Scarlet

'As you wish, mighty lord,' said the bard. And taking his leave, he went away.

Manawyddan returned to his work. As he was busy putting the crossbeam between the two gallows posts, he heard a whinny and looked down from the mound to see a brown-robed priest riding towards him on a fine grey horse.

'Pax vobiscum!' called the priest. 'May our Great Redeemer richly bless you.'

'Peace to you,' replied Manawyddan, wondering that another human being should appear so soon. 'May the All Wise give you your heart's desire.'

'Forgive my asking,' said the priest, 'but time moves on and I cannot tarry. Pray, what kind of work occupies you this day?'

'Since you ask,' replied Manawyddan, 'I am hanging a thief that I caught stealing the means of my sustenance.'

'What kind of thief might that be, my lord?' asked the cleric.

'A low thief in the shape of a mouse,' explained the lord of Dyfed. 'The same who, with his innumerable comrades, has committed a great crime against me-so great that I have now no hope of survival at all. Though it be my last earthly act, I mean to exact punishment upon this criminal.'

'My lord, rather than stand by and watch you demean yourself by dealing so with that vile creature, I will redeem it. Name your price and I will have it.'

'By my confession to God, I will neither sell it nor let it go.'

'It may be true, Lord, that a thief 's life is worthless. Still, I insist you must not defile yourself and drag your exalted name through the mud of dishonour. Therefore, I will give you three pounds in good silver to let that mouse go.'

'Between me and you and God,' Manawyddan answered, 'though it is a princely sum, the money is no good to me. I want no payment, except what this thief is due: its right and proper hanging.'

'If that is your final word.'

'It is.'

'Then you do as you please.' Picking up the reins, the priest rode on.

Manawyddan, lord of Dyfed, resumed his work. Taking a bit of string, he fashioned a small noose and tied the noose around the neck of the mouse. As he was busy with this, behold, he heard the sound of a pipe and drum. Looking down from the gorsedd mound, he saw the retinue of a bishop, with his sumpters and his host, and the bishop himself striding towards him. He stopped his work. 'Lord Bishop,' he called, 'your blessings if you please.'

'May God bless you abundantly, friend,' said the satin-robed bishop. 'If I may be so bold, what kind of work are you doing up there on your mound?'

'Well,' replied Manawyddan, growing slightly irritated at having to explain his every move, 'since you ask, and if it concerns you at all-which it does not-know that I am hanging a dirty thief which I caught stealing the last of my grain, the very grain which I was counting on to keep myself and my dear daughter-in-law alive through the coming winter.'

'I am sorry to hear it,' answered the bishop. 'But, my lord, is that not a mouse I see in your hand?'

'Oh, aye,' confirmed Manawyddan, 'and a rank thief it is.'

'Now see here,' said the bishop, 'it may be God's own luck that I have come upon the destruction of that creature. I will redeem it from its well-deserved fate. Please accept the thirty pounds I will give you for its life. For, by the beard of Saint Joseph, rather than see a lordly man as yourself destroying wretched vermin, I will give that much and more gladly. Release it and retain your dignity.'

'Nay, Lord Bishop, I will not.'

'Since you will not let it go for that, I will give you sixty pounds of fine silver. Man, I beg you to let it go.'

'I will not release it, by my confession to God, for the same amount again and more besides. Money is no use to me in the grave to which I am going since the destruction of my fields.'

'If you free the mouse,' said the satin-robed one, 'I will give you all the horses on the plain, and the seven sumpters that are here, and the seven horses that carry them.'

'I do not want for horses. Between you and me and God,' Manawyddan replied, 'I could not feed them if I had them.'

'Since you do not want that, name your price.'

'You press me hard for a churchman,' said the lord of Dyfed. 'But since you ask, I want, more than anything under heaven, the return of my own dear wife, Rhiannon, and my good friend and companion, Pryderi.'

'As I live and breathe, and with God alone as my witness, they will appear the moment you release that mouse.'

'Did I say I was finished?' asked Manawyddan.

'Speak up, man. What else do you want?'

'I want swift and certain deliverance from the magic and enchantment that rests so heavily upon the seven cantrefs of Dyfed.'

'That you will have also,' promised the bishop, 'if you release the mouse at once and do it no harm.'

'You must think me slow of thought and speech,' countered Manawyddan, his suspicions fully roused. 'I am far from finished.'

'What else do you require?'

'I want to know what this mouse is to you, that you should take such an interest in its fate.'

'I will tell you,' said the bishop, 'though you will not believe me.'

'Try me.'

'Will you believe me if I tell you that the mouse you hold is really my own dear wife? And were that not so, we would not be freeing her.'

'Right you are, friend,' agreed Manawyddan. 'I do not believe you.'

'It is true nonetheless.'

'Then tell me, by what means did she come to me in this form?'

'To plunder this realm of its possessions,' the bishop answered, 'for I am none other than Llwyd Cil Coed, and I confess that it was I who put the enchantment on the seven cantrefs of Dyfed. This was done to avenge my brother Gwawl, who was killed by you and Pryderi in the Battle of the Cauldron. After hearing that you had returned to settle in the land,' the false bishop continued, 'I turned my lord's war-band into mice so they might destroy your barley without your knowledge. On the first night of destruction the warband came alone and carried away the grain. On the second night they came too, and destroyed the second field. On the third night my wife and the women of the court came to me and asked me to transform them as well. I did as they asked, though my dear wife was pregnant. Had she not been pregnant, I doubt you would have caught her.'

'She was the only one I caught, to be sure,' replied Manawyddan thoughtfully.

'But, alas, since she was caught, I will give you Pryderi and Rhiannon, and remove the magic and enchantment from Dyfed.' Llwyd the Hud folded his arms across his chest and, gazing up to the top of the mound at Manawyddan, he said, 'There! I have told you everything-now let her go.'

'I will not let her go so easily.'

'Now what do you want?' demanded the enchanter.

'Behold,' the mighty champion replied, 'there is yet one more thing required: that there may never be any more magic or enchantment placed upon the seven cantrefs of Dyfed, nor on my kinfolk or any other people beneath my care.'

'Upon my oath, you will have that,' the Llwyd said, 'now, for the love of God, let her go.'

'Not so fast, enchanter,' warned Manawyddan, still gripping the mouse tightly in his fist.

'What now?' Llwyd moaned.

'This,' he said, 'is what I want: there must be no revenge against Pryderi, Rhiannon, Cigfa, or myself, ever, from this day henceforth, forever.'

'All that I promise and have promised, you shall get. And, God knows, that last was a canny thought,' the enchanter allowed, 'for if you had not spoken thus, all of the grief you have had till now would be as nothing compared to that which would have soon fallen upon your unthinking head. So if we are agreed, I pray you, wise lord, release my wife and return her to me.'

'I will,' promised Manawyddan, 'in the same moment that I see Pryderi and Rhiannon standing hale and hearty