se, sir, 'tis said that the Devil built it in the old time, though
that I can hardly believe; for the Devil, do ye see, delights in nothing
but mischief, and it is not likely that such being the case he would have
built a thing which must have been of wonderful service to people by
enabling them to pass in safety over a dreadful gulf."

"I have heard," said the old postman with the leather hat, "that the
Devil had no hand in de work at all, but that it was built by a Mynach,
or monk, on which account de river over which de bridge is built is
called Afon y Mynach--dat is de Monk's River."

"Did you ever hear," said I, "of three creatures who lived a long time
ago near the Devil's Bridge, called the Plant de Bat?"

"Ah, master!" said the old postman, "I do see that you have been in these
parts before; had you not, you would not know of the Plant de Bat."

"No," said I, "I have never been here before; but I heard of them when I
was a boy, from a Cumro who taught me Welsh, and had lived for some time
in these parts. Well, what do they say here about the Plant de Bat? for
he who mentioned them to me could give me no further information about
them than that they were horrid creatures who lived in a cave near the
Devil's Bridge several hundred years ago."

"Well, master," said the old postman, thrusting his forefinger twice or
thrice into the bowl of his pipe, "I will tell you what they says here
about the Plant de Bat. In de old time--two, three hundred year ago--a
man lived somewhere about here called Bat or Bartholomew; this man had
three children, two boys and one girl, who, because their father's name
was Bat, were generally called 'Plant de Bat,' or Bat's children. Very
wicked children they were from their cradle, giving their father and
mother much trouble and uneasiness; no good in any one of them, neither
in the boys nor the girl. Now the boys, once when they were rambling
idly about, lighted by chance upon a cave near the Devil's Bridge. Very
strange cave it was, with just one little hole at top to go in by; so the
boys said to one another: 'Nice cave this for thief to live in. Suppose
we come here when we are a little more big and turn thief ourselves.'
Well, they waited till they were a little more big, and then leaving
their father's house they came to de cave and turned thief, lying snug
there all day and going out at night to rob upon the roads. Well, there
was soon much talk in the country about the r