The Mabinogion Vol. 1, Sir Owen Morgan Edwards and Lady Charlotte Schreiber [best thriller books to read TXT] 📗

a p. 99number of men going to hunt, and in the midst of them was a man of exalted rank, and Peredur saluted him.  “Choose, chieftain,” said the man, “whether thou wilt go with me to the chase, or wilt proceed to my Palace, and I will despatch one of my household to commend thee to my daughter, who is there, and who will entertain thee with food and liquor until I return from hunting; and whatever may be thine errand, such as I can obtain for thee, thou shalt gladly have.”  And the King sent a little yellow page with him as an attendant; and when they came to the palace, the lady had arisen, and was about to wash before meat.  Peredur went forward, and she saluted him joyfully, and placed him by her side.  And they took their repast.  And whatsoever Peredur said unto her, she laughed loudly, so that all in the palace could hear.  Then spoke the yellow page to the lady.  “By my faith,” said he, “this youth is already thy husband; or if he be not, thy mind and thy thoughts are set upon him.”  And the little yellow page went unto the King, and told him that it seemed to him that the youth whom he had met with was his daughter’s husband, or if he were not so already, that he would shortly become so, unless he were cautious.  “What is thy counsel in this matter, youth?” said the King.  “My counsel is,” he replied, “that thou set strong men upon him, to seize him, until thou hast ascertained the truth respecting this.”  So he set strong men upon Peredur, who seized him, and cast him into prison.  And the maiden went before her father, and asked him, wherefore he had caused the youth from Arthur’s Court to be imprisoned.  “In truth,” he answered, “he shall not be free to-night, nor to-morrow, nor the day following, and he shall not come from where he is.”  She replied not to what the king p. 100had said, but she went to the youth.  “Is it unpleasant to thee to be here?” said she.  “I should not care, if I were not,” he replied.  “Thy couch and thy treatment shall be in no wise inferior to that of the King himself, and thou shalt have the best entertainment that the palace affords.  And if it were more pleasing to thee that my couch should be here, that I might discourse with thee, it should be so, cheerfully.”  “This can I not refuse,” said Peredur.  And he remained in prison that night.  And the maiden provided all that she had promised him.

And the next day Peredur heard a tumult in the town.  “Tell me, fair maiden, what is that tumult?” said Peredur.  “All the King’s hosts and his forces have come to the town to-day.”  “And what seek they here?” he enquired.  “There is an Earl near this place, who possesses two Earldoms, and is as powerful as a king; and an engagement will take place between them to-day.”  “I beseech thee,” said Peredur, “to cause a horse and arms to be brought, that I may view the encounter, and I promise to come back to my prison again.”  “Gladly,” said she, “will I provide thee with horse and arms.”  So she gave him a horse and arms, and a bright scarlet robe of honour over his armour, and a yellow shield upon his shoulder.  And he went to the combat; and as many of the Earl’s men as encountered him that day, he overthrew; and he returned to his prison.  And the maiden asked tidings of Peredur, and he answered her not a word.  And she went and asked tidings of her father, and enquired who had acquitted himself best of the household.  And he said that he knew not, but that it was a man with a scarlet robe of honour over his armour, and a yellow shield upon his shoulder.  Then she smiled, and returned to where p. 101Peredur was, and did him great honour that night.  And for three days did Peredur slay the Earl’s men; and before any one could know who he was, he returned to his prison.  And the fourth day Peredur slew the Earl himself.  And the maiden went unto her father, and enquired of him the news.  “I have good news for thee,” said the King, “the Earl is slain, and I am the owner of his two Earldoms.”  “Knowest thou, lord, who slew him?”  “I do not know,” said the King.  “It was the knight with the scarlet robe of honour, and the yellow shield.”  “Lord,” said she, “I know who that is.”  “By Heaven,” he exclaimed, “who is he?”  “Lord,” she replied, “he is the knight whom thou hast imprisoned.”  Then he went unto Peredur, and saluted him, and told him that he would reward the service he had done him, in any way he might desire.  And when they went to meat, Peredur was placed beside the King, and the maiden on the other side of Peredur, “I will give thee,” said the King, “my daughter in marriage, and half my kingdom with her, and the two Earldoms as a gift.”  “Heaven reward thee, lord,” said Peredur, “but I came not here to woo.”  “What seekest thou, then, chieftain?”  “I am seeking tidings of the Castle of Wonders.”  “Thy enterprise is greater, chieftain, than thou wilt wish to pursue,” said the maiden, “nevertheless, tidings shalt thou have of the Castle, and thou shalt have a guide through my father’s dominions, and a sufficiency of provisions for thy journey, for thou art, O chieftain, the man whom best I love.”  Then she said to him, “Go over yonder mountain, and thou wilt find a Lake, and in the middle of the Lake there is a Castle, and that is the Castle that is called the Castle of Wonders; and we p. 102know not what wonders are therein, but thus is it called.”

