THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 Gift 
 
 From the Library of 
 Henry Goldman, Ph.D. 
 1886-1972
 
 By the Same Author. 
 
 MY PEOPLE. 
 
 Stories of the Peasantry of West Wales. 
 By CARADOC EVANS. 
 
 Fifth Edition. Price 5s. net. 
 
 Ddlu TtlegratJi. " A book of remarkable power.' 
 Outlook- "The book has held us entranced, left 
 
 us amazed." 
 
 Punch. " Quite one of the most remarkable books I 
 
 have encountered for a long time." 
 
 Andrew Melro.e,Ltd.,3, York St., W.C.
 
 CAPEL SIGN
 
 GAPEL SIGN 
 
 BY 
 
 GARADOG EVANS 
 
 Author of "My People" 
 
 BONI AND LIVERIGHT 
 
 NEW YORK 1918
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I REDEMPTION 8 
 
 II THE WORD . . . . .17 
 
 III THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE . . 31 
 
 IV THREE MEN FROM HOREB . . 49 
 V THE PILLARS OF SIGN . . .61 
 
 VI THE WIDOW'S MITE ... 81 
 
 VII CALVARY 95 
 
 VIII SONS OF THEIR FATHER . . . 109 
 
 IX A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN . . . 119 
 
 X A SACRIFICE UNTO SION . . . 138 
 
 XI THE DELIVERER .... 147 
 
 XII JUDGES 167 
 
 XIII A KEEPER OF THE DOORS . . 179 
 
 XIV THE ACTS OF DAN .... 191 
 
 XV THE COMFORTER 211 
 
 YH
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 B
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 THERE was a young man whose piety was 
 an adage, for his heart was filled with 
 the glory of Sion. His manner was hum- 
 ble ; on the Sabbath his face was habited 
 in a religious smile and his lips framed 
 the words " Big Man " or " White Jesus 
 bach." Once in the Seiet the Ruler 
 of the Pulpit said to him : " Eevan Rhos, 
 man, mouth your experience." He an- 
 swered : " Not saintly enough is my voice 
 to be raised." Of him this was spoken : 
 " He breathes to the Big Man." 
 
 A woman came to labour in his house 
 and on his land. Her name was Hannah 
 Harelip, and she was from the House of 
 the Poor in Castellybryn. She was aspir- 
 
 8 
 
 \
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 ing and covetous, and because Evan would 
 not let her be mistress over all that was 
 his, she oppressed him with the burden of 
 her sin. But the Big Man freed Evan and 
 joined him and Jane Pant in marriage. 
 On a day Evan viewed his possessions 
 and was grieved that his wealth was 
 so small. He said to himself : " Save 
 much would I if I had a reaper and 
 binder, and, dear me, there's a mouth- 
 ful of butter I churn. Glad would I 
 be of a machine separator." At night- 
 fall he came into the house and com- 
 manded his servant Hannah Harelip to 
 put axle grease on his Sabbath boots 
 and on his leggings, and he went to the 
 edge of the pond and cleaned his face. 
 Early on the morrow which was the 
 Saturday of Barley he rode forth on his 
 pony to Cardigan, and before he entered 
 the town he prayed in these words : 
 " Big Man bach, don't you let any old 
 woman cheat me now. Be with your 
 
 4
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 Preacher in Sion. Amen." He stabled 
 his pony and walked hither and thither 
 in search of a wife. 
 
 At dusk he returned and said to Han* 
 nah : " A mishtress is coming to Rhos. 
 What think you ? " 
 
 " Misthir ! Misthir ! " cried Hannah. 
 4 Jokeful you are, now, indeed." 
 
 " Truthful is my saying," Evan an- 
 swered. " Is she not Jane Pant ? Nice 
 little farm is Pant." 
 
 Soon it was noised abroad that Jane 
 Pant was wedding Evan. 
 
 " Rich is Jane's father," said one. 
 
 Another remarked : " And husband 
 ripe. Too religious is poor Eevan to know 
 what to do." 
 
 Now Hannah Harelip was a jealous 
 woman, and she had set her affection 
 to Evan ; and her distress was sore that 
 the man was going to marry a wife. She 
 considered how to ensnare him, and it was 
 so that she caused him to say to her : 
 
 5
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Come you, small wench, and I will 
 fondle you." 
 
 Hannah, who knew a little of the ways 
 of man, ran from Evan as one alarmed, 
 and as she moved her petticoats fell upon 
 the ground, and she pretended to be 
 greatly ashamed. " O mishtir bach," 
 she cried, " here's dishonour. Bare as 
 a bald pate am I." While she bent to 
 settle her garments, Evan seized her, 
 and whispered : " Wench very all right 
 you are." 
 
 " Eevan Rhos," said Hannah, " frisky 
 you feel, man." 
 
 After many days were passed, Hannah 
 spoke to her master : " Well, well mish- 
 tress of Rhos I shall be, for sure." 
 
 Her saying did not please Evan because 
 she was become odious in his eyes. " What 
 iobishness you speech, you bad boar ! 
 Go you about your business in a great 
 haste, you adder." 
 
 But Hannah neither departed nor re- 
 6
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 mained silent : " Have I not served you 
 as a woman ? " 
 
 " Iss, indeed, laboured very well you 
 have on my land. Don't you blobber 
 old things, good maid. Off you, then." 
 
 " Lively are things in me, Mishtir 
 bach. Better now that I sit in your pew 
 in Sion." 
 
 " Go away, female," Evan rebuked 
 Hannah. "An hireling you are. Born you 
 were in sin. Has not the Big Man put a 
 heated poker on your lips ? Dirty smell 
 of a mule, pray for forgiveness for your 
 awful act. High Father, an innocent boy 
 bach was the male of Rhos until I was 
 provoked by Satan's daughter." 
 
 Hannah would not give over pressing 
 Evan to marry her. She said to him : 
 " See you how I am swelling ? " 
 
 " What's the matter with you ? Dis- 
 ease of the swine ? " 
 
 "No, no, man. Know you who made 
 me so and such." 
 
 7
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Hannah Harelip," said Evan, " angry 
 is the Big Man with you. I cannot say 
 less." 
 
 " A lump you are for pleading," replied 
 Hannah. 
 
 Evan's mind was afflicted. He ad- 
 monished his servant in prayer and in 
 her presence. " The strumpet from the 
 House of the Poor accuses me in my face. 
 Four large white shillings a week will 
 she make me pay her. There's a wench 
 for you, Big Man. But don't you now 
 smite her dead with a stroke. Very for- 
 giving am I." To Hannah he said : 
 " Evil female, I was not bad with you." 
 
 " Mishtir, no sense you cry," said 
 Hannah. 
 
 " Close your head," Evan shouted. 
 " You are less than a sour apple." 
 
 Hannah would not suffer the man's 
 denial, and she piled up her courage, and 
 stood up before Evan : " Mishtress of 
 Rhos I shall be. Or large is the money I 
 
 8
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 shall get. In the sessions I'll put you." 
 
 In that manner were Evan's blessings 
 disturbed. Although Hannah was told 
 that it is against God's will for a servant 
 to charge her master, that God does not 
 permit them who sit in the loft of Sion 
 to murmur against them who sit on the 
 floor and in the high places, she refused 
 to be pacified or to give over her de- 
 sign. 
 
 There came an hour at which Evan 
 governed his anger, and spoke kindly 
 to Hannah. He said : " Tidy bit of 
 hay in the narrow field." 
 
 " Iss. Thickish, indeed." 
 
 " Gather her in we will on the third 
 
 day. Want you I do to go on top of the 
 
 rick, and govern her will I on the ground." 
 
 " Very well, Mishtir," Hannah uttered: 
 
 Then Evan softened his voice : " How 
 you was ? " 
 
 " Pains are within," replied Hannah. 
 
 " Thought of this thing have I," Evan 
 9
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 answered. " How speak you of a little 
 wedding ? " 
 
 " Mishtir bach, there's joy you spout. 
 Well, well, now, I shall be Hannah Eevan 
 Rhos." 
 
 Evan proceeded : " Marry will we in the 
 office of the old Registrar in Castell- 
 ybryn as soon as the corn harvest is over. 
 But listen you, now, wench : if persons 
 inquire of you by whom you are big, say 
 you by a boy of a weaver from Drefach. 
 A religious sampler am I in Sion. Do you 
 act then as I say." 
 
 At the gathering in of the hay, one said 
 to Hannah : " Whose buttermilk have 
 you been drinking ? " 
 
 Another asked : " The Schoolin's, or 
 have you eaten brown sugar at Shop 
 Rhys ? Boys very maleish are the 
 boys." 
 
 Hannah laughed without shame, and 
 she answered as Evan had instructed her 
 to answer. 
 
 10
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 As the last of the hay was pitched, 
 Evan placed a ladder in the cart and 
 rested it against the rick. " Come down, 
 now, Hannah Harelip," he said. 
 
 The moment the woman's feet rested 
 on the second rung, the horse that was 
 in the cart stepped forward briskly, where- 
 at Hannah fell upon the ground. Evan 
 turned his face to the women who, scat- 
 tered about the door of Rhos, were eating 
 flummery oatmeal and skimmed milk, and 
 cried loudly : " The wise women among 
 you, come here. My servant Hannah 
 has dropped the child of the weaver 
 boy." 
 
 The women came, and having asked 
 questions of Hannah and examined her, 
 said : " Thanks to the Big Man, the child 
 is all right." 
 
 " Good that is," said Evan. " Sinful 
 to destroy a life. Burning in hell is 
 Pharaoh for his designs upon Moses 
 bach." 
 
 11
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 The hay workers departed, and Evan 
 and Hannah went into the house and at 
 the end of their labour Evan raised his 
 voice : " Not fit that you overwork on 
 the morrow. Sit you down and rest." 
 When the morning was come, and he had 
 been into the fields, he said : " Bad jasto, 
 great is the havoc the crows are making 
 of my wheat." 
 
 " Useless is the scarecrow, then," said 
 Hannah. 
 
 " Iss iss, for sure. Large is the waste 
 already. Shoot them I must. Dear me, 
 now, clean you my little gun. Making 
 a jaunt am I to ask Old lanto of the Road 
 to come and dig open the well." 
 
 Hannah did as she was bidden, and 
 inasmuch as she was not familiar with 
 guns she pressed her hand upon the 
 trigger of it, and the gun fired. She 
 trembled in her fear, and then she shrieked 
 out that she was killed. 
 
 At midday, Evan came back and he 
 12
 
 REDEMPTION 
 
 said to her : " Sad is this. Go will I 
 and bring the women." 
 
 Hannah stayed him : " No no, Eevan 
 bach. Healthy is my inside." 
 
 " Two, hap three crows," Evan wailed, 
 " the powder and shots might slay." 
 
 Old lanto of the Road opened the 
 well which is midway between the gate 
 of the close and the door of Rhos and 
 there was much water in it ; and the 
 first day after the day it was opened a sheep 
 fell therein. Evan lamented : " Big Man 
 bach, why for you hold from me all that 
 is profitable ? Am I not of great regard 
 in Sion ? ' : He covered the mouth of the 
 well with prickly shrubs and the shrubs 
 also he covered with loose earth and stones, 
 and it was so that the mouth of the well 
 was like the ground about. Then he 
 drew two wire fences from the edge of 
 the flagstone which is outside the door 
 to the farther brim of the well, and 
 the width between the fences was the 
 13
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 width of the well. Having done all that, 
 he stood at the end of the fence, and beck- 
 oned his first finger to Hannah, and 
 cried : " Come you here now, wench 
 fach," 
 
 14
 
 THE WORD 
 
 15
 
 II 
 
 THE WORD 
 
 ACCORDING to the Word of Davydd 
 Bern-Davydd, the Respected of Capel 
 Sion, which is in the parish of Troedfawr, 
 in the Shire of Cardigan : 
 
 My text, congregation fach, is in Luke, 
 the seventh chapter and the second after 
 the tenth verse : " Now when He came 
 nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there 
 was a dead man carried out, the only 
 son of his mother, and she was a widow : 
 and much people of the city was with 
 her." The second after the tenth verse 
 in the seventh chapter of Luke, people : 
 " Now when He came nigh to the gate of 
 the city, behold, there was a dead man 
 c 17
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 carried out, the only son of his mother, 
 and she was a widow ; and much people 
 of the city was with her." 
 
 Search deeply into the verse will I. 
 Going about preaching was the White 
 Jesus bach. A student He was at this 
 time, collecting for His College, like the 
 students that come here from College 
 Carmarthen and College Bala. Grand was 
 the sermon He had worded at Caper- 
 naum. There's big the collection was. 
 Then He said : " For sure me, go I 
 will to Capel Moriah in Nain." 
 
 Was not Nain, people bach, a big 
 town ? Things very pretty were in the 
 town. There were Capels in every part, 
 and the largest was Capel Moriah Dis- 
 senters. Moriah had two lofts, and in 
 front of the lower loft there was a clock 
 cuckoo ; and nice the ornaments in the 
 ceiling were now. And there's a splen- 
 did pulpit, higher than even the roof of 
 the heathen old Church. Boys bach, never 
 18
 
 THE WORD 
 
 have you seen such a Book of Words. 
 The cover was of leather ; not hard leather, 
 but soft like Mishtress Bern-Davydd's Sab- 
 bath shoes. And he had clasps of brass, 
 and at the beginning of him was written 
 the names of all the Rulers of Moriah. 
 
 Between the Capel and the road, as 
 we have in Sion, was the burial ground, 
 which from end to end measured more 
 than from Shop Rhys to the tree on 
 which Dennis sinned. The place was so 
 big that you could not see the other 
 side. Larger than ten hayfields. And 
 as full of graves as a lanto's field is of 
 thistles. Very careful you had to be not 
 to walk on the graves. Fuller, indeed, 
 five over twenty times than the burial 
 ground of Capel Horeb in Morfa. 
 
 Natty were the stones over the graves. 
 Come with me, little men, and peep at 
 them we will. Here is one above a Ruler 
 of the Pulpit. Photographs of angels 
 at the end of the stone. And what a 
 19
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 big angel bach on the head. What is he 
 doing ? Sounding he is, indeed to good- 
 ness, the Harp of Gold. What is the name 
 of the hymn the angel bach is toning ? 
 
 Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer, 
 Pilgrim through this barren land; 
 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand ; 
 Bread of Heaven, 
 
 Feed me oiow and evermore. 
 
 What is the Ruler's name, say you ? 
 A surprise. Read you on the stone again. 
 " Here sleeps Solomon, who reigned over 
 Israel for twice twenty years." 
 
 Dear me, here is a nice stone and costly. 
 This is over the perished body surely of a 
 nobleman. Who was he ? Hap he had 
 a shop draper or a walk milk. Great he 
 was in the Big Seat. " He died in the 
 Big Man's arms," is the writing. O per- 
 sons, shall that much be said of you ? 
 When you hear the trumpet noising over 
 your grave, will you say : "I am ready, 
 White Jesus bach ? " Shall that be said 
 20
 
 THE WORD 
 
 of you, Dai Lanlas, after the report that 
 Eynon Daviss made about you ? A dirty 
 black you was, man, to jeer at Capel 
 Si on. 
 
 Come, let us leave fulbert Lanlas and 
 read the stones and heed the flowers glass 
 on the mounds. There is the Mishtress 
 Simeon : " Be this her Memorial." Here 
 is the grave of the religious little widow 
 who gave her mite. " Let this be counted 
 unto her for righteousness." A grand 
 sampler was the widow. She gave her 
 mite. Nanss Penfordd, one yellow sove- 
 reign and half a crown you gave last 
 year to Sion, though you get a large 
 pension. Isaac Brongest, man, increase 
 your sacrifice, or complain to the Big 
 Preacher I must. 
 
 What is this ? An open grave. What 
 are the names on the stone at the side ? 
 " Abram Shop Grocer, Nain." Was 
 Abram religious ? Great was the 
 wealth he left his widow Esther. Ask 
 21
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 askings we shall of the old gravedigger. 
 There he is a tallish man and hairless 
 and his trousers are loosened because 
 of the heat of the sun. Occupation very 
 good is making graves. Digging the 
 houses which shelter us between here 
 and the Palace. Very happy are affairs 
 in the grave, people. 
 
 " Fair day, little man, how you was 
 then ? " 
 
 " Good am I, strangers ; and fair day 
 to you. Where shall I say you hail 
 from ? " 
 
 " Boys bach from Capel Sion," we say. 
 " Proud is the graveyard." 
 
 The gravedigger rests his chin on the 
 end of the rod of his pickaxe and wipes 
 the tobacco spittle from his chin. " Iss, 
 man, when this coffin is covered, there 
 will be no more room. Has not the 
 Capel taken the spacious field of Eben 
 son of Joseph ? Elegant will be the 
 to-do at the first opening." 
 22
 
 THE WORD 
 
 " The hole is not very large," we say. 
 " Be he for a maid now ? " 
 
 " No no, male. Though he is narrow, 
 he is not for a maid." 
 
 " As you speak. Mouth who is per- 
 ished." * 
 
 " A young youth," the old gravedigger 
 says. " The son of Esther the widow of 
 Abram Shop Grocer." 
 
 u Don't say. When is the funeral, male 
 bach ? " 
 
 " This day, boys Capel Sion. An hour 
 after the dinner." 
 
 The gravedigger takes out his old watch. 
 " One o'clock. Saint Shames will be pray- 
 ing in the house now. Tearful are 
 Shames's prayers. And Luke will speak 
 also." 
 
 " Who is Shames and Luke ? " 
 
 Astonished is the gravedigger. " Dul- 
 lish you are. Is not Shames the Ruler 
 of Capel Moriah in Jerusalem ? And Luke 
 bach the Ruler of Capel Antioch ? Tune- 
 23
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 ful and short and sweet preacher is Luke 
 bach the Singer. Do you tarry here to 
 listen to his sermon over the coffin in the 
 Capel. Treat you will have." 
 
 He goes down into the hole and makes 
 the walls straight. Listen, blockheads. 
 Is he not singing one of Hawen's hymns ? 
 Hymner very religious is Hawen. Now 
 he comes up and examines his watch. 
 " Late is the funeral," he says. He stands 
 on the hedge, but he sees no men and 
 women walking and letting tears in their 
 Sabbath clothes. He cries to Daniel bach 
 Lions who is the Keeper of the House of 
 the Capel : " Slow is the carcase in coming, 
 Daniel, now." Daniel answers: "Iss, 
 indeed, sent Abed have I to seek reasons." 
 
 The afternoon grows and no funeral. 
 The day dims. We will stay on, com- 
 panions, for are we not to hear Luke bach 
 the Singer saying a sermon ? Iss, then, 
 we will stop. 
 
 So we tarry, and ask more questions 
 24
 
 THE WORD 
 
 of the gravedigger. " Was this a pro- 
 mising young youth the son of Esther 
 the Widow of Abram Shop Grocer ? " 
 
 " Indeed, iss. Home he was from Col- 
 lege Jerusalem. Did he not drive out 
 the Bad Man from the body of a servant 
 woman who had spoken ill of a teacher 
 in the College ? Learned he was in the 
 School of Sunday. What is the matter 
 for the funeral not to come ? Dear me, 
 don't say that Esther the Widow of Abram 
 has perished and will be put in the grave 
 with her son ! Maybe Shames has the 
 spirit on him. Shames prays sometimes 
 for a week without a stop." 
 
 Go we will to meet the funeral. But 
 here is Abed bach coming on the Tramp- 
 ing road. His belly shivers like the 
 belly of Rhys Shop when he was found 
 sinning with Anna in the storehouse, and 
 his thick lips are gaped like the lips 
 of the Schoolin when he desires Ellen 
 Felin. 
 
 25
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Boys, boys," he cries. " Are you 
 waiting to see the funeral ? " 
 
 " Iss iss, man," we answer. 
 
 " Then there is no funeral to be," he 
 says. " The son of Esther is not dead." 
 
 Well well ? " we ask. 
 
 44 He is risen." 
 
 " Don't murmur idly," says the grave- 
 digger. 
 
 " Truth sure this is," replies Abed. 
 " Esau and Jacob and Matthew and Job 
 were carrying the coffin from the house 
 into the hearse when the Big Jesus 
 passed. He said to Esther : ' Why for 
 you weep ? ' And Esther told Him how 
 Abram was in the Palace of White Shirts 
 and now that her son was gone also there 
 was none to care after the Shop Grocer. 
 The White Jesus bach called up to him 
 Samuel Carpenter and commanded him 
 to unscrew the coffin. The young youth 
 was alive." 
 
 " Goodness all," says the old boy of a 
 26
 
 THE WORD 
 
 gravedigger. " Will He stay long in the 
 land ? " 
 
 O males Capel Sion, much was the 
 noise in Nain that day. Samuel took 
 away the coffin and the screws. Shames 
 did not pray. Luke bach the short and 
 sweet Singer put his funeral sermon in the 
 backhead pocket of his preacher's coat. 
 
 While the young youth was preparing 
 to go into the Shop, Esther his mother 
 said to him : " Boy bach, do you remem- 
 ber perishing ? " 
 
 He answered : " No." 
 
 " Do you remember Sam Carpenter 
 measuring you for a coffin ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Do you remember the White Shirt ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "' Did you hear Jesus speaking to 
 you ? " 
 
 " Iss, iss. I heard Him in Eternity." 
 
 Glad was Esther the widow woman. 
 
