The Mythology of the British Islands: An Introduction to Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and RomanceSquire, Charles
General
The Mythology of the British Islands: An Introduction to Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and Romance
Squire, Charles
Celts -- Folklore; Mythology, Celtic
All went well until, one day, Gronw Pebyr, one of the gods of darkness,
came by, hunting, and killed the stag at nightfall near Lleu’s castle.
The sun-god was away upon a visit to Mâth, but Blodeuwedd asked the
stranger to take shelter with her. That night they fell in love with one
another, and conspired together how Lleu might be put away. When Lleu
came back from Mâth’s court, Blodeuwedd, like a Celtic Dalilah, wormed
out of him the secret of how his life was preserved. He told her that he
could only die in one way; he could not be killed either inside or
outside a house, either on horseback or on foot, but that if a spear
that had been a year in the making, and which was never worked upon
except during the sacrifice on Sunday, were to be cast at him as he
stood beneath a roof of thatch, after having just bathed, with one foot
upon the edge of the bath and the other upon a buck goat’s back, it
would cause his death. Blodeuwedd piously thanked Heaven that he was so
well protected, and sent a messenger to her paramour, telling him what
she had learned. Gronw set to work on the spear; and in a year it was
ready. When she knew this, Blodeuwedd asked Lleu to show her exactly how
it was he could be killed.
Lleu agreed; and Blodeuwedd prepared the bath under the thatched roof,
and tethered the goat by it. Lleu bathed, and then stood with one foot
upon the edge of the bath, and the other upon the goat’s back. At this
moment, Gronw, from an ambush, flung the spear, and hit Lleu, who, with
a terrible cry, changed into an eagle, and flew away. He never came
back; and Gronw took possession of both his wife and his palace.
But Gwydion set out to search everywhere for his son. At last, one day,
he came to a house in North Wales where the man was in great anxiety
about his sow; for as soon as the sty was opened, every morning, she
rushed out, and did not return again till late in the evening. Gwydion
offered to follow her, and, at dawn, the man took him to the sty, and
opened the door. The sow leaped forth, and ran, and Gwydion ran after
her. He tracked her to a brook between Snowdon and the sea, still called
Nant y Llew, and saw her feeding underneath an oak. Upon the top of the
tree there was an eagle, and, every time it shook itself, there fell off
it lumps of putrid meat, which the sow ate greedily. Gwydion suspected
that the eagle must be Lleu. So he sang this verse:
“Oak that grows between the two banks;
Darkened is the sky and hill!
Shall I not tell him by his wounds,
That this is Lleu?”
The eagle, on hearing this, came half-way down the tree. So Gwydion
sang:
“Oak that grows in upland ground,
Is it not wetted by the rain? Has it not been drenched
By nine score tempests?
It bears in its branches Lleu Llaw Gyffes.”
The eagle came slowly down until it was on the lowest branch. Gwydion
sang:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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