2r and\ncl\u00e2r (for claear, 'lukewarm'), to which one may add, as unlikely to\nbe challenged by anybody, the case of harn for haearn, 'iron.' The\nintermediate forms have to be represented as daer, claer, and haern,\nwhich explain exactly the gaem of the Book of St. Chad, for which\nmodern literary Welsh has gaeaf, 'winter': see the preface to the\nBook of Llan D\u00e2v, p. xlv.\n\nP. 290. It ought to have been pointed out that the fairies, whose\nfood and drink it is death to share, represent the dead.\n\nP. 291. For Conla read Connla or Condla: the later form is Colla. The\nCondla in question is called Condla R\u00faad in the story, but the heading\nto it has Ectra Condla Chaim, 'the Adventure of C. the Dear One.'\n\nP. 294. I am now inclined to think that butch was produced out of\nthe northern pronunciation of witch by regarding its w as a mutation\nconsonant and replacing it, as in some other instances, by b as\nthe radical.\n\nP. 308. With the Manx use of rowan on May-day compare a passage to\nthe following effect concerning Wales--I translate it from the faulty\nWelsh in which it is quoted by one of the competitors for the folklore\nprize at the Liverpool Eistedfod, 1900: he gave no indication of its\nprovenance:--Another bad papistic habit which prevails among some\nWelsh people is that of placing some of the wood of the rowan tree\n(coed cerdin or criafol) in their corn lands (llafyrieu) and their\nfields on May-eve (Nos Glamau) with the idea that such a custom brings\na blessing on their fields, a proceeding which would better become\natheists and pagans than Christians.\n\nP. 325. In the comparison with the brownie the fairy nurse in the\nPennant Valley has been overlooked: see p. 109.\n\nP. 331, line 1. For I. 42-3 read ii. 42-3.\n\nPp. 377, 395. With the story of Ffynnon Gywer and the other fairy\nwells, also with the wells which have been more especially called\nsacred in this volume, compare the following paragraph from Martin's\nDescription of the Western Islands of Scotland (London, 1703),\npp. 229-30: it is concerning Gigay, now more commonly written Gigha,\nthe name of an island near the west coast of Kintyre:--'There is\na well in the north end of this isle called Toubir-more, i. e. a\ngreat well, because of its effects, for which it is famous among the\nislanders; who together with the inhabitants use it as a Catholicon for\ndiseases. It's covered with stone and clay, because the natives fancy\nthat the stream that flows from it might overflow the isle; and it is\nalways opened by a Diroch, i. e. an inmate, else they think it would\nnot exert its vertues. They ascribe one very extraordinary effect to\nit, and 'tis this; that when any foreign boats are wind-bound here\n(which often happens) the master of the boat ordinarily gives the\nnative that lets the water run a piece of money, and they say that\nimmediately afterwards the wind changes in favour of those that are\nthus detain'd by contrary winds. Every stranger that goes to drink\nof the water of this well, is accustomed to leave on its stone cover\na piece of money, a needle, pin, or one of the prettiest variegated\nstones they can find.' Last September I visited Gigha and saw a well\nthere which is supposed to be the one to which Martin refers. It is\nvery insignificant and known now by a name pronounced Tobar a veac,\npossibly for an older Mo-Bheac: in Scotch Gaelic B\u00ebac, written\nBeathag, is equated with the name Sophia. The only tradition now\ncurrent about the well is that emptying it used to prove the means\nof raising a wind or even of producing great storms, and this appears\nto have been told Pennant: see his Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the\nHebrides, MDCCLXXII (Chester, 1774), p. 226:--'Visit the few wonders\nof the isle: the first is a little well of a most miraculous quality,\nfor in old times, if ever the chieftain lay here wind-bound, he had\nnothing more to do than cause the well to be cleared, and instantly\na favorable gale arose. But miracles are now ceased.'\n\nP. 378. A similar rhyme is current in the neighbourhood of Dolgelley,\nas Miss Lucy Griffith informs me, as follows:--\n\n        Dolgelle dol a gollir,\n        Daear a'i llwnc, dw'r 'n 'i lle.\n\n        Dolgelley, a dale to be lost;\n        Earth will swallow it, and water take its place.\n\nP. 394. With regard to wells killing women visiting them, I may\nmention a story, told me the other day by Professor Mahaffy after a\nfriend whose name he gave, concerning the inhabitants of one of the\nsmall islands on the coast of Mayo--I understood him to say off the\nMullet. It was this: all the men and boys, having gone fishing, were\nprevented by rough weather from returning as soon as they intended,\nand the women left alone suffered greatly from want of water, as\nnot one of them would venture to go to the well. By-and-by, however,\none of them gave birth to a boy, whereupon another of them carried\nthe baby to the well, and ventured to draw water.\n\nP. 418. As to Clychau Aberdyfi I am now convinced that the chwech and\nsaith are entirely due to the published versions, the editors of which\nseem to have agreed that they will have as much as possible for their\nmoney, so to say. I find that Mrs. Rhys learnt in her childhood to\nend the words with pump, and that she cannot now be brought to sing\nthe melody in any other way: I have similar testimony from a musical\nlady from the neighbourhood of Wrexham; and, doubtless, more evidence\nof the same sort could be got.\n\nP. 443. For Llywelyn ab Gruffyd read Llywelyn ab Iorwerth.\n\nPp. 450-1. Some additional light on the doggerel dialogue will be\nfound thrown by the following story, which I find cited in Welsh by\none of the Liverpool Eistedfod competitors:--There is in the parish\nof Yspytty Ifan, in Carnarvonshire, a farm called Trwyn Swch, where\neighty years ago lived a man and his wife, who were both young, and had\ntwins born to them. Now the mother went one day to milk, leaving the\ntwins alone in the cradle--the husband was not at home--and who should\nenter the house but one of the Tylwyth Teg! He took the twins away\nand left two of his own breed in the cradle in their stead. Thereupon\nthe mother returned home and saw what had come to pass; she then in\nher excitement snatched the Tylwyth Teg twins and took them to the\nbridge that crosses the huge gorge of the river Conwy not very far\nfrom the house, and she cast them into the whirlpool below. By this\ntime the Tylwyth Teg had come on the spot, some trying to save the\nchildren, and some making for the woman. 'Seize the old hag!' (Crap\nar yr hen wrach!) said one of the chiefs of the Tylwyth Teg. 'Too\nlate!' cried the woman on the edge of the bank; and many of them ran\nafter her to the house. As they ran three or four of them lost their\npipes in the field. They are pipes ingeniously made of the blue stone\n(carreg las) of the gully. They measure three or four inches long,\nand from time to time several of them have been found near the cave\nof Trwyn Swch.--This is the first indication which I have discovered,\nthat the fairies are addicted to smoking.\n\nP. 506. A Rhiw Gyferthwch (printed Rywgyverthwch) occurs in the Record\nof Carnarvon, p. 200; but it seems to have been in Merionethshire,\nand far enough from Arfon.\n\nP. 521. In the article already cited from the Romania, M. Paris finds\nTwrch Trwyth in the boar Tortain of a French romance: see xxviii. 217,\nwhere he mentions a legend concerning the strange pedigree of that\nbeast. The subject requires to be further studied.\n\nP. 535. A less probable explanation of Latio would be to suppose orti\nunderstood. This has been suggested to me by Mr. Nicholson's treatment\nof the Llanaelhaiarn inscription as Ali ortus Elmetiaco hic iacet,\nwhere I should regard Ali as standing for an earlier nominative\nAlec-s, and intended as the Celtic equivalent for Cephas or Peter:\nAli would be the word which is in Med. Irish ail, genitive ailech,\n'a rock or stone.'\n\nP. 545. We have the Maethwy of Gilvaethwy possibly still further\nreduced to Aethwy in Porth Aethwy, 'the Village of Menai Bridge,'\nin spite of its occurring in the Record of Carnarvon, p. 77,\nas Porthaytho.\n\nP. 548. To the reference to the Cymmrodor, ix. 170, as to Beli being\ncalled son of Anna, add the Welsh Elucidarium, p. 127, with its belim\nvab anna, and The Cambro-British Saints, p. 82, where we have Anna\n... genuit Beli.\n\nP. 560. Two answers to the query as to the Llech Las are now to be\nfound in the Scottish Antiquary, xv. 41-3.\n\nP. 566. Caer Gai is called also Caer Gynyr, after Cai's father Cynyr,\nto wit in a poem by William Lleyn, who died in 1587. This I owe to\nProfessor J. Morris Jones, who has copied it from a collection of\nthat poet's works in the possession of Myrdin Fard, fo. 119.\n\nP. 569. Here it would, perhaps, not be irrelevant to mention Caer\nDwrgynt, given s. v. Dwr in Morris' Celtic Remains, as a name of\nCaergybi, or Holyhead. His authority is given in parenthesis thus:\n(Th. Williams, Catal.). I should be disposed to think the name based\non some such an earlier form as Kair D6bgint, 'the Fortress of the\nDanes,' who were called in old Welsh Dub-gint (Annales Cambri\u00e6,\nA. D. 866, in the Cymmrodor, ix. 165), that is to say 'Gentes Nigr\u00e6\nor Black Pagans,' and more simply Gint or Gynt, 'Gentes or Heathens.'\n\nPp. 579-80. The word banna6c, whence the later bannog, seems to be\nthe origin of the name bonoec given to the famous horn in the Lai du\nCorn, from which M. Paris in his Romania article, xxviii. 229, cites\nCest cor qui bonoec a non, 'this horn which is called bonoec.' The\nWelsh name would have to be Corn (yr) ych banna6c, 'the horn of (the)\nbannog ox,' with or without the article.\n\nP. 580, note 1. One of the Liverpool Eistedfod competitors cites\nW. O. Pughe to the following effect in Welsh:--Llyn dau Ychain,\n'the Lake of Two Oxen,' is on Hiraethog Mountain; and near it is the\nfootmark of one of them in a stone or rock (carreg), where he rested\nwhen seeking his partner, as the local legend has it. Another cites a\nstill wilder story, to the effect that there was once a wonderful cow\ncalled Y Fuwch Fraith, 'the Parti-coloured Cow.' 'To that cow there\ncame a witch to get milk, just after the cow had supplied the whole\nneighbourhood. So the witch could not get any milk, and to avenge her\ndisappointment she made the cow mad. The result was that the cow ran\nwild over the mountains, inflicting immense harm on the country; but\nat last she was killed by Hu near Hiraethog, in the county of Denbigh.'\n\nP. 592. With trwtan, Trwtyn-Tratyn, and Trit-a-trot should doubtless\nbe compared the English use of trot as applied contemptuously to a\nwoman, as when Grumio, in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Act i,\nsc. 2, speaks of 'an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head': the\nword was similarly used by Thomas Heywood and others.\n\nP. 649. With regard to note 1, I find that Professor Zimmer is of\nopinion--in fact he is quite positive--that tyngu and tynghed are\nin no way related: see the G\u00f6ttingische gelehrte Anzeigen for 1900\n(No. 5), pp. 371-2.\n\nP. 673. I am tempted to rank with the man-eating fairies the Atecotti,\nwho are known to have been cannibals, and whose name seems to mean\nthe ancient race. Should this prove tenable, one would have to admit\nthat the little people, or at any rate peoples with an admixture\nof the blood of that race, could be trained to fight. Further, one\nwould probably have to class with them also such non-cannibal tribes\nas those of the Fir Bolg and the Gali\u00fain of Irish story. Information\nabout both will be found in my Hibbert Lectures, in reading which,\nhowever, the mythological speculations should be brushed aside. Lastly,\nI anticipate that most of the peoples figuring in the oldest class\nof Irish story will prove to have belonged either (1) to the dwarf\nrace, or (2) to the Picts; and that careful reading will multiply\nthe means of distinguishing between them. Looking comprehensively\nat the question of the early races of the British Isles, the reader\nshould weigh again the concluding words of Professor Haddon's theory,\nquoted on p. 684 above.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] For most of my information on this subject I have to thank\nMr. David Davies, editor of the South Wales Daily Post, published\nat Swansea.\n\n[2] I am indebted for this information to Mr. J. Herbert James of\nVaynor, who visited Kenfig lately and has called my attention to an\narticle headed 'The Borough of Kenfig,' in the Arch\u00e6ologia Cambrensis\nfor 1898: see more especially the maps at pp. 138-42.\n\n[3] Here the Welsh has a word edafwr, the exact meaning of which\nescapes me, and I gather from the remarks of local etymologers that\nno such word is now in use in Glamorgan.\n\n[4] See the Book of Aberpergwm, printed as Brut y Tywysogion, in the\nMyvyrian Archaiology, ii. 524; also Morgan's Antiquarian Survey of East\nGower, p. 66, where the incident is given from 'Brut y Tywysogion,\nA. D. 1088.' It is, however, not in what usually passes by the name\nof Brut y Tywysogion, but comes, as the author kindly informs me,\nfrom a volume entitled 'Brut y Tywysogion, the Gwentian Chronicle of\nCaradoc of Llancarvan, with a translation by the late Aneurin Owen,\nand printed for the Cambrian Arch\u00e6ological Association, 1863': see\npp. 70-1.\n\n[5] For this also I have to thank Mr. Herbert James, who recently\ninspected the spot with Mr. Glascodine of Swansea.\n\n[6] I do not know whether anybody has identified the spot which the\nwriter had in view, or whether the coast of the Severn still offers\nany feature which corresponds in any way to the description.\n\n[7] Supposed to be so called after a certain Tegid Foel, or 'Tegid\nthe Bald,' of Penllyn: the name Tegid is the phonetic spelling of\nwhat might be expected in writing as Tegyd--it is the Latin Tacitus\nborrowed, and comes with other Latin names in Pedigree I. of the\nCuneda dynasty; see the Cymmrodor, xi. 170. In point of spelling one\nmay compare Idris for what might be expected written Idrys, of the\nsame pronunciation, for an earlier Iudrys or Iudris.\n\n[8] The translation was made by Thomas Twyne, and published in 1573\nunder the title of The Breuiary of Britayne, where the passage here\ngiven occurs, on fol. 69b. The original was entitled Commentarioli\nBritannic\u00e6 Descriptionis Fragmentum, published at Cologne in 1572. The\noriginal of our passage, fol. 57a, has Guynedhia and Llunclis. The stem\nllwnc of llyncaf, 'I swallow,' answers, according to Welsh idiom, to\nthe use of what would be in English or Latin a participle. Similarly,\nwhen a compound is not used, the verbal noun (in the genitive) is\nused: thus 'a feigned illness,' in Welsh 'a made illness,' is saldra\ngwneyd, literally 'an indisposition or illness of making.' So 'the\ndeuouryng of the Palace' is incorrect, and based on Llwyd's vorago\nPalatij instead of Palatium voratum.