Hello my lovelies,
I hope this finds you still safe and well. Here in my part of England, we survived a minor earthquake at the beginning of the week, no damage and no-one injured, thankfully. I'm going back to my native Wales for another legend, this time featuring King Arthur.
Somewhere in the beautiful peaks of Snowdonia, King Arthur is said to lay sleeping with his knights, awaiting the call to return, at a time when the world has need of them. This place is said to be the mythical Avalon, and their sleeping forms guard a great treasure in gold. Many people have searched for the gold and this is a tale of one of them.
A Welshman visited London, after selling a herd of good Welsh Black cattle. He carried a hazel staff, and as he walked over London Bridge, he saw a man staring at his staff. After a while the man asked him where he came from and he replied that he had travelled from Wales, although he wondered why the man was so interested. "Don't be offended," said the man, but if you can remember where you cut that stick, it could be to the advantage of us both, for there is treasure buried near that place."
It gradually dawned on the Welshman that the man might be a sorcerer, and although unsure whether he should trust him, eventually allowed himself to be persuaded to show him the place.
They journeyed together to Wales, and the Welshman, pointed out an old hazel tree. "This is where I cut my stick."
"Then we must dig," said the sorcerer. Eventually they dug down to a
broad, flat stone. Together they managed to prise it up, and found some steps leading
downwards. At the bottom of the steps, they walked along a narrow passage until
they came to a door, which they opened, to see before them a great cave, dimly lit. The
first thing they came to was a bell. "Do not touch that bell," warned the
sorcerer. As they looked around the cave the Welshman saw many knights asleep. Each one was clad in shining armour, a steel
helmet on his head, and a gleaming shield on his
arm. The sword of each was in his hand. The King held in his hand, below the hilt, a
mighty sword with scabbard and haft of gold studded with gleaming gems;
on his head was a crown set with many precious stones. He too slept. On the floor was a huge mound of precious gold.
"Are they really asleep?" asked the Welshman, hardly believing his own eyes.
"Yes, all of them. The King is Arthur himself and they have been sleeping for over a thousand years," answered the sorcerer, "but if you touch that bell, they will all awake.
They swiftly gathered as much of the gold from the treasure mound as they could carry, but as they left, the
young Welshman stumbled against the bell, and the sound reverberated
throughout the cave. As soon as it rang, the warriors leapt to
their feet. Arthur demanded "Who rang the bell? Has
the day
come?"
The sorcerer shouted back ," No, the day has not come. Sleep on, Arthur the Great."
The sorcerer hurried
the Welshman out of the cave, moved the stone back to its place, and
vanished.
The Welshman tried many times to find the way back to the cave again,
but although he dug over every inch of the hill, he never did find the
entrance again.
If you like to listen to a book
rather than read it, there are some really great books available in audio.
(You can get my own
Destiny Trilogy for FREE, and there are plenty of other free listens available too.)
Starquest: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=starquest
Children of the Mist: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=children+of+the+mist
Also try this one by the very talented
Helen Johannes:
(If you have a free audio book you'd like me to mention, just leave a comment with an email addy so I can contact you)
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