 Don't you hasten away, people," she 
 27
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 said. " Stay you, and I will brew tea 
 and make pancakes." 
 
 And do you know, O creatures, no night 
 followed that day in Nain. Men and 
 women went about and abroad, saying 
 one to another of this miracle which had 
 taken place in the house of Esther Shop 
 Grocer. For the Big Man had raised His 
 voice to the Chief Angel : " Put another 
 wick in the sun." 
 
 28
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 29
 
 Ill 
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 WATKIN PENSARN died, and his children 
 were : Ben, Dennis, Mari. Ben inherited 
 Pensarn and also the Field of the Tree 
 which is on the edge of the moor and 
 the mud-walled cottage therein. Mari did 
 not receive anything, because of her whor- 
 ish ways : she had had seven children by 
 seven men. But Ben showed kindness 
 unto her : he made her a servant on his 
 land and he let her abide in the cottage which 
 is in the Field of the Tree. 
 
 Dennis dwelt in Glasgoed, which is in 
 
 the valley. He did not inherit anything. 
 
 In the safety of his thirty-eight acres of 
 
 land, a living house and outhouses, and one 
 
 31
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 hundred and ten sovereigns, he offended 
 against Sion. So the Big Man was an- 
 gered and caused him to be persecuted 
 and to commit the sin whose awfulness 
 is above all other sins. The period of 
 his infliction began when he rented the 
 Field of the Tree from Ben and repaired 
 the hedge around it and strewed manure 
 on the floor of it, saying : "A hay field 
 will I make of the place bach." Before 
 long he beheld that a narrow path was 
 trodden down between the gate and Mari's 
 house. His mind became stormy, and 
 he shouted : " Mari, now, indeed, where 
 you was ? Why for you mess my hay ? " 
 
 Mari moved to him. 
 
 " Blasted you are, bad wench, in my 
 small eyes," Dennis cried. " Full of frogs 
 is your carrion." 
 
 " This one moment, Dennis bach, windy 
 you are," Mari replied. " Say you why 
 to me." 
 
 " What you walk upon my grass ? 
 32
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 See you that you spoil my hay ! A nasty 
 lizard, dear me, you was." 
 
 " Vexed is your head," Mari answered. 
 " Do you, Dennis Glasgoed, show me how 
 to reach the road." 
 
 Having abused his sister with these 
 words : " Speech like an old crow you 
 do," Dennis lifted the gate and the gate 
 posts from the gap which was in the 
 hedge and thereon he raised a wall of 
 earth and stones, and into this new 
 wall he cunningly contrived broken glass. 
 Mari climbed over the hedge at another 
 place and soon she made a deep opening 
 in it. One night a cow came into the 
 field and feasted. Dennis wept when 
 he viewed the havoc the animal had made 
 and spoke harshly to Mari ; and as he 
 spoke his rage was increased that there 
 was another path between the house and 
 the spring which yields fresh water. 
 
 " Sober serious," said Mari, " what does 
 the man bach want ? Weary am I of life. 
 D 33
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Do I not wish I was a hundred years ago ? " 
 
 " Walk you away from here," Dennis an- 
 swered. ' ' Destroyer very terrible you are . ' ' 
 
 Dennis measured the length and breadth 
 of the pathways and he thought out the 
 bulk of hay he had lost, and the bulk 
 was as much as two persons can pitch 
 twice from field into cart. That know- 
 ledge pained him, and he went up to Ben : 
 " Jasto, now, cheated me you have over 
 the old field." 
 
 " Boy bach Glasgoed," said Ben. 
 " Mouth you like that, for sure. Open 
 wider the back of your head." 
 
 " The house in the field you give to 
 Mari. There's a serpent is the shipsy." 
 
 " Is not the Big Man's curse on Mari, 
 Dennis ? Does He not torment her breast 
 with an ulcer ? " 
 
 " No care have I for that," cried Dennis. 
 " Messed my hay bach she has; Nice 
 grass there was in the paths." 
 
 " Well, you don't mean." 
 34
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 " Look you, iss iss. But loutish you 
 are. Shake yourself in my favour." 
 
 " Come you into the parlour bach," said 
 Ben, " and I will hold forth." Therein 
 Ben spat upon the floor and knelt. This is 
 what he told God : "A black of a donkey 
 was Cain. Brothers we all are, little Big 
 Man. Dennis Glasgoed is here. Solemn 
 is the thing that has happened to his hay. 
 Be with your son in Sion. Amen." Be- 
 fore he arose he opened his eyes and he 
 placed a finger and a thumb above his 
 hairy nostrils and blew the residue there- 
 from upon the floor. Presently he charged 
 the cast of his face with grief ; and he spoke : 
 " Certain, Dennis Glasgoed. Cheapish is 
 the little field." 
 
 Dennis understood : "A cunning her- 
 ring you are." 
 
 " Speak you do like that. Well well." 
 
 " Well well ? " 
 
 " Pay you me one sovereign and a half 
 a sovereign every year and Mari's house 
 you shall have," said Ben. 
 35
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 44 Big Father, no no ! Poor am I." 
 
 44 Losing very great am I to give you 
 the house. But are you not my brother ? " 
 
 44 Half a yellow sovereign, Ben bach 
 nice. Not worth killing is the hay. Cart 
 a load of coals I will, too." 
 
 44 No, man. Farewell, now." 
 
 Dennis rented Mari's house for fifteen 
 shillings and a load of fairly turned dung, 
 wherefore he devised a lying scheme ; he 
 said to Mari : 44 Stir off. Savage is the 
 bull that I put in your house." 
 
 44 Stir will I," replied Mari, 44 the minute 
 I hear the noise of his coming." 
 
 When Dennis was returned to Glasgoed 
 his wife Madlen was perturbed and in 
 much fear. 44 Horrible is this. Guiltless 
 am I." 
 
 
 
 44 What is the matter with the strollop ? 
 Be you hasty," said Dennis. 
 
 44 Perished is the ass fach." 
 
 Dennis did not chasten his wife. 
 " Where is the carcase ? " 
 36
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 " Sure me," Madlen answered, " boiling 
 is the head for the pigs." 
 
 *' Fool of a squirrel ! Do you that, for 
 why ? Talk where the ass is." 
 
 " In the milk house is the body bach, 
 covered with my petticoat." 
 
 Dennis put the ass in a sack which had 
 held white flour and which was whitened 
 therewith, and the next night he took the ass 
 and also a pickaxe and a shovel to the Field 
 of the Tree. He dug a hole in the ground 
 and when he reached the water which 
 flows into the spring, he hung the sack 
 on the Tree and put the ass in the hole. 
 As he was coming away, he said to him- 
 self : " Turks are persons, and robbers. 
 Ben will take from me all that I have. 
 Mari pilfers two pitches of my hay." 
 
 He walked down straightway into the 
 Tramping road, and on all sides and 
 around him he heard noises ; he lifted 
 his eyes and saw birds passing between 
 him and the moon. He crawled over 
 87
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 the last hedge into the road, and his 
 gaze fell upon a shadow moving on 
 the face of it. He was terrified, and he 
 cried : " Jesus nice, boy bach going to 
 Capel is here. Grand is your son in Sion. 
 Amen." Dennis hasted onward and he 
 remembered that he had left his sack on the 
 Tree, and when he came back with the sack, 
 the shadow was no longer on the road. 
 Then he weighed that which he had seen 
 and heard, and he imagined that the 
 flying creatures were his enemies in the 
 dress of birds, that the shadow was the 
 Ruler of Sion ; that the birds and the 
 Ruler were scheming to take from him all 
 that he had. In the darkness of Glasgoed he 
 lit a tallow candle and counted his sovereigns 
 and separated them evenly into four lots. 
 He discovered Madlen's legs and removed 
 therefrom the woman's stockings, and he also 
 drew off his own stockings, and in each 
 stocking he placed his money as he had 
 divided it. Before he set out to bury his 
 88
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 gold in four different parts, he cut his 
 beard close to his skin, so that none of his 
 enemies should know him. At dawn he 
 brought forth his money and hid it in 
 fresh quarters ; and throughout that day 
 he numbered and renumbered his cattle 
 and his pigs and his hens, and he thought 
 out the value of his crops. That night he 
 would not go up to his bed. He cried 
 to Madlen : " Where you was ? " 
 
 " Hearing you am I, Dennis bach the 
 husband," Madlen said. " Rest you, in- 
 deed." 
 
 " Listen to my tongue." 
 
 " Speak, then, boy bach." 
 
 " Have the nice pigs eaten their fill ? " 
 
 " Iss iss." 
 
 " Hungry are their sad grunts. Take 
 food to them, you concubine." 
 
 Madlen put barley meal into a bucket- 
 full of skimmed milk and gave the pigs 
 to eat. 
 
 ' Wasteful you are, old female," said 
 39
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Dennis. " Bulging with potatoes is your 
 stomach." 
 
 " Only three, man bach, and a little 
 buttermilk. Empty was my belly." 
 
 " Not a yellow sovereign shall I have," 
 Dennis moaned. " A wanton bitch you 
 
 are." 
 
 " Dennis bach, don't say ! " 
 
 " Speak I so, iss-iss. Thin are the 
 creatures, and you eat rare potatoes 
 and buttermilk." 
 
 Dennis opened the door of the lower 
 end of his house and disturbed his hens 
 which were roosting on the rafters. " Is 
 not the cheatful Rachel Hens coming 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Don't you let your small guts worry 
 you," said Madlen. " Fat enough are the 
 hens." 
 
 " Clap your mouth. Thin are the hens. 
 Starving. Are not their bones like the 
 blade of a scythe ? " 
 
 Madlen stepped up to her bed. Dennis 
 40
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 stayed at the door, and peered through 
 the latch-hole. He wailed in this fashion : 
 " Two pitches of hay do I lose because 
 of the dirty Mari." 
 
 " Stiff is the head of the madam," 
 Madlen said. " Herd her away with a rod. 
 Put a pitchfork into her eyes." 
 
 "Hist!" Dennis cried. "They are 
 after my yellow sovereigns ! " He stood 
 on the threshold and spoke : " Well, boys 
 bach, what for you are here ? Red money 
 have I. No white silver. Religious boys 
 bach you are. Iss-iss. Fair night, per- 
 sons Capel Sion. Take you Madlen if her 
 you desire. Do with her in the cowhouse. 
 Madlen, go now with the boys. No yellow 
 sovereigns, indeed to goodness, have I. 
 Did not my ass perish ? . . . Madlen, a 
 bitch you are. Tell them you did of the 
 holes of my gold." 
 
 " Safe is your large gold, Dennis bach," 
 Madlen replied. 
 
 " Told the boys you did. Robbed me 
 you have." 
 
 41
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Where have I robbed you ? " 
 
 " Iss-iss. Spout the places of my yel- 
 low money ? In the potato field ? " 
 
 " No, Dennis, now " 
 
 " In the rick ? Bad if my rick fires 
 this night." 
 
 " Look you, sleep." 
 
 " Where have you hidden my gold ? 
 Half one hundred sovereigns you have 
 pilfered from me. All my sovereigns bach 
 are gone. And their number was above 
 the number of stones in the burial ground." 
 
 Madlen shuddered: "Wait small minutes." 
 
 Dennis seized Madlen's body and he 
 held it as one holds a battering ram 
 and he beat the head against the wall, 
 saying : " Yellow sovereigns you have 
 thieved. And red pennies. And white 
 silver. My creatures' food is in your 
 belly. An old thief you are. Two pitches 
 of hay Mari spoiled. Two big pitches of 
 my hay bach. Sorrowful is this. All 
 are in array against me." 
 42
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 He took a sheet from the bed and walked 
 to the Field of the Tree, and he threw dry 
 earth at Marl's window. 
 
 Mari answered : " Boy bach come to 
 court ? " 
 
 Dennis moved to a place where Mari 
 could not see him, for the moon was full, 
 and he falsified his voice : " Iss, now. 
 Then, wench nice, come to the door." 
 
 Mari arrived at the door and this is 
 what she saw : a figure covered in a white 
 sheet. She howled loudly and her mind 
 became disordered. 
 
 In the evening of the day the young 
 men and the young women coming home 
 from the Seiet saw a shadow on the face 
 of the Tramping road, and howsoever hard 
 they searched no one could find a cause for 
 it. They were disquieted. One cried at 
 the top of his voice : "A sign from the 
 White Jesus bach ! " and he sent three 
 others to gather the most religious men 
 in Sion to witness this thing. The 
 43
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 religious men came and took counsel of 
 one another, and the Respected Bern- 
 Davydd said : " Blockheads you are, for 
 sure. Find out we will what makes the 
 old shadow." 
 
 So the people walked hither and thither 
 and in the fulness of time they came to 
 the Field of the Tree, and from the tree 
 hanged the body of Dennis Glasgoed. 
 It was covered in a sheet and the wind 
 swayed from side to side. 
 
 " Dennis, indeed, what for you do 
 this ? " said Ben Pensarn. " The Fiery 
 Pool is the cost of your sin." 
 
 Davydd Bern-Davydd spoke : " Like 
 hogs do the wicked perish. Don't you 
 touch the crow, Ben Pensarn. Your flesh 
 is too saintly." 
 
 Dennis hanged on the tree till the even- 
 ing of the next day ; as soon as the sun 
 was down Ben called up to him two men, 
 and he gave them a saw which had two 
 handles, and he commanded them : " Go 
 44
 
 THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 
 
 you up and kill branch of the tree from 
 which my sinful brother Dennis is hanging. 
 Take you the rope fach from his neck and 
 bring him whole to me. And carry a lantern 
 with you, because tight is the knot that 
 chokes a man. Be you careful you do not 
 walk overmuch on the hay." 
 
 The men felled the tree and took away 
 the rope from Dennis's neck, and they 
 carried the body on a wheelbarrow to 
 Glasgoed and rested it on the floor by the 
 body of Madlen. 
 
 At the return of day Ben Pensarn har- 
 nessed a horse into a cart, in the head of 
 which he put Dennis's hens and in the back 
 of which he put Dennis's pigs, and he drove 
 to Castellybryn and sold the hens and the 
 pigs. Thereafter he took possession of 
 all that was Dennis's except the gold 
 which remains hidden saying : " My bro- 
 ther's keeper am I."
 
 THREE MEN FROM HOREB 
 
 47
 
 IV 
 
 THREE MEN FROM HOREB 
 
 WHILE Enoch the Teller of Things was 
 shearing the ends of his beard for the 
 Sabbath, word came to him that his son 
 Ella, who dwelt in Morfa, was dead. On 
 the morrow he bowed his head in Sion 
 until the time came for him to say the 
 orderings of the service, and when he 
 had said all that was to be said, 
 he expressed his grief : " Flown over 
 Jordan in a White Shirt is Ella bach. 
 Bad was his illness. Nasty is old decline. 
 Come you all to his large funeral at Capel 
 
 Horeb " 
 
 The Respected Bern-Davydd put out 
 his right arm. " Indeed now, Enoch," 
 E 49
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 he said, " wait a bit, man. Why for you 
 say Horeb ? In Capel Sion must Ella be 
 buried. Horeb, ach y fi." 
 
 " Iss ; gate-post is your head, Enoch," 
 cried Amos Penparc. " Have you no 
 pride in the Glory of Sion ? More graves 
 there are in Sion than turnips in two 
 
 rows." 
 
 " Go you, then," commanded Bern- 
 Da vydd, " and bring the perished corpse 
 to Sion. Bring him before he stinks. 
 In this way says the Big Man, little ani- 
 mals : ' Give to the Capel what belongs 
 to the Capel, and there shall be laughing 
 in the Palace, Bern bach.' ' 
 
 Old Enoch borrowed a hay wagon, the 
 inside of which he furnished with two 
 patchwork quilts and a pillow, and the 
 outside of which with black cloths and 
 strips of black crepe. To Mati, Ella's 
 wife, he said : " You hog, give you me 
 the corpse of my son bach." 
 
 Mati answered him : " Lived have I 
 50
 
 THREE MEN FROM HOREB 
 
 here all my days. My children were 
 born here and they converse with the Big 
 Man in Horeb. In Horeb Ella shall be 
 put into the pit." 
 
 Enoch did not heed the words of Mati 
 his daughter-in-law : he went into the 
 parlour and took the body of Ella and 
 put it in his wagon and he covered it 
 with a patchwork quilt ; and on the flat 
 road, which brings you back to Sion, he 
 sat on the shaft, his short bandy legs 
 dangling loosely. He wept in the face of 
 passers-by until his eyes were sore : " Man 
 that is perished is in the cart, people bach. 
 He is my son Ella. Wet will be the tears at 
 his funeral. There's a prayer he was ! And 
 a big friend of the Little Jesus bach." 
 He also sang : "In the big floods and 
 swells there is none to hold my head, but 
 my beloved husband Jesus, who died upon 
 the Wood." 
 
 He brightened the boots which were 
 on Ella's feet and he shaved Ella's face ; 
 51
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 and he laid the body on a table and put 
 an open Bible on its belly ; and at the 
 side of it he placed an empty coffin, the 
 lid of which was ornamented with gold 
 handles and the plate of which was en- 
 graved with Ella's name and age which 
 was forty-seven years and a good account. 
 
 On the Wailing Night old Enoch stayed 
 by his son, howbeit one asked him 
 to sup of buttermilk or tea or to eat of 
 white bread and butter or bread and 
 cheese. As the praying men and singing 
 men and women were mourning Ella in 
 prayers and hymns, Shon Daviss a high 
 man in Capel Horeb opened the door 
 and on the threshold he cried solemnly : 
 " Here's horror. Big Man is looking down 
 and weeping. Male of Horeb was Ella. 
 Awful is the cost you will have to pay for 
 this sin." 
 
 14 Speech you do like a billhook," said 
 Bern-Davydd. 
 
 " No, man," replied Shon Daviss ; 
 52
 
 THREE MEN FROM HOREB 
 
 *' serious for sure. Come have I to talk 
 that the boy bach be buried in Horeb." 
 
 The words angered the congregation. 
 They said : " Scarce are the graves in 
 the new burying land. Respected Bern- 
 Davydd, speak spiteful phrases to the old 
 cat fach." 
 
 Bern-Davydd turned his face upon Shon 
 Daviss, rebuking him : " Boy of the Bad 
 Man, be you in a hurry to go in a haste. 
 Jasto now, give him a kick somebody in 
 the backhead." 
 
 " Robber of Sion, away, indeed " some 
 of the congregation shouted. " Or much 
 damage we shall do to you." 
 
 The man from Horeb ran away from 
 the house ; and the next day Old Enoch 
 prepared Ella for burial : he stripped him 
 of his clothes and put on him a White Shirt 
 of the Dead. The material of the gar- 
 ment was flannel made by Ellen Weaver's 
 Widow, and it was marred by neither 
 spot nor blemish. The flannel at the 
 53
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 wrists of the garment had been decorated 
 by an embroiderer, and the hem of the 
 skirt had upon it fluffed sheep's wool. 
 Having ended, old Enoch lifted his hairy 
 cheek to God, and opened his lips : " Big 
 Man bach, religious am I. Shall I button 
 the White Shirt ? " He waited and God 
 spoke to him privately. " All right, as 
 you speak, Big Man ; quickly Ella will 
 become naked when he hears the trumpet. 
 Quicker than any one in Sion." 
 
 A sinful thing happened : while Ella's 
 coffin rested on ropes at the edge of the 
 grave three men from Horeb arrived with- 
 out the gates of Sion, and the leading man, 
 who was Shon Daviss Shop Boots, 
 shouted : " Ho-ho, sinners Capel Sion, 
 Ella must sleep in Horeb. Come we have 
 for the perished corpse." 
 
 In their confusion the people men and 
 
 women and small children who were 
 
 come to weep and mourn, fell apart 
 
 into a lane, wherewith the three men 
 
 54
 
 THREE MEN FROM HOREB 
 
 passed thereupon to the place where the 
 coffin was. 
 
 Bern - Davydd's rage kindled. He 
 screamed : " The son of Enoch shall come 
 up from Sion ! Foxes of strumpets you 
 are, boys Horeb." 
 
 " Ho-ho ! " cried Shon Daviss. " Ask- 
 ings we have put to our Respected, and 
 great is his understanding. Divide you, 
 people, and the coffin bach we will take 
 with us." 
 
 " Hares of Horeb," said Bern-Da vydd, 
 " take off your hands. Stoutish shall the 
 Glory of Sion grow." 
 
 " Stealing from Horeb you are a perished 
 corpse," answered Shon Daviss. " We 
 shall take him away. Come, boys bach, 
 let us put him in the cart. Religious was 
 Ella ; shall he be buried among calves ? " 
 
 " Away, turks of mackerel," Old Enoch 
 cried. " Borrowed a gambo I did to bring 
 Ella to Capel Sion." 
 
 The three men from Horeb lifted the 
 55
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 coffin ; and as they were doing so, Enoch 
 struck Shon Daviss with the gravedigger's 
 pickaxe. The coffin dropped upon the 
 ground and the lid of it came asunder. 
 Shon's temper heightened. " Fiery Pool ! " 
 he cursed. " Knock you will I this one 
 small minute." 
 
 Old Enoch shivered because of the 
 blow delivered upon his forehead by Shon 
 Daviss ; and he fell into the grave. 
 
 There was much disorder, during 
 which the three men from Horeb raised 
 the body of Ella out of its coffin and ran 
 away with it and put it on the straw that 
 was on the floor of the cart ; and one 
 of them said to the mare between the 
 shafts : " Gee-gee, go on." 
 
