Taliesin
part 8
And when the king and his nobles had heard the song, they wondered much, for they had never heard the like from a boy so young as he. And when the king knew that he was the bard of Elphin, he bade Heinin, his first and wisest bard, to answer Taliesin and to strive with him. But when he came, he could do no other, but play "blerwm" on his lips ; and when he sent for the others of the four-and-twenty bards, they all did likewise, and could do no other. And Maelgwn asked the boy Taliesin what was his errand, and he
answered him in song.
"Puny bards, I am trying to secure the prize, if I can;
By a gentle prophetic strain I am endeavouring to retrieve
The loss I may have suffered; complete the attempt I hope,
Since Elphin endures trouble in the fortress of Teganwy,
On him may there not be laid too many chains and fetters;
The Chair of the fortress of Teganwy will I again seek;
Strengthened by my muse I am powerful; mighty on my part is what I seek,
For three hundred songs and more are combined in the spell I sing.
There ought not to stand where I am neither stone, neither ring;
And there ought not to be about me any bard who may not know
Is in the land of Artro, secured by thirteen locks,
For praising his instructor; and then I Taliesin,
Chief of the bards of the west, shall loosen Elphin
Out of a golden fetter."
If you be primary bards to the master of sciences,
Declare ye mysteries that relate to the inhabitants of the world;
There is a noxious creature, from the rampart of Satanas,
Which has overcome all between the deep and the shallow;
Equally wide are his jaws as the mountains of the Alps;
Him death will not subdue, nor hand or blades;
There is the load of nine hundred waggons in the hair of his two pawsT
here is in his head an eye green as the limpid sheet of icicle;
Three springs arise in the nape of his neck;
Sea-roughs thereon swim through it;
There was the dissolution of the oxen of Deivrdonwy the water-gifted.
The names of the three springs from the midst of the ocean;
One generated brine which is from the Corina,
To replenish the flood over seas disappearing;
The second, without injury it will fall on us,
When there is rain abroad, through the whelming sky
The third will appear through the mountain veins,
Like a flinty banquet.
The work of the King of kings, you are blundering bards,
In too much solicitude; you cannot celebrate
The kingdom of the Britons; and I am Taliesin,
Chief of the bards of the west, who will loosen Elphin
Out of the golden fetter."
Be silent, then, ye unlucky rhyming bards,
For you cannot judge between truth and falsehood.
If you be primary bards formed by heaven,
Tell your king what his fate will be.
It is I who am a diviner and a leading bard,
And know every passage in the country of your king;
I shall liberate Elphin from the belly of the stony tower;
And will tell your king what will befall him.
A most strange creature will come from the sea marsh of Rhianedd
As a punishment of iniquity on Maelgwn Gwynedd;
His hair, his teeth, and his eyes being as gold,
And this will bring destruction upon Maelgwn Gwynedd."
Discover thou what is the strong creature from before the flood,
Without flesh, without bone, without vein, without blood,
Without head, without feet; it will neither be older nor younger
Than at the beginning; for fear of a denial,
There are no rude wants with creatures.
Great God! how the sea whitens when first it comes!
Great are its gusts when it comes from the south;
Great are its evaporation when it strikes on coasts.
It is in the field, it is in the wood, without hand and without foot,
Without signs of old age, though it be co-aeval
With the five ages or periods; and older still,
Though they be numberless years.
It is also so wide; as the surface of the earth
And it was not born, nor was it seen.
It will cause consternation wherever God willeth.
On sea. and on land, it neither sees, nor is seen.
Its course is devious, and will not come when desired
On land and on sea, it is indispensable.
It is without an equal, it is four-sided;
It is not confined, it is incomparable;
It comes from four quarters, it will not be without advice.
It commences its journey above the marble rock.
It is sonorous, it is dumb, it is mild,
It is strong, it is bold, when it glances over the land.
It is silent, it is vocal, it is the most noisy
On the face of the earth.
It is good, it is bad, it is extremely injurious.
It is concealed, because sight cannot perceive it.
It is noxious, it is beneficial;
It is yonder, it is here it will discompose,
But will not repair the injury it will not suffer for its doings,
Seeing it is blameless.
It is wet, it is dry, it frequently comes,
Proceeding from the heat of the sun,
And the coldness of the moon.
The moon is less beneficial, in as much as her heat is less.
One Being has prepared it, out of all creatures,
By a tremendous blast, to wreak vengeance
On Maelgwn Gwynedd."
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Pwyll