\n\n[9] For other occurrences of the name, see the Black Book, fol. 35a,\n52a, and Morris' Celtic Remains, where, s. v. Benlli, the Welsh name\nof Bardsey, to wit, Ynys Enlli, is treated by somebody, doubtless\nrightly, as a shortening of Ynys Fenlli.\n\n[10] The meaning of this name is not certain, but it seems to equate\nwith the Irish Fochard, anglicized Faughard, in County Louth: see\nO'Donovan's Four Masters, A. D. 1595; also the Book of the Dun Cow,\nwhere it is Focherd, genitive Focherda, dative Focheird, fo. 70b,\n73b, 75a, 75b, 76a, 77a.\n\n[11] This is sometimes given as Glannach, which looks like the Goidelic\nform of the name: witness Giraldus' Enislannach in his Itin. Kambri\u00e6,\nii. 7 (p. 131).\n\n[12] See Choice Notes, p. 92, and Gerald Griffin's Poetical and\nDramatic Works, p. 106.\n\n[13] Failing to see this, various writers have tried to claim the\nhonour of owning the bells for Aberteifi, 'Cardigan,' or for Abertawe,\n'Swansea'; but no arguments worthy of consideration have been urged\non behalf of either place: see Cyfaill yr Aelwyd for 1892, p. 184.\n\n[14] For some of the data as to the reckoning of the pedigrees\nand branching of a family, see the first volume of Aneurin Owen's\nAncient Laws--Gwyned, III. i. 12-5 (pp. 222-7); Dyfed, II. i. 17-29\n(pp. 408-11); Gwent, II. viii. 1-7 (pp. 700-3); also The Welsh People,\npp. 230-1.\n\n[15] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fol. 99a & seq.\n\n[16] For instances, the reader may turn back to pp. 154 or 191,\nbut there are plenty more in the foregoing chapters; and he may also\nconsult Howells' Cambrian Superstitions, pp. 123-8, 141-2, 146. In one\ncase, p. 123, he gives an instance of the contrary kind of imagination:\nthe shepherd who joined a fairy party on Frenni Fach was convinced,\nwhen his senses and his memory returned, that, 'although he thought he\nhad been absent so many years, he had been only so many minutes.' The\nstory has the ordinary setting; but can it be of popular origin? The\nFrenni Fach is a part of the mountain known as the Frenni Fawr,\nin the north-east of Pembrokeshire; the names mean respectively the\nLittle Breni, and the Great Breni. The obsolete word breni meant,\nin Old Welsh, the prow of a ship; local habit tends, however, to the\nsolecism of Brenin Fawr, with brenin, 'king,' qualified by an adjective\nmutated feminine; but people at a distance who call it Frenni Fawr,\npronounce the former vocable with nn. Lastly, Y Vrevi Va6r occurs in\nMaxen's Dream in the Red Book (Oxford Mab. p. 89); but in the White\nBook (in the Peniarth collection), col. 187, the proper name is written\nFreni: for this information I have to thank Mr. Gwenogvryn Evans.\n\n[17] It is right to say that another account is given in the Rennes\nDindsenchas, published by Stokes in the Revue Celtique, xvi. 164,\nnamely, that Laiglinne with fifty warriors 'came to the well of\nDera son of Scera. A wave burst over them and drowned Laiglinne with\nhis fifty warriors, and thereof a lake was made. Hence we say Loch\nLaiglinni, Laiglinne's Lake.'\n\n[18] The Oxford Mabinogion, p. 224, and Guest's, i. 343.\n\n[19] See Afanc in the Geiriadur of Silvan Evans, who cites instances\nin point.\n\n[20] See the Revue Celtique, i. 257, and my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 92-3.\n\n[21] The Four Masters, A.M. 3520.\n\n[22]  In another version Campbell had found it to be sand and\nnothing else.\n\n[23]  As to this incident of a girl and a supernatural, Campbell says\nthat he had heard it in the Isle of Man also, and elsewhere.\n\n[24]  See the Revue Celtique, ii. 197. He was also called Labraid\nLongsech, and Labraid Longsech Lorc. The explanation of Labraid\nLorc is possibly that it was originally Labraid Morc, and that the\nfondness for alliteration brought it into line as Labraid Lorc:\ncompare Ll\u00fbd Llaweraint in Welsh for N\u00fbd Llaweraint. This is not\ndisproved by the fact that Labraid Lorc's grandfather is said to have\nbeen called Loegaire Lorc: Loegaire Lorc and Labraid Lorc are rather\nto be regarded perhaps as duplicates of the same original.\n\n[25]  See my Arthurian Legend, p. 70; also Hibbert Lectures, p. 590.\n\n[26] The original has in these passages respectively siblais a fual\ncorbo thipra, 'minxit urinam suam so that it was a spring'; ar na\nsiblad a f\u00faal ar na bad fochond b\u00e1is doib, 'ne mingat urinam suam\nlest it should be the cause of death to them'; and silis, 'minxit,'\nfo. 39b. For a translation of the whole story see Dr. O'Grady's Silva\nGadelica, pp. 265-9; also Joyce's Old Celtic Romances, pp. 97-105.\n\n[27] See the story in Dr. O'Grady's Silva Gadelica, pp. 292-311.\n\n[28] See Stengel's edition of li Romans de Durmart le Galois (T\u00fcbingen,\n1873), lines 4185-340, and my Arthurian Legend, pp. 68-9.\n\n[29] See Williams' Scint Greal, pp. 60-1, 474-5; Nutt's Holy Grail,\np. 44; and my Arthurian Legend, pp. 69-70.\n\n[30] Bardoniaeth D. ab Gwilym, poem 183. A similar descent of\nBlodeuwed's appears implied in the following englyn--one of two--by\nAnthony Powel, who died in 1618: it is given by Taliesin ab Iolo\nin his essay on the Neath Valley, entitled Traethawd ar Gywreined,\nHynafiaeth, a hen Bendefigion Glynn Ned (Aberdare, 1886), p. 15:--\n\n        Crug ael, carn gadarn a godwyd yn fryn,\n          Yn hen fraenwaith bochlwyd;\n        Main a'i llud man y lladwyd,\n          Merch hoewen loer Meirchion lwyd.\n\nIt refers, with six other englynion by other authors, to a remarkable\nrock called Craig y Dinas, with which Taliesin associated a cave\nwhere Arthur or Owen Lawgoch and his men are supposed, according\nto him, to enjoy a secular sleep, and it implies that Blodeuwed,\nwhose end in the Mabinogi of M\u00e2th was to be converted into an owl,\nwas, according to another account, overwhelmed by Craig y Dinas. It\nmay be Englished somewhat as follows:\n\n        Heaped on a brow, a mighty cairn built like a hill,\n        Like ancient work rough with age, grey-cheeked;\n        Stones that confine her where she was slain,\n        Grey Meirchion's daughter quick and bright as the moon.\n\n[31]  This comes from the late series of Triads, iii. 10, where\nMerlin's nine companions are called naw beird cylfeird: cylfeird\nshould be the plural of cylfard, which must be the same word as the\nIrish culbard, name of one of the bardic grades in Ireland.\n\n[32]  For some more remarks on this subject generally, see my Arthurian\nLegend, chapter xv, on the 'Isles of the Dead.'\n\n[33]  See his Itinerarium Kambri\u00e6, ii. 11 (p. 139); also my Celtic\nBritain, p. 68, and Arthurian Legend, p. 364.\n\n[34]  From the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, i. 302.\n\n[35] I regard nid kywiw as a corruption of ni chywiw from cyf-yw,\nan instance of the verb corresponding to cymod (= cym-bod), 'peace,\nconciliation.' The preterite has, in the Oxford Bruts, A.D. 1217\n(p. 358), been printed kynni for what one may read kymu: the words\nwould then be y kymu reinald y bre6ys ar brenhin, 'that Reginald de\nBreos was reconciled with the king, or settled matters with him.'\n\n[36] See the Book of Taliessin, poem xxx, in Skene's Four Ancient\nBooks, ii. 181; also Guest's Mabinogion, ii. 354, and the Brython\nfor 1860, p. 372b, where more than one article of similar capacity\nof distinguishing brave men from cowards is mentioned.\n\n[37] See Dugdale's Monasticon, v. 672, where they are printed Dwynech\nand Dwynaur respectively.\n\n[38] See my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 649-50.\n\n[39] A full account of them will be found in a volume devoted to\nthem, and entitled Roman Antiquities at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire,\nbeing a posthumous work of the Rev. W. Hiley Bathurst, with Notes\nby C. W. King, London, 1879. See also an article entitled 'Das\nHeiligtum des Nodon,' by Dr. H\u00fcbner in the Jahrb\u00fccher des Vereins\nvon Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande, lxvii. pp. 29-46, where several\nthings in Mr. King's book are criticized.\n\n[40] See my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 122, 125.\n\n[41] On this subject, see The Welsh People, especially pp. 54-61.\n\n[42] Why our dictionary makers have taken into their heads to treat it\nas Tamesis I know not. The Welsh is Tafwys with a diphthong regularly\nrepresenting an earlier long e or ei in the second syllable. There\nis, as far as I know, no reason to suppose Tafwys an invention,\nrather than a genuine vocable of the same origin as the name of the\nGlamorganshire river Taff, in Welsh Taf, which is also the name of\nthe river emptying itself at Laugharne, in Carmarthenshire. Tafwys,\nhowever, does not appear to occur in any old Welsh document; but no\nsuch weakness attaches to the testimony of the French Tamise, which\ncould hardly come from Tamesis: compare also the place-name Tamise\nnear the Scheldt in East Flanders; this, however, may be of a wholly\ndifferent origin.\n\n[43] A more difficult version has been sent me by Dewi Glan Ffrydlas,\nof Bethesda: Caffed y wrach, 'Let him seize the hag'; Methu'r\ncryfaglach, 'You have failed, urchin.' But he has not been able to\nget any explanation of the words at the Penrhyn Quarries. Cryfaglach\nis also the form in Mur y Cryfaglach, 'the Urchin's Wall,' in Jenkins'\nBed Gelert, p. 249. He informs me that this is the name of an old ruin\non an elevated spot some twenty or thirty yards from a swift brook,\nand not far in a south-south-easterly direction from Sir Edward\nWatkin's chalet.\n\n[44] For this I am indebted to Mr. Wm. Davies (p. 147 above), who tells\nme that he copied the original from Chwedlau a Thradodiadau Gwyned,\n'Gwyned Tales and Traditions,' published in a periodical, which I\nhave not been able to consult, called Y Gordofigion, for the year 1873.\n\n[45] The meaning of the word mwthlach is doubtful, as it is now current\nin Gwyned only in the sense of a soft, doughy, or puffy person who\nis all of a heap, so to say. Pughe gives mwythlan and mwythlen with\nsimilar significations. But mwthlach would seem to have had some such a\nmeaning in the doggerel as that of rough ground or a place covered with\na scrubby, tangled growth. It is possibly the same word as the Irish\nmothlach, 'rough, bushy, ragged, shaggy'; see the Vision of Laisr\u00e9n,\nedited by Professor K. Meyer, in the Otia Merseiana, pp. 114, 117.\n\n[46] The account here given of the Cyhiraeth is taken partly from\nChoice Notes, pp. 31-2, and partly from Howells, pp. 31-4, 56-7,\nwho appears to have got uncertain in his narrative as to the sex of\nthe Cyhiraeth; but there is no reason whatsoever for regarding it as\neither male or female--the latter alone is warranted, as he might\nhave gathered from her being called y Gyhiraeth, 'the Cyhiraeth,'\nnever y Cyhiraeth as far as I know. In North Cardiganshire the spectre\nintended is known only by another name, that of Gwrach y Rhibyn, but\ny Gyhiraeth or yr hen Gyhiraeth is a common term of abuse applied\nto a lanky, cadaverous person, both there and in Gwyned; in books,\nhowever, it is found sometimes meaning a phantom funeral. The word\ncyhiraeth would seem to have originally meant a skeleton with cyhyrau,\n'sinews,' but no flesh. However, cyhyrau, singular cyhyr, would be\nmore correctly written with an i; for the words are pronounced--even\nin Gwyned--cyhir, cyhirau. The spelling cyhyraeth corresponds to no\npronunciation I have ever heard of the word; but there is a third\nspelling, cyheuraeth, which corresponds to an actual cyhoereth\nor cyhoyreth, the colloquial pronunciation to be heard in parts\nof South Wales: I cannot account for this variant. Gwrach y Rhibyn\nmeans the Hag of the Rhibyn, and rhibyn usually means a row, streak,\na line--ma' nhw'n mynd yn un rhibyn, 'they are going in a line.' But\nwhat exactly Gwrach y Rhibyn should connote I am unable to say. I\nmay mention, however, on the authority of Mr. Gwenogvryn Evans, that\nin Mid-Cardiganshire the term Gwrach y Rhibyn means a long roll or\nbustle of fern tied with ropes of straw and placed along the middle\nof the top of a hayrick. This is to form a ridge over which and on\nwhich the thatch is worked and supported: gwrach unqualified is,\nI am told, used in this sense in Glamorganshire. Something about\nthe Gwrach sprite will be found in the Brython for 1860, p. 23a,\nwhile a different account is given in Jenkins' Bed Gelert, pp. 80-1.\n\n[47] This statement I give from Choice Notes, p. 32; but I must\nconfess that I am sceptical as to the 'wings of a leathery and bat-like\nsubstance,' or of any other substance whatsoever.\n\n[48] For more about her and similar ancestral personages, see The\nWelsh People, pp. 54-61.\n\n[49] This seems to be the Goidelic word borrowed, which in Mod. Irish\nis written cnocc or cnoc, 'a hill': the native Welsh form is cnwch,\nas in Cnwch Coch in Cardiganshire, Cnwch Dernog (corrupted into Clwch\nDernog) in Anglesey, printed Kuwgh Dernok in the Record of Carnarvon,\np. 59, where it is associated with other interesting names to be\nnoticed later.\n\n[50] All said by natives of Anglesey about rivers and mountains in\ntheir island must be taken relatively, for though the country has a\nvery uneven surface it has no real mountain: they are apt to call a\nbrook a river and a hillock a mountain, though the majestic heights\nof Arfon are within sight.\n\n[51] See pp. 13-16 of his essay on the Neath Valley, referred to in\na note at p. 439 above, where Craig y Dinas is also mentioned.\n\n[52] This is an interesting word of obscure origin, to which I should\nlike our ingenious etymologists to direct their attention.\n\n[53] See the Poetical Works of John Leyden (Edinburgh, 1875), p. 36\n(Scenes of Infancy, part ii); also my Arthurian Legend, p. 18.\n\n[54] I am indebted for the English story to an article entitled 'The\nTwo Pedlar Legends of Lambeth and Swaffham,' contributed by Mr. Gomme\nto the pages of the Antiquary, x. 202-5, in which he gives local\ndetails and makes valuable comparisons. I have to thank Mr. Gomme\nalso for a cutting from the weekly issue of the Leeds Mercury for\nJan. 3, 1885, devoted to 'Local Notes and Queries' (No. cccxii), where\npractically the same story is given at greater length as located at\nUpsall Castle in Yorkshire.\n\n[55] I have never been to the spot, and I owe these particulars partly\nto Mr. J. P. Owen, of 72 Comeragh Road, Kensington, and partly to\nthe Rev. John Fisher, already quoted at p. 379. This is the parish\nwhere some would locate the story of the sin-eater, which others\nstoutly deny, as certain periodical outbursts of polemics in the\npages of the Academy and elsewhere have shown. Mr. Owen, writing to\nme in 1893, states, that, when he last visited the dinas some thirty\nyears previously, he found the mouth of the cave stopped up in order\nto prevent cattle and sheep straying into it.