According to an old Welsh ballad, Owen Lawgoch does not sleep in a cave in Wales, but "tarries in a foreign land"; and Dr. O. T. Lewis, of the University College, addressing the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, November 30th, 1910, stated that the garrison at Aberystwyth "was increased in 1369, when Owen Lawgoch with his French auxiliaries were expected from beyond the seas." CHAPTER XII. LOCAL TRADITIONS, Etc. LLANDDEWI BREFI. This parish is celebrated for its legendary lore; and no wonder for it is a spot of great historic interest. There is a tradition current in the neighbourhood to the effect that it was originally intended to build the Church of Llanddewi Brefi in a field on Godregarth farm, and that the work was actually commenced on that spot, but the attempt to build there was constantly frustrated, for that which was set up during the day was pulled down in the night by a Spirit, and all the material removed or carried to the spot where the Parish Church now stands. The field pointed out by tradition is about a mile away from the village, and yew trees are still to be seen there. According to another most ancient tradition, when the Church was in process of construction, two oxen known as the "Ychain Bannog" were employed to draw the stone required for the building. The load was so heavy that one of the two oxen died in the attempt to drag it forward; but before falling down dead he bellowed nine times, and so powerful was the echo that the hill, which before presented itself as an obstacle, divided or split in two. The other ox alone was then able to bring the load unassisted to the site of the Church. "Llanddewi Brefi fraith, Lle brefodd yr ych naw gwaith, Nos hollti craig y Foelallt." (Llanddewi Brefi the spotted, Where the ox bellowed nine times, Till Foelallt rock split in two.) According to another version of the story, it was the ox which survived was the one that bellowed, and not the one that died. According to another story given in Meyrick's History of Cardiganshire, these two Bannog Oxen were on one occasion used to draw "away a monstrous beaver dead"; but this is only a version of a legend which is to be found in several parts of Wales, and is founded on the older story of Hu Gadarn, or Hu the Mighty, who, with his Bannog Oxen, drew to land the avanc out of Llyn Llion, so that the lake burst out no more to deluge the earth. See "Legend of Llyn y ddau Ychain" in Folk-Lore of North Wales, by the late Rev. E. Owen, page 132. The two Ychain Bannog of Llanddewi were sometimes called "dau ychain Dewi" (St. David's two oxen). In a poem written in the Twelfth Century, the Welsh Bard Gwynfardd Brycheiniog alludes to the old tradition as follows:-- "Dau ychan Dewi, deu odidawe, Dodyssant eu gwar dan garr kynawe, Dau ychen Dewi ardderchawe oeddynt."