eet her son whenever her
counsel or aid was required. A like trait belongs to the Homeric
goddesses. Thetis heard from her father's court far away beneath the
ocean the terrible sounds of grief that burst from her son Achilles on
hearing of the death of his dear friend Patroclus, and quickly ascended
to earth all weeping to learn what ailed her son. These Fairy ladies
also show a mother's love, immortal though they be.

The children of these marriages depart not with their mother, they remain
with the father, but she takes with her her dowry. Thus there are many
descendants of the Lady of the Van Lake still living in South Wales, and
as Professor Rhys remarks--"This brings the legend of the Lady of the Van
Lake into connection with a widely spread family;" and, it may be added,
shows that the Celts on their advent to Wales found it inhabited by a
race with whom they contracted marriages.

The manner in which the lady is seized when dancing in the Ystrad Legend
calls to mind the strategy of the tribe of Benjamin to secure wives for
themselves of the daughters of Shiloh according to the advice of the
elders who commanded them,--"Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and
see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances,
then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you everyone his wife of the
daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin," Judges, ch. xxi.
The rape of the Sabine women, who were seized by the followers of Romulus
on a day appointed for sacrifice and public games, also serves as a
precedent for the action of those young Welshmen who captured Fairy wives
whilst enjoying themselves in the dance.

It is a curious fact, that a singular testimony to wife snatching in
ancient times is indicated by a custom once general, and still not
obsolete in South Wales, of a feigned attempt on the part of the friends
of the young woman about to get married to hinder her from carrying out
her object. The Rev. Griffith Jones, Vicar of Mostyn, informed the
writer that he had witnessed such a struggle. The wedding, he stated,
took place at Tregaron, Cardiganshire. The friends of both the young
people were on horseback, and according to custom they presented
themselves at the house of the young woman, the one to escort her to the
church, and the other to hinder her from going there. The friends of the
young man were called "_Gwyr shegouts_." When the young lady was
mounted, she was surrounded