\n\n[56] Mr. Fisher refers me to an account of the discovery published\nin the Cambrian newspaper for Aug. 14, 1813, a complete file of which\nexists, as he informs me, in the library of the Royal Institution of\nSouth Wales at Swansea. Further, at the Cambrians' meeting in 1892\nthat account was discussed and corrected by Mr. Stepney-Gulston:\nsee the Arch\u00e6ologia Cambrensis for 1893, pp. 163-7. He also 'pointed\nout that on the opposite side of the gap in the ridge the noted cave\nof Owain Law Goch was to be found. Near the Pant-y-llyn bone caves\nis a place called Craig Derwydon, and close by is the scene of the\nexploits of Owain Law Goch, a character who appears to have absorbed\nsome of the features of Arthurian romance. A cave in the locality\nbears Owain's name.'\n\n[57] As in Llewelyn's charter to the Monks of Aberconwy, where we have,\naccording to Dugdale's Monasticon, v. 673a, a Scubordynemreis, that is\nScubor Dyn Emreis, 'Din-Emreis Barn,' supposed to be Hafod y Borth,\nnear Bedgelert: see Jenkins' Bed Gelert, p. 198. In the Myvyrian,\ni. 195a, it has been printed Din Emrais.\n\n[58]  See Somer's Malory's Morte Darthur, xxi. v (= vol. i. p. 849),\nand as to the Marchlyn story see p. 236 above. Lastly some details\nconcerning Llyn Llydaw will be found in the next chapter.\n\n[59]  The oldest spellings known of this name occur in manuscript\nA of the Annales Cambri\u00e6 and in the Book of Llan D\u00e2v as Elized and\nElised, doubtless pronounced Elissed until it became, by dropping the\nfinal dental, Elisse. This in time lost its identity by assimilation\nwith the English name Ellis. Thus, for example, in Wynne's edition\nof Powell's Caradog of Llancarfan's History of Wales (London, 1774),\npp. 22, 24, Elised is reduced to Elis. In the matter of dropping the\nd compare our Dewi, 'St. David,' for Dewid, for an instance of which\nsee Duffus Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue, i. 119. The form Eliseg\nwith a final g has no foundation in fact. Can the English name Ellis\nbe itself derived from Elised?\n\n[60]  Boncyn is derived from bonc of nearly the same meaning, and\nbonc is merely the English word bank borrowed: in South Wales it is\npronounced banc and used in North Cardiganshire in the sense of hill\nor mountain.\n\n[61] The name occurs twice in the story of Kulhwch and Olwen: see the\nMabinogion, p. 107, where the editors have read Ricca both times in\n'Gormant, son of Ricca.' This is, however, more than balanced by Rita\nin the Book of Llan D\u00e2v, namely in Tref Rita, 'Rita's town or stead,'\nwhich occurs five times as the name of a place in the diocese of\nLlandaff; see pp. 32, 43, 90, 272. The uncertainty is confined to\nthe spelling, and it has arisen from the difficulty of deciding in\nmedieval manuscripts between t and c: there is no reason to suppose\nthe name was ever pronounced Ricca.\n\n[62] This can hardly be the real name of the place, as it is pronounced\nGwybrnant (and even Gwybrant), which reminds me of the Gwybr fynyd on\nwhich Gwyn ab N\u00fbd wanders about with his hounds: see Evans' facsimile\nof the Black Book of Carmarthen, p. 50a, where the words are, dy\ngruidir ar wibir winit.\n\n[63]  Dugdale has printed this (v. 673a) Carrecerereryr with one er too\nmuch, and the other name forms part of the phrase ad capud Weddua-Vaur,\n'to the top of the Great Gwydfa'; but I learn from Mr. Edward Owen,\nof Gray's Inn, that the reading of the manuscript is Wedua vawr and\nCarrecereryr.\n\n[64]  The MSS. except B have y 6ylva, which is clearly not the right\nword, as it could only mean 'his place of watching.'\n\n[65] See Derfel Hughes' Llandegai and Llanllechid, p. 53. As to\nDrystan it is the Pictish name Drostan, but a kindred form occurs\nin Cornwall on a stone near Fowey, where years ago I guessed the\nancient genitive Drustagni; and after examining it recently I am\nable to confirm my original guess. The name of Drystan recalls that\nof Essyllt, which offers some difficulty. It first occurs in Welsh\nin the Nennian Genealogies in the Harleian MS. 3859: see Pedigree\nI in the Cymmrodor, ix. 169, where we read that Mermin (Merfyn) was\nson of Etthil daughter of Cinnan (Cynan), who succeeded his father\nRhodri Molwynog in the sovereignty of Gwyned in 754. The spelling\nEtthil is to be regarded like that of the Welsh names in Nennius, for\nsome instances of which see \u00a7 73 (quoted in the next chapter) and the\nOld Welsh words calaur, nouel, patel, so spelt in the Juvencus Codex:\nsee Skene, ii. 2: in all these l does duty for ll. So Etthil is to be\ntreated as pronounced Ethill or Ethyll; but Jesus College MS. 20 gives\na more ancient pronunciation (at least as regards the consonants) when\nit calls Cynan's daughter Ethellt: see the Cymmrodor, viii. 87. Powell,\nin his History of Wales by Caradog of Llancarfan, as edited by Wynne,\nwrites the name Esylht; and the Medieval Welsh spelling has usually\nbeen Essyllt or Esyllt, which agrees in its sibilant with the French\nIselt or Iseut; but who made the Breton-looking change from Eth to Es\nor Is in this name remains a somewhat doubtful point. Professor Zimmer,\nin the Zeitschrift f\u00fcr franz\u00f6sische Sprache und Litteratur, xiii. 73-5,\npoints out that the name is an Anglo-Saxon Ethylda borrowed, which\nhe treats as a 'Kurzform f\u00fcr Ethelhild': see also the Revue Celtique,\nxii. 397, xiii. 495. The adoption of this name in Wales may be regarded\nas proof of intermarriage or alliance between an English family and\nthe royal house of Gwyned as early as the eighth century.\n\n[66] See the Brython for 1861, pp. 331-2, also Cymru Fu, p. 468, where\nGlasynys was also inclined to regard the Hairy Fellow as being Owen.\n\n[67] I have never seen a copy, but Mr. Fisher gives me the title as\nfollows: Prophwydoliaeth Myrdin Wyllt yn nghyda ber Hanes o'i Fywyd,\nwedi eu tynu allan o Lyfr y Daroganau ... Caerfyrdin ... Pris dwy\nGeiniog. It has no date, but Mr. Fisher once had a copy with the\ndate 1847. Recently he has come across another versified prophecy\nwritten in the same style as the printed ones, and referring to\nan Owain who may have been Owen Lawgoch. The personage meant is\ncompared to the most brilliant of pearls, Owain glain golyaf. The\nprophecy is to be found at the Swansea Public Library, and occurs in\na seventeenth century manuscript manual of Roman Catholic Devotion,\nLatin and Welsh. It gives 1440 as the year of the deliverance of the\nBrytaniaid. It forms the first of two poems (fo. 37), the second of\nwhich is ascribed to Taliessin. Such is Mr. Fisher's account of it,\nand the lines which he has copied for me cling to the same theme of\nthe ultimate triumph of the Kymry. Quite recently I have received\nfurther information as to these prophecies from Mr. J. H. Davies,\nof Lincoln's Inn (p. 354), who will, it is to be hoped, soon publish\nthe results of his intimate study of their history in South Wales.\n\n[68] Record of Carnarvon, p. 133, to which attention was called by\nme in the Report of the Welsh Land Commission, p. 648: see now The\nWelsh People, pp. 343-4, 593-4.\n\n[69] Nor was Owen the only Welshman in the king of France's service:\nthere was Owen's chaplain, who on one occasion distinguished himself\ngreatly in battle. He is called in Froissart's text David House, but\nthe editor has found from other documents that the name was Honvel\nFlinc, which is doubtless Howel, whatever the second vocable may have\nbeen: see Froissart, viii, pp. xxxviii, 69.\n\n[70] As to the original destination of the flotilla, see Kervyn de\nLettenhove's edition of Froissart (Brussels, 1870-7), viii. 435-7,\nwhere the editor has brought together several notes, from which it\nappears that Owen tried unsuccessfully to recruit an army in Spain,\nbut that he readily got together in France a considerable force. For\nCharles V, on May 8, 1372, ordered the formation of an army, to be\nplaced under Owen's command for the reconquest of his ancestors'\nlands in Wales, and two days later Owen issued a declaration as to\nhis Welsh claims and his obligations to the French king; but the\nflotilla stopped short with Guernsey. It is not improbable, however,\nthat the fear in England of a descent on Wales by Owen began at least\nas early as 1369. In his declaration Owen calls himself Evain de Gales,\nwhich approaches the Welsh spelling Ewein, more frequently Ywein,\nmodern Ywain, except that all these forms tended to be supplanted by\nOwain or Owen. This last is, strictly speaking, the colloquial form,\njust as Howel is the colloquial form of Hywel, and bowyd of bywyd,\n'life.'\n\n[71] For the account of Owen's life see the Chroniques de J. Froissart\npubli\u00e9es pour la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de l'Histoire de France, edited with abstracts\nand notes by Sim\u00e9on Luce, more especially vols. viii. pp. 44-9, 64,\n66-71, 84, 122, 190, and ix. pp. 74-9, where a summary is given of his\nlife and a complete account of his death. In Lord Berners' translation,\npublished in Henry VIII's time, Owen is called Yuan of Wales, as if\nanybody could even glance at the romances without finding that Owen\nab Urien, for instance, became in French Ywains or Ivains le fils\nUrien in the nominative, and Ywain or Ivain in r\u00e9gime. Thomas Johnes\nof Hafod, whose translation was published in 1803-6, betrays still\ngreater ignorance by giving him the modern name Evan; but he had the\nexcuse of being himself a Welshman.\n\n[72] For copies of some of the documents in point see Rymer's Foedera,\nviii. 356, 365, 382.\n\n[73] I have not been able to find a copy of this work, and for\ndrawing my attention to the passage in Hanes Cymru I have again to\nthank Mr. Fisher. The pedigree in question will be found printed in\nTable I in Askew Roberts' edition of Sir John Wynne's History of\nthe Gwydir Family (Oswestry, 1878); and a note, apparently copied\nfrom Miss Llwyd, states that it was in a Hengwrt MS. she found the\nidentification of Owen Lawgoch. The editor surmises that to refer\nto p. 865 of Hengwrt MS. 351, which he represents as being a copy of\nHengwrt MS. 96 in the handwriting of Robert Vaughan the Antiquary.\n\n[74] This has already been undertaken: on Feb. 7, 1900, a summary of\nthis chapter was read to a meeting of the Hon. Society of Cymmrodorion,\nand six weeks later Mr. Edward Owen, of Gray's Inn, read an elaborate\npaper in which he essayed to fix more exactly Yvain de Galles' place\nin the history of Wales. It would be impossible here to do justice to\nhis reasoning, based as it was on a careful study of the records in\npoint. Let it suffice for the present, however, that the paper will\nin due course appear in the Society's Transactions. Mr. J. H. Davies\nalso informs me that he is bringing together items of evidence,\nwhich tend, as he thinks, to show that Miss Llwyd's information was\npractically correct. Before, however, the question can be considered\nsatisfactorily answered, some explanation will have to be offered of\nFroissart's statement, that Yvain's father's name was Aymon.\n\n[75] We seem also to have an instance in point in Carmarthenshire,\nwhere legend represents Owen and his men sleeping in Ogof Myrdin,\nthe name of which means Merlin's Cave, and seems to concede priority\nof tenancy to the great magician: see the extinct periodical Golud\nyr Oes (for 1863), i. 253, which I find to have been probably drawing\non Eliezer Williams' English Works (London, 1840), p. 156.\n\n[76] For the Greek text of the entire passage see the Didot edition\nof Plutarch, vol. iii. p. 511 (De Defectu Oraculorum, xviii); also my\nArthurian Legend, pp. 367-8. It is curious to note that storms have,\nin a way, been associated in England with the death of her great men\nas recently as that of the celebrated Duke of Wellington: see Choice\nNotes, p. 270.\n\n[77] See my Arthurian Legend, p. 335. I am indebted to Professor\nMorfill for rendering the hexameters into English verse.\n\n[78] They are produced here in their order as printed at the beginning\nof the second volume of the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, and the\nseries or versions are indicated as i, ii, iii. Version ii will be\nfound printed in the third volume of the Cymmrodor, pp. 52-61, also in\nthe Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 297-308, from the Red Book of Hergest of the\nfourteenth century. The letter (a, b, c) added is intended to indicate\nthe order of the three parts of the Triad, for it is not the same in\nall the series. Let me here remark in a general way that the former\nfondness of the Welsh for Triads was not peculiar to them. The Irish\nalso must have been at one time addicted to this grouping. Witness the\nTriad of Cleverest Countings, in the Book of the Dun Cow, fol. 58a,\nand the Triad of the Blemishes of the Women of Ulster, ib. 43b.\n\n[79] As to the names Drystan (also Trystan) and Essyllt, see the\nfootnote on p. 480 above.\n\n[80] This was meant to explain the unusual term g6rdueichyat, also\nwritten g6rdueichat, g6rueichyat, and gwrddfeichiad. This last comes\nin the modern spelling of iii. 101, where this clause is not put in\nthe middle of the Triad but at the end.\n\n[81] The editor of this version seems to have supposed Pendaran to\nhave been a place in Dyfed! But his ignorance leaves us no evidence\nthat he had a different story before him.\n\n[82] This word is found written in Mod. Welsh Annwfn, but it has been\nmostly superseded by the curtailed form Annwn, which appears twice\nin the Mabinogi of Math. These words have been studied by M. Gaidoz\nin Meyer and Stern's Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Celtische Philologie, i. 29-34,\nwhere he equates Annwfn with the Breton anauon, which is a plural used\ncollectively for the souls of the departed, the other world. His view,\nhowever, of these interesting words has since been mentioned in the\nsame Zeitschrift, iii. 184-5, and opposed in the Annales de Bretagne,\nxi. 488.\n\n[83] Edited by Professor Kuno Meyer (London, 1892): see for instance\npp. 76-8.\n\n[84] See Windisch's Irische Texte, p. 256, and now the Irish Text\nSociety's Fled Bricrend, edited with a translation by George Henderson,\npp. 8, 9.\n\n[85] Windisch, ibid. pp. 99-105.\n\n[86] See the Oxford Mabinogion, p. 196, and Guest's trans., i. 302,\nwhere the Welsh words a gol6ython o gic meluoch are rendered 'and\ncollops of the flesh of the wild boar,' which can hardly be correct;\nfor the mel in mel-uoch, or mel-foch in the modern spelling, is\nthe equivalent of the Irish melg, 'milk.' So the word must refer\neither to a pig that had been fed on cows' milk or else a sucking\npig. The former is the more probable meaning, but one is not helped\nto decide by the fact, that the word is still sometimes used in books\nby writers who imagine that they have here the word mel, 'honey,'\nand that the compound means pigs whose flesh is as sweet as honey:\nsee Dr. Pughe's Dictionary, where melfoch is rendered 'honey swine,'\nwhatever that may mean.\n\n[87] Windisch's Irische Texte, p. 133, where laith lemnacht = Welsh\nllaeth llefrith, 'sweet milk.'\n\n[88] Collfrewi was probably, like Gwenfrewi, a woman's name: this is\na point of some importance when taken in connexion with what was said\nat p. 326 above as to Gwydion and Coll's magic.