Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/247

 The Black Pig of Kiltrustan 237

" Hear, Little Pig, there will come on Thursday Joy to the Cymry of mighty battles.

On the Saxons there will be a slaughter of ashen spears. And their heads will be used as balls to play with,"

{Stanza /.).

" Sweet apple-tree of delicate blossoms Which grows in the soil amid the trees, The Sibyl foretells a tale that will come to pass —

Before the child (Cadwaladyr) bold as the sun in his courses, Saxons shall be eradicated and bards shall flourish."

{Stanza VIII.) or in the Hoianau :

" Listen, Little Pig ! utter not a whisper When the host of war marches from Caermarthen.

When the Saxons shall be slain in the conflict of Cymmerau Blessed will be the lot of Cymry, the people of Cymrwy." ^

It is no doubt on these ancient poems, and others like them, that the later idea of prophecies connected with the Black Pig is founded.

Eleanor Hull.

^ Skene, J'ottr Attiient Books of Wales, i. 370; ii, 18; and i. 482; ii. 21 ; and Stephen's Lit. of the Cymry, p. 236.