The entrance to this spot is blocked up by a large piece of rock, and the following legend is seriously related by the old women of the neighbourhood.
OGO AP SHENKIN.
In the reign of our seventh Henry, when the civil wars which desolated the hearths of rich and poor, ceased to afflict the nation, and peace and plenty once more spread their smiling influence throughout the land, there lived near this village a man, called Jordan ap Jordan, a wood-cutter and goatherd, whose time was occupied between watching his goats upon the mountains, and felling trees in the forest. He was a short square built man, with a squint eye and a blue nose. He was thought to be half distracted between the desires of a miser, and the vices of a drunkard; for, whenever one passion predominated, he raved like a bedlamite at the other, and he who shunned him in the morning for his sordid qualities would fairly take to his heels at full speed, to avoid him in the evening when he was in his cups.
Jordan was, therefore, generally shunned by his neighbours, and would often repair to the bridge of the Caldron, to meditate upon future wealth, or to roar out his bacchanalian stanzas to his unwearied companion the waterfall. He was fond of a thundering accompaniment, and here he was gratified to his heart’s fondest wish. The superstitious peasantry were often alarmed, as they passed the bridge after twilight, to their several homes, to hear his unearthly raving mingled with the sound of the cataracts, and to see his ungainly form perched upon the parapet of the bridge, which they often mistook for an evil spirit. One morning, before daybreak, as he was gradually recovering from his evening’s excess, the grasping fiend of avarice seized upon his heart, as was often the case, when he reflected on his extravagance on the foregoing night; and, after venting many bitter curses upon all earthly spirits (alias drams) prayed most devoutly to all spirits, celestial, for a plentiful accession of worldly pelf, to add to his store, which he had concealed in the hollow of a certain tree; when “a still small voice,” which even the roar of the torrent permitted him to hear, whispered to him that Ogo ap Shenkin might contain “something worth seeking for.”
This cave, as I have before mentioned, was the retreat of the celebrated Shenkin; and, although the bold outlaw had long ceased to commit his depredations, the place of his resort was held in dread by the superstitious peasantry, who firmly believed that his spirit was to be seen every night, prowling about the gap, to terrify and torment all poor souls who ventured to wander near this haunted ground.
The woodman pricked up his ears at the sound of the voice, and, after turning the thing over and over again in his mind, and weighing the pros and cons in the scale of his bewildered judgment, he determined to venture on the experiment. “For,” thought he, “though ghosts walk by night, I never heard of their venturing out by day;” and hastening home he replenished his bottle, which he thought it prudent to take with him in case of frights and sights, which an application to it might enable him to endure with fortitude.
It was yet grey morning, and the mist still lay in the valley, as Jordan ap Jordan advanced his blue light in the direction of Shenkin’s cave; one eye peering in the direction of the hollow, and the other traversing the craggy mountain tops and down the hills’ sides, like a vagrant scout watching the enemy’s motions or looking out for squalls.
The heavy fog was now fast rising on the mountain’s side, obscuring the mouth of the cave so completely that Jordan was very often compelled to apply his mouth to the flask, in order to rectify the effects of the unwholesome dew, which he inhaled by gallons.
Thicker and thicker came on the fog, and lighter and lighter became the flask; until what with one thing, and the other, he scarce knew whether his track lay to the right, or to the left; and, but for the consolation of the spirit, he would infallibly have been routed by terror; but as it was, he only acknowledged to being overcome with liquor, and his reluctance to confess so much was only conquered on finding himself stretched half way into the cave, without the power of resuming his standing position. While he lay thus sprawling and unable to rise, gazing with “lack lustre eye” into the gloomy recess, he fancied he beheld some lights flickering at a distance, dancing up and down, and running to and fro! His hair stood on end with fright, his eyes almost started from his head with curiosity, and the liquor evaporating, as his terror became stronger, he miraculously recovered the use of his legs, which he instantly endeavoured to make use of in escaping from the cavern. But, to his utter consternation, he discovered that the entrance was closed up, and an appalling noise of a long drawn, ba-a-a-a-a! made him look once more in the direction of the lights.
He now fancied he saw only two, but they grew larger and larger, till they resembled two moons. And presently he heard a buzzing sound, as if a thousand bees were about his ears; and on a sudden the cave became lighted up with a thousand torches, for it seemed to have expanded to an incredible magnitude; and, in the centre, upon a huge oaken chest well bound with iron clasps, stood a goat of prodigious size, with a beard which seemed to be of ten times the magnitude commonly given by artists to Aaron the high priest. Full, shaggy, and venerable did it appear. His horns, like mighty corkscrews, issued from his forehead, terminating in two portentous points; and his eyes,—for they were his eyes, which Jordan’s disconcerted vision had mistaken for moons—were fixed upon a clasped book, the leaves of which he was deliberately turning over with his right fore hoof, as if he cared no more for Jordan ap Jordan’s proximity, than if he had been one of his own species.