 The people of Sion, awakened to the 
 value of this that was done against their 
 burial ground, chased the men from Horeb, 
 and as they could not overtake them, 
 they climbed over hedges and went 
 across the fields. Tn that manner the men 
 56
 
 THREE MEN FROM HOREB 
 
 of Sion came upon the men of Horeb and 
 stopped them ; and the battle went hard 
 against Horeb. 
 
 The body of Ella was brought back to 
 Sion in the dim light, and the gravedigger, 
 after Bern-Davydd had prayed that the Big 
 Man would regard mercifully the blemishes 
 on Ella's White Shirt, put a ladder down 
 into the grave, saying : " Come you up, 
 now, Enoch bach."
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 59
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 SILAH PENLON was a doltish virgin. 
 People who were bound to Capel Sion 
 said to her mother : 
 
 " Large is the Big Man's curse upon 
 you, Becws Penlon." 
 
 " What for you speak wild, people bach? " 
 answered Becws. " Wench fach very 
 tidy is the wench fach." 
 
 The people rated her in a high voice. 
 They said : " Not pious is your brawl. 
 There's vile is the backhead of your 
 mouth for you to talk like that." 
 
 " Can I say, ' Be you familiar indeed, 
 then, Silah fach ' ? " Becws returned: 
 
 " What is the matter with the old 
 61
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 woman ? Tell me you ! " cried the people. 
 " Full of sin was your old belly when 
 you bore the wench. Explain, dear me, 
 to us, Becws fach, the name of your sin 
 and say longish prayers for you we will." 
 
 Becws's spirit lowered : she was appre- 
 hensive that she would trespass unwit- 
 tingly, and that the men who sat in the 
 Big Seat in Capel Sion would inform 
 against her to God. So she fashioned 
 this prayer, which she spoke from time 
 to time : 
 
 " Big Man bach, an old disorder you put 
 on Silah. Do you lift him now from her. 
 Wench fach very tidy is the wench fach 
 also. Is she not a bulky age ? Was 
 she not born when the Respected Davydd 
 Bern-Davydd came to Sion, thirty and 
 five years ago ? Stay with your son 
 nice in the Capel and with all the boys 
 bach of the Big Seat. Amen." 
 
 God withheld His ear from Becws, and 
 He fixed a further affliction to her daugh- 
 62
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 ter : He made Silah's mind stubborn and 
 the virgin behaved as one who is dumb ; 
 and she would not entreat the Man of 
 Terror to abate His anger against her. 
 Becws was in fear and dread, and she 
 bared her arm and stripped Silah and 
 beat her ; and the dirty spirits were 
 strong within Silah, and though she wept 
 she did not make any sound. Becws 
 thought out another prayer, for her heart 
 yearned for Silah : " Speech Him advice 
 to Becws fach Penlon, Big God. Solemn 
 serious, act I will as He orders. Be near 
 to His Son in Sion, and remain with the 
 religious men of the High Places. Amen." 
 In the night she dreamt that her goat 
 had got dry without reason, and after 
 she had punished her with the handle of 
 a spade, a scarlet crow flew forth from 
 out of the animal's mouth. Becws inter- 
 preted the dream thus : the goat was 
 Silah, and the scarlet crow was the Bad 
 Man from the Fiery Pool, and the 
 63
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 handle of the spade was Bern-Da vydd. 
 Wherefore on the Sabbath she took out 
 her funeral garments and put them on 
 Silah, whom she brought her into Sion; 
 and mother and daughter sat among the 
 hired people in the loft. 
 
 The rage of the congregation was 
 high when they comprehended the mean- 
 ing of this abomination. 
 
 " Ach y fi ! " said one. " A sick old 
 mouse is Becws." 
 
 " Out of her head is the female," said 
 another. " Silah was conceived in brim- 
 stone. The dolt's hair is the colour of 
 flames." 
 
 The praying men said : " Not right 
 is this, people bach, dear me. Come, 
 now, then, the most religious of us off 
 will go and make phrases to the Res- 
 pected." 
 
 They went into the House of the Capel, 
 and the chief of them was Amos Penparc, 
 whose riches were above any other man 
 
 64
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 on the floor of Sion, and whose piety 
 was established. Amos stood on the 
 threshold, and the lesser praying men 
 stayed on the flagstone, which is with- 
 out the door. 
 
 "Hello, here!" said Amos. "Not 
 wishful, religious Respected, are we to 
 disturb his food eating, but there's grave 
 are the words in my head." 
 
 Bern-Davydd answered : " Come you, 
 boys bach Capel Sion, the son of the 
 Jesus bach will always hearken to you." 
 
 " Well well, then," said Amos Penparc. 
 " What he does not know that Silah the 
 mad bitch sat in Sion this day ? " 
 
 " Indeed to goodness, Amos bach ! 
 Speak you like that, I shouldn't be sur- 
 prised," replied Bern-Davydd. 
 
 " And did I not observe the female 
 Becws praying her own prayer while he 
 was mouthing to the Great One ? " said 
 Amos. 
 
 " Don't speak any more, Amos Penparc," 
 F 65
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 said Bern-Davy dd. " Retch my old food 
 I will. Read you the Speech Book for a 
 small time bach." 
 
 Bern-Da vydd finished his eating, and he 
 lifted his voice : " Don't say 1 " 
 
 " Iss, iss, Respected." 
 
 " Can a carrot turn colour ? " 
 
 The praying men were amazed. 
 
 Amos Penparc said : "Is not Silah 
 counted an offender in the Palace of 
 White Shirts ? " 
 
 " Smell is Silah in the Big Man's nose," 
 said Bern-Davydd. 
 
 " Iss, little Respected," said Amos. 
 " Fall upon us He will. He will smoulder 
 our little ricks of hay. Speak him then 
 what shall our cattle eat." 
 
 At the close of the day Bern-Davydd, 
 in the presence of all the congregation, 
 addressed the men of the Big Seat : " Now, 
 then, boys Capel Sion, make proof about 
 Silah the daughter of Becws, Amos Pen- 
 parc, start, man bach." 
 66
 
 THE PILLARS OF SION 
 
 " Well, now, indeed, no," said Amos. 
 " Right that the Religious of the Pulpit 
 says sayings." 
 
 " Much liking has the Big Man for you 
 Amos," said Bern-Davydd. 
 
 Amos rose and turned his bland coun- 
 tenance and unclouded eyes upon the 
 assembly, and fastening his coat over 
 his beard, he spoke : " Important in my 
 pride is Sion. In Sion the Big Man's son 
 dwells." Then sang Amos Penparc : 
 " Lord bach, lessen your fury and de- 
 part not from us. Has not the Respected 
 made us very religious ? Is not the Capel 
 like a well-stocked farm ? The seating 
 places are as full as the stables of the 
 Drovers* Arms on an old fair day. And 
 there's rising will be from the burial 
 ground when Gabriel bach blows his gold 
 trumpet : there will come up more people 
 than I have sheep on the moor. Good is 
 the Big Male to his photographs." Amos 
 ceased his song. " But, people bach* sin- 
 67
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 ful was Becws to bring her mad harlot 
 into Sion. Lots of talk nasty there will 
 be. Can corn grow from the seed of 
 wasteful old thistles ? Are mad bitches a 
 glory unto Sion ? How says the Re- 
 spected : ' Bad old smell in the Big Man's 
 nose is Silah ' ? The Temple must be 
 cleansed, indeed, now." 
 
 " Wholesome, male man of Penparc, 
 are your words," said the Respected Bern- 
 Davydd. " Close my eyes I will now 
 and say affairs to the Big Man : Jesus 
 bach, wise you are to be with Amos Penparc. 
 Full of wisdom is Amos, and his under- 
 standing is higher than the door of Sion, 
 deeper than the whiskers under his waist- 
 coat. Four pillars hold up the loft of Capel 
 Sion, and not one is as strong as Amos. Lias 
 Carpenter can hew the pillars with his saw, 
 but who can hew through Amos ? Speak 
 now to us about cleaning the Temple. 
 Mad is Silah, and did not Becws her 
 mother bring her into Sion ? Disgrace 
 68
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 very bad is this. Lewd was the wench's 
 behaviour, Jesus. Busy am I thinking 
 out sermons, so you come down and 
 tell orderings to Amos Penparc. Amen." 
 
 Bern-Davydd's praise of Amos Penparc 
 was spread abroad, whereof Becws got 
 ashamed of that which she had done. 
 
 " Why you are without sense, idiot ? " 
 she said to Silah. 
 
 Silah did not answer. 
 
 " The concubine fach ! " said Becws. 
 " A full barrow of sin is in your inside. 
 Open your neck, you bull calf. Have you 
 not made me wicked in the sight of Sion ? J! 
 
 Becws was angry that her daughter 
 was speechless and she did not give her 
 food for two days, and as Silah was yet 
 stubborn she placed her in the pigsty and 
 tied her hands together behind her back 
 so that she could not open the door, and 
 she said to her : " Stay here, you scarlet 
 crow ; eat from the trough and lie with 
 the swine." 
 
 69
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Silah licked from the trough, and lay 
 with the pigs. The people had tidings 
 of her punishment. Some came and 
 hid in secret places about Penlon, and 
 they came away and bore witness 
 how that they had heard her babbling 
 in this fashion to the pigs : " Pigs bach, 
 fetch a little barrow and take away the sin 
 from my inside. Is there a haywaggon 
 large enough to hold the sins of Bern- 
 Davydd ? " 
 
 " Take you no record, dear hearts, 
 of the jolt-headed wench," Becws pleaded 
 with them. " Without sense she is." 
 
 The people noised Silah's blasphemy, 
 and Becws removed her daughter from 
 the pigsty, for she was afraid that the 
 dirty spirits would go in and possess the 
 
 swine. 
 u 
 
 Come you into the house, you yellow 
 pig," she said. " And clap your lips 
 about the terrible Bern-Davy dd. Is not 
 Amos Penparc discussing you with Jesus ? " 
 70
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 Silah did as she was commanded, and 
 she was as dumb as she was before. 
 
 Amos addressed the congregation of 
 the Seiet : " Well well, with God have 
 I been. The Big Man came to the side 
 of my bed. ' Why for is your small face 
 so down, Amos Penparc ? ' He said. 
 'Have I withheld your crops or have I 
 displeased you ? ' ' Not for myself am I 
 so low, ' I answered. ' For sure, no, son 
 bach. Has not the Respected reported 
 well of you to me ? ' He said. ' Grand 
 preacher is Bern-Davydd,' I talked. ' Say 
 you quick in a hurry what is the matter 
 with you. Don't rouse my temper,' He 
 ordered. ' Sion is foul.' I sobbed, little 
 people. And I told him how the mad 
 bitch Silah had sat in the loft. Surprised 
 was the Big Man. ' Boy bach, you don't 
 mean ! ' He cried. ' Iss, indeed, old Silah 
 Penlon made joy of her conception 
 and I put my finger on the child 
 in her belly.' ' Dear me ! ' I said. 4 Iss, 
 71
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Amos bach ; say you to the Capel that 
 the evil wench must cleanse the saintly 
 abode, even the roof of the Temple. But 
 she must not go up into my son's pulpit.' ' 
 
 The religious men answered Amen. 
 
 Silah came to free Sion of her filth, 
 and Becws was with her ; and in the 
 middle of the day Amos Penparc entered 
 to look into Silah's labour, and he was 
 not pleased that Becws was there also. 
 
 " Why don't you obey, you strumpet 
 born of a donkey ? " he cried in his wrath. 
 " Hard is your head. Cheating the Big 
 Man of His price you are." 
 
 Thereafter Amos tended Silah in Sion, 
 and watched that she did not go up into 
 the pulpit. 
 
 The morrow of the tenth day after the 
 day that Silah had begun to clean Sion, 
 the congregation gathered in the burial 
 ground to bury the body of a man, and as 
 the people looked down upon the floor 
 of the grave, behold, the earth was dis- 
 72
 
 THE PILLARS OF SION 
 
 turbed and there were foot-holes in the 
 walls of it. The people were abashed and 
 awed, because the dead man had lived 
 without reproach. They drew to Amos 
 Penparc, asking of him : " Amos the 
 wise, make you explanations how this 
 thing has come about." Amos exercised 
 his mind. He replied : "A daughter of 
 the Bad Man is in the Capel, and the last 
 night old Satan came up from the Fiery 
 Pool to converse with her." 
 
 " Sober, indeed," said one, "did the black 
 Satan enter the Capel ? How now ? " 
 
 Amos admonished this person : " Like 
 a squirrel of an infidel you are. Sion 
 would consume Satan." 
 
 In the middle of the twelfth week Sion 
 was whole again. That which the Big Man 
 had said to Amos Penparc was come to 
 pass. All of the congregation were very 
 proud. The praying men blessed the Lord, 
 and the singing men and women sang 
 His fame. 
 
 78
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 On a night Bern-Davydd assembled 
 the men of the Big Seat, and to them he 
 said : " Boys bach, religious we are in 
 Sion. Fitting now will be to show re- 
 spect to the Big Man. Amos Penparc, give 
 advice to us." 
 
 " ' Search the Scriptures,' say the Book 
 of Words," Amos answered. " Grand will 
 be to hold a Questioning the Problem 
 gathering. Little ruler, he .will be the 
 questioner." 
 
 Sion took Amos's counsel and ordained 
 this religious feast on the Day of Christmas, 
 which was three months away ; and the 
 men cunning and subtle in the Word 
 were bidden to the loft of Capel Sion to 
 have their knowledge tested by Bern- 
 Davydd. 
 
 As the day of the feast came near, 
 Silah's size enlarged. 
 
 Becws was uneasy ; she moaned on the 
 Tramping road that her daughter was pos- 
 sessed of many satans. Moreover she heated 
 74
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 an iron rod with fire and laid it on Silah's 
 navel. But the satans did not go away ; 
 and Silah's size continued to increase. 
 
 Now in the dark Silah left her mother's 
 house and journeyed through the fields 
 to Penparc, and at the door of the stable 
 she made a noise like the bray of a mule. 
 Amos came out to her and opened the 
 door of the stable, and he said to her : 
 " Now, well- well, Silah Penlon, how was 
 you, then ? " 
 
 Silah put out her arms and drew Amos 
 to her ; and she uttered words : " Boy bach 
 nice is Amos." Amos was dismayed 
 and he could not free himself from her 
 embrace. Before the darkness got thin 
 he laid a snare for her : " Come you here 
 before the twilight of the third day, Silah 
 fach, and a large little reward will I give 
 you. Go you out, now, through the little 
 window." 
 
 Silah went abroad in the neighbourhood 
 and she laughed in the face of the people 
 75
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 and spoke foolishly in their hearing. 
 She was joyous, though she did not 
 know anything. Becws thanked the Lord 
 loudly: was He not repenting of His 
 works against Silah ? 
 
 On the eve of the twilight of the third 
 day Silah stood at the door of the stable 
 of Penparc and she made a noise like the 
 bray of a mule. Amos came out of his 
 house and there was with him Bern- 
 Davy dd, and to him he said : " What's 
 that old shouting, I don't know ? " and 
 they two walked up to Silah. 
 
 Bern-Da vydd seeing her, said : " Go 
 you off, you mad bitch of hell fire." 
 
 Silah did not attend to his words. She 
 put out her arms. " Boy bach nice is 
 Amos Penparc," she cried. 
 
 Amos was vexed. " What for you 
 mean, you clobstick ? " he said. " Re- 
 ligious, witness him that I am falsely 
 accused." 
 
 " What you call ? " said Bern-Davydd 
 76
 
 THE PILLARS OF SIGN 
 
 to her. " Away you off now, or for sure 
 kick your teeth will I." 
 
 As Silah did not move Bern-Davydd 
 threw her upon the ground. The woman 
 rose, turned, and ran. Bern-Davydd and 
 Amos followed her and pelted her with 
 stones, and with clods of earth. At 
 Penlon, Amos said to Becws : " Shout 
 you up your swine Silah." 
 
 Silah came. 
 
 " Deny, you cow," said Amos to her, 
 " that I have been bad with you. Jesus 
 bach, if I have mixed my flesh with the 
 flesh of any old female, make you a small 
 sign." 
 
 He gazed around for a sign, and here 
 was none ; and he congratulated the Big 
 Man that He was on the side of righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 Then he counselled with Bern-Davydd, 
 
 and they two caused a seat to be set for 
 
 Silah in the cow-stall, and they placed 
 
 over her neck a hempen halter, the ends 
 
 77
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 of which were attached to an iron staple 
 driven deep into the wood of the stall. 
 
 Silah bit through the rope and thieved 
 the saw of Lias Carpenter, and she 
 came by stealth into Capel Sion, and 
 sawed through each of the four pillars ; 
 and no one saw her going in or coming 
 out. In the morning the subtle men 
 congregated in the loft. The pillars 
 parted, and the loft fell, but Amos Pen- 
 pare was without hurt.
 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 79
 
 VI 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 CONCERNING the cow Gwen of Esther 
 Crooked Tygwyn Tygwyn is on the zig- 
 zag lane that goes up from Penparc. It came 
 to be that the cow would neither eat nor give 
 any milk, and she did not chew her cud 
 For those reasons Esther was troubled in 
 her mind. She spoke to Morgan her hus- 
 band : " What is the matter with the cow, 
 I don't know. Hap she wants the bull 
 bach. Drive her now to the black bull of 
 Amos." 
 
 Morgan sat on a three-legged stool and 
 his grey hands were spread out over a 
 peat fire. He groaned because of the 
 cancer which was in his throat. 
 G 81
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " What for you are a botherer, the 
 man ? " said Esther. " Old evil is in 
 your flesh. Go off this one minute." 
 
 Morgan herded Gwen to the close of 
 Penparc and he acquainted Amos with 
 the purpose of his errand. Upon that 
 Amos brought forth his bull, at the sight 
 of which Gwen quailed, because for bigness 
 and strength the animal, surpassed all 
 others in the land round about, and fled. 
 
 " Very odd, dear me, is your cow, Mor- 
 gan," said Amos. 
 
 " Iss iss," Morgan answered. " Sick 
 is the cow fach. Does she not hold 
 back her milk ? " 
 
 " Talk you like that, the awful black," 
 said Amos. " Scampish you are, bad 
 boy, to bring your old cow to defile my 
 black bull. Will I not get much yellow 
 money for him at the Fair Harvest ? 
 For shame indeed, Morgan Tygwyn." 
 
 Whereupon Morgan humbled himself 
 in the face of Amos ; and he went 
 82
 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 home and told Esther all of that Amos 
 had spoken to him. Hence the woman 
 derided him that he had not devised 
 deceits. " Speak you to him not about 
 the largeness of the bucket that Gwen fills 
 with milk ? A blind sow is in your head." 
 Therefore Esther was perplexed and 
 dejected, and she was distressed that 
 the cow's life was in jeopardy. So she 
 pondered ; and while she pondered she 
 put away the mess that was in the cow- 
 house and scattered clean straw upon 
 the floor of the stall, and when she had 
 spread a blanket over the straw, she 
 brought Gwen therein, saying : " Lie you 
 down, dear cow." Presently she gazed 
 at the animal's udder, and beholding an 
 ulcer upon it, she made a poultice from 
 bread and water and with it she covered 
 the wound. Having ceased her labours 
 that day, she spoke these words to God : 
 " Big Man, turn your think and don't 
 destroy the cow Gwen. A fair woman 
 
 83
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 am I in Sion, Jesus bach. Esther is my 
 name, and is there not a little Esther in 
 the Book of Words ? Costly is Gwen. 
 Three over fifteen sovereigns is the price 
 of a cow like her, and no old luck money 
 back. Little Big Farmer, make her healthy. 
 Be with your boy bach in Capel Sion. 
 Amen." Then she rested on a portion of 
 the blanket and slept. 
 
 Two days and two nights was the 
 period which Esther stayed by Gwen, 
 and though she made a new prayer 
 and covered the ulcer with many fresh 
 poultices, the cow was not rid of her 
 sickness. On that account Esther's ire 
 livened up against Morgan, and she said 
 to him that he had charged the cow with his 
 disease. Morgan answered neither yes nor 
 no, for his strength was as a little child's. 
 After the heat of her passion was over, 
 Esther meditated ; in the morning she 
 stirred early, and she clothed herself in 
 her Sabbath garments ; and she journeyed 
 84
 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 to Castellybryn, to the house of Sam 
 Warts, whose trade it is to buy cattle. 
 Him she addressed : " Woe is in my 
 stomach, man bach." 
 
 " Talk you about what ? " said Sam. 
 
 " Don't he mock me, the good boy." 
 Esther said. " Perishing is Morgan bach. 
 Sober am I." 
 
 " Are we not all like little cattle ? 
 Iss, very well, woman fach, all of us shall 
 wear the White Shirt fach." 
 
 " Wise is he, the male of the Big Man. 
 Grand is his wisdom. Say him, God's 
 servant, good sayings about Morgan." 
 
 " Stop you, now," said Sam ; " the 
 Meeting for Prayer is on the third night. 
 Eloquent, for sure, shall my spoutings be 
 for Morgan Tygwyn." 
 " Large thanks, Sam Warts," said Esther. 
 " Comforted will Morgan be to see him 
 before he crosses." 
 
 " Brisk am I, dear me, Esther Tygwyn." 
 