\n\n[89] This reminds one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Henvinus, whom he\nmakes into dux Cornubi\u00e6 and father of Cunedagius or Cuneda: see ii. 12,\n15. Probably Geoffrey's connecting such names as those of Cuneda and\nDyfnwal Moelmud (ii. 17) with Cornwall is due to the fact, that the\nname of the Dumnonia of the North had been forgotten long before that\nof the Dumnonia to be identified with Devon and Cornwall.\n\n[90] See the Oxford Mabinogion, p. 104, and the Oxford Bruts, p. 292.\n\n[91] See the Oxford Bruts, pp. 299, 317, 345-6, 348, 384. I learn from\nProf. Anwyl that Castell Penwedig is still remembered at Llanfihangel\nGenau'r Glyn as the old name of Castell Gwallter in that parish.\n\n[92] See his note in Owen's Pembrokeshire, p. 237, where he also\nnotices Aber Tarogi, and the editor's notes to p. 55.\n\n[93]  Mergaed for Mengwaed hardly requires any explanation; and as\nto Breat or rather Vreat, as it occurs in mutation, we have only\nto suppose the original carelessly written Vreac for Vreach, and we\nhave the usual error of neglecting the stroke indicating the n, and\nthe very common one of confounding c with t. This first-mentioned\nname should possibly be analysed into Mengw-aed or Menw-aed for an\nIrish Menb-aed, with the menb, 'little,' noticed at p. 510 below;\nin that case one might compare such compounds of Aed as Beo-aed and\nLug-aed in the Martyrology of Gorman. Should this prove well founded\nthe Mod. Welsh transcription of Menwaed should be Menwaed. I have had\nthe use of other versions of the Triads from MSS. in the Peniarth\ncollection; but they contribute nothing of any great importance as\nregards the proper names in the passages here in question.\n\n[94]  See the Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 41, 98, and Guest's trans.,\niii. 313.\n\n[95] See Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanni\u00e6, vi. 19, viii. 1, 2;\nalso Giraldus, Itinerarium Kambri\u00e6, ii. 8 (p. 133).\n\n[96] Itinerarium Kambri\u00e6, ii. 9 (p. 136).\n\n[97] Menw's name is to be equated with the Irish word menb, 'little,\nsmall,' and connected with the Welsh derivative di-fenw-i, 'belittling\nor reviling': it will be seen that he takes the form of a bird, and\nhis designation Menw fab Teirgwaed might perhaps be rendered 'Little,\nson of Three-Cries.'\n\n[98] Identified by Professor Kuno Meyer in the Transactions of the\nCymmrodorion Society, 1895-6, p. 73, with a place in Leinster called\nSescenn Uairbe\u00f3il, 'the Marsh of Uairbh\u00e9l,' where Uairbh\u00e9l may possibly\nbe a man's name, but more likely that of a pass or gap described as\nCold-mouth: compare the Slack or Sloc in the Isle of Man, called in\nManx 'the big Mouth of the Wind.' The Irish name comes near in part\nto the Welsh Esgeir Oervel or Oerfel, which means 'the mountain Spur\nof cold Weather.'\n\n[99] The word used in the text is ystyr, which now means 'meaning\nor signification'; but it is there used in the sense of 'history,'\nor of the Latin 'historia,' from which it is probably borrowed.\n\n[100] In the original his designation is Gwrhyr Gwalstawt Ieithoed, and\nthe man so called is in the Kulhwch credited with the mastery of all\nlanguages, including those of certain birds and quadrupeds. Gwalstawt,\nfound written also gwalstot, is the Anglo-Saxon word wealhst\u00f3d,\n'an interpreter,' borrowed. The name Gwrhyr is possibly identical\nwith that of Ferghoir, borne by the Stentor of Fionn mac Cumhaill's\nfollowing. Ferghoir's every shout is said to have been audible over\nthree cantreds. Naturally one who was to parley with a savage host\nhad good reason to cultivate a far-reaching voice, if he wished to\nbe certain of returning to his friends. For more about it see the\nfootnote at p. 489 of my Hibbert Lectures.\n\n[101] The original has Pelumyawc, p. 138, and the name occurs in the\n(Red Book) Bruts, p. 355, as Pelunyawc, and p. 411, as Pelunea(wc)\nbetween the commots of Amgoed and Velfrey. The identification here\nsuggested comes from Mr. Phillimore, who has seen that Peuliniawc\nmust be a derivative from the name Paulinus, that is of the\nPaulinus, probably, who is mentioned in an ancient inscription\nat Llandysilio. There are other churches called after Tysilio, so\nthis one used to be distinguished as Llandysilio yn Nyfed, that is,\nLlandysilio-in-Dyfed; but the pronunciation was much the same as\nif it had been written Llandysilio yn Yfed, meaning 'Llandysilio\na-drinking,' 'whereof arose a merrye jest,' as George Owen tells us\nin his Pembrokeshire, p. 9. It is now sometimes called Llandysilio'r\nGynffon, or 'Llandysilio of the Tail,' from the situation of a part\nof the parish on a strip, as it were a tail, of Carmarthenshire land\nrunning into Pembrokeshire.\n\n[102] This Aber Towy appears to have been a town with a harbour in\n1042, for we read in Brut y Tywysogion of a cruel engagement fought\nthere between Gruffyd ab Llewelyn and Howel ab Edwin, who, with\nIrish auxiliaries, tried to effect a landing. Not long ago a storm,\ncarrying away the accumulation of sand, laid bare a good deal of the\nsite. It is to be hoped that excavations will be made soon on the spot.\n\n[103] See the Transactions of the Cymmrodorion, 1894-5,\npp. 146-7. There are a good many clyns about South Wales, but our\netymologists are careful to have them in most cases written glyn,\n'a glen.' Our story, however, shows that the word came under the\ninfluence of glyn long ago, for it should be, when accented, cl\u00fbn,\ncorresponding to Irish cluain, 'a meadow.' We have it as clun in Clun\nKein in the Black Book, p. 34b, where I guess it to mean the place\nnow called Cilcain, 'Kilken' in Flintshire, which is accented on the\nfirst syllabic; and we have had it in y Clun Hir, 'the Long Meadow,'\nmentioned above at p. 22.\n\n[104] Cas Llychwr, 'Loughor Castle,' is supposed to involve in its\nLlychwr, Llwchwr, or Loughor, the name of the place in the Antoninus\nItinerary, 484, 1, to wit Leucarum; but the guttural spirant ch between\nvowels in Llychwr argues a phonetic process which was Goidelic rather\nthan Brythonic.\n\n[105] Llwydawc Gouynnyat would seem to mean Llwydawc the Asker\nor Demander, and the epithet occurs also in the Kulhwch in the\nname Gallcoyt Gouynynat (Mabinogion, 106), to be read doubtless\nG. Gouynnyat, 'G. who asks or demands': possibly one should rather\ncompare with Go-uynnyat the word tra-mynyat, 'a wild boar': see\nWilliams' Seint Greal, pp. 374, 381. However, the epithets in the Twrch\nTrwyth story do not count so far as concerns the place-names derived.\n\n[106] Other instances of the like shortening occur in words like\ncefnder, 'a cousin,' for cefnderw, and ardel, 'to own,' for ardelw. As\nto Amman, it enters, also, into a group of Glamorganshire place-names:\nwitness Aber Amman and Cwm Amman, near Aberdare.\n\n[107] It should perhaps be looked for near Brechfa, where there is\na Hafod Grugyn, and, as I am told, a Garth also which is, however,\nnot further defined. For it appears that both Brechfa and Cayo,\nthough now in Carmarthenshire, once belonged to Keredigion: see Owen's\nPembrokeshire, p. 216. But perhaps another spot should be considered:\nJ. D. Rhys, the grammarian (p. 22 above), gives in the Peniarth MS. 118\na list of caers or castles called after giants, and among them is that\nof Grugyn in the parish, he says, of 'Llan Hilar.' I have, however, not\nbeen able to hear of any trace of the name there, though I should guess\nthe spot to have been Pen y Castell, called in English Castle Hill, the\nresidence of Mr. Loxdale in the parish of Llanilar, near Aberystwyth.\n\n[108] I have re-examined the passage, and I have no doubt that the\neditors were wrong in printing Gregyn: the manuscript has Grugyn,\nwhich comes in the last line of column 841. Now besides that the line\nis in part somewhat faint, the scribe has evidently omitted something\nfrom the original story, and I guess that the lacuna occurs in the\nfirst line of the next column after the words y llas, 'was killed,'\nwhich seem to end the story of Grugyn.\n\n[109] Those who have discovered an independent Welsh appellative wy\nmeaning water are not to be reasoned with. The Welsh wy only means\nan egg, while the meaning of Gwy as the name of the Wye has still to\nbe discovered.\n\n[110] This name also occurs in a passage quoted in Jones' Brecknock,\nii. 501, from a Carte MS. which he treats as relating to the year 1234:\nthe MS. is said to be at the Bodleian, though I have not succeeded in\ntracing it. But Jones gives Villa de Ystraddewi, and speaks of a chapel\nof St. John's of Stradtewi, which must have been St. John's Church,\nat Tretower, one of the ecclesiastical districts of Cwm Du: see also\np. 497. The name is probably to be treated as Strad or Strat d'Ewe.\n\n[111] A river may in Welsh be briefly called after anybody or\nanything. Thus in North Cardiganshire there is a stream called Einon,\nthat is to say 'Einion's river,' and the flat land on both sides of\nit is called Ystrad Einon, which looks as if one might translate\nit Einion's Strath, but it means the Strath of Einion's river, or\nof the stream called Einon, as one will at once see from the upper\ncourse of the water being called Blaen Einon, which can only mean the\nupper course of the Einon river. So here yw is in English 'yew,' but\nYstrad Yw and Llygad Yw have to be rendered the Strath of the Yew burn\nand the Eye of the Yew burn respectively. It is moreover felt by the\nWelsh-speaking people of the district that yw is the plural of ywen,\n'a single yew,' and as there is only one yew at the source somebody had\nthe brilliant idea of making the name right by calling it Ywen, and\nthis has got into the maps as Ewyn, as though it were the Welsh word\nfor foam. Who began it I cannot say, but Theophilus Jones has it in\nhis History of the County of Brecknock, published in 1809. Nevertheless\nthe name is still Yw, not Ywen or Ewyn, in the Welsh of the district,\nthough Lewis gives it as Ywen in his article on Llanvihangel-Cwm-Du.\n\n[112] For exact information as to the Gaer, the Yw, and Llygad Yw,\nI am indebted chiefly to the courtesy of Lord Glanusk, the owner of\nthat historic strath, and to the Rector of Llansantffread, who made\na special visit to Llygad Yw for me; also to Mr. Francis Evans, of\nthe Farmers' Arms at the Bwlch, who would be glad to change the name\nLlygad Yw into Llygad dan yr Ywen, 'the Source beneath the Yew-tree,'\npartly on account of the position 'of the spring emanating under the\nbut of the yew tree,' and partly because there is only a single yew\nthere. Theophilus Jones complained a century ago that the Gaer in\nYstrad Yw had not attracted the attention it deserved; and I have\nbeen greatly disappointed to find that the Cambrian Arch\u00e6ological\nAssociation has had nothing to say of it. At any rate, I have tried\nthe Index of its proceedings and found only a single mention of\nit. The whole district is said to teem with antiquities, Celtic,\nRoman, and Norman.\n\n[113] Theophilus Jones, in his Brecknockshire, ii. 502, describes\nMiarth or Myarth as a 'very extensive' camp, and proceeds as\nfollows:--'Another British camp of less extent is seen on a knoll on\nPentir hill, westward of the Rhiangoll and the parish church of Cwmdu,\nabove a wood called Coed y Gaer, and nearly opposite to the peak or\nsummit called Cloch y Pibwr, or the piper's call.' This would probably\nbe more accurately rendered the Piper's Rock or Stone, with cloch\ntreated as the Goidelic word for a stone rather than the Brythonic\nword for a bell: how many more clochs in our place-names are Goidelic?\n\n[114] The Twrch would seem to have crossed somewhere opposite the\nmouth of the Wye, let us say not very far from Aust; but he escapes to\nCornwall without anything happening to him, so we are left without any\nindication whether the story originally regarded Kernyw as including\nthe Penrhyn Awstin of the Coll story given at p. 503.\n\n[115] For this suggestion I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Gaster in the\nCymmrodorion's Transactions for 1894-5, p. 34, and also for references\nin point to M. Cosquin's Contes Populaires de la Lorraine, i. 134,\n141, 152. Compare also such Gaelic stories as that of the Bodach Glas,\ntranslated by Mrs. Mackellar, in the Celtic Magazine, xii. 12-6, 57-64.\n\n[116] In some native Welsh words we have an option between a prefix\nym and am, an option arising out of the fact that originally it\nwas neither ym nor am, but m, for an earlier mbi, of the same origin\nas Latin ambi and Greek amphi, 'around, about.' The article, its\nmeaning in the combination in banbh being forgotten, would fall under\nthe influence of the analogy of the prefix, now am or ym, so far as\nthe pronunciation was concerned.\n\n[117] Possibly the benwic was thrown in to correct the reckoning when\nthe redactor discovered, as he thought, that he had one too many to\naccount for: it has been pointed out that he had forgotten that one\nhad been killed in Ireland.\n\n[118] It is just possible, however, that in an older version it was\nnamed, and that the place was no other than the rock just above\nYstrad Yw, called Craig Lwyd or, as it is said to be pronounced,\nCraig Llwyd. If so, Llwyd would seem to have been substituted for\nthe dissyllable Llwydog: compare the same person called Llwyt and\nLlwydeu in the Mabinogion, pp. 57, 110, 136.\n\n[119] The name is well known in that of Llanrhaiadr yn Mochnant,\n'Llanrhaiadr in Mochnant,' in the north of Montgomeryshire.\n\n[120] Between Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction, on the Chester and\nHolyhead line of railway.\n\n[121] I have discussed some of the traces of the Goidels in Wales in\nthe Arch. Camb. for 1895, pp. 18-39, 264-302; 1899, pp. 160-7.\n\n[122] In fact the genitive Gr\u00facind occurs in the Book of Leinster,\nfo. 359a.\n\n[123] The sort of question one would like to ask in that district is,\nwhether there is a spot there called Bed y Rhyswyr, Carn y Rhyswyr,\nor the like. The word rhyswr is found applied to Arthur himself in\nthe Life of Gruffyd ab Cynan, as the equivalent probably of the\nLatin Arthur Miles (p. 538 below): see the Myvyrian Archaiology,\nii. 590. Similarly the soldiers or champions of Christ are called\nrys6yr crist in the Welsh Life of St. David: see the Elucidarium and\nother Tracts (in the Anecdota Oxoniensia), p. 118.