Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 17, 1906.djvu/46

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36 The Europeaji Sky -God.

of the Men of the North,' records — ' Gwendolen and Nud and Cof, sons of Keidyaw son of Arfchwys son of Mar son of Keneu son of Coel.' According to the Vene- dotian code of the old Welsh laws/ the chiefs of the Men of the North, who came to avenge the death of Elidyr Muhenvaur, were Clyddno Eiddin, Nudd Hael, son of Senyllt, Mordaf Hael, son of Seruari, and Rydderch Hael, son of Tudwal Tudglyd. A Welsh Triad ^ men- tions this same Nudd Hael, son of Senullt, along with his comrades Rydderch Hael, son of Tutwal Tutclyt, and Mordav Hael, son of Serwan as the ' three Generous Men of the Isle of Britain.' Another Triad ^ states that Nudd Hael, son of Senullt, had a herd of 20,001 cows, kept for him by Llawvrodedd Varvawc. An inscription found at Warrior's Rest, near Yarrow in Selkirkshire, and first accurately copied by Professor Rhys,* runs as follows :

HIC MEMORIAE ET

[BEJLLO INriGNiriMI PRINCI Here Nudos' princely offspring rest,

PES . NVdl . Dear to fame, in battle brave,

dVMNOGENI.HIC I AGENT Two sons of a Bounteous sire,

IN TYMVLO -dVO FILIJ Dumnonians, in their grave.

LIBERALir

While some details of this inscription are debateable, it is clear that it commemorates two sons of a certain

'^ Id. ib. i. 174, cp. i. 338. ^Loth Mabhiogion ii. 235 f.

^ Id. ib. ii. 296. Prof. Rhys has kindly sent me the following translation of the Triad : ' Three clan herdsmen of the Island of Prydain : Bennren herdsman in Gorwennydd, that kept the herd of Caradawc son of Bran and his clan, and in that herd the number of milch cows was 20,001 ; second, Gwydion son of Don, that kept the clan herd of Gwynedd above (= west of) the Conwy, and of that herd the number was 20,001 milch cows ; third, Llawfrodedd the Bearded that herded the cattle of Nudd the Bounteous (Nudd Hael) son of Senyllt, and of that herd the number was 20,001 milch cows'.

  • Rh;^s in Y Cymmrodor 1905 xviii. 5 ff. argues that the inscription con-

tains two accentual hexameters and dates from the latter part of the sixth century A.D. I quote his metrical rendering.