"I am called Custennin, the son of Dyfnedig; and my brother Yspaddaden Penkawr oppressed me because of my possessions. And ye, also—who are ye?"
"We are an embassy from Arthur, come to seek Olwen, the daughter of Yspaddaden Penkawr."
"O men! the mercy of Heaven be upon you! Do not that for all the world. None who ever came hither on this quest has returned alive."
And the herdsman rose up. And, as he arose, Kilhwch gave unto him a ring of gold. And he sought to put on the ring, but it was too small for him: so he placed it in the finger of his glove. And he went home, and gave the glove to his spouse to keep. And she took the ring from the glove when it was given her, and she said, "Whence came this ring? For thou art not wont to have good fortune."
"I went," said he, "to the sea to seek for fish, and, lo, I saw a corpse borne by the waves. And a fairer corpse than it did I never behold. And from its finger did I take this ring."
"O man! does the sea permit its dead to wear jewels? Show me, then, this body."
"O wife! him to whom this ring belonged thou shalt see here in the evening."
"And who is he?" asked the woman.
"Kilhwch, the son of Kilydd, the son of Prince Kelyddon by Goleuddydd, the daughter of Prince Anlawdd, his mother, who is come to seek Olwen as his wife."
And, when she heard that, her feelings were divided between the joy that she had that her nephew, the son of her sister, was coming to her, and sorrow, because she had never known any one depart alive who had come on that quest.