And before the feast was over she became his bride.
Said Pryderi, “Tarry ye here the rest of the
feast, and I will go into Lloegyr to tender my homage
unto Caswallawn the son of Beli.” “Lord,”
said Rhiannon, “Caswallawn is in Kent, thou
mayest therefore tarry at the feast, and wait until
he shall be nearer.” “We will wait,”
he answered. So they finished the feast.
And they began to make the circuit of Dyved, and
to hunt, and to take their pleasure. And as
they went through the country, they had never seen
lands more pleasant to live in, nor better hunting
grounds, nor greater plenty of honey and fish.
And such was the friendship between those four, that
they would not be parted from each other by night nor
by day.
And in the midst of all this he went to Caswallawn
at Oxford, and tendered his homage; and honourable
was his reception there, and highly was he praised
for offering his homage.
And after his return, Pryderi and Manawyddan feasted
and took their ease and pleasure. And they began
a feast at Narberth, for it was the chief palace;
and there originated all honour. And when they
had ended the first meal that night, while those who
served them ate, they arose and went forth, and proceeded
all four to the Gorsedd of Narberth, and their retinue
with them. And as they sat thus, behold, a peal
of thunder, and with the violence of the thunderstorm,
lo there came a fall of mist, so thick that not one
of them could see the other. And after the mist
it became light all around. And when they looked
towards the place where they were wont to see cattle,
and herds, and dwellings, they saw nothing now, neither
house, nor beast, nor smoke, nor fire, nor man, nor
dwelling; but the houses of the Court empty, and desert,
and uninhabited, without either man or beast within
them. And truly all their companions were lost
to them, without their knowing aught of what had befallen
them, save those four only.
“In the name of Heaven,” cried Manawyddan,
“where are they of the Court, and all my host
beside these? Let us go and see.”
So they came into the hall, and there was no man;
and they went on to the castle and to the sleeping-place,
and they saw none; and in the mead-cellar and in
the kitchen there was nought but desolation.
So they four feasted, and hunted, and took their pleasure.
Then they began to go through the land and all the
possessions that they had, and they visited the houses
and dwellings, and found nothing but wild beasts.
And when they had consumed their feast and all their
provisions, they fed upon the prey they killed in hunting,
and the honey of the wild swarms. And thus they
passed the first year pleasantly, and the second;
but at the last they began to be weary.
“Verily,” said Manawyddan, “we must
not bide thus. Let us go into Lloegyr, and seek
some craft whereby we may gain our support.”
So they went into Lloegyr, and came as far as Hereford.
And they betook themselves to making saddles.
And Manawyddan began to make housings, and he gilded
and coloured them with blue enamel, in the manner that
he had seen it done by Llasar Llaesgywydd. And
he made the blue enamel as it was made by the other
man. And therefore is it still called Calch
Lasar [blue enamel], because Llasar Llaesgywydd had
wrought it.
