Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

312 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
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said Pwyll unsuspiciously, “if it be in my power.” “Ah,” cried
Rhiannon, “wherefore didst thou give that answer” “Hath he
not given it before all these nobles” said the youth; “and now
the boon I crave is to have thy bride Rhiannon, and the feast and
the banquet that are in this place.” Pwyll was silent. “Be silent
as long as thou wilt,” said Rhiannon. “Never did man make
worse use of his wits than thou hast done.” She tells him that
the auburn-haired young man is Gwawl, son of Clud, and is the
suitor to escape from whom she had fled to Pwyll.
Pwyll is bound in honour by his word, and Rhiannon explains
that the banquet cannot be given to Gwawl, for it is not in Pwyll's
power, but that she herself will be his bride in a twelvemonth;
Gwawl is to come and claim her then, and a new bridal feast will
be prepared for him. Meantime she concerts a plan with Pwyll,
and gives him a certain magical bag, which he is to make use of
when the time shall come.
A year passed away, Gwawl appeared according to the
compact, and a great feast was again set forth, in which he,
and not Pwyll, had the place of honour. As the company were
making merry, however, a beggar clad in rags and shod with
clumsy old shoes came into the hall, carrying a bag, as beggars
are wont to do. He humbly craved a boon of Gwawl. It was
merely that the full of his bag of food might be given him from
the banquet. Gwawl cheerfully consented, and an attendant went
to fill the bag. But however much they put into it it never got
fuller—by degrees all the good things on the tables had gone
in; and at last Gwawl cried: “My soul, will thy bag never be
full” “It will not, I declare to heaven,” answered Pwyll—for
he, of course, was the disguised beggar man—“unless some man
wealthy in lands and treasure shall get into the bag and stamp it
down with his feet, and declare, ‘Enough has been put herein.’ ”
Rhiannon urged Gwawl to check the voracity of the bag. He put
his two feet into it; Pwyll immediately drew up the sides of the
bag over Gwawl's head and tied it up. Then he blew his horn, and