Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/318

 310 real sentiments beneath a veil of flattery: if, however, he still insisted on a further pledge, she would tell him—"Look how much you have, so much is your value, and so much do I love you," Her father angrily excluded her from any share of the kingdom, half of which he gave in possession to his other two daughters, marrying them respectively to the dukes of Cornwall and Albania, and settling the remainder of the whole monarchy of Britain upon them after his own death. The king of the Franks, having heard of Cordeilla's beauty, sent to demand her in marriage, and accepted her without any dowry. After a time the husbands of the two elder daughters rebelled and deprived Leir of his kingdom; the duke of Albania, who had married Gonorilla, agreeing to allow him a maintenance at his own house, with sixty soldiers who were to be kept for state. Then follow the quarrels between Leir and his daughter Gonorilla as to the number of his retainers, his flight to Regan, the other daughter, his quarrel with her, and return to Gonorilla, who will not receive him back unless he dismisses all his retainers, with the result that he takes ship for Gaul and seeks Cordeilla. Cordeilla, taking pity on him, provides him with a retinue; and her husband, raising an army, invades Britain with king Leir, and restores him to the throne of the whole kingdom. The old monarch reigns for upwards of two years, and on his death Cordeilla succeeds him.

This is the substance of the tale as written down in the middle of the twelfth century; but whence it was then derived there is not a trace beyond internal evidence to show. The originals which Geoffrey professes to have had before him in writing his Romances are no longer extant. It seems likely he really had a collection of folk-tales, either Welsh or Armorican, made, either by himself, or (as he asserts) by another person and brought to him by the Archdeacon Walter; but, if so, such collection has utterly disappeared. What is still more extraordinary is that, so far as we have the means of judging, not only has the collection as an entirety gone, but the separate and individual items of which it was composed have nearly, if not quite, all likewise vanished. There can be little doubt that in the composition of the Mabinogion use was made, to say the least, of genuine Welsh traditions. In these stories mention is frequently made of