be nearer." "We will wait," he answered. So they
finished the feast. And they began to make the circuit of Dyved and to
hunt, and to take their pleasure. And as they went through the country,
they had never seen lands more pleasant to live in, nor better hunting
grounds, nor greater plenty of honey and fish. And such was the
friendship between those four, that they would not be parted from each
other by night nor by day.

And in the midst of all this he went to Caswallawn at Oxford, and
tendered his homage; and honourable was his reception there, and highly
was he praised for offering his homage.

And after his return, Pryderi and Manawyddan feasted and took their ease
and pleasure. And they began a feast at Narberth, for it was the chief
palace; and there originated all honour. And when they had ended the
first meal that night, while those who served them eat, they arose and
went forth, and proceeded all four to the Gorsedd of Narberth, and their
retinue with them. And as they sat thus, behold a peal of thunder, and
with the violence of the thunderstorm, lo there came a fall of mist, so
thick that not one of them could see the other. And after the mist it
became light all around. And when they looked towards the place where
they were wont to see cattle, and herds, and dwellings, they saw nothing
now, neither house, nor beast, nor smoke, nor fire, nor man, nor
dwelling; but the houses of the court empty, and desert, and uninhabited,
without either man, or beast within them. And truly all their companions
were lost to them, without their knowing aught of what had befallen them,
save those four only.

"In the name of Heaven," cried Manawyddan, "where are they of the court,
and all my host beside these? Let us go and see." So they came into the
hall, and there was no man; and they went on to the castle, and to the
sleeping-place, and they saw none; and in the mead-cellar and in the
kitchen there was nought but desolation. So they four feasted, and
hunted, and took their pleasure. Then they began to go through the land
and all the possessions that they had, and they visited the houses and
dwellings, and found nothing but wild beasts. And when they had consumed
their feast and all their provisions, they fed upon the prey they killed
in hunting, {65} and the honey of the wild swarms. And thus they passed
the first year pleasantly, and the second; but at the last they began to
be weary.

"Verily," said Man