Among the marvellous objects described are Arthur’s sword and mantle (called Gwenn), but the story-teller does not let his fancy play around them so freely as around most of the things he depicts. The sword was in the keeping of “Kadwr, earl of Cornwall,” whose duty it was to “arm the king on the days of battle.” “And the similitude of two serpents was upon the sword in gold. And when it was drawn from its scabbard, it seemed as if two flames of fire burst forth from the jaws of serpents.” Gwenn, the mantle, was “of diapered satin” with “an apple of ruddy gold at each corner thereof,” and “it was one of its properties that upon whomsoever it was put, he became lost to sight though he himself could see every one.” Arthur himself is, in this tale, constantly referred to as “the Emperor,” and he is first met with “sitting on a flat island” below the Ford of the Cross on the Severn, “with Bedwini the Bishop on one side of him, and Gwarthegydd, the son of Kaw, on the other.” Among his retainers are his “cousin” March (or Mark), the son of Meirchion, prince of “the men of Norway”; Edern, the son of Nudd, prince of “the men of Denmark”; Kai, “the fairest horseman in all Arthur’s Court”; and a host of others, many of whose names appear in the long catalogue given in _Kulhwch and Olwen_. Some of these names, such as Tristan, the son of Tallwch, and Peredur of the Long Lance, bring us into touch with the later developments of Arthurian romance. The other three _Mabinogion_, so called, in which Arthur figures,--_The Lady of the Fountain_, _Geraint_, and _Peredur_,--will be noticed in a subsequent chapter, for these stories, whether they were directly based upon French originals or not, palpably belong to a period when the Arthurian legends had been, or were being, exploited for romantic purposes by French writers. The natural transition from such stories as _Kulhwch and Olwen_ is to the Welsh Triads, the oldest group of which certainly contain traditions about Arthur as archaic as anything to be found in either the poems or the prose tales already reviewed. Here, only a few of the more significant allusions to Arthur contained in them need be quoted. Arthur is first mentioned in connection with Medraut’s, or Modred’s, treachery, and he is described--much as in Geoffrey’s Chronicle--as conducting a victorious campaign against the Romans. The final battle with the Romans, of which Geoffrey gives so elaborate an account, is said to take place “beyond Mount Mynneu,” and in it Arthur encounters, and slays with his own hand, the Roman Emperor himself.[62] Modred, who had been left in charge of Britain, hearing of the grievous slaughter of Arthur’s “best men” in this battle, revolts. Arthur returns, “and then took place the battle of Camlan between Arthur and Medraut, when Arthur slew Medraut, and Arthur himself was mortally wounded; and _he was buried in a palace in the isle of Avallach_.” In another Triad, Arthur is made responsible for