Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/81

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54
THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN.

peryllous" on her behalf, and whose illtreatment by Sir Kai is related, p. 40. Sir Gareth took his full revenge upon Sir Kai, but his conduct under the taunts he received from Luned, who called him a kechen knaue and used towards him very discourteous language, considering that he was taking up her quarrel, is generous and high-minded in the extreme. It ended in Sir Gareth marrying Luned's sister. Dame Lyones, of the Castel peryllous; and in Luned herself, who is also called the "daymoysel saueage," becoming the wife of Sir Gaherys, who was Sir Gareth's brother. And these nuptials were solemnized with great pomp and splendour at King Arthur's Court. See Morte d' Arthur, Book VII. Compare Mr. Tennyson's poem of Gareth and Lynette in the Idylls of the King.

Whatever is in my Power.Page 13.

It appears rather extraordinary at first sight that Luned should take so lively an interest in Owain, and give herself so much trouble to forward his suit with the Countess, and also that she should express herself so well acquainted with his character. But from the English Metrical Bomance, we find that they were old frieuds, Luned having been on an embassy to Arthur's Court some time previously.

Take this Ring.Page 13.

The ring is enumerated among the "Thirteen Rarities of Kingly Regalia of the Island of Britain, which were formerly kept at Caerlleon, on the river Usk, in Monmouthshire. These curiosities went with Myrddin the son of Morvran, into the house of Glass, in Enlli, or Bardsey Island. It has also been recorded by others that it was Taliesin, the Chief of the Bards, who possessed them."

"The Stone of the Ring of Luned, which liberated Owen the son of Urien from between the portcullis and the wall. Whoever concealed that stone, the stone or bezel would conceal him."

The properties of this magical ring will, doubtless, call to mind the ring of Gyges, which was most probably the prototype from which it was indirectly derived.

Horseblock.Page 13.

Ellis, in his Notes to Way's Fabliaux, has the following remarks upon horseblocks, which are mentioned in a vast number of the old Romances: "They were frequently placed on the roads and in the forests, and were almost numberless in the towns. Many of them still remain in Paris, where they were used by the magistrates in order to mount their mules, on which they rode to the courts of