Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

332 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[385]their foes. Blodeuwedd was changed into an owl and bidden toshun the light of day, and Gronw was slain by a cast of the spearof Llew that passed through a slab of stone to reach him, and theslab with the hole through it made by the spear of Llew remainsby the bank of the river Cynvael in Ardudwy to this day. AndLlew took possession, for the second time, of his lands, and ruledthem prosperously all his days.The four preceding tales are called the Four Branches of theMabinogi, and of the collection called the “Mabinogion” theyform the most ancient and important part.The Dream of Maxen WledigFollowing the order of the tales in the “Mabinogion,” aspresented in Mr. Nutt's edition, we come next to one which is apure work of invention, with no mythical or legendary elementat all. It recounts how Maxen Wledig, Emperor of Rome, had avivid dream, in which he was led into a strange country, wherehe saw a king in an ivory chair carving chessmen with a steel filefrom a rod of gold. By him, on a golden throne, was the fairestof maidens he had ever beheld. Waking, he found himself inlove with the dream-maiden, and sent messengers far and wide todiscover, if they could, the country and people that had appearedto him. They were found in Britain. Thither went Maxen, andwooed and wedded the maiden. In his absence a usurper laidhold of his empire in Rome, but with the aid of his British friendshe reconquered his dominions, and many of them settled therewith him, while others went home to Britain. The latter tookwith them foreign wives, but, it is said, cut out their tongues, lestthey should corrupt the speech of the Britons. Thus early andthus powerful was the devotion to their tongue of the Cymry, ofwhom the mythical bard Taliesin prophesied:“Their God they will praise,Their speech they will keep,Their land they will lose,Except wild Walia.”