And Peredur proceeded towards the Castle, and the gate of the Castle was open.  And when he came to the hall, the door was open, and he entered.  And he beheld a chessboard in the hall, and the chessmen were playing against each other, by themselves.  And the side that he favoured lost the game, [102] and thereupon the others set up a shout, as though they had been living men.  And Peredur was wroth, and took the chessmen in his lap, and cast the chessboard into the lake.  And when he had done thus, behold the black maiden came in, and she said to him, “The welcome of Heaven be not unto thee.  Thou hadst rather do evil than good.”  “What complaint hast thou against me, maiden?” said Peredur.  “That thou hast occasioned unto the Empress the loss of her chessboard, which she would not have lost for all her empire.  And the way in which thou mayest recover the chessboard is, to repair to the Castle of Ysbidinongyl, where is a black man, who lays waste the dominions of the Empress; and if thou canst slay him, thou wilt recover the chessboard.  But if thou goest there, thou wilt not return alive.”  “Wilt thou direct me thither?” said Peredur.  “I will show thee the way,” she replied.  So he went to the Castle of Ysbidinongyl, and he fought with the black man.  And the black man besought mercy of Peredur.  “Mercy will I grant thee,” said he, “on condition that thou cause the chessboard to be restored to the place where it was when I entered the hall.”  Then the maiden came to him and said, “The malediction of Heaven attend thee for thy work, since thou hast left that monster alive, who lays waste all the possessions p. 103of the Empress.”  “I granted him his life,” said Peredur, “that he might cause the chessboard to be restored.”  “The chessboard is not in the place where thou didst find it; go back, therefore, and slay him,” answered she.  So Peredur went back, and slew the black man.  And when he returned to the palace, he found the black maiden there.  “Ah! maiden,” said Peredur, “where is the Empress?”  “I declare to Heaven that thou wilt not see her now, unless thou dost slay the monster that is in yonder forest.”  “What monster is there?”  “It is a stag that is as swift as the swiftest bird; and he has one horn in his forehead, as long as the shaft of a spear and as sharp as whatever is sharpest.  And he destroys the branches of the best trees in the forest and he kills every animal that he meets with therein; and those that he does not slay perish of hunger.  And what is worse than that, he comes every night, and drinks up the fish pond, and leaves the fishes exposed, so that for the most part they die before the water returns again.”  “Maiden,” said Peredur, “wilt thou come and show me this animal?”  “Not so,” said the maiden, “for he has not permitted any mortal to enter the forest for above a twelvemonth.  Behold, here is a little dog belonging to the Empress, which will rouse the stag, and will chase him towards thee, and the stag will attack thee.”  Then the little dog went as a guide to Peredur, and roused the stag, and brought him towards the place where Peredur was.  And the stag attacked Peredur, and he let him pass by him, and as he did so, he smote off his head with his sword.  And while he was looking at the head of the stag, he saw a lady on horseback coming towards him.  And she took the little dog in the lappet of her cap, and the head and the body of the p. 104stag lay before her.  And around the stag’s neck was a golden collar.  “Ha! chieftain,” said she, “uncourteously hast thou acted in slaying the fairest jewel that was in my dominions.”  “I was intreated so to do; and is there any way by which I can obtain thy friendship?”  “There is,” she replied.  “Go thou forward unto yonder mountain, and there thou wilt find a grove; and in the grove there is a cromlech, do thou there challenge a man three times to fight, and thou shalt have my friendship.”

So Peredur proceeded onward, and came to the side of the grove, and challenged any man to fight.  And a black man arose from beneath the cromlech, mounted upon a bony horse, and both he and his horse were clad in huge rusty armour.  And they fought.  And as often as Peredur cast the black man to the earth, he would jump again into his saddle.  And Peredur dismounted, and drew his sword; and thereupon the black man disappeared with Peredur’s horse and his own, so that he could not gain sight of him a second time.  And Peredur went along the mountain, and on the other side of the mountain he beheld a castle in the valley, wherein was a river.  And he went to the castle; and as he entered it, he saw a hall, and the door of the hall was open, and he went in.  And there he saw a lame grey-headed man, sitting on one side of the hall, with Gwalchmai beside him.  And Peredur beheld his horse, which the black man had taken, in the same stall with that of Gwalchmai.  And they were glad concerning Peredur.  And he went and seated himself on the other side of the hoary-headed man.  Then, behold a yellow-haired youth came, and bent upon the knee before Peredur, and besought his friendship.  “Lord,” said the youth, “it was I that came in the form of the black maiden p. 105to Arthur’s Court, and when thou didst throw down the chessboard, and when