King Vortigern came to the mountains of Eryri, in Gwynedd. On the summit of one of these, which was then called Dinas Ffaraon, he decided to build a fortress.
Then the king sent for artificers, carpenters, and stonemasons, and collected all the materials for building. In the night, however,they all disappeared. Materials were procured from all parts a second time, but a second time they disappeared in the night. A third time everything was brought together for building, but by morning again not a trace of them remained.
Vortigern called his wise men together and they told him he must find a child born without a father, put him to death, and sprinkle with his blood the ground on which the citadel was to be built.
The king thought the advice of his wise men was good and sent messengers throughout Britain in search of a child born without a father.When they eventually found one, they took him to Vortigern the king.
The
boy asked why he had been brought before the king and when they told
him he was to be sacrificed to enable Vortigern to build a fortress, he
told the king his wise men were wrong and that there was a pool beneath
the ground where they were trying to build. In the pool were two vases
and in the vases a tent. in the tent were two sleeping dragons, one
white and one red.
The dragons fought each other, and the eventually the red one won the battle and drove the white one away.
The boy told the king and his wise men that the pool was the emblem of this world, and the tent that of Vortigern's kingdom. The red dragon was the king's, but the white serpent was the dragon of the Saxons, At length, however, his people would rise and drive the Saxon race beyond the sea. But he must seek another place to build his citadel.
The boy's life was spared. He became famous as the great magician Myrddin Emrys , or Myrddin ab Morfryn (Merlin, as he is called in English), and the mountain on which he proved his mighty power was called Dinas Emrys instead of Dinas Ffaraon. Thereafter the red dragon became the symbol of Wales and portrayed on the Welsh flag.
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I LOVE this legend!
ReplyDeleteAnd once again you've educated me on something of which I was completely ignorant. I didn't even know you had a dragon on your flag. And the tale behind is amazing. Your culture is full of the most incredible lore. :-)
Hope you're doing well, my friend. :-)
Thanks so much for your comment Teresa, I'm glad you enjoyed the post - yes Wales is brimful of weird and wonderful stories and legends! Hope you're doing well too! xxx
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