 44 Serious, iss. Hap he likes to sre 
 85
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Gwen. Cow fach very pretty is the cow 
 fach." 
 
 " Talk you the age of the cow, Esther." 
 
 " Nine years, little son. But sell her I 
 won't. Grand milcher she is." 
 
 " Pay I nice yellow sovereigns for her." 
 
 " The last day Morgan bach said : 
 4 Going am I to the Palace, Esther. If 
 you sell Gwen take her to Sam Warts, 
 for the man is mighty in Capel Bethel, 
 Castellybryn.' " 
 
 " And like that he said ? His words I 
 shall repeat to the One." 
 
 " Boy nice religious, iss iss. Clap hands 
 then, for five over ten sovereigns and 
 the cow I shall bring him the first morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " Come will I and search over her," 
 Sam answered. 
 
 " Clap hands, and half a yellow sove- 
 reign he shall have for luck." 
 
 14 No, woman. The yellow money I 
 have not in the pockets of my trousers." 
 86
 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 That night Esther entreated the Lord : 
 " Big Man All Right, mean is the scamp 
 Sam. Close his eyes against the very 
 small sore on Gwen's udder. Be with 
 your boy bach in Capel Sion. Amen." 
 In the day she opened the mouth of the 
 cow and put grass between the lips and 
 the teeth, and she also sprinkled white 
 flour upon the udder. 
 
 Sam the cattle dealer came out of 
 Castellybryn into the house of Esther, 
 and he examined Gwen and rubbed away 
 the flour that was on the udder ; and his 
 wrath against the woman was such that 
 he dug a finger nail into one of the warts 
 which was on his forehead, and he said to 
 her that she had done more to provoke the 
 Big Man's hate than even the sinners 
 who mouth book prayers in the church. 
 
 His words caused Esther exceeding mis- 
 ery and she could not sleep, and at dawn 
 she said to Morgan : " Shake your body 
 you black of a turk." Morgan put clogs 
 87
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 on his feet and a coat over his body, and 
 when he had eaten of a little broth, Esther 
 spoke to him : " Go you with the old cow 
 beyond the moor and say to the people : 
 1 Persons honest, boy bach am I from 
 Capel Sion. The little cow is all that I 
 possess, and see you how she is perishing. 
 Bad cancer, too, is eating my neck. 
 Give you me, then, a little halfpenny or a 
 little penny.' Walk you off." 
 
 The man did put a cord over the 
 
 horns of Gwen and he led her over the 
 
 moor and into the road of Morfa ; and 
 
 to all the people he met he spoke the 
 
 words which Esther had ordered him 
 
 to speak ; and as he passed forward 
 
 men and women moved to the middle 
 
 of the way and remarked his height 
 
 he was a very high man and one said 
 
 to another : " His coffin shall be long 
 
 and shallow." He journeyed forth four 
 
 days ; and the sum of money which 
 
 he gathered was over five shillings. 
 
 88
 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 So it was that the sickness of death 
 gripped him ; he could not speak and he 
 walked as walks one who is diseased 
 in both feet. In the middle of the fifth 
 day he died. Then an awful rage possessed 
 Esther, and she put a rope over the forelegs 
 and a rope over the hind legs of her cow. 
 The end of the rope that was over the 
 forelegs she fixed to a wood peg which was 
 driven into the floor of the field near to 
 a tree of sour apples, and the end of the 
 rope that was over the hind legs she fixed 
 to a bough of the tree. 
 
 While Gwen was perishing Esther cast 
 off all her clothes and sat upon the heap 
 of newly broken stones which was against 
 her house, and she answered passers to 
 who inquired why she conducted herself 
 so strangely : " Very nude am I after the 
 flying of Morgan bach." Many, in their 
 pity, gave her money. 
 
 In the morning she loosened the ropes 
 which held Gwen to the tree and to the 
 89
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 floor, and she stripped the animal of its 
 hide ; when she was finished and had 
 made the hide into a bundle, she went 
 outwards and into the houses of the 
 district, and to some of the inhabitants 
 she said : " Having gone is my cow fach. 
 Give you me a little red penny ; " to others 
 she said : " In his White Shirt is Morgan 
 Tygwyn, the male of mine. Give me 
 a red halfpenny." She assumed grief, 
 and in the sight of every one she laid bare 
 the affliction which made her crooked. 
 She travelled to the Hills of Boncath, 
 the Shores of Morfa, and to Castellybryn. 
 She stumbled back to Tygwyn on the 
 twelfth day, and she was possessed of two, 
 sovereigns, above the sum which Morgan 
 had gathered and the sum which she got 
 for Gwen's hide. 
 
 Esther rested and slept. In the day, 
 
 after supping of bread in tea, she set out 
 
 to the house of Abel Shones, who is the 
 
 giver of Poor Relief. She said to Abel : 
 
 90
 
 THE WIDOW'S MITE 
 
 " My heart bach, get him a coffin for my 
 male husband." 
 
 " What for you babble ? " answered 
 Abel. " Put your money in your apron 
 and take him to Lias Carpenter." 
 
 " Oh, there's a boy bach nasty you 
 was," said Esther ; " poorer am I than 
 a fish," and she wept in Abel's hearing. 
 
 Abel came up to Tygwyn to view 
 and measure Morgan, and as he drew 
 aside the sacks which covered the body, 
 lo, worms crept in and out of the mouth 
 and out of the eyes of the dead man. 
 
 91
 
 CALVARY 
 
 93
 
 PEDR, the earth of the altar which he 
 named "Calvary" and on which he ad- 
 dressed God still on his garb, came down 
 from the moor to warn the people of Sion 
 that their sins were so heavy and many 
 that the Big Man could neither weigh 
 them nor create bags enough into which 
 to put them. Of his words the congrega- 
 tion were careless. 
 
 Lloyd Schoolin cried to him : " What 
 about a bit of a sermon, now, Pedr ? " 
 
 " Not a preacher very grand am I," 
 answered Pedr. " Do you not listen to 
 the Respected Bern-Davy dd ? " 
 
 " Boy, boy," said Lloyd Schoolin, 
 " preacher all right you are." 
 
 " Good your words, dear me," replied 
 95
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Pedr. " Glad would I be to spout in a 
 religious capel." 
 
 " For sure, iss," said the people ; and 
 they feigned to be serious. 
 
 " Come you, now, to the Garden of 
 Eden and speech preaches to us," said 
 Lloyd Schoolin. 
 
 In the Garden of Eden Pedr stood on 
 the trunk of a fallen tree. " Now, then," 
 he said, " sing you a nice hymn." 
 
 Lloyd Schoolin splayed his feet and 
 sounded his tuning fork upon his black- 
 ened teeth ; and the people having sung, 
 Pedr placed his hand upon his nostrils, 
 which were flattened against his lips, and 
 prayed silently. 
 
 " Go on, Pedr," said Lloyd Schoolin. 
 " Say the preach, man. Iss, people, a 
 fool of a preacher is Pedr. Away we 
 will go." 
 
 " No-no," Pedr urged. " Stay you and 
 hear Pedr bach. The rage of the Big 
 Man is as furious as the rage of the ram 
 96
 
 CALVARY 
 
 that slayed Hetti's child by Job Stallion." 
 
 " Now, Pedr, go slow. Old wench 
 very bad is Hetti. Did not the Big Man 
 make her mad ? Go slow." 
 
 Pedr looked upon the people with con- 
 cern. " This is what the Big Man talked 
 to me : ' Grasping is the Ruler of the 
 Pulpit. Always asking he is, Pedr bach, 
 for yellow money. There's a boy he is 
 for his pocket. And because I abhor Sion 
 I have sent Davydd to judge there.' " 
 
 " Look you, Pedr," said the Schoolin, 
 " sin you mouth." 
 
 One stood up behind Pedr and lit a 
 match and held the flame of it at the fork 
 of Pedr's legs, whereat the congregation 
 laughed, Lloyd saying : " Jasto, indeed 
 me, there's comic. An old sore the dull man 
 will get. Wenches, look at her burning." 
 
 Pedr put out the burn and proceeded : 
 " Sin to do this against a male. But, well- 
 well, among Sinners am I Tell you who 
 shall wear the White Shirts of the Palace ? 
 H 97
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Like this the Big One : ' Wickedness is 
 in the burial grounds of Capel Sion. How 
 can White Shirts grow out of wicked- 
 ness ? ' Into the Fiery Pool you will be 
 thrown. Amos Penparc robbed his own 
 blood and sinned against Silah Penlon. 
 Job Stallion kills his wife. Dan son of 
 Shan was bad with his old mam. The 
 Big One will loosen the sea of Mprfa and the 
 sea shall run up the moor and sweep down 
 upon you, and you will all be thrown into a 
 Pool filled with brimstone and water, and 
 the water will sting you more fiercely than 
 the brimstone. Pedr bach will stand on 
 Calvary, and my flesh shall be unsinged. 
 The little white Jesus says : ' You, Pedr, 
 will bury the utterly dead after the Rising. 
 I am not 
 
 The people laughed scornfully. 
 
 " A black of a pig you are," said Lloyd 
 Schoolin. " Pelt you we will with mess." 
 
 Some of the congregation tossed dung 
 upon Pedr's face, and some derided him 
 98
 
 CALVARY 
 
 with their tongues and mocked him with 
 distorted faces. Pedr did not try to evade 
 any of the blows nor one handful of the 
 mess which was aimed at him. " The 
 Man of Justice will punish you for this. 
 Pray the mess bach you shall for your 
 fields. Very good am I in the Big One's 
 eyes, and I shall live for ever. Off I will 
 now and pray for Sion on Calvary the 
 whole of this night and the next day." 
 
 Then went Pedr up to Calvary, and at 
 the rising of the sun he paused in his 
 prayer to refresh himself with a little water, 
 and as he neared his hut he saw Lloyd 
 Schoolin and Bertha Daviss parting at the 
 entrance thereof. The Schoolin hasted 
 towards the Roman trench. Pedr cried : 
 " Stop, Schoolin bach. A warm male 
 you are for flesh." 
 
 " Indeed, Pedr," answered Lloyd, " talk 
 anything you are. Bad female is Bertha. 
 Praying for her was I." 
 
 Pedr stood in Lloyd's path. "The 
 99
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Schoolin," he said, " timid is your 
 nature." 
 
 " Iss, to goodness. A timid one bach 
 am I. Depart I will now to open the 
 School." 
 
 " Go you do into Bertha because the 
 concubine is no longer fruitful. Evil is 
 that in the eyes of the large Father." 
 
 " Look you, Pedr. Brawl not like 
 that. Tempt me into the hut did the 
 bitch. Did she not say : 4 Come you into 
 the hut. Pedr is praying this night. 
 Ask you now for mercy for me. And 
 don't you speak too loud, boy nice ' ? " 
 
 Lloyd listened to Pedr's words, and 
 then he said : " Very religious I feel. A 
 male very grand you are. Journey you 
 down to the School House and discuss the 
 White Evangel we will." 
 
 On the third night after Pedr had been 
 
 to the School House, Lloyd said to Bern- 
 
 Davydd : " To the door of the Abode I 
 
 will walk with him for a little converse. 
 
 100
 
 CALVARY 
 
 Who shall help me if not the son of Jesus 
 bach ? " 
 
 " This is hearing so and such," said 
 Bern-Davy dd. " Sadness is in my heart 
 also Mishtress Bern-Davy dd says : ' Not 
 respectable unto Sion is his preacher's 
 coat, Respected '." 
 
 " Dear, dear. Order Enoch the Teller 
 of Things I will to shout for a nice collec- 
 tion." 
 
 " No, don't you do that, Schoolin. 
 The Big Man will not suffer His son to 
 want." 
 
 " How would he say, then, if I gave 
 him a silver crown to buy one ? " asked 
 Lloyd. 
 
 " Keep you the silver crown in the 
 pocket of your trousers," said Bern- 
 Davydd. " Fair night for now." 
 
 " Two silver crowns can I give," said 
 Lloyd. " Two large silver crowns." 
 
 " Not needful for old money am I," 
 Bern-Davydd declared. " Make you me 
 101
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 take two silver crowns and half a silver 
 crown. Well-well, all in the name of the 
 Rich Man." 
 
 "Very Respected Religious," said Lloyd 
 Schoolin, " keep him by me now. He 
 knows that this is the truth that spouts 
 from my head. A yellow sovereign has 
 the tinker Pedr thieved from me." 
 
 " Lloyd Schoolin, wealth you have 
 lost. Speak you about this." 
 
 " Pity I had for Pedr, and I placed 
 food before him in my house." 
 
 " Dear me, and woe is me. Satan 
 is Pedr. Does he not cry that you 
 and Bertha Daviss go into his old 
 hut ? " 
 
 " There's a rotten turnip," said Lloyd. 
 " The Religious Respected knows that 
 my flesh is clean." 
 
 "Go up we will and speak hard to the 
 
 iob," replied Bern-Davydd. " To the Lord 
 
 you give three silver crowns, and send 
 
 you a portion of pig's meat to the Mish- 
 
 102
 
 CALVARY 
 
 tress. Tell her I will to boil the meat 
 bach in the broth." 
 
 Bern-Da vydd and Lloyd Schoolin and 
 a great company went up to the moor 
 Pedr was on Calvary and he saw them 
 from afar off and his heart was vain 
 of their coming. He shouted : " Iss, I 
 speak true religion. The Big Man com- 
 manded me to build this altar. He said : 
 'Make you Calvary so tall that you can 
 discern even the littlest in Sion returning 
 from his adultery. Horrible is this sin 
 in the Capel.' " 
 
 The company arrived at tHe foot of 
 the altar. Lloyd Schoolin spoke : " Why 
 for you lose your breath ? " 
 
 " Better lose my breath than my soul," 
 Pedr answered. " More costly than all 
 the sheep on the moor is your soul." 
 
 Bern-Davydd stepped forward : " Clap 
 up. Pilferer you are. Like the old boy 
 who was crucified. Give back to Schoolin 
 bach his one sovereign." 
 103
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Wild words with no meaning he 
 speaks," said Pedr. " What use has Pedr 
 for yellow money ? " 
 
 " Creatures," Bern-Davydd cried, 
 " know you all that Lloyd Schoolin pos- 
 sessed a yellow sovereign. Then, well- 
 well. Old Pedr must suffer for his 
 thieving. Fetch Morgan Polis we will. 
 Come you down, now, the frog." 
 
 Lloyd Schoolin ascended to the top 
 of the altar and he hurled Pedr upon the 
 floor of the moor. " Don't let him run 
 away, boys," cried Lloyd. 
 
 The company herded Pedr to the School- 
 house, and they tied together his feet 
 and put him in the Schoolin's henloft. 
 Pedr whined to the Big Man to overturn 
 the walls of the loft ; he whined until 
 his voice was become a whisper ; and he 
 wept that God had taken the part of the 
 sinners of Sion. He asked for bread and 
 water ; none gave him any. In the early 
 morning of the third day Lloyd removed 
 104
 
 CALVARY 
 
 the trapdoor and said : " Take off your 
 snout, bad bird of the Fiery Pool." 
 
 Pedr moved slowly. On the way to 
 Calvary he licked up the dew that was 
 on the grass, and from the foot of Calvary 
 he gazed at the faces of the sheep around 
 him, and communed with himself : " Well- 
 well, now, animals bach do not go into 
 the Palace." He cast off his garments 
 and sought the face of God, saying : 
 " Like a porker I came, Big Man bach, 
 and like a porker I return. Dear me, 
 now, Jesus nice, don't you send me a 
 White Shirt." 
 
 105
 
 SONS OF THEIR FATHER 
 
 107
 
 VIII 
 
 SONS OF THEIR FATHER 
 
 THE children of Essec were gathered at 
 their father's bed ; their names from 
 first to last, naming even John, the 
 child of his wanton days were John, 
 Amos, Daniel, Ruth. 
 
 John was high and thin, with a narrow 
 eye and yellow skin, a niggardly beard 
 and sparing lips ; and the Big Man, in 
 whose sight he was without favour, had 
 branded his forehead with a black mole. 
 His years were fifty. 
 
 Amos was a little man ; his countenance 
 
 was mild and his eye unclouded, and 
 
 his chin was covered by a red beard 
 
 which waved beyond the opening of his 
 
 109
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 waistcoat. The days of Amos were forty- 
 three years. 
 
 Hairy also was Daniel, his stature was 
 neither high nor little, and he was squint- 
 eyed. The years of Daniel were forty. 
 
 Ruth was a child of her father's weak- 
 ness. Her years were twenty-five ; her 
 way was showy and her mind was vain- 
 glorious. 
 
 These, counting John, were the children 
 of Essec Penparc ; Penparc the farm which 
 is on the slope of the hill that rises from 
 Avon Bern to the moor, and all the land 
 thereto which is both arable and pasture 
 is good and fat. 
 
 Now concerning Amos. The man was 
 endowed with wisdom and much religious 
 understanding. He spoke to his brothers 
 and sister : " There's nice that we are 
 all here to see father bach flying." 
 
 His words did not please Daniel : " The 
 male foolish, why for you speak like a 
 lean old pig ? Have you better sense of 
 110
 
 SONS OF THEIR FATHER 
 
 the Evangel. Crossing the Jordan father 
 bach is, and his Sabbath boots, dear me, 
 will they not be dry when he meets the 
 White Jesus bach on the Shore ? " 
 
 John sat on a stool. " Awkward is 
 this happening, boys bach," he said. 
 " Killed the old meadow I did yesterday. 
 Ripe will the hay bach be on the day of 
 the funeral." 
 
 " Ach y fi," cried Amos. " Spout like 
 an infidel you do. A corpse is before all 
 things, John bach. How speech you now 
 if we sing a weepful hymn, and I make 
 a large prayer in .a loud tone?" 
 
 John rose from his stool, and spoke 
 in a small voice : " Ask a question bach 
 will I before his old boots touch the 
 water ; >! and he thrust his face close to 
 Essec's face and said : " Very worthless 
 is the meadow, little father. Poor bad 
 is the hay crop. Say you then that the 
 meadow is my inheritance." 
 
 " Woe me," said Amos. " Why for 
 111
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 you make me savage, man ? Don't you, 
 boy bach, worship the meadow." 
 
 " Crafty old mare," John replied, " is this 
 a light thing for me to lose the meadow ? " 
 
 Then Daniel opened his lips : " White 
 will be your Shirt, man, in the Palace if 
 you speech this to me : ' To you, Dan, 
 I give Dinas, all but the moorland., 
 See you, I must deal even with Ruth 
 for is she not of my loins ? So we give 
 the moor to her.' ' 
 
 No answer came from Essec, wherefore 
 Amos turned upon his brothers and sister 
 and sang in a religious fashion. These 
 are the words which he sang : 
 
 " Boys, boys, where is your faith ? 
 Awful you are to mock the Big Man at 
 this hour. See you not Gabriel bach 
 beckoning his finger at my father Essec ? 
 And prattle you do of wickedness. What 
 is the Big One saying : ' Essec Pen- 
 pare, you have done fairish. Come, now, 
 to wear a White Shirt. This parting 
 112
 
 SONS OF THEIR FATHER 
 
 must not sadden you ; is not Amos your 
 photograph ? ' 
 
 %t Stallion of a sow," said John, " how 
 you preach preaches when there is busi- 
 ness need settling ? " He moved closer to 
 the bed. " Father, waggle your tongue." 
 
 " Iss, indeed, father bach," spoke Daniel, 
 " as you mouth : Dinas you give to 
 me." 
 
 " For sure, I must have word," said 
 John. " An awful stealer is Amos. You 
 give the meadow to me. Iss iss." 
 
 " Loutish sparrow, if I was not to 
 have Dinas why you did not say so 
 before now ? " said Daniel. " Manure 
 patent I scattered on the land. Costly 
 that was. Go you and ask Shop Co- 
 operative in Castellybryn. But you give 
 me Dinas, don't you ? And when persons 
 speak to your son : 4 A good farm you've 
 got, Daniel. How came you by her ? ' 
 I shall answer : * This is my father's 
 blessing.' ' 
 
 I 113
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Amos addressed the Big Man : " Wise 
 Farmer, be not over-harsh with the iobs. 
 Daniel and John think more of manure 
 patent and meadows than of White Shirts." 
 
 Ruth passed between her brothers and 
 the bed : ", Father, then, give you the 
 old moor to Daniel and Dinas to me. 
 A place bach very nice for sheep is the 
 moor. Dear to goodness, Matilda Daniel 
 manages Dinas wastefully. Ruffle you 
 not the Big Man by holding Dinas from 
 
 me." 
 
 This angered Daniel and he spat upon 
 Ruth's face ; and he said to her : " What 
 for you mess about where there's no mess 
 to be, you black white cat ? " 
 
 Ruth moved to the window and peered 
 through the close darkness ; and she saw 
 a light on the floor and she heard sounds ; 
 and when she had understood the meaning 
 of that which she saw and heard, she spoke 
 to her people : 
 
 " Great is the moaning outside, little 
 114
 
 SONS OF THEIR FATHER 
 
 folk. The spirit Hound is at the gate of 
 the close. Look you, too, the Corpse Can- 
 dle." She removed her skirt and bodice, 
 and she drew over her the funeral gar- 
 ments which she had put on Essec's bed. 
 She also wept, as the manner is, saying : 
 " Father bach is very dead." 
 