\n\n[124] Rudvyw Rys would be in Modern Welsh Rhudfyw Rys, and probably\nmeans Rhudfyw the Champion or Fighter, as Rhys is likely to have been\nsynonymous with rhyswr. The corresponding Irish name was Russ or Ross,\ngenitive Rossa, and it appears to come from the same origin as Irish\nross, 'a headland, a forest,' Welsh rhos, 'moorland, uncultivated\nground.' The original meaning was presumably 'exposed or open and\nuntilled land'; and Stokes supposes the word to stand for an early\n(p)ro-sto- with sto of the same origin as Latin sto, 'I stand,' and\nas the English word stand itself. In that case Ros, genitive Rossa,\nWelsh Rhys, would mean one who stands out to fight, a prostat\u00eas,\nso to say. But not only are these words of a different declension\nimplying a nominative Ro-stus, but the Welsh one must have been once\naccented Ro-st\u00fas on the ending which is now lost, otherwise there is\nno accounting for the change of the remaining vowel into y. Other\ninstances postulating an early Welsh accentuation of the same kind\nare very probably llyg, 'a fieldmouse,' Irish luch, 'a mouse'; pryd,\n'form,' Irish cruth; pryf, 'a worm,' Irish cruim; so also with ych,\n'an ox,' and nyth, 'a nest,' Irish nett, genitive nitt, derived by\nStokes from nizdo-, which, however, must have been oxytone, like the\ncorresponding Sanskrit nidh\u00e1. There is one very interesting compound of\nrhys, namely the saint's name Rhwydrys, as it were Redo-rostus to be\ncompared with Gaulish Eporedo-rix, which is found in Irish analysed\ninto r\u00ed Eochraidhi, designating the fairy king who was father to\n\u00c9t\u00e1in: see Windisch's Irische Texte, p. 119. Bledrws, Bledrus, as\ncontrasted with Bledrys, Bledris, postulate Goidelic accentuation,\nwhile one has to treat Bledruis as a compromise between Bledrws and\nBledris, unless it be due to misreading a Bledruif (Book of Llan D\u00e2v,\npp. 185, 221-2, and Arch. Camb. for 1875, p. 370). The Goidelic accent\nat an early date moved to first syllables, hence cruth (with its vowel\ninfluenced by the u of a stem qurt) under the stress accent, became,\nwhen unstressed, cridh (from a simplified stem crt) as in Noicride\n(also N\u00f3icrothach, Windisch, ibid., pp. 259, 261, 266)\nand Luicridh (Four Masters, A.D. 748), Luccraid, genitive Luccraide\n(Book of Leinster, 359f), Luguqurit- in Ogam.\n\n[125] These operations cannot have been the first of the kind in\nthe district, as a writer in the Arch\u00e6ologia Cambrensis for 1862,\npp. 159-60, in extracting a note from the Proceedings of the Society\nof Antiquaries (series II, vol. i. p. 10) relative to the discovery\nof the canoe, adds a statement based on the same volume, p. 161,\nto the effect that 'within half a mile of Llyn Llydaw there are the\nremains of a British town, not marked in the ordnance map, comprising\nthe foundations of numerous circular dwellings. In some of them\nquantities of the refuse of copper smeltings were found. This town\nshould be visited and examined with care by some of the members of\nour Association.'  This was written not far short of forty years ago;\nbut I am not aware that the Association has done anything positive\nas yet in this matter.\n\n[126] According to Jenkins' Bed Gelert, p. 300, the canoe was\nsubsequently sold for a substantial price, and nobody seems to\nknow what has eventually become of it. It is to be hoped this is\nnot correct.\n\n[127] See Holder's Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, s. v. Litavia.\n\n[128] For these notes I am indebted to Williams' Dictionary of Eminent\nWelshmen, and to Rees' Welsh Saints, pp. 187, 191; for our Paulinus\nis not yet recognized in the Dictionary of Christian Biography. His\nday was Nov. 22.\n\n[129] There are two other inscriptions in South Wales which contain\nthe name Paulinus, one on a stone found in the neighbourhood of Port\nTalbot in Glamorgan, reading Hic iacit Cantusus Pater Paulinus,\nwhich seems to imply that Paulinus set up the stone to the memory\nof a son of his named Cantusus. The other, found on the site of the\nextinct church of Llanwrthwl, near Dolau Cothi in Carmarthenshire,\nis a remarkable one in a kind of hexameter to the following effect:--\n\n    Servatur fid\u00e6i patrieque semper amator\n    Hic Paulinus iacit cultor pientisimus \u00e6qui.\n\nWhether we have one or two or three Paulini in these inscriptions\nI cannot say. Welsh writers, however, have made the name sometimes\ninto Pawl H\u00ean, 'Paul the Aged,' but, so far as I can see, without\nrhyme or reason.\n\n[130] Since I chanced on this inscription my friend Professor Lindsay\nof St. Andrews has called my attention to Plautus' Asinaria, 499\n(II. iv. 92), where one reads, Periphanes Rhodo mercator dives,\n'Periphanes a wealthy merchant of Rhodes'; he finds also \u00c6sculapius\nEpidauro (Arnobius, 278. 18), and elsewhere Nepos Philippis and\nPriscus Vienna.\n\n[131]  See Stokes' Patrick, pp. 16, 412.\n\n[132] This will give the reader some idea of the pre-Norman orthography\nof Welsh, with l for the sound of ll and b for that of v.\n\n[133] The softening of Cafall to Gafall could not take place after the\nmasculine corn, 'a horn'; but it was just right after the feminine\ncarn, 'a cairn.' So here corn is doubtless a colloquial corruption;\nand so is probably the t at the end, for as llt has frequently been\nreduced to ll, as in cyfaill, 'a friend,' from the older cyfaillt,\nin Medieval Irish comalta, 'a foster brother or sister,' the language\nhas sometimes reversed the process, as when one hears hollt for holl,\n'all,' or reads fferyllt, 'alchemist, chemist,' for fferyll from\nVergilius. The Nennian orthography does not much trouble itself to\ndistinguish between l and ll, and even when Carn Cabal was written the\npronunciation was probably Carn Gavall, the mutation being ignored\nin the spelling, which frequently happens in the case even of Welsh\npeople who never fail to mutate their consonants in speaking. Lastly,\nthough it was a dog that was called Cafall, it is remarkable that\nthe word has exactly the form taken by caballus in Welsh: for cafall,\nas meaning some sort of a horse, see Silvan Evans' Geiriadur.\n\n[134] An instance or two of Trwyd will be found in a note by Silvan\nEvans in Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii. 393.\n\n[135] For more about these names and kindred ones, see a note of mine\nin the Arch. Cambrensis, 1898, pp. 61-3.\n\n[136] See my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 398-401.\n\n[137] See the Black Book of Carmarthen in Evans' facsimile, p. 47b;\nThomas Stephens' Gododin, p. 146; Dent's Malory, preface, p. xxvi;\nand Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii. 51, 63, 155.\n\n[138] See the G\u00f6ttingische gelehrte Anzeigen for 1890, p. 512.\n\n[139] See De Courson's Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Redon, pp. 163, 186.\n\n[140] See Reeves' note to the passage just cited in his edition of\nAdamnan's Vita, pp. 6, 7.\n\n[141] Here possibly one might mention likewise Gilmin Troetu or\nTroeddu, 'Gilmin of the Black Foot,' the legendary ancestor (p. 444)\nof the Wynns of Glyn Llifon, in Carnarvonshire. So the name might be a\nshortening of some such a combination as Gilla-min, 'the attendant of\nMin or Men,' a name we have also in Mocu-Min, 'Min's Kin,' a family\nor sept so called more than once by Adamnan. Perhaps one would also\nbe right in regarding as of similar origin the name of Gilberd or\nGilbert, son of Cadgyffro, who is mentioned in the Kulhwch, and in\nthe Black Book, fo. 14b: at any rate I am not convinced that the name\nis to be identified with the Gillebert of the Normans, unless that\nwas itself derived from Celtic. But there is a discrepancy between\nGilmin, Gilbert, with unmutated m and b, and Gilvaethwy with its\nmutation consonant v. In all three, however, Gil, had it been Welsh,\nwould probably have appeared as Gill, as indicated by the name Gilla\nin the Kulhwch (Oxford Mabinogion, p. 110), in which we seem to have\nthe later form of the old name Gildas. Compare such Irish instances\nas Fiachna and Cera, which seem to imply stems originally ending in\n-asa-s (masculine) and -asa (feminine); and see the Journal of the\nRoyal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1899, P. 402.\n\n[142] An article in the Rennes Dindsenchas is devoted to Liath: see the\nRev. Celtique, xvi. 78-9. As to Celtchar, genitive Celtchair, the name\nwould seem to have meant 'him who is fond of concealment.' The Mabinogi\nform of the Welsh name is Llwyt uab kil coet, which literally meant\n'Ll. son of (him of) the Retreat of the Wood.' But in the Twrch Trwyth\nstory, under a slightly different form of designation, we appear to\nhave the same person as Llwydeu mab kelcoet and Llwydeu mab kel coet,\nwhich would seem to mean 'Ll. son of (him of) the Hidden Wood.' It\nlooks as if the bilingual story-teller of the language transition\nhad not been able to give up the cel of Celtchar at the same time\nthat he rendered celt by coet, 'wood or trees,' as if identifying\nit with cailt: witness the Medieval Irish caill, 'a wood or forest,'\ndative plural cailtib, derivative adjective caillteamhuil, 'silvester';\nand see Windisch's Irische Texte, p. 410, s. v. caill.\n\n[143] Windisch's Irische Texte, p. 217, and the Book of the Dun Cow,\nfo. 47b.\n\n[144] There has been a good deal of confusion as to the name Llyr:\nthus for instance, the Welsh translations of Geoffrey of Monmouth\nmake the Leir of his Latin into Llyr, and the personage intended is\nrepresented as the father of three daughters named Gonerilla, Regan,\nand Cordeilla or Cordelia. But Cordelia is probably the Creurdilad of\nthe Black Book, p. 49b, and the Creidylat of the Kulhwch story (the\nOxford Mabinogion, pp. 113, 134), and her father was Ll\u00fbd Llawereint (=\nIrish Nuada Airgetl\u00e1m) and not Llyr. Then as to the Leir of Geoffrey's\nLatin, that name looks as if given its form on the strength of the\nlegr- of Legraceaster, the Anglo-Saxon name of the town now called\nLeicester, of which William of Malmesbury (Gesta Pontificum, \u00a7 176)\nsays, Legrecestra est civitas antiqua in Mediterraneis Anglis, a Legra\nfluvio pr\u00e6terfluente sic vocata. Mr. Stevenson regards Legra as an old\nname of the Soar, and as surviving in that of the village of Leire,\nspelled Legre in Domesday. It seems to point back to a Legere or\nLigere, which recalls Liger, 'the Loire.'\n\n[145] I say in that case, as this is not quite conclusive; for Welsh\nhas an appellative llyr, 'mare, \u00e6quor,' which may be a generalizing\nof Llyr; or else it may represent an early lerio-s from lero-s (see\np. 549 below), and our Llyr may possibly be this and not the Irish\ngenitive Lir retained as Llyr. That, however, seems to me improbable\non the whole.\n\n[146] Here it is relevant to direct the reader's attention to Nutt's\nLegend of the Holy Grail, p. 28, where, in giving an abstract of the\nPetit saint Graal, he speaks of the Br\u00e2n of that romance, in French\nBron, nominative Brons, as having the keeping of the Grail and dwelling\n'in these isles of Ireland.'\n\n[147] The D\u00f4n and Llyr groups are not brought into conflict or even\nplaced in contact with one another; and the reason seems to be that\nthe story-teller wanted to introduce the sons of Beli as supreme\nin Britain after the death of Br\u00e2n. Beli and his sons are also\nrepresented in Maxen's Dream as ruling over Britain when the Roman\nconqueror arrives. What is to be made of Beli may be learnt from The\nWelsh People, pp. 41-3.\n\n[148] These things one learns about Lir from the story mentioned\nin the text as the 'Fate of the Children of Lir,' as to which it is\nright, however, to say that no ancient manuscript version is known:\nsee M. d'Arbois dc Jubainville's Essai d'un Catalogue de la Lit\u00e9rature\n\u00e9pique de l'Irlande, p. 8.\n\n[149] See Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii. 303, also 108-9,\nwhere the fragment of the poem as given in the Book of Taliessin is\nprinted. The line here quoted has been rendered in vol. i. 286, 'With\nMatheu and Govannon,' which places the old pagan Gofannon in rather\nunexpected company. A few lines later in the poem mention is made of a\nKaer Gofannon: where was that? Skene, in a note on it (ii. 452), says\nthat 'In an old list of the churches of Linlithgow, printed by Theiner,\nappears Vicaria de Gumanyn. The place meant is probably Dalmeny, on\nthe Firth of Forth, formerly called Dumanyn.' This is interesting only\nas showing that Gumanyn is probably to be construed Dumanyn, and that\nDalmeny represents an ancient D\u00fan Manann in a neighbourhood where one\nalready has Clach Manann, 'the stone of Manau,' and Sliabh Manann,\n'Mountain of Manau' now respectively Clackmannan and Slamannan,\nin what Nennius calls Manau Guotodin.\n\n[150] This occurred unrecognized and, therefore, unaltered by the\nscribe of the Nennian Pedigree no. xvi in the Cymmrodor, ix. 176,\nas he found it written in an old spelling, Louhen. map. Guid\ngen. map. Caratauc. map. Cinbelin, where Caradog is made father of\nGwydion; for in Guid-gen we seem to have the compound name which\nsuggested Gwydion. This agrees with the fact that the Mabinogi of\nMath treats Gwydion as the father of Llew Llawgyffes; but the pedigree\nitself seems to have been strangely put together.\n\n[151] See Bertrand's Religion des Gaulois, pp. 314-9, 343-5, and\nespecially the plates.\n\n[152] The Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 40-3; Guest's Mabinogion, iii. 124-8.\n\n[153] See Louis Leger's Cyrille et M\u00e9thode (Paris, 1868), p. 22.\n\n[154] See Pertz, Monumenta Germani\u00e6 Historia Scriptorum, xii. 794. The\nwhole passage is worth quoting; it runs thus: Erat autem simulacrum\ntriceps, quod in uno corpore tria capita habens Triglaus vocabatur;\nquod solum accipiens, ipsa capitella sibi coh\u00e6rentia, corpore\ncomminuto, secum inde quasi pro tropheo asportavit, et postea Romam\npro argumento conversionis illorum transmisit.\n\n[155] See The Welsh People, pp. 56-7.\n\n[156] The Oxford Mabinogion, p. 147; Guest's Mabinogion, ii. 398.\n\n[157] This may have meant the 'Blue Slate or Flagstone'; but there is\nno telling so long as the place is not identified. It may have been\nin the Pictish district of Galloway, or else somewhere beyond the\nForth. Query whether it was the same place as Llech Gelydon in Prydyn,\nmentioned in Boned y Saint: see the Myvyrian Archaiology, ii. 49.\n\n[158] The story of Kulhwch and Olwen has a different legend which\nrepresents Nynio and Peibio changed by the Almighty into two oxen\ncalled Ychen Banna6c: see the Oxford Mabinogion, p. 121, also my\nArthurian Legend, p. 304, and the remarks which are to follow in this\nchapter with respect to those oxen.\n\n[159] For the story in Welsh see the Iolo MSS., pp. 193-4, where a\nfootnote tells the reader that it was copied from the book of 'Iaco\nab Dewi.' From his father's manuscript, Taliesin Williams printed\nan abstract in English in his notes to his poem entitled the Doom\nof Colyn Dolphyn (London, 1837), pp. 119-20, from which it will be\nfound translated into German in the notes to San-Marte's Geoffrey of\nMonmouth's Historia Regum Britanni\u00e6, pp. 402-3.\n\n[160] Oxford Bruts, p. 213: compare p. 146, together with Geoffrey's\nLatin, vii. 3, x. 3.\n\n[161] See K\u00f6lbing's Altenglische Bibliothek, the fifth volume of\nwhich consists of Libeaus Desconus, edited by Max Kaluza (Leipsic,\n1890), lines 163, 591, and Introduction, p. cxxxxiv. For calling my\nattention to this, I have to thank my friend, Mr. Henry Bradley.\n\n[162] Malory's Morte Darthur, i. 27: see also i. 17-8, 28; ii. 6, 8-9.