Appendix — Illustrative Passages From Welsh Literature
The following passages are intended to illustrate within short compass the spirit of the Welsh classical prose writers. For the selection the author is indebted to Mr. John Lloyd’s admirable anthology Llyfr Darllen ac Ysgrifennu; but the translation into English is his own. The attempt to translate Welsh poetry is too difficult to be essayed except by a man of peculiar gifts; and Wales is still waiting for its Edward FitzGerald.
The first passage is from the Mabinogion, a twelfth-century compilation containing a large number of ancient tales of love, romance, and war.
“How long soever they may have been on the way, they came at last to Dyfed, and went in quest of Arberth. They kindled a fire, and began to eat and to hunt, and in that manner spent a month. They assembled their dogs about them, and so remained a year. Now one morning Manawyddan and Pryderi arose to go out hunting, and got their dogs ready to depart from the court. And some of the dogs behaved in this fashion: they walked ahead, and reached a small bush close by; and as soon as they had reached the bush they instantly fled quickly back, their hair on end, and returned to their masters. ‘Let us approach the bush,’ said Pryderi, ‘that we may see what it contains.’ They approached the bush, and when they had approached, beheld a white tree boar rising out of it. Then the dogs, encouraged by the men, rushed upon it. And the boar, for its part, left the bush, and went some distance away from the men. When the men were at some distance it would bark at the dogs; but when the men drew near it again fled, and ceased to bark. And they followed the boar until they beheld a great and noble fortress newly built, where before they had never seen either stone or building. And the boar ran swiftly to the fortress, the dogs following it. And when the boar and the dogs had entered the fort they wondered at seeing a fortress where previously they had seen no building. And from the top of the throne they gazed, and listened for the dogs. But long as they waited they heard not a sound of the dogs. ‘My lord,’ said Pryderi, ‘I will go to the fortress to enquire for the dogs.’ ‘Truly thou art ill-advised,’ answered he, ‘to go to this fort which thou hast never before seen; and if thou wilt follow my advice go thou wilt not. He who hath laid a charm upon the land must have built this fortress here.’ ‘Yet truly loth am I to lose my dogs,’ answered Pryderi. But in spite of the counsel which he had received from Manawyddan, Pryderi would go to the fortress. When he came to it he saw nothing within, neither man nor animal, neither boar nor dogs, house nor courtyard. But in the centre of the fortress he beheld a well of marble, and by its side a golden vessel standing upon a marble slab, and chains stretching upwards towards the sky, the ends of which he could not see. Great was his delight at the beauty of the gold, and at the fine workmanship of the vessel. And he came to the vessel and laid hold of it. And as he laid hold of the vessel his hands stuck to it, and his feet to the slab upon which the vessel stood; and he was bereft of speech, so that he could utter no word. And thus he remained.
Manawyddan waited for him till the close of the day. And in the evening, believing that he should receive no more tidings of Pryderi, nor of the dogs, he returned to the court.”
The next passage is from Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsc (Visions of the Sleeping Bard) of Ellis Wynne.
“On a fine afternoon of ripe and sultry summer, I betook me to the summit of one of the mountains of Wales; and with me a telescope, to help my failing sight to see things distant near at hand, and things small large. Through the clear air, and the quiet haze I could discern, far across the Irish Sea, many a delightful sight. At last, after feeding my eyes upon every sort of delight around me until the sun had almost reached his fortress in the west, I laid myself down upon the grass, musing upon the superior beauty and comeliness of the distant lands of whose kindly plains I had caught a glimpse; and envying the happy lot of those who behold their full beauty and had seen the course of the world. And so, by much travail of my eyes, and afterwards of my mind, I became weary, and in company with weariness came my Master Sleep stealthily to bind me; and with his leaden keys he locked the windows of my eyes securely, and also all my other senses. Yet was it useless for him to attempt to lock up the Soul, which can live and travel without the body; for my spirit escaped on wings of fancy out of the locked body.”
The third extract is from Daniel Owen, greatest of Welsh novelists.
“The office in which the Old Soldier held his school was a long and narrow building. Around it was a hard and bent form; and connected with it a desk which rested against the wall. One of the first things I noticed was that there was hardly a square inch of the desk’s surface upon which a picture, a figure, or a name had not been carved. At the far end of the schoolroom, close to the fire, was the master’s desk; and beneath it was a hole which, as I afterwards learnt, was for the master to insert his wooden leg into when he sat down. On my first entrance into the school I saw a strange and novel sight. All the boys were present, some on top of the desk, some on each other’s backs playing horses and prancing round the school. One boy—a cripple with a crutch—was trying to mimic the master, sitting at the desk, his crutch thrust through the hole, and calling vainly for order. The scene changed every minute; and everyone shouted for all he was worth except one boy, who stood on top of the desk by the window, dividing his attention between the play and the road by which the master would approach. I felt strangely at the time, and believed that I had come amongst a most wicked set of boys, and that my mother, if only she knew what they were like, would never allow me to come again. On the other hand I thought it was the best place for fun that I had ever seen. But my predominant feeling at the time was a kind of painful strangeness and shyness; for Wil Bryan had left me by myself, and had joined eagerly in the games. While I was possessed by these feelings I saw the boy at the window put his two fingers to his mouth and give a shrill whistle; and in a twinkling every boy was in his place breathing quickly. I knew perfectly well that I should look foolish enough standing like a cold monument all by myself by the door when the Soldier came in. He passed me without pretending to see me. He looked angry and disturbed; and I perceived at once that the watchman had not sounded the warning sufficiently soon, and that the master had heard all the deafening uproar. He went immediately to his desk, whence he produced a long and powerful cane. I saw the boys bending in readiness, while the Soldier went about the school thrashing cruelly everybody without distinction. I was the only boy who did not taste the cane, and yet I was the only boy that wept, for I was greatly frightened.”