me, that I should have been the cause of bringing the men
of the Island of the Mighty into so great a strait. Evil betide me if I
find not a deliverance therefrom." And he cast himself among the dead
bodies of the Irish, and two unshod Irishmen came to him, and, taking him
to be one of the Irish, flung him into the cauldron. And he stretched
himself out in the cauldron, so that he rent the cauldron into four
pieces, and burst his own heart also.

In consequence of that, the men of the Island of the Mighty obtained such
success as they had; but they were not victorious, for only seven men of
them all escaped, and Bendigeid Vran himself was wounded in the foot with
a poisoned dart. Now the seven men that escaped were Pryderi,
Manawyddan, Gluneu {56a} Eil Taran, Taliesin, Ynawc, Grudyen {56b} the
son of Muryel, and Heilyn the son of Gwynn Hen.

And Bendigeid Vran commanded them that they should cut off his head. "And
take you my head," said he, "and bear it even unto the White Mount, in
London, and bury it there, with the face towards France. And a long time
will you be upon the road. In Harlech you will be feasting seven years,
the birds of Rhiannon singing unto you the while. And all that time the
head will be to you as pleasant company as it ever was when on my body.
And at Gwales in Penvro you will be fourscore years, and you may remain
there, and the head with you uncorrupted, until you open the door that
looks towards Aber Henvelen, and towards Cornwall. And after you have
opened that door, there you may no longer tarry, set forth then to London
to bury the head and go straight forward."

So they cut off his head, and these seven went forward therewith. And
Branwen was the eighth with them, and they came to land at Aber Alaw, in
Talebolyon, and they sat down to rest. And Branwen looked towards
Ireland and towards the Island of the Mighty, to see if she could descry
them. "Alas," said she, "woe is me that I was ever born; two Islands
have been destroyed because of me!" Then she uttered a loud groan and
there broke her heart. And they made her a four-sided grave and buried
her upon the banks of the Alaw.

Then the seven men journeyed forward towards Harlech, bearing the head
with them; and as they went behold there met them a multitude of men and
of women. "Have you any tidings?" asked Manawyddan. "We have none,"
said they, "save that Caswallawn, the son of Beli, has conquered the
Island of the Migh