 Having done these things, she said to 
 her brother Amos : " Sharpen you the 
 edge of the razor and heat water will I, 
 for many will come soon quickly to gaze 
 on the carcase." 
 
 Daniel put his hand under the clothes 
 which covered Essec, and there was not 
 any warmth left in his father's body ; 
 and he said : " Act like a bad black you 
 have." 
 
 John turned to Amos : "An orphan bach 
 am I. Don't you pilfer the meadow, now, 
 Amos." 
 
 When Amos had shaved the face of 
 Essec his father and placed his father's 
 hands on the Book of Words, he knelt on 
 115
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 his knees and closed his eyes and prayed. 
 He told the Lord how he had wrestled 
 with religious strength against the un- 
 belief of his brothers and sister, and 
 sought mercy that he had not prevailed ; 
 and to the Lord he also said that he was 
 more religious than any in the house of 
 his father. 
 
 116
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 117
 
 IX 
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 WHERE the Tramping road goes out into 
 the Cardigan road you will see Tycornel. 
 This is the house in which lived Ellen 
 Pugh, who is buried in the field that is 
 between it and the road. Ellen had not 
 known any man before her age was twenty- 
 six, although her great thighs, and her 
 soft, flaxen hair, and big breasts of which 
 much could be seen because her garments 
 were sewn ill together excited the de- 
 sires of many men. If in the hayfields a 
 vicious lover foxed her, or if. on the way 
 home from Sion one waited for her in a 
 secret place, she always prevailed against 
 her adversary : the woman was strong 
 119
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 and she was proud of her chastity. She 
 fastened her door at nights, and drew a 
 curtain over the window of the room in 
 which she slept. Though men came and 
 looked narrowly, none saw her with- 
 out her garments. 
 
 One night Lias Carpenter stood outside 
 Tycornel and cried in a loud voice : 
 " Ellen, now indeed to goodness, your 
 cows are in my bit of field." 
 
 Having clothed herself, Ellen opened 
 the door. " Sorry am I, Lias Carpenter," 
 she said. " Fetch the creatures will I 
 in a hurry." 
 
 " Wench fach, don't you trouble over- 
 much. Male very reasonable am I." 
 
 " Iss, for sure. Tarry you a while, 
 Lias, and drink a small cup of tea." 
 
 " No, dear me ; iss, dear me," Lias 
 answered. " Very good is tea bach." 
 
 Ellen removed the crust of coal and 
 clay which was over the fire and put 
 sticks in its place ; and as they two ate 
 120
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 and drank, Lias spoke : " Big is Matti 
 Rhys Shop." 
 
 "So I see, Lias. Four children has 
 Rhys. Every year Matti is big." 
 
 " A large one bach is Rhys for system. 
 Children you ought to have, Ellen." 
 
 " Sober me, Lias Carpenter, why for 
 you talk like that ? Shut your lips, man." 
 
 " Large the families Boys Israel had. 
 Tell words will I." Lias thanked the Big 
 Man for that which he had eaten and 
 drunk, and turned to go away. He said : 
 " Bring you home your cow on the 
 morrow. Jasto, not safe is the bar on 
 your door." 
 
 " How you speak ? " 
 
 " See you, female fach." Lias went 
 outside. On the flagstone he told Ellen to 
 close the door and bar it. The woman 
 did so, and then Lias gathered together 
 all his power and broke the bar. 
 
 Ellen was astonished : " Glad am I 
 that you displayed me this weakness." 
 121
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 After Lias had put a new bar on the 
 door, Ellen spoke to many people in this 
 wise : " Neighbour very kind is Lias 
 Carpenter. And there's harmless he is. 
 Trust him I can with me." 
 
 The people answered her : " Trust not 
 your male before you win him." 
 
 For five nights Lias drove Ellen's two 
 cows into his field, and on four nights 
 he stood without Tycornel, crying : " Wild 
 are your creatures. In Lias's field they are. 
 Good-bye, now." The fifth night he en- 
 tered the room wherein Ellen slept, and 
 he awoke her : " There you are ! Told 
 you I have in plenty. Come I have in the 
 rain to tell this, and my trousers are wet. 
 Touch you them with your hand fach." 
 
 "Well well, Lias Carpenter," said Ellen. 
 
 " Speech how shall I dry them, woman 
 fach very fair ? " 
 
 " Talk you like that." 
 
 ' 4 Harmless is my spirit, ' ' said Lias . " Close 
 your eyes. Ach, put your old private 
 122
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 garments from my sight. Not religious that 
 they pollute my eyes." Thereafter Lias 
 frequented Tycornel, whither he arrived 
 and quitted in darkness and away from 
 the common track. 
 
 It came to be that Ellen said to him : 
 "Boy bach, wed me you must." 
 
 " Speak will I to mam," answered Lias. 
 
 " Iss, do you in a haste." 
 
 " Indeed, speak will I. Fair day for 
 
 now." 
 
 Ellen was troubled that Lias did not 
 come any more to Tycornel and she 
 connived that men and women should not 
 discover her plight. She drew in her 
 clothes, and as her size increased she 
 eased them ; her contrivings did not 
 withhold her state. Folk said to her : 
 " Many handfuls of gravel have been 
 thrown at your window. Whisper the 
 name of the thrower." 
 
 Before she delivered her child she 
 pleaded in the hearing of Lias's mother 
 123
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Shanni : " Woman fach without wicked- 
 ness, make your son verify his pledge." 
 
 Old Shanni answered angrily : " Ho, 
 ho ! And is the bitch saying that Lias 
 is the father ? " 
 
 " Don't laugh, foolish Shanni. Serious 
 is affairs." 
 
 Old Shanni tightened her lips and called 
 to her Lias, who had kept himself close : 
 " The strumpet of Ty cornel says you 
 are the father." 
 
 Lias opened his mouth, and a frothy 
 spittle fell therefrom upon his beard. 
 " Dear me," he said. " Bad lies you talk." 
 
 Unable to contain herself, Old Shanni 
 spoke savagely : " Go you off, you con- 
 cubine of the big belly." 
 
 Ellen bare a child and she named him 
 " Lias," and after she was recovered fury 
 possessed ,her : she cried, as a peevish child 
 cries, on the Tramping road, and in Shop 
 Rhys, and at the Gates of Sion that Lias 
 Carpenter was the father of her infant ; 
 124
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 and she would not be quieted, nor charge 
 any one else. 
 
 Her shoutings vexed Lias. He 
 shammed innocence before the Re- 
 spected Bern-Davydd, to whom he 
 sacrificed a hen, and whose counsel he 
 craved, lamenting how Ellen pro- 
 claimed this and that to his discredit. 
 Bern-Davydd ordered the woman to the 
 Seiet, and caused her to stand in the Big 
 Seat in the face of the congregation ; and 
 after the wily men of the High Places 
 had laboured to prove her with questions, 
 he lifted his voice : " Name the man 
 bach you tempted." 
 
 Truly Ellen answered. 
 
 " Sparrow of a pig, no-no. A liar you 
 are. Very religious is Lias. "Is he not 
 in the Big Seat ? " 
 
 " He was bad with me," Ellen said. 
 " Didn't I put his trousers rib before the 
 fire ? " 
 
 Bern-Davydd interrupted her : " Shut 
 125
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 your head, you bull. " Senseless you are 
 to talk trousers rib in the Big One's 
 Capel. Your bastard is by old Satan. 
 Congregation, here's a sin. Shaking and 
 redding you are. Good that I am here, 
 for am I not the Big Man's son ? Lias 
 Carpenter, say things." 
 
 These are the words of Lias Carpenter : 
 " Dear people, stop you a time bach. Shed- 
 ding tears am I, and they are salter than 
 the weepings of Mishtress Lot. Evil was she, 
 but boy very pious was Lot. Changed was 
 she into a rock of salt ; a rock bigger than 
 the biggest in Shop Rhys. Let out tears 
 will I this minute." Lias wept. " Look 
 you on the marks of the tears on my 
 whiskers. So ho, the wench says : 4 Lias 
 Carpenter was naughty with me.' No, 
 dear me. Am I not full of the White 
 Jesus bach ? A carpenter was the Big 
 Jesus. He made coffins. Iss, people bach, 
 religious is the male that makes coffins. 
 Wise is the Respected. He said : ' The 
 126
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 Bad Man is the father of your hog.' Does 
 Ellen not bolt her door and her window ? 
 Thick is the bolt I put on her door. Can 
 a man walk through a door ? Can a 
 perished corpse come out of a screwed 
 down coffin ? Boys evil there are who die 
 and wish to live. Sinners they are. That 
 is why we use big screws, little folk. 
 Ask you their length in Shop Rhys. Like 
 would I now to hear the Respected report." 
 
 Bern-Davydd acquainted God with the 
 perfidy of Ellen Pugh, and God gave him ter- 
 rible words with which to scourge the woman. 
 
 Ellen was broken out of the Seiet. 
 Even so, her rage against Lias did 
 not abate one jot. She invented means 
 to bring misery upon him : she pre- 
 tended goodwill and helped him to gather 
 in his wheat and at the finish of the 
 day went into his bed, but Lias would 
 not sin with her. She stole secretly into 
 his house and placed stones in the midst 
 of Shanni's butter, insomuch that this 
 127
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 became a proverb in the market-place 
 of Castellybryn : " Say how much your 
 butter weighs without the stones ? " She 
 opened the gates of his fields and set 
 his cattle astray, and she maimed his 
 horse to its death. All these acts and 
 more she did in her hatred against Lias 
 Carpenter. 
 
 At the age of forty-five Ellen was as one 
 whose years are seventy: her teeth were fallen 
 out, there were sores on her legs sores 
 which dampened and stiffened her stock- 
 ings, her hair was grey and clotted with 
 many sorts of residue. She grew weary, and 
 complained that the day was too long and 
 the night too short. A hope came over her 
 that Death was near, and a fear that she 
 would be buried in the same burial ground 
 as Lias Carpenter. She said to her son 
 Lias Small : " Perishing is your mam, 
 boy bach. When I am dead, don't you say 
 to any one : ' Come and put a White Shirt 
 on mam.' Dig you a grave in the field, 
 128
 
 A MIGHTY MAN IN SIGN 
 
 and bind me with sacks, and bury me there 
 in the darkness. Hap I shall hear the 
 Trumpet before Capel Sion. Goodness 
 everybody, there's things I shall speech 
 to the Big Man about Lias." 
 
 Ellen died and her son bound her with 
 sacks and buried her in the field. Then 
 he became frightened and he ran this way 
 and that way in his confusion and he told 
 every one whom he met that which his 
 mother had said to him and that which 
 he had done. Lias Carpenter heard 
 his sayings and went to the owner of 
 the field and bought it ; and he built 
 a hedge on all sides of it so that none 
 should trespass in it. Moreover he raised 
 a pulpit of wood near to the place under 
 which Ellen lies ; for he too shall be 
 buried in the field, and at the first 
 sound of the Trumpet he will arise and 
 go up into the pulpit and he will warn 
 the Big Man that Ellen Pugh was with- 
 out a name in Sion. 
 K 129
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 131
 
 X 
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 TY'R PECHADUR meaning the House 
 of the Sinner is at the end of the narrow 
 way which is between the new and the 
 old burial grounds of Capel Sion. It is 
 named thus because Griffi Wernddu died 
 in it and because the Bad Man came up 
 to it and hid in the belly of a pig, in that 
 form imagining that he would go in and 
 defile Sion. The Bad Man moreover left 
 his marks on Griffi's body. 
 
 Griffi lived to an old age, and though 
 he was full of religion and obeyed the 
 pulpit in all its commands, he offended 
 awfully in his death ; and as is the 
 custom with those whose souls go down 
 133
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 into the Fiery Pool, Griffi's body was 
 not enclosed in a White Shirt and it 
 was buried in the land which is at the 
 forehead of the Capel, and upon which 
 the congregation perform privily before 
 entering Sion. 
 
 At the time of his prime Grim was one 
 of esteem and consequence. He had a 
 place in the Big Seat and he held the 
 office of the Teller of Things. He dwelt 
 in Wernddu, the farm whose fields are 
 on this side and that side of Avon Bern. 
 He prospered by the diligence of his 
 wife Betti, who laboured until the mem- 
 bers of her body were without feeling. 
 In the mean season Betti bore eight 
 children, and of the eight one grew into 
 manhood, and he was named "Dewi"; 
 and it was that at the age of sixty-five 
 a pain caused Betti's wasted breasts to 
 swell, and the woman died. Whereat 
 Griffi endured much misery, for he had a 
 great regard for the gains of his wife, 
 134
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 and he sighed that he could not get 
 another woman to serve as Betti had 
 served. After a year was over and he 
 had put away his grief, a man came to 
 him saying : " Now now, Griffi Wernddu, 
 give you me the portion bach, dear me, 
 of the mortgage that is due." Griffi 
 and his son Dewi and his woman servant 
 drove two milching cows and a heifer 
 to the fair. The next year he was con- 
 strained to sell more of his cattle, and 
 the money which he got for them was 
 not enough to pay all the people to 
 whom he was bound. His straits was 
 sounded abroad ; people pointed their 
 fingers at him and nodded their heads, 
 speaking in this sort : " An old rotten 
 one is the black. Not a brown penny 
 has he now that Betti is perished." 
 
 Presently Dewi reached an age of 
 
 knowledge, and when he looked about 
 
 him and considered how the land was 
 
 barren from long neglect and how the 
 
 135
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 fewness of his father's cattle was a by- 
 word, he was very concerned, and spoke to 
 Griffi his father : " Having gone very bad 
 is the farm fach. Say a talk." 
 
 "Trying me is the Big Man," Griffi 
 answered. " Loss indeed, Dewi, was the 
 going of your mam fach." 
 
 " A person listless you are, little 
 father," said Dewi. " Why for you don't 
 work ? Look you at me. Do I not toil 
 every one minute ? Must we hire a man- 
 servant ? " 
 
 " Sense that will be," replied Griffi. 
 44 An old man bach am I." 
 
 44 There's a large wage he will want." 
 
 44 Iss iss. Much white money he will 
 ask. Buy trousers rib will I to-morrow 
 for to work with you." 
 
 But Griffi did not help his son to till 
 the land ; he wore his cloth garments 
 every day, and on such occasions as he 
 was not in far-away Capels hearing the 
 Word preached, he discussed the meaning 
 136
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 of this and that religious problem on the 
 Tramping way or in Shop Rhys. 
 
 For a long spell Dewi laboured as though 
 his father was dead. But one night he 
 said to him : " Carting in potatoes am I 
 the next day. Come you and help." 
 
 " No, now," Griffi answered. " Are 
 there not big preachings in Castellybryn ? 
 Going am I there." 
 
 ' ' Dull you are, ' ' said Dewi . ' l Move you, 
 
 now." 
 
 " Does not the little Evangel come 
 before all ? Not right that the father 
 be a servant to his son." 
 
 As soon as night was over, Dewi said 
 to his father : " Lift, man, and come and 
 cart potatoes." 
 
 Griffi closed his eyes : "A rascal of a 
 son have I got, Big Man." 
 
 Dewi went out, and he returned with 
 
 a thickish stick with which he punished 
 
 his father, and screeched Griffi never so loud, 
 
 Dewi did not stop until he was weary ; and 
 
 137
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 his enmity against his father never 
 lessened. 
 
 Now as Wernddu became fruitful and pro- 
 fitable, Griffi grew feeble and spiritless. If 
 he rested in his labour, Dewi would kick 
 him and speak spitefully to him. In the 
 heat of a certain day, Griffi uttered a 
 doleful cry and fell between the handles 
 of the plough he was guiding, and he re- 
 mained in that wise until the hour of 
 the midday meal. Dewi came into the 
 field and took away the rope upon 
 which Grifn had fallen and unharnessed 
 the horses, saying : "A bad boy is the 
 fool ; iss iss. Animals bach, hungry 
 you are." He took the horses into the 
 stable, and on the way thereto he gave 
 them water to drink and in the stable he 
 served them generously of food ; when he 
 had eaten, he returned to the field and 
 awakened Griffi into consciousness. 
 
 That day Dewi communed with him- 
 self: "Six years have I tilled Wernddu, 
 138
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 and there's hard have I worked. And my 
 earnings are not half a hundred sovereigns. 
 Lazy mule is old father. God, indeed, 
 now, why did you take mam first ? A 
 grand labourer was the female." Imme- 
 diately he went into the room in which 
 Griffi was, and said : " Father, go away 
 from Wernddu must you." 
 
 " What is your saying ? " replied Griffi. 
 " All right am I." 
 
 " No no, man. Heavy you drag on 
 the farm. Make you to go off." 
 
 Griffi entreated : " Let you me remain 
 here in my house, boy nice." 
 
 Dewi did not listen to his father ; he rented 
 the straw-thatched, one-roomed cottage 
 which is now named Ty'r Pechadur, and 
 he put in it a bed, a table, and a chair, and 
 he planned to give Griffi sixpence a week 
 and a little milk and cheese. But Griffi 
 would not leave his bed, and he com- 
 plained that the sickness which had felled 
 him was still upon him. Dewi took 
 139
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 him down from his bed, and put him 
 in a cart and drove him to the cot- 
 tage. 
 
 So it was that Grim was cheapened 
 in the eyes of Sion : none bid him to 
 pray or to bear testimony in the Seiet ; 
 and to another was given his place in 
 the Big Seat and also his office. The 
 congregation scorned his plight, and Bern- 
 Da vydd cried out his name because of the 
 poorness of his sacrifices. He became 
 ashamed of the harm which was done 
 against him ; and he prayed that Bern- 
 Da vydd and God would show forgiveness 
 unto him. Neither attended him. He prayed 
 for a manna of two sovereigns. He said : 
 " Large Lord, do this for me and all the 
 yellow sovereigns bach shall I not give 
 them to your son in Sion ? Be with the 
 Preacher nice. Amen." He prayed that 
 prayer on five occasions, and each night 
 he opened his ears so that he could hear 
 God's footsteps and he closed his eyes 
 140
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 because it is spoken in Sion that only 
 the religious can see the face of God. 
 
 As God did not take any heed, he went in 
 the night to Wernddu ; at the gate of 
 the close he paused. " Big Man bach," 
 he said, " many prizes have I asked 
 you, and you gave me nothing. A son 
 of Capel Sion am I. Did I not Tell the 
 Things ? Come with me now. Keep by 
 me. An angry boy is Dewi. Be with 
 your son in Sion. Amen. Amen. And 
 Amen, Big Man." 
 
 He drew his clogs from his feet and walked 
 up to the pigsty and lifted therefrom a 
 pig ; and the pig he hid in his bed ; and 
 he praised the Lord very much. 
 
 Wherefore Griffi cloaked his gladness, 
 and ceased to pray. By and by a horrid 
 fear seized him : he had nothing with 
 which to feed the pig. He contrived 
 means and shifts ; he locked the door so 
 that his son, who was bemoaning the loss 
 of the pig, should not enter his house, and 
 141
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 he crept into outhouses and gardens and 
 stole potatoes and carrots. But the man's 
 heart was faint, and he gathered little ; yet 
 all that he had he gave to the pig, and 
 the animal did not thrive. 
 
 There came a day when he closed his 
 door and tried to go upon his bed, and 
 he could not ; the hour of his travail 
 was come : the sickness of Death was 
 on him, and all his strength was depart- 
 ing from him. 
 
 Three days passed, and Bertha Daviss 
 came to his door, crying : " Griffi, now, 
 indeed to goodness, pulling potatoes am 
 I the next to-morrow. Come you and 
 help a poor woman." 
 
 Bertha cried out several times before 
 she heard sounds within the house, and 
 made her afraid ; and she ran hard into 
 the Meeting for Prayer. ' 4 People, people, ' ' 
 she said, " the Bad Man and his satans are 
 in Griffi's abode." 
 
 The congregation moved as one man 
 142
 
 A SACRIFICE UNTO SIGN 
 
 and hurried thither. They also shouted 
 outside the door, and as none answered 
 from within the stalwart men pushed 
 with much force and broke a way through 
 the door, and the pig fled thereby into 
 the old burial ground. When Bern- 
 Davydd saw this, he spoke in a big voice : 
 14 Run, you blockheads. The swine is 
 going into Sion." 
 
 The congregation did in accordance 
 with Bern-Davydd's word, and the fleetest 
 among them was Dewi, who grasped the 
 pig at the door of the Capel, and lifted 
 it in his arms, saying : " This is my prodi- 
 gal pig bach which was lost and found 
 again. There's thin he is, dear me." 
 
 After they had viewed the pig, the 
 people went into the house ; and some of 
 them raised Grifn from the floor and put 
 him on his bed ; and they all beheld the 
 wounds which were in his body. 
 
 143
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 145
 
 XI 
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 ALTHOUGH Job Stallion was instructive 
 in prayer and joyous in song, he was 
 without esteem in Sion. The place of 
 his abode was Cwmcoed, which is on the 
 land that rises from the other side of 
 Avon Bern, and the name of his mother 
 was Peggi ; and they two had a maid- 
 servant whose name was Hetti. Job 
 searched among the women of Sion and 
 among the women who frequented the 
 fairs of Castellybryn for a wife who would 
 free Cwmcoed from the mortgage which 
 Amos Penparc held upon it ; of the 
 daughters of Sion and of the women who 
 went to the fairs none would wed him 
 147
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 because all had knowledge of his state. 
 This also was spoken : " Hetti is breaking 
 her hire. Thick is the wench by Job." 
 
