Built on a crag of rock that juts from a terrace two hundred feet above the plain, stand the great stone towers, looking towards the majestic range of Snowdon to the north, and guarding the wide stretch of country below; while to the west they gaze over the Irish Sea. Legend tells us that the castle stands upon the site of a far more ancient building, Branwen’s Tower, which stood there a thousand years before English Edward was heard of. Bran the Blessed was King of Britain in those days, and with him in his fortress at Harlech lived his sister, Branwen, the fairest maiden in all the land. Now, one day, says the legend, Bran was at Harlech with his brothers and his followers, and sat with them upon the great rock overlooking the sea. And as they sat they saw thirteen ships coming from Ireland and making straight towards them. Then Bran the Blessed raised himself and said: “I see swift ships coming to this land. See that my officers equip themselves right well and go to find out their errand.” So the officers did so, and when the ships drew near the shore, behold, they saw that they were very richly furnished, with ropes of silk and flags of satin. And in the foremost stood one who lifted a shield high above the bulwarks, and the point of the shield was held upward in token of peace. Then the strangers landed, and when they had saluted the King, Bran from his rock said unto them: “Heaven prosper you, my friends. To whom do these ships belong, and who amongst you is your chief?” And they said: “Behold, the King of Ireland, Matholwch, is here as suitor unto thee, and he will not land unless thou grant him his desire.” “And what is his desire?” asked the King. And they said: “He would make alliance with thee, lord, by taking in marriage Branwen, thy fair sister; that, if it seem good to thee, the Island of the Mighty might be joined to the Island of the Blessed, and so both become more powerful.” “Let him land,” said King Bran, “and we will take counsel together upon this matter.” So the two Kings met in friendly wise, and it was arranged that Matholwch should marry Branwen, the fairest damsel in the land, and that the wedding should take place at Aberffraw, in Anglesey. There a great feast was held, all in tents, “for no house could contain Bran the Blessed.” But when the banquet was at its height, came in the bride’s half-brother, Evnyssian, and, out of spite, because he had not been consulted in the matter, he went to the stables where the horses of the Irish King had been housed, and “cut off their lips to the teeth and their ears close to their heads, and their tails close to their backs, and their eyelids to the bone.” In his wrath, when he discovered this, the Irish King would have broken off the alliance and declared war there and then, but Bran managed to appease his anger by giving him “a silver rod as tall as himself and a plate of gold as wide as his face;” and so he sailed away to the Isle of Saints with his fair bride.