\n\n[163] See Evans' Autotype Facsimile, fo. 33a: could the spot so called\n(in the Welsh text argel Ardudwy) be somewhere in the neighbourhood of\nLlyn Irdyn (p. 148), a district said to be rich in the remains of a\nprehistoric antiquity? J. Evans, author of the North Wales volume of\nthe Beauties of England and Wales, says, after hurriedly enumerating\nsuch antiquities, p. 909: 'Perhaps in no part of Britain is there\nstill remaining such an assemblage of relicks belonging to druidical\nrites and customs as are found in this place, and the adjacent parts.'\n\n[164] As to Rion, see Gaston Paris and Ulrich's Merlin (Paris, 1886),\ni. 202, 239-46. Other instances will readily occur to the reader,\nsuch as the Domesday Roelend or Roelent for Rothelan, in Modern\nWelsh Rhudlan; but for more instances of this elision by French and\nAnglo-Norman scribes of vowel-flanked d and th, see Notes and Queries\nfor Oct. 28, 1899, pp. 351-2, and Nov. 18, p. 415; also Vising's \u00c9tude\nsur le Dialecte anglo-normand du xije Si\u00e8cle (Upsala, 1882), p. 88; and\nF. Hildebrand's article on Domesday, in the Zeitschrift f\u00fcr romanische\nPhilologie, 1884, p. 360. According to Suchier in Gr\u00f6ber's Grundriss\nder rom. Philologie, i. 581, this process of elision became complete in\nthe twelfth century: see also Schwan's Grammatik des Altfranz\u00f6sischen\n(Leipsic, 1888), p. 65. For most of these references, I have to thank\nmy friend and neighbour, Mr. Stevenson of Exeter College.\n\n[165] It comes from the same Llwyd MS. which has already been cited\nat pp. 233-4: see the Cambrian Journal for 1859, pp. 209-10.\n\n[166] I notice in the maps a spot called Panylau, which is nearer to\nLlyn Gwynain than to Llyn y Dinas.\n\n[167] See Morris' Celtic Remains, s. v. Serigi, and the Iolo MSS.,\np. 81.\n\n[168] The Iolo MSS., p. 81, have Syrigi Wydel son of Mwrchan son of\nEurnach Hen.\n\n[169] See Triads, ii. 12, and the Mabinogion, p. 301: in Triads,\ni. 72, iii. 86, instead of Solor we have Doler and Dolor.\n\n[170] See the Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 125-8.\n\n[171] Evans' Autotype Facsimile, fo. 48a; see also my preface to\nDent's Malory, p. xxvii; likewise p. 457 above.\n\n[172] See my Lectures on Welsh Philology, pp. 377-9; and, as to the\nCaer Gai tradition, the Arch. Camb. for 1850, p. 204, and Morris'\nCeltic Remains, p. 63. I may add as to Llanuwchllyn, that the oldest\ninhabitants pronounce that name Llanuwllyn.\n\n[173]  I cannot discover that it has ever been investigated by the\nCambrian Arch\u00e6ological Association or any other antiquaries. Compare\nthe case of the neighbouring site with the traces of the copper\nsmeltings mentioned in the note on p. 532 above. To my knowledge the\nCambrians have twice failed to make their way nearer to the ruins\nthan Llanberis, or at most Llanberis Pass, significantly called in\nWelsh Pen Gorffwysfa for the older name Gorffwysfa Beris, 'Peris'\nResting-place': thus we loyally follow the example of resting set by\nthe saint, and leave alone the arch\u00e6ology of the district.\n\n[174] The subject has been discussed at length by Mr. Jacobs, in a\nnote to the legend, in his Celtic Fairy Tales, pp. 259-64; and quite\nrecently by Mr. D. E. Jenkins in his Bed Gelert (Portmadoc, 1899),\npp. 56-74.\n\n[175] Professor J. Morris Jones, to whom I am indebted for the\nparticulars connected with these names, informs me that the local\npronunciation is Dr\u00f3nwy; but Mrs. Rhys remembers that, years ago,\nat Amlwch, it was always sounded Dar\u00f3nwy. The Professor also tells\nme that Dernog is never made into Dyrnog: the Kuwgh of the Record is\ndoubtless to be corrected into Knwgh, and probably also Dornok into\nDernok, which is the reading in the margin. Cornewe is doubtless the\ndistrict name which we have still in Llanfair y'Nghornwy, 'St. Mary's\nin Cornwy': the mill is supposed to be that of Bodronyn.\n\n[176] The Book of Llan D\u00e1v has an old form Cinust for an earlier\nCingust or Congust. The early Brythonic nominative must have\nbeen Cunog\u00fastu-s and the early Goidelic C\u00fanagusu-s, and from the\ndifference of accentuation come the o of Conghus, Connws, and the y\nof the Welsh Cynwst: compare Irish Fergus and Welsh Gurg\u00fast, later\nGur\u00fast (one syllable), whence Grwst, finally the accented rwst of\nLlanrwst, the name of a small town on the river Conwy. Moreover the\naccentuation C\u00fanogusi is the reason why it was not written Cunogussi:\ncompare B\u00e1rrivendi and V\u00e9ndubari in one and the same inscription\nfrom Carmarthenshire.\n\n[177] Such as that of a holding called Wele Dauid ap Gwelsantfrait,\nthe latter part of which is perversely written or wrongly read so for\nGwas Sant Freit, a rendering into Welsh of the very Goidelic name,\nMael-Brigte, 'Servant of St. Bridget.' This Wele, with Wele Conus and\nWele More, is contained in the Extent marginally headed Darronwy cum\nHameletta de Kuwghdernok.\n\n[178] This comes in Triad i. 49 = ii. 40; as to which it is to be noted\nthat the name is Catwallawn in i and ii, but Caswallawn in iii. 27,\nas in the Oxford Mabinogion.\n\n[179] Serrigi, Serigi, or Syrigi looks like a Latin genitive torn\nout of its context, but derived in the last resort from the Norse\nname Sigtrygg-r, which the Four Masters give as Sitriucc or Sitriug:\nsee their entries from 891 to 1091. The Scandinavians of Dublin and\nits neighbourhood were addicted to descents on the shores of North\nWales; and we have possibly a trace of occupation by them in Gauell\nSeirith, 'Seirith's holding,' in the Record of Carnarvon, p. 63,\nwhere the place in question is represented as being in the manor of\nCemmaes, in Anglesey. The name Seirith was probably that written by\nthe Four Masters as Sichfraith Sichraidh (also Serridh, A. D. 971),\nthat is to say the Norse Sigr\u00e6d-r before it lost the f retained in its\nGerman equivalent Siegfried. We seem to detect Seirith later as Seri\nin place-names in Anglesey--as for example in the name of the farms\ncalled Seri Fawr and Seri Bach between Llandrygarn and Llannerch y Med,\nalso in a Pen Seri, 'Seri's Knoll or Hill,' at Bryn Du, near Ty Croes\nstation, and in another Pen Seri on Holyhead Island, between Holyhead\nand Llain Goch, on the way to the South Stack. Lastly Dugdale, v. 672b\nmentions a Claud Seri, 'Seri's Dyke or Ditch,' as being somewhere\nin the neighbourhood of Llanwnda, in Carnarvonshire--not very far\nperhaps from the Gwyrfai and the spot where the Iolo MSS. (pp. 81-2)\nrepresent Serrigi repulsed by Caswallon and driven back to Anglesey,\nprevious to his being crushed at Cerrig y Gwydyl. The reader must,\nhowever, be warned that the modern Seri is sometimes pronounced Sieri\nor Sheri, which suggests the possibility of some of the instances\ninvolving rather a form of the English word sheriff.\n\n[180]  See my Hibbert Lectures, pp. 546-8.\n\n[181]  The case with regard to the extreme south of the Principality\nis somewhat similar; for inscriptions in Glamorgan seem to bring the\nlast echoes there of Goidelic speech down to the seventh century:\nsee the Arch\u00e6ologia Cambrensis for 1899, pp. 160-6.\n\n[182] See Evans' Report on MSS. in the Welsh Language, p. 837, where\nthe Welsh is quoted from p. 131 of the Peniarth MS. 134.\n\n[183] See my Arthurian Legend, p. 70.\n\n[184] See the Revue Celtique, ii. 197-9, where Dr. Stokes has published\nthe original with a translation and notes; also p. 435 above.\n\n[185] The gentlemen to whom I am chiefly indebted for the information\nembodied in the foregoing notes are the following four: the Rev. John\nJones of Ystad Meurig, Professor Robert Williams of St. David's\nCollege, the Vicar of Llandewi Brefi, Mr. J. H. Davies of Cwrt Mawr\nand Lincoln's Inn (p. 354); and as to the 'wild cattle' story of Llyn\nEidwen, Mr. J. E. Rogers of Aber Meurig is my authority.\n\n[186] So I had it many years ago from an old woman from Llangeitho,\nand so Mr. J. G. Evans remembers his mother repeating it; but now it\nis made into Llan Dewi Brefi braith, with the mutations disregarded.\n\n[187] See the Arch\u00e6ologia Cambrensis for 1868, p. 88.\n\n[188]  See ib. p. 87. I have ascertained on the best authority the\nidentity of the present owner of the horn, though I have not succeeded\nin eliciting from him any reply to my inquiries. I conclude that\nthere is something wrong with the postal service in my native county.\n\n[189] Several passages bearing on the word bannog have been brought\ntogether in Silvan Evans' Geiriadur. He gives the meaning as 'high,\nlofty, prominent, conspicuous.' The word is derived from ban, 'a\nsummit or peak,' plural bannau, so common in the names of hills\nand mountains in South Wales--as in y Fan in Carmarthenshire,\nBannwchdeni (p. 22) in Breconshire, Pen y Bannau near Pont Rhyd\nFendigaid in Cardiganshire, Bannau Brycheiniog and Bannau Sir Gaer,\nthe mountains called in English the Beacons of Breconshire and\nCarmarthenshire respectively. In North Wales we have it possibly in\nthe compound Tryfan, which the mapsters will have us call Tryfaen;\nand the corresponding word in Scotch Gaelic appears in such names\nas Ben Nevis and the like, while in Irish the word benn meant a horn\nor peak. I am, nevertheless, not at all sure that Ychen Bannog meant\nhorned oxen or even tall and conspicuous oxen; for there is a Welsh\nword man, meaning a spot or mark (Latin menda), and the adjective\nwas mannawc, mannog, 'spotted, marked, particoloured.' Now in the\nsoft mutation all four words--ban, bannog, and man, mannog--would\nbegin with f = v, which might help to confusion between them. This\nmay be illustrated in a way from Williams' Seint Greal (pp. 88-92),\nwhere Gwalchmai has a dream in which he sees 150 bulls with spots or\npatches of colour on them, except three only which were 'without any\nspot in the world' (neb ryw vann or byt), or as it is also put 'without\nspot' (heb vann). This word vann, applied to the colour of the bulls,\ncomes from the radical form mann; and the adjective was mannawc or\nmannog, which would mean spotted, particoloured, or having patches\nof colour. Now the oxen of Welsh legends are also sometimes called\nYchen Mannog (pp. 131-2), and it is possible, that, whichever way the\nterm is written, it should be interpreted to mean spotted, marked,\nor particoloured oxen. I take it also that Llan Dewi Frefi fraith was\nmeant as synonymous with Llan Dewi Frefi fannog, which did not fit the\nrhyme. Lastly, the Dyfed use of the saying Fel dau ych bannog, 'Like\ntwo Bannog oxen,' in the sense of 'equal and inseparable companions'\n(as instanced in the Geiriadur), sounds like the antithesis of the\npassage in the Kulhwch (Mabinogion, p. 121). For there we have words\nto the following effect: 'Though thou shouldst get that, there is\nsomething which thou wilt not get, namely the two oxen of Bannog,\nthe one on the other side of the Bannog mountain and the other on\nthis side, and to bring them together to draw the same plough. They\nare, to wit, Nynio and Peibio, whom God fashioned into oxen for their\nsins.' Here the difficulty contemplated was not to separate the two,\nbut to bring them together to work under the same yoke. This is more\nin harmony with the story of the mad quarrel between the two brother\nkings bearing those names as mentioned above.\n\n[190] See the Revue Celtique, iii. 310, after Gruter, 570, 6.\n\n[191] An important paper on the Tarvos Trigaranus, from the pen of\nM. Salomon Reinach, will be found in the Revue Celtique, xviii. 253-66;\nand M. d'A. de Jubainville's remarkable equations are to be read in\nthe same periodical, xix. 245-50: see also xx. 374-5.\n\n[192] This, we are told, was a stone with a hollow in it for pounding\ncorn, so as to separate the husks from the grain; and such a stone\nstood formerly somewhere near the door of every farm house in Scotland.\n\n[193] The editor here explains in a note that 'this was a common\nsaying formerly, when people were heard to regret trifles.'\n\n[194] I have heard of this belief in Wales late in the sixties;\nbut the presence was assumed to be that of a witch, not of a fairy.\n\n[195] The word twt, 'tidy,' is another vocable which has found its\nway into Wales from the western counties of England; and though its\nmeaning is more universally that of 'tidy or natty,' the term gwas twt,\nwhich in North Cardiganshire means a youth who is ready to run on all\nkinds of errands, would seem to bring us to its earlier meaning of the\nFrench tout--as if gwas twt might be rendered a 'gar\u00e7on \u00e0 tout'--which\nsurvives as tote in the counties of Gloucester and Hereford, as I\nam informed by Professor Wright. Possibly, however, one may prefer\nto connect twt with the nautical English word taut; but we want more\nlight. In any case one may venture to say that colloquial Welsh swarms\nwith words whose origin is to be sought outside the Principality.\n\n[196] See Folk-Lore for 1889, pp. 144-52.\n\n[197] Ibid. for 1891, p. 246, where one will find this rhyme the\nsubject of a note--rendered useless by a false reference--by K\u00f6hler;\nsee also the same volume, p. 132, where Mr. Kirby gives more lines\nof the rhyme.\n\n[198] See Choice Notes from 'Notes and Queries,' p. 35.\n\n[199] A number of instructive instances will be found mentioned,\nand discussed in his wonted and lucid fashion, by Mr. Clodd in his\nTom Tit Tot, pp. 80-105.\n\n[200] The Welsh spelling is caws pob, 'baked (or roasted) cheese,'\nso called in parts of South Wales, such as Carmarthenshire, whereas in\nNorth Wales it is caws pobi. It is best known to Englishmen as 'Welsh\nrabbit,' which superior persons 'ruling the roast' in our kitchens\nchoose to make into rarebit: how they would deal with 'Scotch woodcock'\nand 'Oxford hare,' I do not know. I should have mentioned that copies\nof the Hundred Mery Talys are exceedingly scarce, and that the above,\nwhich is the seventy-sixth in the collection, has here been copied\nfrom the Cymmrodor, iii. 115-6, where we have the following sapient\nnote:--'Cause bobe, it will be observed, is St. Peter's rendering of\nthe phrase Caws wedi ei bobi. The chief of the Apostles apparently had\nonly a rather imperfect knowledge of Welsh, which is not to be wondered\nat, as we know that even his Hebrew was far from giving satisfaction\nto the priests of the capital.' From these words one can only say that\nSt. Peter would seem to have known Welsh far better than the author\nof that note, and that he had acquired it from natives of South Wales,\nperhaps from the neighbourhood of Kidwelly. I have to thank my friend\nMr. James Cotton for a version of the cheese story in the Bodleian\nLibrary, namely in Malone MS. 19 (p. 144), where a certain master at\nWinchester School has put it into elegiacs which make St. Peter cry\nout with the desired effect: Tostus io Walli, tostus modo caseus.\n\n[201] See Choice Notes from 'Notes and Queries,' pp. 117-8.