Thereafter Arthur and his household were in the Island of Britain. And one day Kai and Bedour went and sat upon a beacon cairn on the top of the mountain Plinlimmon, in the highest wind that ever was in the world.
Then looking around them they saw to the south, afar off, a great smoke that did not bend with the wind. Kai, looking at it, said, “By the hand of my friend, yonder is the fire of a robber.” They hastened toward the smoke; they came so near to it that they could see a huge wild man scorching a boar. “Behold, yonder is the greatest robber that ever fled from Arthur,” said Bedour. “Dost thou know him?” said Kai. “I know him,” said Bedour, “he is Dillus the Bearded.” “And there is no leash in the world,” said Kai, “that will hold Drudwin, the Little Dog of Greit, save a leash made from the beard of this Dillus.” “Even that will be useless,” said Bedour, “unless his beard be plucked alive from his face with wooden tweezers; if his beard be plucked out when he is dead, it will be brittle and it will not hold the Little Dog of Greit. What should we do to pluck his beard out?” “Let us suffer him,” said Kai, “to eat as much as he will of the meat, and then fall asleep, and after that we may be able to pluck the beard from his face.”
They hid, and they watched the huge robber cook and then eat the whole of the boar. While he was cooking it and eating it they made wooden tweezers. And when they knew that Dillus was asleep, when his loud snores came to them, they made a pit under his feet. They thrust the huge robber into the pit, and they filled the pit up with clay so that he could not move in it. And while Dillus the Robber was held in this way, they plucked out his beard with the wooden tweezers, and out of his beard they made the leash that would hold Drudwin, the Little Dog of Greit.
It was Arthur who obtained the Little Dog of Greit. A little while before this a maiden whose name was Creidulad was betrothed to a youth named Gwythur. But before she became his bride Creidulad was carried away by force by Gwyn. Then Gwythur gathered up his forces and he attacked Gwyn. But Gwyn overcame him and captured many of Gwythur’s nobles. And amongst the nobles captured was Greit who owned the dog Drudwin.
When Arthur heard of this war he went into the North, and he summoned Gwyn before him. And the nobles whom Gwyn had captured, Arthur caused to be liberated. He made a peace between Gwythur and Gwyn, and the peace was on the condition that the maiden should remain in her father’s house without advantage to either of the chieftains who had fought for her, and that they should fight for her every first of May, from thenceforth until the day of doom, and that whichever of them should then be conqueror should have the maiden for his bride.
For having reconciled the chieftains Arthur was given Greit’s dog, Drudwin. The leash that could hold the Little Dog of Greit was already in Arthur’s keeping, and all was ready for the hunting of the boar Yskithyrwyn.
The boar was in the North and Arthur was in the North. Gado, King of North Britain, was there too. They went to the chase of the boar, the chief huntsman leading the Little Dog of Greit, held by the leash that was made out of the beard of Dillus the Robber. Arthur came leading his own hound, Cavall. And Gado, mounted on Arthur’s mare Lamrei, was first to attack the boar. He wielded a mighty ax, and, greatly daring, he came valiantly up to the boar, and clove his head in twain. But the boar was not killed by that stroke. A hound held him while Odgar, the son of the King of Ireland, plucked the tusk out of his jaw. Now the boar was not slain by the dogs Yspaddaden had spoken of, but by Cavall, Arthur’s own dog.
Kai and Bedour went through the land together. They came to a vast castle, the largest surely in the world. And, behold! a man, huger than three of the biggest men they had ever seen, came forth out of the castle. They spoke to him, and said, “Whence comest thou, O man?” “From the castle which you see yonder.” “Whose castle is that?” they asked. “Stupid are ye truly, O men. There is no one in the world that does not know to whom that castle belongs. It is the castle of Gurnach the Giant.”
Then they said to the huge man, “What treatment is there for guests and strangers who alight at the castle?” “O Chieftains, Heaven protect you,” said the man. “No guest ever returned thence alive, and no one may ever enter therein unless he is a craftsman bringing a craft with him.”
On hearing the huge man say this, Kai went toward the castle. “Open the gate,” he said. “I will not open it,” said the porter. “Wherefore wilt thou not?” “The knife is in the meat, and the drink is in the horn, and there is revelry within the hall of Gurnach the Giant. Except for a craftsman who brings his craft, the gate will not be opened this night.” “Verily, porter,” said Kai, “I bring a craft with me.” “What is thy craft?” said the Giant’s porter. “I am the best burnisher of swords in the world.” “I will go and tell this to Gurnach the Giant, and I will bring thee an answer,” said the porter.
The porter went into the hall, and Gurnach the Giant said to him, “Hast thou any news from the gate?” “There is a man at the portal who desires to come in,” said the porter. “Didst thou inquire of him if he possessed a craft?” “I did inquire.” “And what answer did he make you?” “He told me that he was a man well skilled in the burnishing of swords.” “Then I have need of him. For a long time I have sought for some one who might polish my famous sword, and I found no one. Let this man enter, since he brings with him his craft.”
The porter thereupon returned and opened the gate. Kai went in by himself. And when he entered the hall he saluted Gurnach the Giant, and a chair was placed for him opposite the Giant’s. Gurnach said to him: “O man, is it true what is reported of thee, that thou knowest how to burnish swords?” “I know full well how to do so,” answered Kai. Then Gurnach called on his attendants, and the famous sword was brought to Kai.
Kai took a blue whetstone from under his arm; he asked the Giant whether he would have his sword burnished white or blue. “Do with it as it seems good to thee,” answered the Giant. Then Kai polished one half of the blade and put the sword in the Giant’s hand. “Will this please thee?” he asked. “I would that the whole of the blade was like the part you have polished,” said the Giant. And then he said to himself, “When the whole of the blade is polished, I will slay him.”