It might be speculated that this kind of list, which seems deeply out of place in an otherwise relatively pacy narrative, might survive in such stories as a hang-over from oral tradition, where they might be regarded as some kind of memory feat. Caesar* [caes.gal.6.14] notes that the British Celts regarded memory as of paramount importance, and that they never wrote anything down (unfortunately for us) to improve it. Certainly the Welsh Triads (see, for example, Bromwich*) appear to be mnemonics for storytellers or poets. In part the court list is derived from the poem Pa gur yw y porthaur* in the Black Book of Carmarthen (see Other Works).