\n\n[202] For instance, when C\u00fachulainn had fallen asleep under the\neffect of fairy music, Fergus warned his friends that he was not to\nbe disturbed, as he seemed to be dreaming and seeing a vision: see\nWindisch's Irische Texte, p. 208; also the Revue Celtique, v. 231. For\nparallels to the two stories in this paragraph, see Tylor's first\nchapter on Animism in his Primitive Culture, and especially the legend\nof King Gunthram, i. 442.\n\n[203] See Mr. Gomme's presidential address to the Folk-Lore Society,\nprinted in Folk-Lore for 1892, pp. 6-7.\n\n[204] See Sale's preliminary discourse to his translation of the Koran,\n\u00a7 iv.\n\n[205] Perhaps we may regard this as the more Goidelic account of\nBlodeuwed's origin: at any rate, traces of a different one have been\nnoticed in a note at p. 439 above.\n\n[206] One version of it is given in the Myvyrian Archaiology, i. 176-8;\nand two other versions are to be found in the Cymmrodor, viii. 177-89,\nwhere it is suggested that the author was Iolo Goch, who flourished\nin the fourteenth century. See also my Arthurian Legend, pp. 57-8.\n\n[207] See also the notes on these passages, given in San-Marte's\nedition of Geoffrey, pp. 219, 463-5, and his Beitr\u00e4ge zur bretonischen\nund celtisch germanischen Heldensage (Quedlinburg and Leipsic, 1847),\np. 81.\n\n[208] See Choice Notes, pp. 69-70.\n\n[209] See Wood-Martin's Pagan Ireland (London, 1895), p. 140.\n\n[210] See Choice Notes, p. 61, where it is also stated that the\ncountry people in Yorkshire used to give the name of souls to certain\nnight-flying white moths. See also the Athen\u00e6um, No. 1041, Oct. 9,\n1847.\n\n[211] For this also I am indebted to Wood-Martin's book, p. 140.\n\n[212] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 198, and Windisch's Irische\nTexte, pp. 136-45. An abstract of the story will be found in the\nHibbert Lectures on Celtic Heathendom, p. 502.\n\n[213] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 129a-133a; Windisch's Irische\nTexte, pp. 117-33, more especially pp. 127-31; also my Arthurian\nLegend, pp. 29-33.\n\n[214] See the Book of Taliessin, poem vii, in Skene's Four Ancient\nBooks of Wales, ii. 136-7; also poem viii, p. 137 et seq.\n\n[215] Some account of this process will be found in Elton's Origins of\nEnglish History (London, 1882), p. 33, where he has drawn on Martin's\nDescription of the Western Islands of Scotland, published in 1703:\nsee pp. 204-5.\n\n[216] For one or two instances of the nomenclature in question,\nsee pp. 76-7 above.\n\n[217] Sywedyd is probably a word of Goidelic origin: compare Irish s\u00fai,\n'a sage,' genitive s\u00faad, and derivative s\u00faithe, 'wisdom.' Stokes\nsuggests the derivation su-vet, in which case s\u00fai = su-vi, for\nsu-viss = su-vet-s, and s\u00fa-ithe = suvetia, while the Welsh sywedyd\nis formally su-vetios or su-vetiios. Welsh has also syw, from s\u00fai,\nlike dryw, 'a druid,' from Goidelic dr\u00fai. Syw, it is true, now only\nmeans elegant, tidy; but Dr. Davies of Mallwyd believed its original\nsignification to have been 'sapiens, doctus, peritus.' The root vet\nis most probably to be identified with the wet of Med. Welsh gwet-id,\n'a saying,' dy-wawt, 'dixit,' whence it appears that the bases were vet\nand vat, with the latter of which Irish f\u00e1ith, 'a poet or prophet,'\nLatin vates, agrees, as also the Welsh gwawd, 'poetry, sarcasm,' and\nin Mod. Welsh, 'any kind of derision.' In the Book of Taliessin syw\nhas, besides the plurals sywyon and sywydon (Skene, ii. 142, 152),\npossibly an older plural, sywet (p. 155) = su-vet-es,  while for\ns\u00faithe = su-vetia we seem to have sywyd or sewyd (pp. 142, 152, 193);\nbut all the passages in point are more or less obscure, I must confess.\n\n[218] See the Book of Taliessin, in Skene's Four Ancient Books of\nWales, ii. 130-1, 134, 142, 151-2, 155.\n\n[219]  As, for instance, in the account given of Uath mac Imomain in\nFled Bricrenn: see the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 110b, and Windisch's\nIrische Texte, p. 293.\n\n[220]  The Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 77a, and the Book of Leinster,\nfo. 75b: compare also the story of Tuan mac Cairill in the Book of\nthe Dun Cow, fo. 16b, where the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann are represented as\nTuatha Dee ocus Ande, 'the tribes of gods and not-gods,' to whom one\nof the manuscripts adds a people of legendary Ireland called the\nGali\u00fain. See the story as recently edited by Professor Kuno Meyer\nin Nutt's Voyage of Bran, ii. 291-300, where, however, the sense\nof \u00a7 12 with its allusion to the fall of Lucifer is missed in the\ntranslation. It should read, I think, somewhat as follows:--'Of these\nare the Tuatha Dee and Ande, whose origin is unknown to the learned,\nexcept that they think it probable, judging from the intelligence of\nthe Tuatha and their superiority in knowledge, that they belong to\nthe exiles who came from heaven.'\n\n[221] See Evans' Black Book of Carmarthen, fo. 33b; also the\nMabinogion, pp. 104, 306. The Irish lucht cumachtai would be in Welsh\nliterally rendered llwyth cyfoeth, 'the cyfoeth tribe or host,'\nas it were. For cyfoeth, in Med. Welsh, meant power or dominion,\nwhence cyfoethog, 'powerful,' and holl-gyfoethog, 'almighty'; but in\nMod. Welsh cyfoeth and cyfoethog have been degraded to mean 'riches'\nand 'rich' respectively. Now if we dropped the prefix cum from the\nIrish cumachtai, and its equivalent cyf from the Welsh cyfoeth,\nwe should have lucht cumachtai reduced to an approximate analogy\nto llwyth Oeth, 'the Oeth tribe,' for which we have the attested\nequivalent Teulu Oeth, 'the Oeth household or family.' Oeth, however,\nseems to have meant powerful rather than power, and this seems to\nhave been its force in Gwalchmai's poetry of the twelfth century,\nwhere I find it twice: see the Myvyrian Arch., i. 196b, 203a. In\nthe former passage we have oeth dybydaf o dybwyf ryd, 'I shall be\npowerful if I be free,' and in the latter oeth ym uthrwyd, 'mightily\nwas I astonished or dismayed.' An-oeth was the negative of oeth, and\nmeant weak, feeble, frivolous: so we find its plural, anoetheu, applied\nin the story of Kulhwch to the strange quests on which Kulhwch had to\nengage himself and his friends, before he could hope to obtain Olwen to\nbe his wife. This has its parallel in the use of the adjective gwan,\n'weak,' in the following instance among them:--Arthur and his men\nwere ready to set out in search of Mabon son of Modron, who was said\nto have been kidnapped, when only three nights old, from between his\nmother Modron and the wall; and though this had happened a fabulously\nlong time before Arthur was born, nothing had ever been since heard\nof Mabon's fate. Now Arthur's men said that they would set out in\nsearch of him, but they considered that Arthur should not accompany\nthem on feeble quests of the kind: their words were (p. 128), ny elli\ndi uynet ath lu y geissa6 peth mor uan ar rei hynn, 'thou canst not\ngo with thy army to seek a thing so weak as these are.' Here we have\nuan as the synonym of an-oeth; but Oeth ac Anoeth probably became a\nphrase which was seldom analysed or understood; so we have besides\nTeulu Oeth ac Anoeth, a Caer Oeth ac Anoeth, or fortress of O. and\nA., and a Carchar Caer Oeth ac Anoeth, or the Prison of Caer O. and\nA., which is more shortly designated also Carchar Oeth ac Anoeth,\nor the Prison of O. and A. A late account of the building of that\nstrange prison and fortress by Manawydan is given in the Iolo MSS.,\npp. 185-6, 263, and it is needless to point out that Manawydan, son\nof Llyr, was no other than the Manann\u00e1n mac Lir of Irish literature,\nthe greatest wizard among the Tuatha D\u00e9 or Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann; for the\npractical equivalence of those names is proved by the Book of the\nDun Cow, fo. 16b. For further details about Oeth and Anoeth, Silvan\nEvans' Geiriadur may be consulted, s. v. Anoeth, where instances are\ncited of the application of those terms to tilled land and wild or\nuncultivated land. Here the words seem to have the secondary meanings\nof profitable and unprofitable lands, respectively: compare a somewhat\nanalogous use of grym, 'strength, force,' in a passage relating to\nthe mutilated horses of Matholwch--hyt nad oed rym a ellit ar meirch,\n'so that no use was possible in the case of the horses,' meaning that\nthey were of no use whatever, or that they had been done for: see the\nOxford Mabinogion, p. 29, and Lady Charlotte Guest's, iii. 107, where\nthe translation 'and rendered them useless' is barely strong enough.\n\n[222] It is right, however, to state that M. d'A. de Jubainville's\naccount of the views of Erigena is challenged by Mr. Nutt, ii. 105.\n\n[223] For instance, by Silvan Evans in his Geiriadur, where,\ns. v. dihaed, he suggests 'unmerited' or 'undeserved' as conveying\nthe sense meant.\n\n[224] The reader will find them quoted under the word Druida in\nHolder's Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz: see also M. Alexandre Bertrand's\nReligion des Gaulois, especially the chapter entitled Les Druides,\npp. 252-76, and Nutt's Voyage of Bran, ii. 107-12.\n\n[225] See Valerius Maximus, ii. 6. 10.\n\n[226] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 68a.\n\n[227] Notably Johannes Schmidt in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, xxiii. 267, where\nhe gives the following gradations of the stem in question:--1. anman;\n2. anaman; 3. naman; 4. naman.\n\n[228] See Clodd's Tom Tit Tot, p. 97.\n\n[229]  Tom Tit Tot, p. 89.\n\n[230] The Oxford Mabinogion, p. 100.\n\n[231]  The Oxford Mabinogion, p. 35.\n\n[232]  As to Irish, I would not lay much stress on the question\n'What is your name?' being put, in a fourteenth or fifteenth century\nversion of the French story of Fierabras, as ca hainm t\u00fa?--literally,\n'what name art thou?' see the Revue Celtique, xix. 28. It may be\nmentioned here that the Irish writers of glossaries had a remarkable\nway of appearing to identify words and things. Thus, for instance,\nCormac has Cruimther .i. G\u00e6delg indi as presbyter, which O'Donovan\n(edited by Stokes) has translated, p. 30, as 'Cruimther, i. e. the\nGaelic of presbyter': literally it would be rather 'of the thing\nwhich is presbyter.' Similarly, Cormac's explanation of the Irish\naiminn, now aoibhinn, 'delightful,' runs thus in Latin, Aimind ab\neo quod est amoenum, 'from the word amoenus,' literally, 'from that\nwhich is amoenus.' But this construction is a favourite one of Latin\ngrammarians, and instances will be found in Professor Lindsay's\nLatin Language (Oxford, 1894), pp. 26, 28, 42, 53. On calling his\nattention to it, he kindly informed me that it can be traced as far\nback as Varro, from whose Lingua Latina, vi. 4, he cites Meridies ab\neo quod medius dies. So in this matter, Irish writers have merely\nimitated their Latin models; and one detects a trace of the same\nimitation in some of the Old Welsh glosses, for instance in the\nJuvencus Codex, where we have XPS explained as irhinn issid crist,\n'that which is Christ,' evidently meaning, 'the word Christos or\nChristus.' So with regia, rendered by gulat, 'a state or country,'\nin celsi thronus est cui regia caeli; which is glossed issit padiu\nitau gulat, 'that is the word gulat for him' = 'he means his country':\nsee Kuhn's Beitr\u00e4ge, iv. 396, 411.\n\n[233] Some instances in point, accompanied with comments on certain\neminently instructive practices and theories of the Church, will be\nfound in Clodd's Tom Tit Tot, pp. 100-5.\n\n[234] For some instances of name-giving by the druid, the reader\nmay consult The Welsh People, pp. 66-70; and druidic baptism will be\nfound alluded to in Stokes' edition of Coir Anmann, and in Stokes and\nWindisch's Irische Texte, iii. 392, 423. See also the Revue Celtique,\nxix. 90.\n\n[235] See The Welsh People, more especially pp. 71-4, where it has\nbeen attempted to discuss this question more at length.\n\n[236] See Stokes' Cormac's Glossary, translated by O'Donovan, p. 87,\nand O'Curry's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, ii. 218-9.\n\n[237] See Mind for 1893, p. 390: the review is by Mr. A. T. Myers,\nand the title of the book noticed is La Pathologie des \u00c9motions,\n\u00c9tudes physiologiques et cliniques, par Charles F\u00e9r\u00e9, m\u00e9decin de\nBic\u00eatre (Paris, 1892).\n\n[238] See Frazer's Golden Bough, i. 9, where a few most instructive\ninstances are given.\n\n[239] See Guest's Mabinogion, iii. 255, where, however, D\u00f4n is wrongly\ntreated as a male.\n\n[240] One has, however, to admit that the same agency may also mar\nthe picture. Since the above was written I have read in Stokes'\nFestschrift, pp. 7-19, a very interesting article by L. Chr. Stern,\nin which he discusses some of the difficulties attaching to the term\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann. Among other things he suggests that there was a\ncertain amount of confusion between Danann and d\u00e1na, genitive of d\u00e1n,\n'art or profession'--the word meant also 'lot or destiny,' being\nprobably of the same origin as the Latin donum, in Welsh dawn, which\nmeans a gift, and especially 'the gift of the gab.' But it would invert\nthe natural sequence to suppose any such a formula as Tuatha D\u00e9 D\u00e1na\nto have preceded Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann; for why should anybody substitute\nan obscure vocable Danann for d\u00e1na of well-known meaning? Dr. Stern\nhas some doubts as to the Welsh D\u00f4n being a female; but it would have\nbeen more satisfactory if he had proved his surmise, or at any rate\nshown that D\u00f4n has nothing to do with Danann or Donann. I am satisfied\nwith such a passage in the Mabinogi of Math as that where Gwydion,\naddressing Math, describes Arianrhod, daughter of D\u00f4n, in the words,\ndy nith uerch dy ch6aer, 'thy niece daughter of thy sister': see the\nMabinogion, p. 68, and, for similar references to other children of\nD\u00f4n, consult pp. 59 and 65. Arianrhod is in the older Triads, i. 40,\nii. 15, called daughter of Beli, whom one can only have regarded as\nher father. So for the present I continue to accept Stokes' rendering\nof Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann as 'the Folks of the Goddess Danu.'\n\n[241] See the Oxford Mabinogion, p. 102; Guest's trans., ii. 252. The\ncombination occurs also in the Book of Aneurin: see Stephens' Gododin\n(London, 1888), p. 322.\n\n[242] It will be noticed that there is a discrepancy between the\ngutturals of these two words: tyngu, 'to swear' (O. Ir. tongu,\n'I swear'), has ng--the Kulhwch spelling, tynghaf, should probably\nbe tyngaf--while tynghed and its Irish equivalent imply an nc. I\ndo not know how to explain this, though I cannot doubt the fact of\nthe words being treated as cognate. A somewhat similar difference,\nhowever, occurs in Welsh dwyn, 'to bear, carry, steal,' and dwg,\n'carries, bears': see the Revue Celtique, vi. 18-9.\n\n[243] See the Oxford Mabinogion, p. 100, and Guest's trans., ii. 249,\nwhere it is rendered 'a wife as a helpmate,' which is more commonplace\nthan suggestive.