ake to her:

'Ah, maiden, since first I heard thy name I have loved thee--wilt thou
not come away with me from this evil place?'

'That I cannot do,' answered she, 'for I have given my word to my father
not to go without his knowledge, for his life will only last till I am
betrothed. Whatever is, must be, but this counsel I will give you. Go,
and ask me of my father, and whatsoever he shall require of thee grant
it, and thou shalt win me; but if thou deny him anything thou wilt not
obtain me, and it will be well for thee if thou escape with thy life.'

'All this I promise,' said he.

So she returned to the castle, and all Arthur's men went after her, and
entered the hall.

'Greeting to thee, Yspaddaden Penkawr,' said they. 'We come to ask thy
daughter Olwen for Kilwch, son of Kilydd.'

'Come hither to-morrow and I will answer you,' replied Yspaddaden
Penkawr, and as they rose to leave the hall he caught up one of the
three poisoned darts that lay beside him and flung it in their midst.
But Bedwyr saw and caught it, and flung it back so hard that it pierced
the knee of Yspaddaden.

'A gentle son-in-law, truly!' he cried, writhing with pain. 'I shall
ever walk the worse for this rudeness. Cursed be the smith who forged
it, and the anvil on which it was wrought!'

That night the men slept in the house of Custennin the herdsman, and the
next day they proceeded to the castle, and entered the hall, and said:

'Yspaddaden Penkawr, give us thy daughter and thou shalt keep her dower.
And unless thou wilt do this we will slay thee.'

'Her four great grandmothers and her four great grandfathers yet live,'
answered Yspaddaden Penkawr; 'it is needful that I take counsel with
them.'

'Be it so; we will go to meat,' but as they turned he took up the second
dart that lay by his side and cast it after them. And Menw caught it,
and flung it at him, and wounded him in the chest, so that it came out
at his back.

'A gentle son-in-law, truly!' cried Yspaddaden; 'the iron pains me like
the bite of a horse-leech. Cursed be the hearth whereon it was heated,
and the smith who formed it!'

* * * * *

The third day Arthur's men returned to the palace into the presence of
Yspaddaden.

'Shoot not at me again,' said he, 'unless you desire death. But lift up
my eyebrows, which have fallen over my eyes, that I may see my
son-in-law.' Then they arose, and as they did so Yspaddaden Penkawr took
the thir