 One day Amos came to Cwmcoed. 
 Peggi saw him from a long way off, and 
 she shouted to Job : " The old scamp 
 Amos is after yellow money." 
 
 Job joined Amos in the lower field, 
 and he was moved to say to him : " Like 
 the happy Apostle, indeed, man, who 
 walked with the White Jesus, I feel." 
 
 Amos gave no understanding to Job's 
 words, and he said : " Speech have I for 
 you, Job Cwmcoed." 
 
 " Well-well, now ? " 
 
 " Wounded am I to speak. That 
 smallish bit of money. Job, dear me, 
 repay you the yellow ones." 
 
 " Not meaning you was ; say you now," 
 said Job. 
 
 " Why for you speak lightly ? >! an- 
 swered Amos. " In mouthing does not 
 my neck get dumb ? " 
 148
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 " Ho, ho. Thus, indeed, then." 
 " Old money must I have, Job." 
 14 Give money I would if I had him." 
 Job cried to his mother Peggi : 44 Seri- 
 ous, old mam, Amos Penparc wants his 
 money." 
 
 There was much earth in the crevices 
 of Peggi 's face, and her body was bent 
 from service on the land, and she shivered 
 when she heard the words of her son : 
 she seemed like a sapless tree which 
 harbours every refuse that the wind blows. 
 " Solemn is this," she said. " Sell the 
 stallion bach you must, Job." 
 
 44 Religious you speak, little woman," 
 
 answered Amos. ' 4 Does not the Book 
 
 of Words say to us to pay our debts ? 
 
 There's bad would I be to speak to 
 
 Daniel Auctions : 4 Go, sell Cwmcoed '." 
 
 Job was enraged with his mother that 
 
 she had borrowed money from Amos 
 
 Penparc, and he told her that her 
 
 life was a heavy load upon him. Peggy was 
 
 149
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 too old to weep : she made yowling sounds. 
 
 In the evening she craved Job's for- 
 giveness. " Woe to us," she moaned, 
 14 that we are on top of Amos's old finger." 
 
 Job was aroused out of his sluggishness, 
 for he was in narrow straits, and he medi- 
 tated : he planned to go to the Market of 
 Carmarthen, where he was a stranger, to 
 seek a wife among the women who gathered 
 there. Hence the sixth day, which was 
 the Day of the Market, he made himself 
 to appear gay : he clothed himself grandly 
 in cloth garments, and he covered his 
 crooked legs with cloth leggings ; he combed 
 the hairs which were on his cheeks, and 
 he put a bowler hat on his head. 
 
 Then he ordered Peggi to saddle 
 for him the pony and to bring the animal 
 to the gate of the close. Peggi did ac- 
 cordingly ; and when he was on the pony, 
 she spoke : " Don't you now, heart bach, 
 be tempted by a bad girl on account of 
 her looks. Beware of fair women. Go 
 150
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 court a wench whose nice purse is as big 
 as a fatted bullock's belly." 
 
 " Spout like a bull you do," Job an- 
 swered. " What is the matter with the 
 root of your tongue ? Why don't you 
 clap up the backhead of your neck ? " 
 
 " Close you must, Job bach," Peggi 
 persisted. " Shall the cow Amos take 
 away our farm ? ' : 
 
 " Hie off," said Job, " and suck your 
 toes." 
 
 Job rode away ; and on his journey 
 he fixed his mind : if Cwmcoed were 
 taken from him he would be called a fool 
 in Sion. Sell the stallion bach he could, 
 but the cost would not pay all of that 
 which was borrowed from Amos. Did 
 not the red mackerel say : " Glad am I to 
 lend you money, Peggi fach ? " Dear me 
 to goodness, what a black the old snail was. 
 Tight, dear me, was Amos. Good, now, 
 if Jesus bach smote him with a flame of 
 fire like He did the Unitarian infidel in 
 151
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Castellybryn. Job also explained to the 
 Lord how that the borrower should 
 be the payer ; how that Cwmcoed and 
 all the land thereto, and all that was 
 in the land and on it was his if Peggi 
 took wing. 
 
 Outside Shop Llewellyn Shones he 
 magnified his holdings in the presence 
 of Enoch Boncath a man of twenty-five 
 heads of cattle and one hundred and 
 twenty acres of good land and after he 
 had boasted for a long while he said : 
 " Misther Enoch bach, say you what now 
 if I looked merry on your female daughter 
 Ann." 
 
 Misther Enoch was unfamiliar with 
 Troedf awr and the land and the people in 
 that neighbourhood, and inasmuch as Ann 
 was stricken by the disease king's evil, he 
 replied : " Open your throat to the damsel. 
 Go now to the House of the Market and 
 say to her : ' Talked have I to your 
 father.' " 
 
 152
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 Job came down to Ann, who was sitting 
 on the ground; her legs were crossed, as 
 a tailor crosses his legs, and her outer 
 skirt, which was of black cloth, was drawn 
 up so that she sat on her scarlet flannel 
 petticoat ; and before her was a tub of 
 butter. Her right cheek was marked by 
 the malady which was upon it, and 
 around her neck she had a band of 
 calico which was wet with the moisture 
 that drained from her wound. 
 
 " In private I will counsel in your ears, 
 Ann Boncath," said Job. 
 
 " Comic one you are, man," replied 
 Ann. " Speak for what." 
 
 A toothless woman, who sat by Ann, 
 spoke : " Very quiet the stable of the 
 Red Cow is, indeed to goodness." 
 
 A dealer drove his testing scoop into 
 Ann's butter, and he bought it. Ann rose, 
 and as she passed away the toothless 
 woman said : " Give the wench one of 
 rocks Mari." 
 
 153
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Job took Ann up to Mari Rocks, and 
 he purchased for her a sweetmeat, and 
 as the custom is, Ann did likewise for 
 him ; and the people around and about 
 observed that which was done, and re- 
 marked : " Boy bach, great shall be your 
 courting this night." To Ann they said : 
 " Very catching now is king's evil." 
 
 They two walked out of the town 
 and into a field. Presently Job said : " I 
 will go and make a league with Misther 
 Enoch your father." 
 
 And Job passed into the town to 
 make a league with Ann's father, and after 
 he had said many pleasing words, he said 
 this of himself : " Wonderful is my re- 
 ligious fame in Sion. Honouring your 
 girl am I to take her into Cwmcoed." 
 
 " Glad is your speech, boy bach," re- 
 plied Misther Enoch. " Yet now just 
 not no nor yea can I say. Come will I 
 and spy over Cwmcoed." 
 
 At the middle of the next day Job came 
 154
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 home and he told his mother everything. 
 Peggi's mind cherished vengeance ; she 
 gazed across the valley to the parcel of 
 trees in the midst of which is Penparc ; and 
 her sight tried to pierce the mist which 
 covered the Hills of Boncath, from whence 
 was to come her deliverer. She petted 
 Job, for she knew that he had established 
 his right to Ann ; and she served him 
 with broth and pancakes ; and Job, having 
 eaten his fill, slept. She designed to go 
 to Penparc and say slyly to Amos : 
 " Here, male bach, is your ugly money. 
 Take you the small sum : hap you want 
 him largely. Sorry I am you are 
 so poor. May he give you a yellow 
 heart. Horrible were the words of the 
 Big Man about the Calf of Gold." 
 
 She designed further : on the coming of 
 Ann she would go into Shop Rhys and buy 
 soap, and she would clean herself with 
 soap and water and rest from toil. She 
 would name herself headwoman of Cwm- 
 155
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 coed the mistress would say to Ann : 
 " Do you this " and " Do you that," and 
 Ann should be as a servant in her house. 
 
 In the folly of her gladness, she showed 
 malice against Hetti : " Move your heavy 
 body, you large trollop." 
 
 " Peggi, dear me," said Hetti. " This 
 one minute, do I not suffer pains then ? 
 An old child bach is about to come." 
 
 The words incensed Peggi : " Sober 
 me, why for you did not say you were 
 thick ? Run you home, you nasty harlot. 
 Is not Enoch Boncath and his daughter 
 Ann coming on the sixth day to view the 
 land ? " 
 
 Hetti excited her spirit : " And say 
 to Ann Boncath will I that this is Job's 
 child." 
 
 Old Peggi was dispirited that moment, 
 and she feared for her schemes. She tore 
 out from a hedge two slight twigs, which she 
 coupled together, and with which she pun- 
 ished the servant woman. Hetti fell forward, 
 156
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 whereupon Peggi raised the maid's garments 
 and beat the flesh of her body. 
 
 At first Hetti made a great noise, 
 then she became silent, and Peggi knew 
 that there was no more spite left in her. 
 
 Her body grievous, Hetti walked out 
 and up into the loft which is over the 
 stable and gave birth to a child. The 
 afternoon of the second day she returned 
 to the living house, and she looked oddly 
 as she held up her infant before Peggi 's 
 eyes. " Peggi, the female fach," she said, 
 " who is this that has come from Edom ? " 
 
 Thuswise Peggi was consoled that the 
 Lord had not deserted her. She said 
 to herself : " Very tidy is the little Big 
 One to His children bach." To Hetti she 
 said : " Mad you are, the wicked animal. 
 Go you away." 
 
 Hetti bared her bosom and pressed her 
 
 child's head against her breast ; and in 
 
 that fashion she walked along the Roman 
 
 road and over the heather to her mother's 
 
 157
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 house which is on the top of the hill 
 that goes down into Morfa. She did not 
 harass either Peggi or Job afterwards. 
 
 On the sixth day Enoch Boncath 
 arrived to search out the land and to 
 establish by questions that Job had not 
 exalted anything ; and to all his questions 
 Peggi devised deceitful answers ; and Job 
 moreover showed him fat pasture that 
 was beyond the boundary of Cwmcoed, 
 saying : *' Iss iss, that is our land, boy 
 bach." But Enoch was cunning and he 
 inquired of strangers ; one answered him : 
 " Job, dear me, is a tardy old sow. All, 
 look you, his land is wasted. And does 
 not Peggi owe much yellow money to 
 Amos Penparc ? " Enoch pondered the 
 sayings which were told him for ten 
 days, and then he came to Cwmcoed to 
 speak abusively. Having delivered his 
 speech, he said : " Send Sheremia Polis 
 Boncath I will after you." 
 
 Job strengthened his spirit and feigned 
 158
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 anger. He said : " Male out of his 
 head are you ; and there's a scamp." 
 
 " Iss, for sure me," said Peggi. "Be- 
 have you do like a colt." 
 
 " Count the days you can," said 
 Job, " that Ann will display her thick- 
 
 ness." 
 
 " Out of sin has come the disease of 
 your wench," cried Peggi. "Did not Job 
 wash his body when he came home ? J! 
 
 " Dark is your talk," Enoch said. " The 
 damsel fach is all right." 
 
 Enoch journeyed home, and on his way 
 he thought on the sayings of Peggi and 
 Job ; and every day he said this to Ann : 
 " How you was ? " 
 
 " So and so are things with me, father 
 bach," Ann at last answered him. 
 
 " WeU well, bad black is Job Stallion." 
 Enoch came out of his house ; he told 
 no one of the place whither he was bound, 
 and so that none could imagine his pur- 
 pose he walked through field paths and 
 159
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 lanes. He reached Cwmcoed at the milk- 
 ing hour. 
 
 " Come have I yet again," he said. 
 
 " My boy bach has turned his mind," 
 said Peggi, " and he is throwing gravel 
 indeed at the window of a fine ladi. Male 
 frolicsome is Job." 
 
 " Say you like that," said Enoch. <c Sad 
 am I that I spoke quickly to you. Ann 
 wants to wed Job." 
 
 " What for does Job need an unhealthy 
 wench ? No no, man. Go home, Enoch 
 Boncath : busy am I preparing for the 
 marriage." 
 
 " Woman fach," Enoch said, " be not 
 hard now. Ten yellow sovereigns and 
 six cheeses will Ann bring with her." 
 
 " Empty is your voice," said Peggi. 
 
 " And there's a one she is for making 
 butter." 
 
 " Good-bye, Enoch Boncath, and good- 
 bye to your thick Ann." 
 
 " Fifteen yellow sovereigns will Ann 
 160
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 bring with her, and a waggon-load of hay." 
 
 " Three hundred is the number of yellow 
 sovereigns that Job will get with his 
 wench," said Peggi. 
 
 Job entered the milk shed ; his mother 
 said to him : " Old Enoch Boncath is here. 
 There's a big pleader he is, for sure me." 
 
 " Waggle your tongue," said Job. 
 
 " One very high you are in Sion, Job 
 Cwmcoed," said Enoch. " Be you re- 
 ligious and take Ann my female daughter." 
 
 Job and Peggi goaded Enoch so that 
 he became as one who is drunk ; and 
 it came to be that Ann settled in Cwm- 
 coed and her marriage dowry was two 
 hundred sovereigns, a cow in calf and a 
 heifer, a plough, a bed, and a load of 
 hay ; and when she was settled she saw 
 that the land was indeed barren by 
 neglect and that rust was on many of 
 the implements. As the time of the 
 birth of her child came near, her malady 
 grew worse and it ruffled her temper, 
 M 161
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 and she hated Peggi and Job because 
 of their guile. 
 
 " Get up, you hare of the Fiery Pool," 
 she cried to Peggi in the darkness before 
 the dawn. 
 
 " No no. The dawn is not grey yet," 
 Peggi whimpered. 
 
 Ann removed the cloths which covered 
 her mother-in-law and dragged her down 
 from the bed. 
 
 The old woman rose from the ground : 
 " Headwoman am I. Go out and labour, 
 you concubine." 
 
 Ann gave no mind to Peggi's words ; 
 but she reviled Job because of her. 
 
 " A rotten old woman is my mam," said 
 Job. 
 
 Howsoever Peggi contrived, she did not 
 become the headwoman of Cwmcoed ; she 
 was made to labour in the outhouses and 
 on the land, to sleep on a straw mattress 
 in the straw loft ; she never changed her 
 garments, and earth and dung fastened 
 162
 
 THE DELIVERER 
 
 to the material thereof like sun-dried clay. 
 She clung to her life through the summer 
 and the autumn of the year ; in the winter 
 she lost it and was buried in the burial 
 ground of Capel Sion ; and in her agony 
 there was none to comfort her or to minis- 
 ter unto her. Job also Ann forced to 
 labour all the light hours ; and though he 
 murmured against her tyranny, he obeyed 
 her in all things. In his perplexity he 
 plotted mischief against her, and plotted 
 he never so constant, Ann would not 
 abate any of the rigour of her dealings 
 with him. He was as a hired man in Sion, 
 and without dignity in his house. His 
 state vexed him greatly. He brooded over 
 Ann's harshness, and he planned a scheme 
 by which he would win an advantage 
 over his wife : he dampened the feather 
 bed on which she slept. Having done 
 that, he said : "I shall not lie with 
 you any more, for your disease 
 stinks." 
 
 168
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 He dampened the bed many times, 
 and the day came that Ann went up to 
 her bed to be delivered of her third child. 
 She became very sick, and died. Job 
 put a White Shirt on her, and at her 
 open grave he wept and said : " Big 
 Man, forgive the woman : fond of old 
 money she was and very nasty she was 
 to mam fach." Then he prayed a prayer 
 which he had rehearsed, and raised his 
 singing voice in a holy hymn. 
 
 164
 
 JUDGES 
 
 165
 
 XII 
 JUDGES 
 
 AFTER Essec Penparc was buried John 
 Tyhen would not give over the meadow 
 to his brother Amos, although that it was 
 a portion of Amos's inheritance from Essec, 
 and although that in the face of the congrega- 
 tion Amos stood at his father's grave and 
 proclaimed that his patrimony was just. Of 
 that John took no heed, for the man's 
 manners were harmful : he performed 
 service on his land on the Sabbath, and 
 his Sabbath garments were not respectful 
 unto Sion, and he coveted temporal 
 possessions. So it was that Amos came 
 down to the Shepherd's Abode, and spoke 
 to the Respected Bern-Davydd : 
 167
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Do him forgive me, little Preacher 
 Don't him think me insulting or irreligious 
 that I come here in my worldly clothes. 
 Heavy is my spirit heavier than the 
 grand stone I'm putting at the head of 
 my father's grave. And to whom shall 
 I go for counsel bach if not to the Re- 
 spected ? " 
 
 " Amos, dear me," said Bern-Davydd, 
 " the Judge of Sion is righteous, man." 
 
 " Sanctimonious he is, religious one," 
 said Amos. 
 
 " Put your backhead on a stool, 
 Amos son of Essec, and shake your 
 tongue." 
 
 " Indeed, down is my spirit, little man. 
 Is not John plotting against me because 
 my father gave me the meadow ? " 
 
 " Amos. Amos. Not speaking seri- 
 ous you are." 
 
 " Iss. Disheartening are the words 
 John shouts of me." 
 
 " Don't be vexed, Amos the one good. 
 168
 
 JUDGES 
 
 Very harshly will the Man of Terror deal 
 with John." 
 
 " Bad now that a brother reviles a 
 boy bach like me." 
 
 Bern-Davydd sang : " Where's the old 
 profit though the black gains the meadow 
 and loses his White Shirt ? Not his knife, 
 nor his trousers. Not his wheelbarrow, 
 nor his clogs. But his soul, male bach. 
 Terrible Man, smite the blackguard John. 
 Speech to me, little boy, the rent of the 
 meadow." 
 
 " Well well, small is the money, for 
 sure. Angry would the Big Man be if I 
 mouthed nay to my father blessing." 
 
 " Wise you are, boy. Go forth will I 
 and hold inquisition over the sow and 
 lord it over him. Explain the bigness 
 of the meadow." 
 
 4 Of acres two ; of worry a cartload.' 
 
 ' 4 Loss awful to Capel Sion when Fssec 
 flew. Go you to his place in the Big 
 Seat." 
 
 169
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Holy that will be." 
 
 " Ask the Great Judge will I how to 
 
 deal with John," said Bern-Davydd. 
 
 " The meadow is worth two sovereigns 
 
 a year, shall I spout ? " 
 
 " No no, Respected Preacher bach." 
 " Is he worth a sovereign and half a 
 
 sovereign ? " 
 
 " No no, man. No, indeed." 
 
 " Don't be jokeful, Amos. Speak." 
 
 " One small yellow sovereign, Preacher 
 
 nice." 
 
 " Ho ho. A slip of a miser is John. 
 And he is a worse old thief than his cat. 
 Look you, we will tell against him." 
 
 Bern-Davydd called on his wife Sara, 
 and he said to her : " Bring you my 
 preaching coat, and my cuffs, and fasten 
 you my collar about my neck, and put 
 on my feet the elastic boots." 
 
 Then he said to Amos : " Come, Amos 
 Essec. Let us go up to the mountain." 
 
 When they reached the top of the 
 170
 
 JUDGES 
 
 moor, Bern-Davydd made an utterance. 
 This is that which he uttered : " Not 
 saintly enough are you to come into the 
 Big Man's presence. Tarry you here 
 while I climb the mound to hold forth." 
 Before he departed, he emptied his mouth 
 of its spittle and laid the pellet of tobacco 
 that was in his mouth on a stone : and so with 
 a clean mouth he reported to God. Pre- 
 sently he came down, and he replaced 
 the tobacco, and took the india-rubber 
 cuffs from off his wrists and the collar 
 from off his neck. 
 
 " Amos the dirty son of Essec," he 
 said, " sin has come from your throat. 
 Ach y fi, the awful swine. Scrape her 
 with a shovel. Why for you say that 
 the meadow is worth a yellow sovereign ? " 
 
 " Little Respected," Amos answered, 
 " I said that in my littleness. Wishful 
 was I to hide John's avarice. Forgive 
 him his servant." 
 
 " Shut your head. Thus saith the Big 
 171
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 Man : ' Costly is the meadow, Bern bach, 
 at a yellow sovereign.' ' 
 
 " And like that the Big Man ? " 
 " Thus saith the Large Farmer : ' See 
 you, photograph, that Amos keeps the 
 meadow, for is he not Essec's blessing to 
 him ? ' " 
 
 " Amen, Bern-Davydd bach religious." 
 " The Man of Vengeance saith : c Tell 
 you Amos that you will rent the meadow 
 from him for one half a yellow sovereign 
 to be paid on the day of the Hiring Fair. 
 Of the grass that grows there the pony 
 that carries you about and about to preach 
 preaches shall eat.' 5 
 
 " Don't he say ! " cried Amos, and he 
 doubled up his beard and put the end 
 thereof into his mouth. He mumbled : 
 " Do I not need the meadow for my 
 cows ? Is he not the best grazing land 
 hereabout ? Be him sensible, boy religious 
 of the pulpit." 
 
 Thereat Bern-Davydd pitched his voice : 
 172
 
 JUDGES 
 
 " Will you be as evil as John ? Will 
 you dispute with the Big Man ? " He 
 also appointed a set time, saying : " Such 
 and such a day I shall take God's pony 
 into the meadow. Hie you away and 
 order John." 
 
 Amos said yea, because the close friend- 
 ship between Bern-Davydd and the Big 
 Man awed him. It was that in the dim- 
 ness of the day he entered the field in 
 which John and John's wife Martha 
 were toiling, and he said : " Very messy 
 is things after the old rain, little people." 
 
 John looked at his brother : " Why for 
 you say extraordinary ? " 
 
 " A mess, too, is life without the Palace 
 of White Shirts," Amos replied. " Longish 
 were the prayers I made this day." 
 
