Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

312 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[362]said Pwyll unsuspiciously, “if it be in my power.” “Ah,” criedRhiannon, “wherefore didst thou give that answer?” “Hath henot given it before all these nobles?” said the youth; “and nowthe boon I crave is to have thy bride Rhiannon, and the feast andthe banquet that are in this place.” Pwyll was silent. “Be silentas long as thou wilt,” said Rhiannon. “Never did man makeworse use of his wits than thou hast done.” She tells him thatthe auburn-haired young man is Gwawl, son of Clud, and is thesuitor to escape from whom she had fled to Pwyll.Pwyll is bound in honour by his word, and Rhiannon explainsthat the banquet cannot be given to Gwawl, for it is not in Pwyll'spower, but that she herself will be his bride in a twelvemonth;Gwawl is to come and claim her then, and a new bridal feast willbe prepared for him. Meantime she concerts a plan with Pwyll,and gives him a certain magical bag, which he is to make use ofwhen the time shall come.A year passed away, Gwawl appeared according to thecompact, and a great feast was again set forth, in which he,and not Pwyll, had the place of honour. As the company weremaking merry, however, a beggar clad in rags and shod withclumsy old shoes came into the hall, carrying a bag, as beggarsare wont to do. He humbly craved a boon of Gwawl. It wasmerely that the full of his bag of food might be given him fromthe banquet. Gwawl cheerfully consented, and an attendant wentto fill the bag. But however much they put into it it never gotfuller—by degrees all the good things on the tables had gonein; and at last Gwawl cried: “My soul, will thy bag never befull?” “It will not, I declare to heaven,” answered Pwyll—forhe, of course, was the disguised beggar man—“unless some manwealthy in lands and treasure shall get into the bag and stamp itdown with his feet, and declare, ‘Enough has been put herein.’ ”Rhiannon urged Gwawl to check the voracity of the bag. He puthis two feet into it; Pwyll immediately drew up the sides of thebag over Gwawl's head and tied it up. Then he blew his horn, and