The hours slid by , and all was still , so still that Manawyddan well-nigh dropped asleep . But at midnight there arose the loudest tumult in the world , and peeping out he beheld a mighty host of mice , which could neither be numbered nor measured . Each mouse climbed up a straw till it bent down with its weight , and then it bit off one of the ears , and carried it away , and there was not one of the straws that had not got a mouse to it . Full of wrath he rushed at the mice , but he could no more come up with them than if they had been gnats , or birds of the air , save one only which lingered behind the rest , and this mouse Manawyddan came up with . Stooping down he seized it by the tail , and put it in his glove , and tied a piece of string across the opening of the glove , so that the mouse could not escape . When he entered the hall where Kieva was sitting , he lighted a fire , and hung the glove up on a peg . ` What hast thou there ? ' asked she . ' A thief , ' he answered , ` that I caught robbing me . ' ` What kind of a thief may it be which thou couldst put in thy glove ? ' said Kieva . ` That I will tell thee , ' he replied , and then he showed her how his fields of corn had been wasted , and how he had watched for the mice . ` And one was less nimble than the rest , and is now in my glove . To-morrow I will hang it , and I only wish I had them all . ' ` It is a marvel , truly , ' said she , ` yet it would be unseemly for a man of thy dignity to hang a reptile such as this . Do not meddle with it , but let it go . ' ` Woe betide me , ' he cried , ` if I would not hang them all if I could catch them , and such as I have I will hang . ' ` Verily , ' said she , ` there is no reason I should succour this reptile , except to prevent discredit unto thee . ' ` If I knew any cause that I should succour it , I would take thy counsel , ' answered Manawyddan , ` but as I know of none , I am minded to destroy it . ' ` Do so then , ' said Kieva .
So he went up a hill and set up two forks XXXXX the top , and while he was doing this he saw a scholar coming towards him , whose clothes were tattered .
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