bird of the roof must build its nest in Gwyn dy."

"You call a sparrow in your Welsh a bird of the roof, do you not?"
said I.

"We do," said he of the hat. "You speak Welsh very well
considering you were not born in Wales. It is really surprising
that the men of Llydaw should speak the iaith so pure as they do."

"The Welsh when they went over there," said I, "took effectual
means that their descendants should speak good Welsh, if all tales
be true."

"What means?" said he of the hat.

"Why," said I; "after conquering the country they put all the men
to death, and married the women, but before a child was born they
cut out all the women's tongues, so that the only language the
children heard when they were born was pure Cumraeg. What do you
think of that?"

"Why, that it was a cute trick," said he of the hat.

"A more clever trick I never heard," said the man of the cap.

"Have you any memorials in the neighbourhood of the old Welsh?"
said I.

"What do you mean?" said the man of the hat.