a lady to act as his foot-holder, and she must be a virgin. This office was filled by a most lovely damsel whose name was Goewyn; but while Mâth was away in the war with the men of Dyved (p. 244), she was outraged by Gilvaethwy son of Dôn, with his brother Gwydion's connivance. Mâth, whose conduct is always represented as just and righteous, indemnified Goewyn by making her his queen, while he punished Gwydion and his brother by changing them into deer, wild boars and wolves, forms which they had for three successive years. When the term of their punishment was completed, Mâth changed them back into their own shapes, and admitted them again to his court. He next asked Gwydion to recommend him a duly qualified foot-holder, and Gwydion brought his own mistress to Mâth, namely, Arianrhod, daughter of Mâth's sister Dôn, whereupon Mâth addressed her as follows: 'Ha, damsel, art thou the maiden?' 'I know not, Lord, other than that I am,' was the reply; at which Mâth took up his magic wand and bent it, saying, 'Step over this, and I shall know if thou art the maiden.' That, I ought to state, is Lady Charlotte Guest's translation;[1] but to do justice to the sense of the original,[2] one has to substitute both times for the words 'the maiden,' the words 'a virgin.' To continue the story, Arianrhod complied with Mâth's request, and left behind her a fine chubby, yellow-haired boy, at whose screaming she made for the door, near which she left a smaller form; but before anybody caught a second sight of the latter, Gwydion had wrapped it in a sheet of satin, and concealed it in a chest at the foot of his bed. Mâth took
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IV. THE CULTURE HERO.
