Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/178

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
162
II. THE ZEUS OF

a solar knight of Arthur's court, called Howel:[1] this last name means able to see or easy to be seen, that is to say, conspicuous, a fitting designation, whichever meaning you take, for a sun hero. But to return to Elen Lüyᵭawg: she is the heroine of an old Welsh saga known as the Dream of Maxen the Gwledig. The following is an abstract of it:[2]—Maxen was emperor of Rome and the handsomest of men, as well as the wisest, with whom none of his predecessors might compare. One day he and his courtiers went forth to hunt, and in the course of the day he sat himself down to rest, while his chamberlains protected him from the scorching rays of the sun with their shields. Beneath that shelter he slept, and he dreamt that he was travelling over hill and dale, across rich lands and fine countries until at length he reached a sea-coast. Then he crossed the sea in a magnificent ship and landed in a great city in an island, which he traversed from the one shore till he was in sight of the other: there we find him in a district remarkable for its precipitous mountains and lofty cliffs, from which he could descry an isle in front of him, surrounded by the sea. He stayed not his course until he reached the mouth of a river, where he found a castle with open gates. He walked in, and there beheld a fair hall built of stones precious and brilliant, and roofed with shingles of gold. To pass by a great deal more gold and silver and other precious things, Maxen found

  1. Howel is the colloquial pronunciation of what would, in book-Welsh, be Hywel: compare the note on Owein, p. 63.
  2. R. B. Mab. pp. 82—92; Guest, iij. 276—290; but I have also made use of a copy by Mr. J. Gwenogvryn Evans of the fragment in the Hengwrt MS. numbered 54.