Then Marrag woke out of his dream with a start. He was relieved at first to find that he was still in the house, leaning against the cold clay wall. But when he looked towards the smoking fire in the centre of the floor he was afraid again. Garroch’s three women crouched there hungry, their eyes red with smoke, their fingers pointing. They did not smile at him as once they used. As Marrag’s mind came out of the caverns of sleep, he heard Gwraig say, ‘There is hardly enough for the little ones. He has eaten his belly full for years now. It is time for him to make way for the children.’
Then Garreg-wen, Garroch’s youngest woman had said, ‘Gwraig speaks true words, the Old Man eats as much as any of us. Yet if we put him on the hill before Garroch returns from the Fishers, he will be angry w