\n\n[244] La Cit\u00e9 antique (Paris, 1864), p. 50; see also Joachim\nMarquardt's Privatleben der R\u00f6mer (Leipsic, 1886), pp. 49-51, and among\nthe references there given may be mentioned Dionysius of Halicarnassus,\nii. 25.\n\n[245] See Vigfusson and Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i. 126,\n181-3, 197; the Prose Edda in Edda Snorronis Sturl\u00e6i (Copenhagen,\n1848), i. 90-2, 102, 104, 172-86; and Simrock's Edda (Stuttgart,\n1855), pp. 292-3, 295-6, 299, 316-20.\n\n[246] Two versions of a story to account for the Ultonian couvade have\nbeen published with a translation into German, by Prof. Windisch,\nin the Berichte der k. s\u00e4chs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften\n(phil.-hist. Classe) for 1884, pp. 338 et seq. Sundry references to\nthe couvade will also be found in my Hibbert Lectures, where certain\nmythological suggestions made with reference to it require to be\nreconsidered. But when touching on this point it occurred to me that\nthe wholesale couvade of the Ultonian braves, at one and the same time\nof the year, implied that the birth of Ultonian children, or at any\nrate those of them that were to be reared, took place (in some period\nor other of the history of their race) at a particular season of the\nyear, namely, about the beginning of the winter, that is when food\nwould be most abundant. I have since been confirmed in this view by\nperusing Westermarck's work on the History of Human Marriage, and by\nreading especially his second chapter entitled 'A Human Pairing Season\nin Primitive Times.' For there I find a considerable body of instances\nin point, together with a summary treatment of the whole question. But\nin the case of promiscuity, such as originally prevailed doubtless\nat the Ultonian Court, the question what men were to go into couvade\ncould only be settled by the confinement of them all, wherein we have\nan alternative if not an additional reason for a simultaneous couvade.\n\n[247] See Strabo, iii. 165, and Diodorus, v. 14.\n\n[248] For some more detailed remarks on the reckoning of descent by\nbirth, see The Welsh People, pp. 36 et seq.\n\n[249] In Welsh eli means 'ointment,' probably so called from spells\npronounced over it when used as a remedy. In the Twrch Trwyth story\n(Oxford Mabinogion, p. 138) one of Arthur's men bears the curious\ndesignation of Reid6n uab Eli Atuer, which might be Englished\n'R. son of the Restoring Ointment,' unless one should rather say\n'of the Restoring Enchantment.'\n\n[250] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 128b, and Windisch's Irische\nTexte, pp. 138-9. The rebirth of Lug as C\u00fachulainn has been touched\nupon in my Hibbert Lectures, p. 431; but since then the whole question\nof rebirth has been discussed at length in Nutt and Meyer's volumes\nentitled The Voyage of Bran (London, 1895).\n\n[251] Tylor's Primitive Culture, ii. 4, where he gives a reference\nto Gustav Klemm's Culturgeschichte, iii. 77, and Klemm's authority\nproves to be Jessen, whose notes are given in a 'tractatus' bound\nwith Knud Leem De Lapponibus Finmarchi\u00e6 (Copenhagen, 1767): Jessen's\nwords in point read as follows, p. 33:--Et baptismum quidem, quem\nipsi Laugo, i. e. lavacrum appellabant, quod attinet, observandum\noccurrit, foeminam Lapponicam, jam partui vicinam, atque in eo\nstatu Sarakk\u00e6 impensius commendatam, de nomine, nascituro infanti\nimponendo, per insomnia plerumque a Jabmekio quodam admonitam\nfuisse et simul de Jabmekio illo, qui, ut ipsi quidem loqui amarunt,\nin hoc puero resuscitandus foret, edoctam. Hujusmodi per insomnia\nfactas admonitiones ni\u00ebgost nuncuparunt Lappones. Si gravida mulier\na Jabmekio hac ratione edocta non fuerit, recens nati infantis vel\nparenti vel cognatis incubuit, per to Myran, in tympano, securi\nvel balteo susceptum, vel etiam Noaaidum consulendo, explorare, quo\npotissimum nomine infans appellandus esset. In the body of Leem's work,\np. 497, one reads, that if the child sickens or cries after baptism,\nthis is taken to prove that the right ancestor has not been found;\nbut as he must be discovered and his name imposed on the child, resort\nis had to a fresh baptism to correct the effects of the previous one.\n\n[252] See Holder's Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, s. v. Lugus; also\nthe index to my Hibbert Lectures, s. v. Lleu, Lug, Lugoves.\n\n[253] For more on this subject see the chapter on the Pictish question\nin The Welsh People, pp. 36-74.\n\n[254] It is right to say that the story represents the fairies as\nliving under the rule of a r\u00ed, a title usually rendered by 'king';\nbut r\u00ed (genitive rig) was probably at one time applicable to either\nsex, just as we find Gaulish names like Biturix and Visurix borne by\nwomen. The wonder, however, is that such a line as that just quoted\nhas not been edited out of the verses long ago, just as one misses\nany equivalent for it in Joyce's English expansion of the story in\nhis Old Celtic Romances, pp. 106-11. Compare, however, the Land of\nthe Women in the Voyage of Maildun (Joyce, pp. 152-6), and in Meyer\nand Nutt's Voyage of Bran, i. 30-3.\n\n[255] This conclusion has been given in a note at the foot of p. 37\nof The Welsh People; but for a variety of instances to illustrate it\nsee Hartland's chapters on Supernatural Birth in his Legend of Perseus.\n\n[256] See Frazer's article on 'The Origin of Totemism' in the\nFortnightly Review for April, 1899, p. 649. The passage to which it\nrefers will be found at p. 265 of Spencer and Gillen's volume, where\none reads as follows:--'Added to this we have amongst the Arunta,\nLuritcha, and Ilpirra tribes, and probably also amongst others such as\nthe Warramunga, the idea firmly held that the child is not the direct\nresult of intercourse, that it may come without this, which merely,\nas it were, prepares the mother for the reception and birth also of\nan already-formed spirit child who inhabits one of the local totem\ncentres. Time after time we have questioned them on this point, and\nalways received the reply that the child was not the direct result\nof intercourse.' It is curious to note how readily the Australian\nnotion here presented would develop into that of the Lapps, as given\nat p. 658 from Jessen's notes.\n\n[257] This feature of Welsh has escaped M. de Charencey, in his\ninstructive letter on 'Num\u00e9ration basque et celtique,' in No. 48 of the\nBulletin de la Soc. de Linguistique de Paris, pp. cxv-cxix. In passing,\nI may be allowed to mention a numerical curiosity which occurs in\nOld Irish: it has probably an important historical significance. I\nrefer to the word for 'seven men' occurring sometimes as morfeser,\nwhich means, as it were, a magnus seviratus or 'big sixer.'\n\n[258] The non-Welsh names of the fairy ancestress ought possibly to\nlead one to discover the origin of that settlement; and a careful\nstudy perhaps of the language of the Belsiaid or Bellisians, if their\nWelsh has any dialectic peculiarities, might throw further light on\ntheir past.\n\n[259] Our stories frequently delight in giving the fairy women fine\ndresses and long trains; but I would rely more on the Ystrad Meurig\nsmith's account (p. 245), and the case of the Pennant fairy who tears\nto shreds the gown offered her (p. 109).\n\n[260] The difference between Mod. Welsh cor and Breton korr is one\nof spelling, for the reformed orthography of Welsh words only doubles\nthe r where it is dwelt on in the accented syllable of a longer word:\nin other terms, when that syllable closes with the consonant and\nthe next syllable begins with it. Thus cor has, as its derivatives,\nc\u00f3r-rach, 'a dwarf,' plural co-r\u00e1chod, c\u00f3r-ryn, 'a male dwarf,'\nplural co-r\u00fdnnod. Some of these enter into place-names, such as Cwm\nCorryn near Llanaelhaearn (p. 217) and Cwm Corryn draining into the\nVale of Neath; so possibly with Corwen for Cor-waen, in the sense of\n'the Fairies' Meadow.' Cor and corryn are also used for the spider,\nas in gwe'r cor or gwe'r corryn, 'a spider's web,' the spider being so\ncalled on account of its spinning, an occupation in which the fairies\nare represented likewise frequently engaged; not to mention that\ngossamer (gwawn) is also sometimes regarded as a product of the fairy\nloom (p. 103). The derivation of cor is not satisfactorily cleared\nup: it has been conjectured to be related to a Med. Irish word cert,\n'small, little,' and Latin curtus, 'shortened or mutilated.' To me\nthis means that the origin of the word still remains to be discovered.\n\n[261] For Edern's dwarf see Foerster's Erec, lines 146-274 and passim,\nthe Oxford Mabinogion, pp. 248-61, and Guest's trans., ii. 73-92; and\nfor Peredur's the latter books, pp. 197-9 and i. 304-7 respectively.\n\n[262] The story of Canrig (or Cantrig) Bwt is current at Llanberis,\nbut I do not recollect seeing it in print: I had it years ago from\nmy father-in-law. The statement as to Carchar Cynric Rwth comes from\nWilliam Williams' Observations on the Snowdon Mountains (London,\n1802). The Bwlch y Rhiw Felen legend was read by me to the British\nArch\u00e6ological Association at its meeting at Llangollen, and it was\nprinted in its Journal for December, 1878. It is right to say that\nthe Llangollen story calls the woman a giantess, but I attach no\nimportance to that, as the picture is blurred and treated in part\nallegorically. Lastly, the use of the word carchar, 'prison,' in\nthe term Carchar Cynric Rwth recalls Carchar Oeth ac Anoeth, or 'the\nPrison of Oeth and Anoeth,' p. 619 above: the word would appear to\nhave been selected because in both cases the structure was underground.\n\n[263] See the Acta Sanctorum, April 11, where one finds published the\nLatin life written by Felix not long after Guthlac's death. See also\nan Anglo-Saxon version, which has been edited with a translation by\nCh. W. Goodwin (London, 1848).\n\n[264] In connexion with them Mr. Bullock Hall reminds me of Icklingham,\nin West Suffolk; and there seem to be several Ickletons, and an\nIckleford, most or all of them, I am told, on the Icknield Way. The\nname Icel, whose genitive Icles is the form in the original life, has\nprobably been inferred from the longer word Iclingas, and inserted\nin due course in the Mercian pedigree, where it occupies the sixth\nplace in descent from Woden.\n\n[265] Since the above was written, Dr. Ripley's important work on the\nRaces of Europe (London, 1900) has reached me, but too late to study. I\nnotice, however, that he speaks of an island of ancient population\nto the north of London and extending over most of the counties of\nHertford, Buckingham, Bedford, Rutland, and Northampton, as far as\nthose of Cambridge and Lincoln. A considerable portion of this area\nmust have been within the boundaries of Coritanian territory, and it is\nnow characterized, according to him, by nigrescence, short stature,\nand rarity of suicide, such as remind him of Wales and Cornwall:\nsee his maps and pp. 322, 328, 521.\n\n[266] See Fiacc's Hymn in Stokes' Goidelica, p. 127, l. 41.\n\n[267] The Welsh passages unfortunately fail to show whether it was\npronounced sidi or sidi: should it prove the latter, I should regard\nit as the Irish word borrowed.\n\n[268] Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, ii. 153-5, 181-2.\n\n[269] For more about Picts and Pechts see some most instructive papers\nrecently published by Mr. David MacRitchie, such as 'Memories of the\nPicts' in the Scottish Antiquary, last January, 'Underground Dwellings'\nin Scottish Notes and Queries, last March, and 'Fairy Mounds' in the\nAntiquary, last February and March.\n\n[270] See p. 424 above, where, however, the object of the Ogams\nwritten on four twigs of yew has been misconceived. I think now that\nthey formed simply so many letters of inquiry addressed by Dal\u00e1n to\nother druids in different parts of Ireland. We seem to have here a\nray of light on the early history of Ogam writing.\n\n[271] See the Book of the Dun Cow, fo. 130b.\n\n[272] See the Book of Leinster, fo. 117a.\n\n[273] Corrguinigh occurs in the story of 'The Second Battle of\nMoytura,' where Stokes has rendered it 'sorcerers' in the Revue\nCeltique, xii. 77; and corrguinacht heads an article in O'Davoren's\nGlossary, published in Stokes' Three Irish Glossaries, p. 63, where\nit is defined as beth for leth cois 7 for leth laimh 7 for leth suil\nag denam na glaime dicinn, 'to be on one foot and with one hand and\none eye doing the gl\u00e1m dicenn.' The gl\u00e1m dicenn was seemingly the\nspecial elaboration of the art of making pied de nez, which we have\ntragically illustrated in the case of Caier.\n\n[274] In Appendix B to The Welsh People, pp. 617-41.\n\n[275] See Rosellini's Monumenti dell' Egitto (Pisa, 1832),\nvol. i. plates clvi, clx, and Maspero's Histoire Ancienne (Paris,\n1897), ii. 430.\n\n[276] One may now consult Nicholson's paper on 'The Language of the\nContinental Picts': see Meyer and Stern's Zeitschrift, iii. 326-8,\n331-2, and note especially his reference to Herodian, iii. 14, \u00a7 8. For\nChortonicum see Die althochdeutschen Glossen (edited by Steinmeyer\nand Sievers), iii. 610; also my paper on 'The Celts and the other\nAryans of the P and Q Groups' read before the Philological Society,\nFebruary 20, 1891, p. 11.\n\n[277] I am chiefly indebted to my friend Professor A. C. Haddon for\nreferences to information as to the dwarf races of prehistoric times. I\nfind also that he, among others, has anticipated me in my theory as\nto the origins of the fairies: witness the following extract from the\nsyllabus of a lecture delivered by him at Cardiff in 1894 on Fairy\nTales:--'What are the fairies?--Legendary origin of the fairies. It\nis evident from fairy literature that there is a mixture of the\npossible and the impossible, of fact and fancy. Part of fairydom\nrefers to (1) spirits that never were embodied: other fairies are\n(2) spirits of environment, nature or local spirits, and household\nor domestic spirits; (3) spirits of the organic world, spirits of\nplants, and spirits of animals; (4) spirits of men or ghosts; and (5)\nwitches and wizards, or men possessed with other spirits. All these and\npossibly other elements enter into the fanciful aspect of fairyland,\nbut there is a large residuum of real occurrences; these point to\na clash of races, and we may regard many of these fairy sagas as\nstories told by men of the Iron Age of events which happened to men\nof the Bronze Age in their conflicts with men of the Neolithic Age,\nand possibly these, too, handed on traditions of the Pal\u00e6olithic Age.'\n\n[278] See the Berlin Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Ethnologie for 1894,\nvol. xxvi. pp. 189-254, which are devoted to an elaborate paper by\nDr. Jul. Kollmann, entitled 'Das Schweitzersbild bei Schaffhausen und\nPygm\u00e4en in Europa.' It closes with a long list of books and articles\nto be consulted on the subject.","title":"Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx (Volume 2 of 2)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":105422}