CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 151 



spot where his head had been struck off, and this was flowing at 

 the time when Anselm wrote, near the tree that grew out of the 

 saint's walking stick. 



This spring has been drained away by the mines, and now 

 issues from an adit some way below the church. 



If we reduce all this fable to its elements, this is what we 

 arrive at. Fingar landed at the mouth of the Hayle estuary 

 and went to Connerton, where he spent the first night. Then he 

 went south. He had outstripped his companions, and was refresh- 

 ing himself at the Tregotha spring, when he was recalled by 

 the cries of his companions. 



All the nonsense about the march down hill to wash his head 

 was invented later to give some sanctity to the Tammis Well ; and 

 the curse on the hill was a local joke greedily picked up by 

 Anselm. The well at Tregotha is still regarded with superstitious 

 veneration ; recently, a young man whose arm had been broken 

 went daily to it, to plunge the limb in the water, under the belief 

 that this would suffice for setting and healing it. 



But to return to the legend. Tewdrig having accomplished 

 his bloody work departed, leaving the dead scattered where they 

 had been slain. 



The ensuing night a countryman named Grur (Gwyr) dreamed 

 that Fingar appeared to him and bade him bury him decently. 

 Gwyr woke up his wife, and told her his dream, but she bade him 

 do nothing of the kind, as Tewdrig might resent it. Next day he 

 went out hunting and pursued a stag which fled to the spot where 

 lay the body of Fingar, and fell down before it as if imploring 

 protection of the dead saint. The dogs also on coming up would 

 not touch the stag, but went down on the ground, with their tails 

 between their legs about the sacred body. G-wyr now at once 

 proceeded to bury Fingar on the spot, and he went about the scene 

 of the butchery burying all the rest. Some time after a church 

 was erected over the grave. 



Anselm finishes off the story with some tales of miracles per- 

 formedlater, that are not particularly dehcate. Where Anselm, the 

 writer of this wonderful legend lived, we have no means of 

 telling. That he knew the sites is obvious. He is particular in 

 describing them, but he is most vague relative to sites in Brittany. 



