Arnulph De Montgomery, {110} In The Reign
Of King Henry I., Erected Here A Slender Fortress With Stakes And
Turf, Which, On Returning To England, He Consigned To The Care Of
Giraldus De Windesor, {111} His Constable And Lieutenant-General, A
Worthy And Discreet Man.
Immediately on the death of Rhys son of
Tewdwr, who a short time before had been slain by the treachery of
his own troops at Brecheinoc, leaving his son, Gruffydd, a child,
the inhabitants of South Wales besieged the castle.
One night, when
fifteen soldiers had deserted, and endeavoured to escape from the
castle in a small boat, on the following morning Giraldus invested
their armour bearers with the arms and estates of their masters, and
decorated them with the military order. The garrison being, from
the length of the siege, reduced to the utmost want of provisions,
the constable, with great prudence and flattering hopes of success,
caused four hogs, which yet remained, to be cut into small pieces
and thrown down to the enemy from the fortifications. The next day,
having again recourse to a more refined stratagem, he contrived that
a letter, sealed with his own signet, should be found before the
house of Wilfred, {112} bishop of St. David's, who was then by
chance in that neighbourhood, as if accidentally dropped, stating
that there would be no necessity of soliciting the assistance of
earl Arnulph for the next four months to come. The contents of
these letters being made known to the army, the troops abandoned the
siege of the castle, and retired to their own homes. Giraldus, in
order to make himself and his dependants more secure, married Nest,
the sister of Gruffydd, prince of South Wales, by whom he had an
illustrious progeny of both sexes; and by whose means both the
maritime parts of South Wales were retained by the English, and the
walls of Ireland afterwards stormed, as our Vaticinal History
declares.
In our time, a person residing at the castle of Penbroch, found a
brood of young weasels concealed within a fleece in his dwelling
house, which he carefully removed and hid. The mother, irritated at
the loss of her young, which she had searched for in vain, went to a
vessel of milk that had been set aside for the use of the master's
son, and raising herself up, polluted it with her deadly poison;
thus revenging, as it were, the loss of her young, by the
destruction of the child. The man, observing what passed, carried
the fleece back to its former place; when the weasel, agitated by
maternal solicitude, between hope and fear, on finding again her
young, began to testify her joy by her cries and actions, and
returning quickly to the vessel, overthrew it; thus, in gratitude
for the recovery of her own offspring, saving that of her host from
danger.
In another place, an animal of the same species had brought out her
young into a plain for the enjoyment of the sun and air; when an
insidious kite carried off one of them.
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