"Once I was harsh with a boy,"[11] said he. "And my harshness was because of this blemished volume. I thank thee, Lily, for bringing that sin of anger to my mind. The child, whom I had permitted to read my office-book, left it out of doors upon a rainy day. For penance I sent him to lie at full length upon the sand of the shore at Porth Mawr; and in the press of business I forgot for many hours where I had bidden him bide. When at last I ran to find him, the waves were licking his body, and half-drowned was he.... My son," the saint continued, addressing Cynyr, "hast thou not told me that the direst of thy assailant demons is a living woman, and no bloodless spirit?" [11] St. Aidan, bishop of Ferns. "Indeg daughter of Maenarch pesters and torments me, so that the thought of her is an ever-present temptation. Great hate and scorn has she for me, and her strength she spends in striving for my downfall. She does come bringing bannuts,[12] for she knows I love to eat them!" [12] Walnuts. "My father," Lily interposed, "they say that the girl is here." "Well, indeed, now," said David, "let her come forth." Several women pushed a maiden into the middle of the ring formed by the assembly. She seemed to have been weeping, for her eyelids were flushed; she shook her dark hair over her face, and clutched her hands together and plucked at a ring she wore. "Daughter," said David, "why do you torment and pester Cynyr son of Cyngen, a hermit seeking God?" Her lips moved. Some thought she whispered hoarsely: "I do not!" "Dost thou hate Cynyr?" "I hate him in my heart!" cried she. "I will hang him from yonder ash-tree," said David with a mocking twinkle, "to-morrow at dawn." "No, no!" she shrieked. "Mercy, mercy! Holy David, there is cruel he is! Spare him--spare Cynyr----" "Peace, woman!" David's face had become a mask of fury, but his voice was mellifluous. "Nothing will thy tongue avail thee. Thou hast wrought devilish magic, and surely we shall slay thee as a witch!" "Myn Duw!" shouted Cynyr the novice, tossing his arms on high. "Do not so! I was mistaken--there is mad I have been. David has cleared the covering from my eyes! I love Indeg...." "And thou, Indeg," said David softly, "dost thou love Cynyr?" Said she, more softly still: "I like him ... as well as I like any man." "Our Lord God lays hold upon His own," cried David, "and, Teilo, there is no need to grab souls for him. Rhaint mab Brychan, wilt thou adopt this Cynyr into thy tribe, when he shall have sojourned with thee the accustomed number of years? He will make a brave fighting-man, though not in the picked army of heaven." "Yes, indeed!" replied Rhaint the King. "I am David's servant, to do his bidding."