there? "Meal, good soul," said the Irishman. And
he felt about until he felt the head, and he squeezed that head as he had
done the others. And albeit he found that the head of this one was
armed, he left him not until he had killed him. And then he sang an
Englyn,--

"There is in this bag a different sort of meal,
The ready combatant, when the assault is made
By his fellow warriors, prepared for battle."

Thereupon came the hosts unto the house. The men of the Island of
Ireland entered the house on the one side, and the men of the Island of
the Mighty on the other. And as soon as they had sat down, there was
concord between them; and the sovereignty was conferred upon the boy.
When the peace was concluded, Bendigeid Vran called the boy unto him, and
from Bendigeid Vran the boy went unto Manawyddan, and he was beloved by
all that beheld him. And from Manawyddan the boy was called by Nissyen
the son of Eurosswydd, and the boy went unto him lovingly. "Wherefore,"
said Evnissyen, "comes not my nephew the son of my sister unto me? Though
he were not king of Ireland, yet willingly would I fondle the boy."
"Cheerfully let him go to thee," said Bendigeid Vran, and the boy went
unto him cheerfully. "By my confession to Heaven," said Evnissyen in his
heart, "unthought of by the household is the slaughter that I will this
instant commit."

Then he arose and took up the boy by the feet, and before any one in the
house could seize hold of him, he thrust the boy headlong into the
blazing fire. And when Branwen saw her son burning in the fire, she
strove to leap into the fire also, from the place where she sat between
her two brothers. But Bendigeid Vran grasped her with one hand, and his
shield with the other. Then they all hurried about the house, and never
was there made so great a tumult by any host in one house as was made by
them, as each man armed himself. Then said Morddwydtyllyon, "The gad-
flies of Morddwydtyllyon's Cow!" And while they all sought their arms,
Bendigeid Vran supported Branwen between his shield and his shoulder.

Then the Irish kindled a fire under the cauldron of renovation, and they
cast the dead bodies into the cauldron until it was full, and the next
day they came forth fighting men as good as before, except that they were
not able to speak. Then when Evnissyen saw the dead bodies of the men of
the Island of the Mighty nowhere resuscitated, he said in his heart,
"Alas! woe is