CHAPTER VI.
ROBBERIES FROM FAIRYLAND.
The tale of Elidorus—Celtic and Teutonic stories of theft from supernatural beings—The thief unsuccessful—Cases of successful robbery—Robbery from the king of the serpents—Robbery of a drinking-cup, or horn—The horn of Oldenburg and similar vessels—The Luck of Edenhall—The cup of Ballafletcher—These vessels sacrificial and pagan.
The earliest writers who allude to the Welsh fairy tradtions are Giraldus Cambrensis and Walter Map, two members of that constellation of literary men which rendered brilliant the early years of the Plantagenet dynasty. Giraldus, with whom alone we have to do in this chapter, lays the scene of what is perhaps his most famous story near Swansea, and states that the adventures narrated occurred a short time before his own days. The story concerns one Elidorus, a priest, upon whose persistent declarations it is founded. This good man in his youth ran away from the discipline and frequent stripes of his preceptor, and hid himself under the hollow bank of a river. There he remained fasting for two days; and then two men of pigmy stature appeared, and invited him to come with them, and they would lead him into a country full of delights and sports. A more powerful temptation could not have been offered to a runaway schoolboy of twelve years old; and the invitation was speedily accepted. He accompanied his guides into a subterranean land, where he found a people of small stature but pure morals. He was brought into the presence of the king, and by him handed over to his son, who
