Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/98

 'If walking thou didst come here, go back running. Bid him enter out of the wind and rain. Let all of you honour him and serve him.'

The gate was opened, and Kilhugh entered upon horseback into the hall. He greeted Arthur and the chiefs and warriors, and they greeted him back.

'Sit thou between two of my warriors,' said Arthur 'thou shalt have minstrels before thee and shalt enjoy the privileges of a king born to a throne.'

'I came not for meat and drink,' said Kilhugh, 'but for a boon. If I obtain it I will repay and praise thee; if not, I will carry thy dispraise to the four quarters of the earth.'

'Whatever thou ask shall be thine,' said Arthur, 'save my ship, my mantle, my sword, my lance, my shield, my dagger, and my wife.'

'I would,' said Kilhugh, 'that thou bless my hair.'

So Arthur combed Kilhugh's hair, and asked his name and family. When he heard that the youth was his own cousin he promised him any boon.

'Olwen is the boon I desire,' said Kilhugh, 'I crave it of thee, lord Arthur. I crave it of thy warriors, Kay and Bedwyr and Gwynn and Gormant, and Taliesin the bard, and Geraint, and Morvran the hideous, and Santhe Bryd Angel the beautiful, and Osla whose dagger was once a bridge for an army, and Drem who can see the gnats of Cornwall from Caithness, and Ughtryd who spread his red untrimmed beard over the eight and forty rafters of thy hall, and Ol who tracked his father's swine that were carried off seven years before he was born, and all the other warriors and huntsmen, and Bedwini the Bishop who blesses thy meat and drink. I crave it also of the golden-chained daughters of this island, Guinevere thy queen and Guiniach her sister, and