in estalom, and where I am told the real old
Welsh language is still spoken."

"I think I heard you mention the word Llydaw?" said I, to the man of the
hat.

"Ah," said the man of the hat, speaking Welsh, "I was right after all;
oh, I could have sworn you were Llydaweg. Well, how are the descendants
of the ancient Britons getting on in Llydaw?"

"They are getting on tolerably well," said I, "when I last saw them,
though all things do not go exactly as they could wish."

"Of course not," said he of the hat. "We too have much to complain of
here; the lands are almost entirely taken possession of by Saxons,
wherever you go you will find them settled, and a Saxon bird of the roof
must build its nest in Gwyn dy."

"You call a sparrow in your Welsh a bird of the roof, do you not?" said
I.

"We do," said he of the hat. "You speak Welsh very well considering you
were not born in Wales. It is really surprising that the men of Llydaw
should speak the iaith so pure as they do."

"The Welsh when they went over there," said I, "took effectual means that
their descendants should speak good Welsh, if all tales be true."

"What means?" said he of the hat.

"Why," said I; "after conquering the country they put all the men to
death, and married the women, but before a child was born they cut out
all the women's tongues, so that the only language the children heard
when they were born was pure Cumraeg. What do you think of that?"

"Why, that it was a cute trick," said he of the hat.

"A more clever trick I never heard," said the man of the cap.

"Have you any memorials in the neighbourhood of the old Welsh?" said I.

"What do you mean?" said the man of the hat.

"Any altars of the Druids?" said I; "any stone tables?"

"None," said the man of the hat.

"What may those stones be?" said I, pointing to the stones which had
struck my attention.

"Mere common rocks," said the man.

"May I go and examine them?" said I.

"Oh yes!" said he of the hat, "and we will go with you."

We went to the stones, which were indeed common rocks, and which when I
reached them presented quite a different appearance from that which they
presented to my eye when I viewed them from afar.

"Are there many altars of the Druids in Llydaw?" said the man of the hat.

"Plenty," said I, "but those altars are older than the time of the Welsh
colonists, and were erected by the old Gauls."

"Well," said the man of the cap, "I am glad I have s