The Pedestrian's Guide through North Wales / A tour performed in 1837

by G. J. Bennett

I remarked, as he spoke, an expression of countenance that told me he thought tale telling might prove more profitable than trout fishing; but I readily agreed to his proposition, and in a few minutes we were trudging, side by side, along the road towards the village.

I dare say, sir, you havn’t come so far, without seeing Cader Idris, or the Chair of Idris, as it is called, for Idris Gawr you must know, sir, was a famous giant of his day, but whether you have or not, he had a brother, sir, as I’ve been told, Dyn Ddu o’r’ Craig, which means the black man of the craig, who had a very fine castle upon the top of that precipice, at the foot of which you noticed those large pieces of rock. Well, sir, he never loved his brother, but he had a great liking for his niece; one of the prettiest girls, ’twas thought, ever seen in this part of the country; but she was to be married to a fine young hero, one of the knights of King Arthur’s round table, who had done wonders for her sake, and made all the world confess Merch Idris was the most beautiful creature in the world.

Well, sir, she was mortally afraid of her uncle, for he had a head as big as the top of Snowdon, and a forest of whiskers, and a beard that a man might take a day’s shooting in, without tearing his coat with the branches; so that he never could be conquered, having so much game in him, ha! ha! ha!—You’ll excuse me, sir, but what a comfortable thing it must be for a man to catch birds enough in his whiskers, to serve him for dinner!—Well, sir, it happened that Merch Idris was benighted between Capel Curig and her father’s castle, and, as she had only one attendant, and he was a poor weak coward, you may easily suppose she was for getting home as fast as possible; but a storm came on, and the night closed round them, and by some means or other they lost their way; for you know, sir, at that time there were no turnpike roads, as there are now, and they wandered about upon their merlins until nightfall, without knowing what part of the world they were in; when all of a sudden, the servant’s beast, who went first, sank into a bog, up to his neck; and his rider began to roar for help so loudly, that the lady’s animal took fright, set off at full speed, and never stopped until they came to the gates of a large castle. The night was so dark, she couldn’t make out whether she had ever seen it before or not; however, she thought it would be better to blow the horn at the gate, and ask for shelter, than wander about the mountains all night, at the risk of breaking her neck, or being smothered in a quagmire. So she blew a blast (for at that time o’ day every great lady played upon some instrument or other, and this young lady surpassed all others upon the horn) so loud, that presently a warden called out from the top of a tower. “Who’s there?” Well, she mustered up courage enough to say, she was “A lady in great distress.”

“Oho!” says the warden, and off he set. Now the young lady scarcely knew how to take the salutation of the warden, whether it was meant friendly or otherwise. She had not pondered long upon those mysterious sounds, when the portcullis was raised, and the first living thing she saw was her tremendous uncle Dyn Ddu o’r’ Craig! with a hundred torches behind him, ready to welcome her into his castle. You may be sure she was not much pleased at his presence, and regretted that she had not held out till the morning. But she had gone too far, and so she went in, and the iron grating was closed again, with a sound that struck terror into her pretty heart. Now it so happened that Sir Tristram (that was the name of her lover) was staying with her father, Idris Gawr; and they were both of them puzzled what to think when Merch Idris didn’t reach home at the time they expected her. So the knight mounted his charger and gallopped off one way, and Idris took up his club and walked off the other, to search for her. All this time, the villain of an uncle was trying to wheedle the fair maid, his niece, to marry him; and, when he found her deaf to his monstrous wishes, he flew into a mighty passion, and dragged her to the top of the precipice, by the hair of her head, and swore, in a most unchristian manner, that he would pitch her over, if she didn’t consent.

But just as he was about to put his threat into execution, he heard a horse at full gallop behind him; so he turned round just time enough to avoid the slashing sword of Sir Tristram, who made a determined cut at his head, that would have taken it clean off, if he hadn’t have ducked. Well, he was fain to let go the lady to save himself from the fury of the knight, although he didn’t think much of him. But he pulled up a tree, and he made a mighty blow at him, which the knight, by the blessing of providence, escaped; but the horse wasn’t so fortunate, for it fell upon the poor creature’s head, and smashed it to atoms. Well, the knight began to think the giant “too much of a horse” for him; and so he blew three notes upon his bugle, which was the appointed signal between him and Idris, and no sooner had he done so, than it was answered.

“And now,” said Sir Tristram, “my fine fellow, you’ll have your match in a minute; and sure enough, as he spoke, Dyn Ddu o’r’ Craig saw his brother running at the rate of half a mile a stride. Well, he was greatly perplexed what to do; but he thought he had better get into the castle. So, he took Merch Idris under his left arm, and kept the knight off with the roots of the tree. However, he couldn’t reach the gates in time.

“And now,” says Idris to his brother, “you ruffian,” says he, “what are you going to do with my daughter? Put her down, or I’ll smash you, as I do this tower!” and with that he hit a turret of the castle, and it flew about in all directions. “Why then,” says the other, “I think I can do as great a feat as that.” So he knocked the other turret on the head, and drove it clean down into the earth, so that not a brick of it was seen above ground! Well, with that the two giants began to bang each other with their cudgels, till they were black and blue, while Sir Tristram and the lady ran off to Cader Idris, as fast as they could, to get out of harm’s way.

Idris was the stronger giant of the two, and after three hours’ hard fighting, you wouldn’t have known them for human beings; but Idris having got Dyn with his back to the precipice, (where he threatened to throw the poor young lady over) hit him, with all his force, such a blow on the nose as made him stagger back and roll right over the edge of the craig. Well, he rolled and he rolled, till he got to the place where you were standing, and then he stopped; but he was quite dead. Then the famous Idris, seeing his brother lie like a huge bundle of rags, without motion, by the side of the stream, tore off a large piece from the top of the mountain, and throwing it with great force, it lit full upon the giant as he lay, while his conqueror roared out, in a voice that was heard at Carnaervon,—“Good rest to you, brother Dyn! there’s a nightcap for you!”

And ever since, that piece of rock has been called “the Giant’s Nightcap.”

We soon obtained a view of the lakes that spread themselves before us—viz.: Lyn Peris and Lyn Padarn, with the romantic castle of Dolbadarn upon its rocky promontory. On issuing from a pass on our left, as my companion informed me, is a valuable copper mine, and a stream of water conveyed over the road, by the aid of a wooden conduit, into the lake, which stream, he said, was for the use of the mine.