' "You may keep your hospitality!" remarked the woman tartly. "I have done with all kindliness and generosity. The gentle pursuits I once enjoyed are more bitter to me now than death and ashes."

' "Indeed, I am sorry to hear it," Manawyddan replied sadly. "Tell me what I may do to restore warmth and tenderness to your heart, and rest assured that before the sun has set on another day, I will have done all anyone can do. What is more, the men who even now fill this hall are no less ready to aid me in this endeavour."

'This handsome offer was thrown back in the king's face, for the lady offered only a grim, mocking laugh in reply.

' "Lady," said Manawyddan, "why do you persist in this uncouth behaviour? I have made a king's vow to do all that can be done to aid you in any way you desire. I am certain that my men and I can meet and overcome any difficulty, end any oppression, right any wrong, and thus redress whatever hurt or harm has befallen you."

'This heart-stirring speech received the acclaim of all who heard it. The noblemen lauded their monarch and pledged themselves to the Grey Lady's service.

'But the strange woman scorned their pledges. "Can you raise the dead, O Great King?" She laughed, and her laughter was bitterness itself. "Can you restore life to a corpse on which the carrion crows have feasted? Can you make the blood flow once more in the veins when that blood has soaked the earth, and the living heart is but a lump of cold meat in the breast? Can you, O Wondrous Manawyddan, return the warm gaze of love to an eye which has been cut out and thrown to the dogs?"

'Hearing this, Manawyddan's great heart surged with grief for the lady's plight. "Lady, your sorrow has become my sorrow, and your woe my own. But know this: the full weight of the sadness you feel now, seven times that much will be visited upon the one who has caused your lament."

'At this, the mysterious lady bowed her head and professed herself well pleased, knowing Manawyddan would honour his vow to the last breath in his body. She then began to tell the king what had transpired to bring about her ruin. The warriors pressed close around to hear – and between the telling and the hearing, it was difficult to say which was the more distressing.

' "I was not always the grey hag you see before you now," the lady said. "Once I was beautiful, but mourning has made me old and dry before my time. Listen, then, if you would learn the reason for my travail.

' "I am the daughter of a mountain king called Rhongomynyad, a ruler both wise and good, who fell ill of a night and died not long after. I was left alone to rule in his place until I should marry and my husband relieve me of that tedious duty. As one might expect, from the moment my father's demise was made known in the world, the path to my stronghold was crowded with suitors seeking to win my approval. Truth to tell, though I never found any of these hopeful young men remotely to my liking, still I did not grow weary of the chase.

' "One day, as the customarily disappointing flock of suitors ambled through the fortress gates, my eye chanced upon a tall young man fair in face and form: slender, but not too thin; handsome, but not vain; proud, but not arrogant; kind, but not simpering; generous, but not profligate; canny, but not conceited; friendly, but not flighty; trustworthy, but not dour. In short, my heart kindled with love for him the moment his eye met mine.

' "We spent the day, and all the days to follow, in close companionship, and my love grew greater each time we met. Before the summer was over, we were betrothed. Our wedding was to be held in the spring, and I could turn aside from the duties of sovereignty which weighed so heavily upon me. Like all betrothed couples, we made our plans and dreamed our dreams, and my love for my beloved was as all-consuming as the flame of an ever-burning fire.

' "Then one day, while my beloved was tending to affairs in his father's realm, a dark-clothed man came striding into my court. Without so much as a tender glance in my direction, he declared himself king by virtue of his skill at arms and challenged any who would dispute him to draw sword or heft spear, and have at it. To my shame and outrage, no one would defend me. All the young men who stood in my court shrank away, shaking with fear.

' "For, like a man in most respects, in stature this dark foe was nothing less than a giant! Standing two men high, he was broad of shoulder and long of arm. His weapons were black iron, and his shield iron, too. It took two men just to heft his axe, and three to raise that weighty shield.

' "Nevertheless, my beloved soon heard what had happened. And up he jumped, calling for his sword belt and spear; he called for his horse to be saddled and his shield to be burnished. He mounted his horse and rode straightaway to take up the challenge. The two met on the path leading to my fortress, and the narrow valley between two mountains became the battleground.

' "Alas! They fought! The combat was fierce and, alas, my best beloved was killed!

' "The Black Oppressor fell upon the body of my beloved, plucked the eyes from his head, and threw them to the hounds. Then he hewed the eyeless head from those fair shoulders and stuck it upon his iron spear. He set the spear over the gate of my fortress as a reminder to all who passed beneath the bloodless head that he now ruled the realm. That same day, he claimed me for his wife, and had me bound and borne to my chamber, which he had taken for his own. He then demanded a meal to be prepared and served him in the hall; he said it was to be our marriage feast. The glutton devoured seven pigs, three oxen, nine lambs, and drank four vats of ale, while I touched not a morsel.

' "While the Black Giant feasted in my hall, I bound courage to my heart and determined that when he came for me, I would either be dead or gone. I struggled free of my bonds, and then sought my escape. Alas, the door was securely barred, and there was no other way out. I bade farewell to life. Taking up the ropes that had bound me, I knotted the lengths together to make a noose, which, with trembling hands, I placed around my neck.

' "I was even then tightening the noose when one of my serving maids entered the chamber. She had come to light the fire in the hearth so that the chamber would be warm for my hideous bridegroom and me. When she saw the killing ropes around her lady's neck, she threw herself upon me and vowed to help me escape if I would only take her with me. I agreed at once, and we stole that instant from the chamber, pausing only to set fire to the bed.

' "From that dire day to this," the Grey Lady concluded, "I I have wandered where I would, seeking justice and retribution. Most miserable of women am I! Never has any creature shown himself man enough to meet the Black Giant in combat and rescue my realm and my people.

' "Even so, to show you I am in earnest and virtue is with me wherever I go, I offer this promise: any man who slays the Black Oppressor shall that day have me for his bride – and my kingdom and all I possess. Fortunate is the man who takes me to wife," she added, "for I know well what I am worth."

'Great Manawyddan cast his gaze upon the gathered warriors, each one more accomplished and stalwart than the last. "You have heard the lady's tale of woe," he said. "Who among you will take up the challenge? Who will slay this vile being and restore the lady's kingdom? Who among you will cover himself in glory and bring honour to this court?"

'At once there arose a tremendous outcry as the doughty warriors strove to make themselves heard each above the other. But the man who carried the day was the king's own champion, a warrior of vast renown, and Llencellyn was his name. "My king and lord," said Llencellyn when he had gained his sovereign's ear, "may I be bound in chains and hurled into the sea if I do not avenge this lady and restore her realm before three days have passed."