Page:My people stories of the peasantry of West Wales.djvu/287

 “For shame, man of the bad,” said Rhys. “And you too, Shan, the serpent in the Great One’s Temple. An old abomination you are then! There was Dai, and the dead, though not born. And now Samuel.”

“Dear little Rhys, harsh are your words,” said Owen.

Hugh Morgan stood on the threshold. “Dear me, man,” he said to Rhys, “there’s a talker he is for sure! Am I not the messenger?” Then he turned to Owen and Shan and spoke to them wrathfully: “Is not Samuel the father of Esther’s child? And has he not hanged himself?”

“Shame on you, sinners,” said Rhys.

“Fetch you Satan’s carcase away this day,” said Hugh Morgan. “The smelly clay is lying in my barn. Fetch you the unholy object.”

Owen hired a cart and horse and he placed three sacks and a little straw on