Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/256

240 By simulating innocent curiosity and concern for his safety, she succeeded in persuading him to go to the bath and place himself in the perilous position, when her paramour, lying in wait, cast a spear at him, the head of which remained in his body, whereupon Llew uttered an unearthly cry and flew off in the form of an eagle. When Gwydion heard of it, his grief was inconsolable, and he wandered all over the country for many a weary day in search of his son. At length he came to a place near the Lakes of Nantỻe, where he saw in the branches of an oak a wretched eagle, whose flesh kept falling from him to the ground. He guessed that it was Llew, and sang an englyn to him, whereupon the eagle descended to a lower branch: he sang a second englyn, and a third, with the result that the bird alighted at last on his lap. He touched Llew with his wand, when he assumed his former shape, excepting that there was nothing of him left but skin and bones. When Llew recovered, Gwydion and he proceeded to avenge his wrongs: his murderer had to place himself in the position in which Llew was when he was killed; and so Goronwy Pevr, for that was the name of Blodeueᵭ's paramour, died by Llew's unerring spear, while she herself was subjected to a terrible punishment by Gwydion, who overtook her as she was making for the recesses of a dark lake. It is known, however, that there once existed another and older version of the story, which placed the scene in the skies, and connected the stars in the Milky Way with Gwydion's hurried pursuit of the erring wife. The more common account, given in the