Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/114

 barber of Uspathadden. He was bound, and Kaw shaved him, beard, skin, and flesh, from ear to ear.

'Art thou shaved, man?' said Kilhugh.

'I am shaved,' answered the giant.

'Is thy daughter mine now?' asked Kilhugh.

'She is thine,' he said, 'but by my free will thou shouldst never have gained her, because when I lose her I lose my life.'

Then the last son of Custennin, unwilling to save Uspathadden to grace the marriage feast, dragged him to the castle keep, cut off his head, and stuck it upon a spike on high. They took possession of the castle and the giant's treasuries. Then Olwen came forth to Kilhugh. Her dress was of flame-coloured silk, and about her neck was a collar of ruddy gold, on which were precious emeralds and rubies. More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom, and her skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands and her fingers than the blossoms of the wood anemone amidst the spray of the meadow fountain. The eye of the trained hawk, the glance of the thrice-mewed falcon was not brighter than hers. Her bosom was more snowy than the breast of the white swan, her cheek was redder than the reddest roses. Whoso beheld her was filled with love. Four white trefoils sprang up wherever she trod; and therefore was she called Olwen. She became Kilhugh's bride in that castle upon the great plain, the fairest of the castles of all the world.