Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic | Page 6

am to Elphin, And my original country is the
region of the summer stars; I am a wonder whose origin is not known; I
have been fostered in the land of the Deity, I have been teacher to all
intelligences, I am able to instruct the whole universe. I was originally
little Gwion, And at length I am Taliessin."
Then the king and his nobles wondered much, for they had never heard
the like from a boy so young. The king then called his wisest bard to
answer Taliessin, but he could only play "Blerwm" on his lips as before,
and each of the king's four and twenty bards tried in the same way and
could do nothing more. Then the king bade Taliessin sing again, and he
began:--
"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; Great God! how the sea whitens When first it comes! Great
are its gusts When it comes from the south; Great are its evaporations
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, 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 equal,
It is many-sided; It is not confined, It is incomparable; It comes from
four quarters; It is noxious, it is beneficial; It is yonder, it is here; It will
decompose, But it will not repair the injury; It will not suffer for its
doings, Seeing it is blameless. One Being has prepared it, Out of all
creatures, By a tremendous blast, To wreak vengeance On Maelgwyn
Gwynedd."
And while he was thus singing his verse near the door, there came
suddenly a mighty storm of wind, so that the king and all his nobles
thought the castle would fall on their heads. They saw that Taliessin
had not merely been singing the song of the wind, but seemed to have
power to command it. Then the king hastily ordered that Elphin should
be brought from his dungeon and placed before Taliessin, and the
chains came loose from his feet, and he was set free.
As they rode away from the court, the king and his courtiers rode with
them, and Taliessin bade Elphin propose a race with the king's horses.
Four and twenty horses were chosen, and Taliessin got four and twenty
twigs of holly which he had burnt black, and he ordered the youth who
was to ride Elphin's horse to let all the others set off before him, and
bade him as he overtook each horse to strike him with a holly twig and
throw it down. Then he had him watch where his own horse should
stumble and throw down his cap at the place. The race being won,
Taliessin brought his master to the spot where the cap lay; and put
workmen to dig a hole there. When they had dug deeply enough they
found a caldron full of gold, and Taliessin said, "Elphin, this is my
payment to thee for having taken me from the water and reared me until
now." And on this spot stands a pool of water until this day.

III
THE SWAN-CHILDREN OF LIR
King Lir of Erin had four young children who were cared for tenderly
at first by their stepmother, the new queen; but there came a time when
she grew jealous of the love their father bore them, and resolved that

she would endure it no longer. Sometimes there was murder in her
heart, but she could not bear the thought of that wickedness, and she
resolved at last to choose another way to rid herself of them. One day
she took them to drive in her chariot:--Finola, who was eight years old,
with her three younger brothers,--Aodh, Fiacre, and little Conn, still a
baby. They were beautiful children, the legend says, with skins white
and soft as swans' feathers, and with large blue eyes and very sweet
voices. Reaching a lake, she told them that they might bathe in the clear
water; but so soon as they were in it she struck them with a fairy
wand,--for she was of the race of the Druids, who had magical
power,--and she turned them into four beautiful snow-white swans. But
they still had human voices, and Finola said to her, "This wicked deed
of thine shall be punished,