 ;t Talk a plain talk, Amos," said John. 
 
 " Rented the field bach have I to 
 Bern-Davydd." 
 
 " Dear glory me, for why you act so 
 strangely ? " 
 
 173
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 4 Was I not thinking of you, my brother, 
 and of you, my sister ? " answered Amos. 
 " Grieved am I that you labour so hardly." 
 
 " Old man nasty you are to rent what 
 is not yours." 
 
 " Hold your words, John bach," said 
 Amos. " What does the Apostle say about 
 kicking against the pricks ? And did I 
 not speak over the grave of father Essec 
 that the meadow was mine ? " 
 
 John remembered : by the sweat of his 
 limbs he^ kept profitable the twenty acres 
 of gorse land attached to Tyhen ; he tilled 
 and digged and drained, and his body was 
 become crooked and the roots of his 
 beard were caked with some of the earth 
 that had enabled him to gather much 
 wealth, even seventy sovereigns. He 
 struck Amos. 
 
 " Meek am I in my religion," said 
 Amos. " Above all the men on the face 
 of the earth, I am the most humble." He 
 turned upon his brother his cheek* 
 174
 
 JUDGES 
 
 That night John set a clamp to the gate 
 of his meadow so that no one could 
 enter the field ; and as he came back to 
 Tyhen, he saw his cat eating the herring 
 that remained from the midday meal. 
 
 " You wasteful daughter of a robin," 
 he cried to his wife Martha. " There's 
 bad you are. Why did you not hide 
 the fish ? Was he not as large as my 
 leg ? He would make the next day's 
 meal also." 
 
 He went out and caught the cat and 
 brought it into the house ; and he 
 called up to him Martha and his two 
 children, and he laid the animal on the 
 table and in their sight he killed it. He 
 divided the carcase into two, and one piece 
 he nailed in the door of Penparc, and one 
 piece he nailed in the door of the Shep- 
 herd's Abode. 
 
 175
 
 A KEEPER OF THE DOORS 
 
 N 177
 
 XIII 
 
 A KEEPER OF THE DOORS 
 
 ON a morning Leisa Llain addressed 
 Michael her husband : " Near perishing, 
 woe me, am I." 
 
 Michael answered : " What, old ox, is 
 the matter with you to disturb my sleep ? 
 Odd talk you make through the backhead 
 of your neck." 
 
 " Serious is my speech, little Michael," 
 said Leisa. " Over laboured am I. Be 
 you a boy bach nice, and clean the out- 
 houses of filth." 
 
 Michael settled his countenance and 
 
 reproved Leisa. Then he wailed : " Well 
 
 well, iss ; well well, no. A weak dear 
 
 one have I been since I came to your bed. 
 
 179
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 My mam used to make words : ' Lustful 
 wench is Leisa Llain. Temptful is the 
 wench in her bed, son bach of my heart.' ' 
 Michael turned his back upon Leisa and 
 slept. 
 
 At the middle of the day his wife came 
 up on his bed in all her garments, and she 
 shrieked because of the pain that tor- 
 mented her, and she complained that she 
 would not recover of her sickness. Before 
 the light of the day was spent, Michael 
 awoke. 
 
 " An old woman cruel you are," he 
 said. " If I was not feeble, one in the 
 bone of your cheek I would give you 
 straight." 
 
 " There's hurts in me " Leisa moaned. 
 She displaced the shawls that were over 
 her bodice, and the shawls that were under 
 her bodice, and she beat her hands upon 
 her breast. 
 
 " The Angel of the White Shirt is very 
 near, female," said Michael. 
 180
 
 A KEEPER OF THE DOORS 
 
 " Wishful am I, man, that he was in 
 me," said Leisa. 
 
 Michael came down from his bed and 
 went to Shop Tailor which is between the 
 Garden of Eden and the School House 
 and Shonni Tailor said to him : " What 
 is your errand, shall I say ? " 
 
 " Why for you squander time, little 
 man ?' Michael replied. " Solemn to have 
 a corpse in your little house." 
 
 " Provoke me you do," said Shonni 
 Tailor. " Mouth plain in my hearing." 
 
 " Flying is Leisa, indeed me, Shonni. Is 
 not her feet in the Jordan already ? " 
 
 " Bad jasto, now ! " said Shonni. " Act 
 you religious, and ask me to pray on the 
 Night of Wailing." 
 
 Michael admonished Shonni : " Shonni, 
 indeed, wasteful speecher you are. Look 
 you, make at once in a haste respectable 
 clothes for to bury Leisa in. Very black 
 must they be, for wet will be my weeping. 
 See here, put a flap fach on the trousers." 
 181
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 When Michael arrived home he put water 
 in a cauldron, which he hung in the 
 chimney over the fire, and he spoke to 
 Leisa : " Making old water hot am I to 
 wash you, female. Clean shall your per- 
 ished corpse be on the Night of Wail- 
 ing. Say a prayer will I now for you. 
 Merciful will the Big Husband be that 
 you are the woman of Michael Llain." 
 
 After he had prayed, he visited the places 
 where the hens had their nests, and 
 gathered together all the eggs, even the 
 addled eggs which are left to entice the 
 hens to lay ; and he put all these eggs, 
 and also those which had been collected, 
 in a basket and took them to Shop Rhys, 
 and the value of them was the price he 
 paid for a White Shirt of the Dead. 
 
 Then Michael lay by the side of his wife. 
 
 Now the man was lazy from his youth 
 
 up. He slept near to the end of every day ? 
 
 except the day of the Sabbath. Then he 
 
 arose early to go and take charge of the 
 
 182
 
 A KEEPER OF THE DOORS 
 
 Doors of Sion. Thus he was become 
 very fat. The labour of the six acres of 
 land which are with Llain was performed 
 by Leisa, whose temper was aroused 
 because of the man's indolence. She 
 voiced spiteful sayings against him on 
 the Tramping road and in Shop Rhys : 
 how his worth was less than the worth of 
 an ass, how his bones were without mar- 
 row, how constant toil had blighted her 
 fertility. With all, Michael had a name 
 in Sion : he made monthly sacrifices of a 
 white-hearted cabbage, or a sackful of 
 potatoes, or a weight of butter to the 
 Ruler of the Pulpit ; and this was a pro- 
 verb in the district : " Prayer bach very 
 eloquent is Michael Llain." 
 
 At the end of a set period Leisa's pains were 
 decreased, and she fulfilled divers labours 
 in and about her house. She weighed her 
 husband's sluggishness, whereon her wrath 
 against him was increased. She exclaimed at 
 the side of his bed: "Come out, you putrid 
 183
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 cow. Why for you are like a sow ? " 
 and she took her clog from her left foot 
 and struck his head with the heel of it. 
 
 " Don't you vex me, the accursed Leisa," 
 said Michael. " What for you hit my little 
 face ? Saying things am I about your 
 old corpse to the Big Man." 
 
 " Clap your lips, you swine of a toad," 
 said Leisa. " By sloth you were con- 
 ceived. Ach y fi, eighteen years old was 
 I when I married you, and for five years 
 I have not had minutes to clean my 
 legs." 
 
 Michael repeated her words and told of 
 her act to the Seiet of the Congregation, 
 and he grieved that the woman's heart was 
 turned apart from religion, and he said : 
 " There's struggle will I with the Big 
 Man, people bach, when he comes up 
 from Fiery Pool to fetch her." 
 
 He chose a portion of the burial ground 
 beneath which Leisa should be buried, 
 saying : " Tell you, will I, boys Capel 
 184
 
 A KEEPER OF THE DOORS 
 
 Sion, when I hear the old Spirit Hounds." 
 He also pleaded with the Judge of Sion 
 not to withhold from Leisa the Palace 
 of White Shirts. 
 
 The spring of the year passed, and the 
 hurts of her affliction were come back 
 upon Leisa. But she continued to trim 
 the land which gave her little and robbed 
 her of herself. She was grown revengeful 
 against her husband : in the mornings 
 she took away the clothes from off his 
 bed until not one remained over him. 
 
 " Lift your bald head, you frog," she 
 reviled him. 
 
 Michael was unmindful. 
 
 Leisa urged him to go into the fields 
 of her neighbours, but he did not change 
 his habit in any manner, and he stayed 
 on his bed unto the cool of the evenings. 
 
 One Sabbath Shonni Tailor said to 
 
 him : " Indeed to goodness, Michael bach, 
 
 boast did you that Leisa's clogs were in 
 
 the Jordan. Nice and long was the prayer I 
 
 185
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 worded for the Night of Wailing. A bad 
 blackguard you are to tell a lie, the man." 
 
 Michael was confused in the face of 
 Shonni ; had he not said : " Is not her feet 
 in the Jordan already ? " 
 
 " Shonni bach nice," he answered, " every 
 day I watch for the Angel of the White 
 Shirts. Weep I will when he draws nigh 
 to Llain." 
 
 The Angel came presently. Leisa was 
 labouring in a man's wheatfield. In the 
 strong heat of the day she yelled : " Boys 
 bach, hurts are in me," and she fell upon 
 the ground. The people who were work- 
 ing encompassed her. The wife of the 
 owner of the wheat corrected them : " Go 
 you off, persons bach. Much has to be 
 done yet." She dipped an apron in the 
 water of the ditch that is in the field, 
 and spread it on Leisa's forehead ; and 
 she hid Leisa's face from the heat of the 
 sun with straw. In the dusk of the day 
 Shonni Tailor raised Leisa from the floor 
 186
 
 A KEEPER OF THE DOORS 
 
 of the field and carried her easily to Llain, 
 and he said to Michael : " Religious glory 
 is awaiting you, man bach. Is not the 
 Angel of the White Shirts on his way to 
 your abode ? " 
 
 " Off, then, now," said Michael, " and 
 voice that Michael Llain will wrestle with 
 the Bad Man." 
 
 Michael drew off Leisa's garments 
 and shawls and washed the body of 
 her, and he put on her the White Shirt of 
 the Dead ; and he prepared much 
 provision. Moreover he took a box 
 and made a hole through the lid of 
 it, and he set it on the window-sill by 
 Leisa's bed. At last weariness overcame 
 him and he went and rested in the cow- 
 house. 
 
 The great people of Sion came into 
 Llain, and also small people were come 
 with tin pitchers to carry water from 
 Big Pistil which is against Llain, and the 
 house was full from the end of the 
 187
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 parlour to the fireplace ; the praying 
 men prayed and the singing men and 
 women sang, and the many who de- 
 parted to milk their cows returned and 
 stayed in the house until the middle of 
 the day, when Leisa died. 
 
 After all had eaten of the provision, 
 even of the victuals which they had 
 brought in honour of the dead, Shonni 
 Tailor came into the cowhouse and awak- 
 ened Michael : " Grease your boots, Michael, 
 now, and wear your respectable black 
 clothes, and come in and say : * Shonni 
 Tailor will pray last on the Night of 
 Woe.' Rise, you boy bach nice ; Leisa 
 is in the Jordan." 
 
 Michael answered : " Don't say 1 There's 
 wet will be my weeping when I wake." 
 
 188
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 189
 
 XIV 
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 DAN son of Shan a servant in Pentre- 
 mawr, which is against the shores of 
 Morfa on a day said to his master : 
 " Not wise that I labour for you. A 
 photograph bach am I of the Big Man. 
 How talk, then, if I say : 'I break my 
 hire ' ? " 
 
 He put his clothes and his clogs in a 
 wooden box, and he carried the box to 
 Groesfordd, which was the abode of his 
 mother Shan and which is at the foot of 
 the hilly road that goes up to the Moor. 
 He assumed he was above all the religious 
 men in Capel Sion, and in the Seiet he 
 rose and exclaimed : " Boys bach, a photo- 
 graph of Big Man am I." 
 191
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 The Respected Davydd Bern-Davydd 
 denied him, saying : " The fool is lame in 
 the foot : old club is at the bottom of his 
 leg, and light is the weight of his sense. 
 Brawling evil is the iob. Shan fach, 
 very grieved you are for your idiot. 
 People, hear you Shan say now : 4 Indeed, 
 iss, Religious Respected.' " 
 
 Shan adored Dan. Her mind was elated 
 that God had ceased His anger against 
 her bastard son, and she prayed within her 
 that the number of blessings He would heap 
 upon Dan would be as the number of 
 stones which marred her field. She mut- 
 tered : " Murmuring, dear congregation, 
 is always the boy bach to the One in the 
 sky. Large joy he makes of his religion." 
 
 " Serious to goodness, off is your tem- 
 per," Bern-Davydd said. " Lunatic is Dan. 
 Boys Capel Sion, laugh provokingly at 
 Dan Groesfordd. Know you all that I 
 am the Big Man's photograph." 
 
 The praying men the first praying 
 192
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 men who were in the Big seat laughed 
 and answered as with one mouth : 
 " Words very well he speeches, Re- 
 spected." The lesser praying men they 
 whose seats were on the floor of Sion 
 did likewise. 
 
 Howsoever the people mocked and 
 chided him, none was able to entreat 
 Dan to humble himself or to give over his 
 false argument. He stood in the public 
 places and proclaimed that he was the 
 Son of God, and he prophesied that he 
 would prevail above Sion, that he was the 
 chosen Ruler of the Pulpit. 
 
 One day he took a bucket into his 
 mother's field and made a tinkling noise 
 upon it, and he cried : " Shoot 1 Shoot ! S! 
 Thus he enticed up to him Shan's fattening 
 pig. He seized the pig and carried it 
 to the Garden of Eden. On the way 
 thither he uttered with a great voice : 
 " Sinners Capel Sion, come you, chil- 
 dren bach and gaze you on what I do for 
 
 o 193
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 the White Jesus nice. Awful is the 
 religious dirt in your bellies." He put 
 the pig on the floor of the Garden and 
 killed it. Then he discoursed to the 
 people : " Mountains of bad evil there 
 is, boys. Did not the Big Ruler say to 
 me : 4 Now, now, Dan Groesfordd, pic- 
 ture of me you are, man bach. Hie off, 
 and slay Shan's pig in my name ! ' Dan 
 removed the pig to Groesfordd and 
 Shan poured boiling water over it and 
 scraped the hairs from off the skin, and 
 when she had separated the carcase into 
 small pieces^ Dan said to her : ' Go now 
 the next day and sell the pieces bach 
 to the people. If one says to you : 
 4 Not wanting the flesh of pig do I 
 speak like this : ' Buy now, for sure. 
 Is not this the swine that perished in 
 the Big Man's name ? ' 
 
 Shan obeyed the order of her son Dan, 
 and she did not turn her face until she 
 had utterly sold the pig, even the 
 194
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 entrails, and when she returned she said 
 to Dan : " Love bach of my heart, take 
 you the yellow gold and white silver." 
 She spread three shawls on the floor and 
 rested upon them. 
 
 For two days Dan hid from the people, 
 and he would not eat or drink anything. 
 He came forth from his hiding place 
 and lamented at the Gates of Sion : " Old 
 mam fooled me to sell the corpse of the 
 Big Man's pig. Stinging is my spirit. 
 Ugly are the sovereigns and shillings she 
 gave me. Accursed mam have I. And 
 has not the Big One said : ' Dan bach, 
 Jesus is on my right hand, and you are 
 on my left hand ' ? " 
 
 As he was speaking a stranger 
 woman, who was very large, stopped the 
 horse that was between the shafts of her 
 cart, and spoke to Dan these words : 
 " What does the boy bach say ? " 
 
 " Woman from where you are ? " Dan 
 answered. 
 
 195
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Ho, ho, the mishtress of Blaenpant 
 am I." 
 
 " Puzzling you are," said Dan. " Where 
 shall I say is Blaenpant ? " 
 
 " O, well well. In Conwil." 
 
 44 Enlarge your mouth and tell the name 
 of you and your man. There's sly you 
 are to keep secrets." 
 
 " Is not my name Sali Blaenpant ? 
 Gone is the husband to the Palace of 
 White Shirts." 
 
 44 Dear me," said Dan. 44 Dear me. 
 Abide do I with the Big Man. Not 
 anything concerns me but Him." Then 
 sang Dan Groesfordd : 44 Sali Blaenpant, 
 is not the Big Man the landlord of all 
 the fields ? Even the land under the old 
 potatoes He owns. Good He is to ones 
 religious and bad to unbelievers. He did 
 say to me : 4 Dan bach, don't you now 
 let an old razor touch the hairs of your 
 face, because I will make you a photo- 
 graph of the White Jesus bach.' A 
 196
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 great pig I sacrificed and my Satan of 
 Mam sold the saintly corpse. What for 
 you say to that ? " 
 
 " Serious sin," Sali the stranger woman 
 answered ; " give you a suckling pig will I." 
 
 " Stout, Sali Blaenpant, the pig was," 
 said Dan. " To the Big Man you give 
 a stout little pig." 
 
 Sali addressed her horse : " Gee, old 
 mare fach. Good-bye, boy nice, and good- 
 bye again " ; and she departed believing. 
 She spoke of that which she had seen and 
 heard, saying : " The second Jesus is 
 Dan Groesfordd." She sent to Dan a 
 letter, in which she wrote that he was 
 greater than all the rulers. 
 
 Dan journeyed to Blaenpant. 
 
 " How you was then ? " he said to Sali. 
 
 " Very good, thanks be to you, religious 
 boy." 
 
 " Much land you have here," said Dan. 
 
 " One hundred acres but ten acres," 
 said Sali. 
 
 197
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Well and well," said Dan. " An old 
 bother is a mortgage." 
 
 " Iss, boy bach. But there's no mort- 
 gage on Blaenpant." 
 
 " Happy you are in your offences," 
 said Dan. " What will Blaenpant profit 
 you in the Palace of White Shirts ? Give 
 did I all to the Big Man. Speechify 
 religion will I now. This is what the 
 Angel said to me the first night : 4 Grand 
 for you to preach preaches in a Capel.' ' 
 
 " Wise was the Angel," said Sali. 
 
 " Poor am I in silver and gold," said 
 Dan, " and rich in religion. How say 
 you to a Capel Sink ? White will be 
 your Shirt." 
 
 Sali Blaenpant gave Dan three sove- 
 reigns and a fat pig, and the pig he sold 
 to Sam Warts, Castellybryn, and the 
 money he got for it, and also the money 
 he had had for the flesh of the pig which 
 was sacrificed and the three sovereigns 
 he put under the mattress of his bed. 
 198
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 On the eve of the Sabbath he said to 
 the tale-bearers of the district : " Jesus 
 bach is inside me. Preach preaches will 
 I on the first day in the void before the 
 workshop of Lias Carpenter. Carpenter 
 bach very handy was Jesus." 
 
 The tale-bearers cried this to Bern- 
 Davydd, whereof Bern-Davydd was un- 
 easy, and he visited the houses of the 
 men who had the oversight of the con- 
 gregation. 
 
 " Fools you are," he said to them. 
 " The cow Dan Groesfordd makes mis- 
 chief in the Capel. Horrible, then. 
 Abominable is the man. Don't be calm, 
 old donkeys. Displeased will the Big Man 
 be if this comes to pass. Your horses 
 will rot and a plague of worms will eat 
 your sheep. Lightning will burn your 
 bellies and crops. And I, dear me, will 
 be called to play the harp fach. What will 
 you do without me ? " 
 
 The men of the Big Seat took each other's 
 199
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 counsel, and they conspired to do Dan hurt ; 
 they sent the lesser of the praying men 
 to Groesfordd to stone him. Dan heard 
 the noise of their footsteps and went 
 softly into a place of concealment. Be- 
 fore the morning light he came abroad, 
 and having eaten and put on him his 
 black garments, he moved to the void 
 place which is before the workshop of 
 Lias Carpenter ; and as he spoke Sali 
 Blaenpant stepped downward from her 
 cart and stood by him. Some passed 
 on their way to Sion, and were refreshed 
 exceedingly with the music of his elo- 
 quence ; they said : " Preacher bach not 
 very bad is Dan Shan." 
 
 Dan preached for many Sabbaths, and 
 the music of his eloquence gave religious 
 delight to numerous persons ; and every 
 Sabbath Sali stayed by him. His name 
 came to be greater than the name of Bern- 
 Davydd, although Bern-Davydd accounted 
 ill of him to God and counselled God to 
 200
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 blast his body. His ownings increased : 
 he had a milching cow and a heifer, 
 two pigs, three sheep, and many hens ; 
 and he hired a field besides the field 
 which was marred with stones. 
 
 Bern-Davydd essayed to subdue him. 
 He rehearsed wrathful words that he 
 would relate to the assembly that gathered 
 in the void place, but when he beheld 
 all the people that Dan had stolen from 
 Sion, his indignation was so great that 
 he could not speak. 
 
 He turned away and walked to Capel 
 Sion, and he said to the congregation : 
 " Foul old blacks are you to allow the 
 mule to be more than the Big Man's son." 
 
 A certain high man in the Big Seat 
 ceased chewing his beard, and said : " Wo, 
 now, Religious Respected, not right that 
 he speaks so of us, his children bach." 
 
 "Dear me to goodness," answered Bern- 
 Davydd, " go off, then, and pelt the 
 male ram with your fists." 
 201
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 The certain high man said : " Good, 
 too, that will be. How now if the young 
 youths will do this for the Big Man's son ? 
 Take in your hands knobby batons." 
 
