And Peredur rode armed into a court,

Neglected, and pathetic with strewn leaves

And offal, where the weed and wire-grass

Creviced with wisps the loose and broken stones:

And overhead, around the mournful walls,

Huge oaks thrust ancient boughs of mistletoe

And withered leaves, whose twisted wildness seemed

The beckoning arms of hunger, and the hands,

Hooked and distorted, darkly threatening,

Of murder; enemies that, pitiless,