 " Close your eyes, young youths, and 
 the Big Man will say sayings in my ear," 
 said Bern-Davydd. In a little time he 
 said : " Like this the Large Judge : 
 ' Bern bach, array you the youths of Sion 
 and send them out to whallop the frog 
 Dan Groesfordd.' " 
 
 Nine sons of Sion took Dan down from 
 his bed, and they carried him to the 
 pond which is in the close of Penparc, and 
 they placed him on the brim of the mess, 
 crying : " Go inside, the man. Why for 
 you do not go, I shouldn't be surprised ! " 
 Because Dan hesitated, they urged him 
 with the prongs of hay forks, and when 
 he came out of the messy water they took 
 his clothes from his body and drove him 
 home ; at the gate of the close three of 
 the young youths raised him from the 
 202
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 ground and carried him into the house, 
 and as they put him on his bed, they 
 beheld that Sali Blaenpant and Shan 
 were there also. 
 
 Now Bern-Davydd had seen from a 
 secret place all this which was done to 
 Dan, and it was so that he waited the 
 return of the young youths in the way 
 of the gate of the Shepherd's Abode. 
 
 " Fair day, porkers bach," he said. 
 " How was affairs ? " 
 
 " Fair day," answered the youths. 
 " How was he ? " 
 
 Then one said : " Sali Blaenpant lies 
 with Dan." 
 
 " Porkers awful ! " said Bern-Davydd. 
 "Mad is the shift of your tongues." 
 
 '' Truth we speak, Respected," said 
 the one who had spoken. " In bed she 
 is with him." 
 
 Bern-Davydd was anxious ; he spoke 
 to himself: "The hog will grow strong 
 on Sali's riches. Hap she will build for 
 203
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 him Capel Sink, and rob Sion still more. 
 Go will I and look him in the face." 
 
 He came to Groesfordd. " How you 
 was, religious one ? " he said to Dan. 
 
 " Mouth of your spirit ? " Dan asked. 
 
 " Big is the little mistake I made about 
 you. Great is my think for the son of 
 Shan." 
 
 " Glad am I to listen to such and 
 such," said Dan. 
 
 " Iss-iss, the man. Speak you the day 
 bach of the wedding to me." 
 
 " Well, now," said Dan. 
 
 " Riches you will inherit, Dan bach 
 nice. There's useful yellow sovereigns 
 
 are." 
 
 44 The earth is the Big Man's, Bern- 
 Davy dd," said Dan. " Selling Blaenpant 
 is Sali fach, and the old money, will not 
 I keep him in trust for the Big 
 Man ? " 
 
 44 Daniel Groesfordd, make you a small 
 prayer with clapped eyes, and I will 
 204
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 listen for speeches from the White Jesus 
 bach to bid you to Sion." 
 
 At the finish of Dan's prayer, Bern- 
 Davy dd said : " Amen, boy bach. Amen 
 and Amen. The large Jesus says : c Give 
 Dan Groesfordd an important corner in 
 the Big Seat.' " 
 
 About the time that Dan was installed 
 in the Big Seat in Sion, Sali laboured, and 
 she delivered a child before the time was 
 ripe for its birth. Yet the woman was 
 puffed up : as it was buried she cried out : 
 " A photograph of the Big Man was the 
 infant bach. Was he not Dan's son ? " 
 
 Bern-Davydd said to Dan : " Boy, boy, 
 awful is this you have done. Heavy 
 must be your sacrifice unto Sion." 
 
 " Religious Respected," answered Dan, 
 " deal him well by me. A bitch is the 
 female." 
 
 " Say now your offer, Dan Groesfordd." 
 
 " Little have I of white silver and red 
 pence," said Dan. 
 
 205
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " Give you five yellow sovereigns in 
 the collection plate on Sabbath Preacher," 
 said Bern-Davydd. 
 
 " Nice little Respected Bern-Davydd, 
 make you his talk less mean." 
 
 " Five hundred of pounds and half 
 hundred you had for Blaenpant, for sure." 
 
 " Iss, dear me." 
 
 " Giving you are, Dan Groesfordd, to 
 Him," said Bern-Davydd. "There will 
 be joy in the Palace." 
 
 " Biggish was the price the rascal law- 
 yer cost," said Dan. " There's old snails 
 lawyers are." 
 
 " Important is your corner in the Big 
 Seat, man." 
 
 " Say him a large yellow sovereign," 
 said Dan. " Act him religious." 
 
 Bern-Davydd replied : " Put you the 
 five yellow sovereigns in a parcel of paper, 
 and form the words on the outside : 
 4 This is for the beloved Ruler bach.' 
 Go off up to the mountain will I then 
 206
 
 THE ACTS OF DAN 
 
 and tell the Big Man that you fell by an 
 old female." 
 
 Dan obeyed Bern-Davydd, and he wept 
 in the Seiet that women had caused 
 him to meddle with them to his hurt, and 
 he glorified God that his hand had been 
 stayed from marrying Sali Blaenpant. 
 
 The next day he performed a second 
 sacrifice : he brought out of Groesfordd 
 the bed in which he had slept and an hour 
 before the sun went down he burnt it 
 because of its sin ; and Shan he sent 
 away to the House of the Poor, which is 
 in Castellybryn, and he made Sali return 
 to the district of her people, which is 
 Conwil. 
 
 Afterwards there was peace on all sides 
 of Sion. 
 
 207
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 209
 
 XV 
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 THE Respected Davydd Bern-Davydd lay 
 on his face at the grave of his wife Sara, 
 and while he wept he spoke : " Perished 
 is your carcase, Mishtress fach. Three 
 tens and three years we lived together. 
 And what was you doing now, Sara fach ? 
 Playing the little Harp. Unhappy am I 
 without you. Did I not show you how 
 to serve the Big Husband ? Great One, 
 
 O ' 
 
 why for you drowned the candle that was 
 in the Shepherd's Abode ? In a haste 
 you was, God bach : an hour or two 
 and cross Avon Jordan would me and 
 Sara together." 
 
 The congregation witnessed Bern-Dav- 
 211
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 ydd's solemn acting, and they said 
 that the man's grief was heavy ; and as 
 eight of the strongest men in Capel Sion 
 lifted the coffin and lowered it into the 
 grave, every one that was of age bemoaned 
 in an audible voice : " Having gone, 
 indeed me, is the wife of our Re- 
 spected." 
 
 After the grave was filled with earth 
 and a mound was fashioned over it, 
 Bern-Davydd commanded the people to 
 go into the Capel ; and he stepped briskly 
 at the head of them, and they followed 
 him in the manner of those that walk 
 in procession. When all were gathered 
 in Sion, Bern-Davydd went up into his 
 pulpit and asked God by what violent 
 means he could end his life. Then 
 Bern-Davydd answered God : " All right 
 you are, now, then, Big Man. So-so. 
 Live you want me to keep your House 
 respectable." 
 
 It fortuned that on the fifth Sabbath 
 212
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 after Sara's burial Tim Deinol Deinol is 
 on the slope that goes down into Morfa 
 and his daughter Becca came into the 
 neighbourhood to ask about the wel- 
 fare of Josi Llandwr ; Josi wished to 
 wed Becca because he coveted Tim's 
 belongings. They were arrived early 
 in the day ; and Tim put his 
 horse in the stable which is against 
 the House of the Capel, and he made 
 himself familiar to Ben and Jane, the 
 keepers thereof. These are the words 
 with which Tim Deinol greeted Ben and 
 Jane : 
 
 " How you was, boys bach ? " 
 
 44 How you was ? " Ben answered. 
 
 " Give you the mare fach a feed of 
 hay, now," said Tim. 
 
 Having done that task, Ben returned, 
 and to him Tim said : " Journeyed to 
 Capel Sion are we to hear the Evangel. 
 From Morfa are we come to weep to the 
 tune of the Respected. A deacon am I 
 213
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 in Capel Saron. Do I not own Deinol, 
 a farm, people bach, of three twenties 
 and ten acres ? " 
 
 As soon as Tim ceased his saying, Ben 
 talked to Jane : 
 
 " Don't you stand there, old female, like 
 a snake. Boil water at once in a hurry 
 for to make little cups of tea. Sit they 
 down in the best end of the house and 
 tarry they till the moment they enter 
 the Capel. Distant is the way from 
 Morfa." 
 
 Jane served the strangers with tea 
 and with the luxuries of the land : butter 
 and white bread, sugar in lumps, and such 
 cheese as shopkeepers sell ; and she placed 
 an apron over Becca's lap so that neither 
 the tea nor the food, if any fell thereon, 
 should soil Becca's black cashmere frock. 
 Becca was neither young nor well- 
 favoured, and her forehead was marked 
 with a blotch which was of the colour 
 of a red cabbage. 
 
 214
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 In the course of his eating and drinking, 
 Tim observed : 
 
 44 Jasto, now, cold are my feet." 
 
 Jane knelt down on her knees and took 
 off his shoes and gave him a stool on 
 which to rest his feet. 
 
 Then Ben withdrew and stood in the 
 way of Sion's gate, and to the congregation 
 which passed he spoke : 
 
 " A rich man has come from Morfa to 
 weep joy under the Respected." 
 
 44 Speak you his name to us, man," 
 the congregation urged. 44 There's close 
 you are." 
 
 44 His name is Tim and his farm is 
 Deinol, and he has hundreds of acres of 
 land, and water flows through every field, 
 and the number of his servants is six. 
 Wicked animals, why you wait ? Go off 
 away to your pews and be presentable." 
 
 In the fulness of time Bern-Davydd came 
 into the House of the Capel and after he 
 had drunk of tea and eaten of bread and 
 215
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 butter he viewed Tim and Becca at a wide 
 space, and he came up to them, saying: 
 
 " Male and wife from where you are ? ' : 
 
 Tim and Becca made such reverence 
 as is due unto the Judge of Sion ; and 
 Tim also uncovered his head : "A little 
 old man am I to baldness. The wench is 
 my daughter Becca." 
 
 " Ho-ho," said Bern-Davydd. " Tidy 
 is the old wench." 
 
 "As he speaks, Religious Respected," 
 said Tim. 
 
 " In a nice White Shirt is my Mish tress," 
 said Bern-Davydd. " There's hard is my 
 sorrow. Ask you of the congregation." 
 
 " Sounds of his weeping have we heard 
 in Morfa," said Tim. 
 
 Bern-Davydd sang : " A grand woman 
 was the Mishtress. She obeyed her hus- 
 band and gave me two sons. The Big 
 Man gives and the Big Man takes away. 
 Blessed be the name of the Big Man." 
 
 "Amen, indeed. Amen. Amen," said Tim. 
 216
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 Bern-Davy dd asked : " Say you the 
 enterprise you have here ? " 
 
 " Come are we to hear him expound,' 
 answered Tim. 
 
 " Dear me, iss. Too religious am I to 
 spout about old business. Stop you, now, 
 farms fach very nice in the land." 
 
 " That he says. Speak him the farm at 
 the head of the old School ? " 
 
 " Think you of Penparc ? " 
 
 " No, no. High is the heap of manure 
 in the close of her." 
 
 " Is she not Llandwr ? " 
 
 " Iss, Llandwr. Farmer very strong 
 is Josi Llandwr ? " asked Tim. 
 
 " Indeed, so-so." 
 
 " Listen you, Becca," said Tim. 
 
 The woman said : " Ears have I got. 
 What for you think ? Beautiful are the 
 Respected's words." 
 
 " Explain in a whisper why you demand 
 about Josi ? " said Bern-Davydd. 
 
 " Not this way ; not that way. Heard 
 have I of the boy." 
 217
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " No odds, male bach." 
 
 " Iss iss ; no no," said Tim. " Bulky 
 is the purse his mother left him." 
 
 *' The Psalmist bach says : 4 Every 
 man is a liar.' " 
 
 " Wisdom very neat," said Tim. 
 
 " Read you, dear me, the Book of 
 Words. Now what the Psalmist mean ? 
 Every man. Not every ruler. The Big 
 Man's son am I." 
 
 " One waggled his tongue to me in this 
 way : ' Bulky is Josi's purse,' " said Tim. 
 
 Bern-Da vydd answered Tim : " Purses 
 cannot play the Harp. In the Abode 
 is the Mishtress's purse, and the Mishtress 
 is playing the Harp. Boys bach, weep 
 will I now badly." 
 
 In the middle of the day Tim and 
 Becca supped broth at Llandwr, and 
 Josi closed his beady eyes and said : 
 " Make words will I to the Large One." 
 
 Tim did not regard Josi's prayer, at 
 the finish of which he said : " Amen 
 218
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 now indeed to goodness . Closing is the 
 day. Do you now display your riches." 
 
 " Gladly would I do that for you," 
 replied Josi, " but is not this the Sabbath : 
 Jealous of His day is the Big Man. How 
 speeched He about the breaking of him ? " 
 
 " Religious your say," said Tim. 
 " Many blessings has the Famer given 
 to you." 
 
 " Large, indeed, Tim Deinol. If this 
 was an old week-day show you I would 
 my cattle and crops." 
 
 " For sure, boy bach." 
 
 " And I would say : ' Lucky is the 
 female I shall wed.' Youngish too am I : 
 no razor has yet touched the down on my 
 little face. Open my mouth I will now 
 about religion. The Temple of Solomon 
 was very pretty." 
 
 Tim considered with himself : " Much 
 was the gold inside." 
 
 " Male bach, iss. Did not Queen Sheba 
 give Solomon a lot ? Rich was Solomon, 
 219
 
 CAPEL SION 
 
 and Queen gave him above one hundred 
 and a half of yellow sovereigns." 
 
 " Prydderch in his Explanations says 
 that half a hundred was the sum. I could 
 not give Becca as much." 
 
 " Sorry am I that I threw gravel at 
 the window of your wench fach," said Josi. 
 " Well well, grand bit of sermon this 
 morning, man." 
 
 " How if Becca brings with her a 
 sow?" said Tim. " Queen Sheba gave 
 Solomon no pigs." 
 
 " Swine the little White Jesus called 
 pigs. Some were possessed. Ach y fi ! " 
 
 " The swine the Big Man spoke of," 
 said Tim, " were not the pigs we know. 
 Did He not speak in a parable ? " 
 
 " Tim Deinol," said Josi, " wrangle 
 you about the Word ? " Josi looked up 
 to God : " \Vhat do you think, now, Big 
 Man ! Tim Deinol denies the Word. 
 Is he not a iob ? " Thus saying he put 
 on him his coat and his hat, and he 
 feigned to go away. 
 
 220
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 His manner alarmed Tim, who laughed 
 as frightened persons are accustomed to 
 do. Tim said : " What is the matter with 
 the boy bach ? Swine are little pigs." 
 
 " And gold Queen Sheba gave Solomon," 
 said Josi. " Many sovereigns." 
 
 " Iss iss." 
 
 " The religous man gives all to his 
 children." 
 
 " As you say," said Tim. " Leave you 
 two will I now to say this and that." 
 Therewith he went out and looked into 
 Josi's barn, and he cast his gaze in search 
 of implements which are employed on 
 the land, and he studied the cattle 
 which were in the fields of Llandwr ; 
 and he turned into the house. He said 
 to Josi : " Wed you Becca fach. And 
 all I have shall be yours." Immediately 
 after he had spoken, he walked to the 
 doorway, and on the threshold he spoke : 
 " That's a handy machine separator you've 
 got, Josi." 
 
 221
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 " No, man, no old separator have I," 
 answered Josi. " Very useless she is." 
 
 " Save much cream she does," said Tim, 
 " when you have many cows." 
 
 "The wench of a servant skims my 
 cream," said Josi. 
 
 " Large is the labour, dear me. Well, 
 farewell, then, Josi." 
 
 Now at the moment that Tim and his 
 daughter were going away, Josi said : " Do 
 not go in secret. Pass you do the Shep- 
 herd's Abode. Pained will Bern-Davydd's 
 mind be if privily you off." 
 
 Even as Josi had desired, Tim stopped 
 his mare and shouted : " Helo, here. 
 Shall I say there are men in the Shepherd's 
 Abode ? " 
 
 " Come down, small people from Morfa," 
 said Ben-Davydd. " Reasoning with the 
 Big Man am I." 
 
 They two entered the Abode. 
 
 " Crafty boy is Josi Llandwr," said 
 Tim. 
 
 222
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 " Mouth you wisely," said the preacher. 
 " Base is the turk and miserable. Deceit 
 is in his clay and his debts are as many as 
 there are flowers in his land." 
 
 " Solemn serious, man nice ! Say him 
 more again." 
 
 " Low is the black. 4 Denounce you 
 Josi Llandwr in Sion, now, Bern,' 
 said the Big Man to me. ' God bach,' I 
 answered, c without passion am I, indeed. 
 And weary with sorrow.' The Big Man 
 answered : ' Bern, for why you did not 
 complain then, man ? Send a wife to 
 you I will in a hurry. But remember 
 that bad is the herring of Llandwr. Has 
 he not his eye on Becca Deinol ? His 
 old feet splay like the mouth of an avon." 
 
 " Thanks very great to you, religious 
 Respected," said Tim. " We in Saron 
 shall wail for a whole night for Mishtress 
 Bern-Davydd." 
 
 Tim and Becca stayed over the night at 
 the Shepherd's Abode, and in the morn- 
 223
 
 CAPEL SIGN 
 
 ing they arose, Tim saying : " Large 
 thanks, Respected. Off we go." 
 
 " Young is the day, dear me," answered 
 Bern-Davydd. " Wait you a time bach." 
 
 So Tim and Becca remained until near 
 twilight, and they rose again. 
 
 But Bern-Davydd said : " Don't you 
 leave me now, then. Gone to the Palace 
 has the Mishtress. Tarry you with me 
 until the morning." 
 
 As the light of that day was darkening 
 Tim said : " Walking am I for the horse." 
 
 " A terrible one you was," cried Bern- 
 Davydd. " Sit you down, you and the 
 wench." He turned his face away, and he 
 brought forth Sara's petticoat and frock. 
 Of these he said : " Stoutish was the 
 Mishtress. Take you off your affair, 
 Becca fach, and clothe yourself." 
 
 Becca put on herself Sara's frock 
 and petticoat, and she laughed, saying : 
 " Well well, a large woman I feel. 
 How shall I say?" 
 
 224
 
 THE COMFORTER 
 
 Bern-Davydd replied : " A miracle 
 bach the Big Father performed on Sara 
 Abram." He laid Sara's Sabbath boots 
 at Becca's feet, and he raised , his voice : 
 " Sit you down, Becca Tim Deinol, and 
 draw the boots on your feet." 
 
 Printed bg Butler ft Tuner Frame and London 
 
 Q 225
 
 How the Critics have welcomed "My People." 
 
 The Daily Telegraph. " Out of West Wales has come a book of remark- 
 able power. . . . We shall be surprised if ' My People ' does not arrest 
 popular attention." 
 
 The Outlook. " The book has left us entranced, left us amazed." 
 
 The English Review. " As social documents, as literature, they are 
 remarkable." 
 
 Westminster Gazette. " Nothing but artistic purpose, and the rarer en- 
 dowment of artistic capacity, could have carried a writer triumphantly through 
 his welter of meanness and brutality and hypocritical depravity. Mr. Evans 
 neither falters nor stoops." 
 
 Punch. " Quite one of the most remarkable books I have encountered for 
 a long time. ... I can best compare ' My People ' to the grimmest passages 
 of Hardy, told in the language of the Old Testament." 
 
 The Nation. " We know ourselves nothing to put beside the merciless, 
 sardonic silhouettes of Welsh peasant ways. . . . What is remarkable, incisive 
 edge and contracted force. Not a single comment or superfluous word mars 
 their tense directness." 
 
 The Sphere (Mr. Clement Shorter). " I am quite unable to withhold 
 admiration from this book. . . . To censure this book at the libraries is one of 
 the many gross impertinences of which they are guilty from time to rime." 
 
 The Bookman (Edwin Pugh). " I say now deliberately, I have never before 
 had brought to my notice so remarkable a first book as ' My People.' " 
 
 The Literary World. " ' My People ' gives ample evidence that Mr. Evans 
 is the most original and arresting writer modern Wales has produced." 
 
 Athenaeum (First Notice). " Mr. Evans knows his subject in and out. . . . 
 We see in his short stories the workings of a narrow creed, so hopelessly an- 
 thropomorphic as to specify the Almighty as the Big Man, devoid of spirituality 
 in its exaction of the sacrifice of a pig, followed by the personal intercession with 
 his Creator of the village preacher the ' Respected ' as he is called." 
 
 Evening Standard. " A strong, notable book, suggesting a strength not 
 fully demonstrated in these sketches." 
 
 Globe. " It is strong meat for strong men. It is never cynical only in- 
 exorably just." 
 
 Truth. " The Author is such an artist that you regret all the more his choice 
 of a subject of unrelieved ugliness." 
 
 The Observer. " This book is a revelation." 
 
 Boston Evening Transcript. " It portrays the Welsh peasant as he and 
 she have never been portrayed before ; we have nothing in modern literature to 
 compare with it." 
 
 Weekly Dispatch. " No one has arisen to dispute the truth of this book. 
 No critic has declared its frankness in any way offensive. . . . But the people 
 who sell books have combined to keep this terrible secret of West Wales as deeply 
 hidden as possible. Why?" 
 
 The Standard. " He is certainly one who should make a mark in literature." 
 
 Bystander. " As a literary document . . . My People ' is altogether out 
 of the ordinary. Here is drama, a certain grim humour, above all real power."
 
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