XXV. Book of Taliessin XXI. Black Book of Caermarthen XIV.

XXV.

BOOK OF TALIESSIN XXI.

BLACK BOOK OF CAERMARTHEN XIV.

I. I WILL pray God to deliver the people of the fair (town),
The owner of heaven and earth, ill-wise pervader. p. 304
A pleasant Caer there is on the surface of the ocean.
May be joyful in the splendid festival its king.
And the time when the sea makes great audacity.
The crowns of bards are usual over mead-vessels.
A wave will come, in haste, speed unto it,
That will bring them to the green sward from the region of the Ffichti.
And may I obtain, O God, for my prayer,
When I keep the covenant of conciliation with thee.

II. A pleasant Caer there is on a broad lake,
A fortress impregnable, the sea surrounds it.
Prydain greets thee: how will these agree?
The point of the lake of the son of Erbin; be thine the oxen.
There has been a retinue, and there has been song, in the second place,
And an eagle, high in the sky, and the path of Granwyn,
Before the governing sovereign, that refuses not to start,
The dispersed of renown, and a leader, they form themselves.

III. A pleasant Caer there is on the ninth wave,
Pleasant its denizens in guarding each other.
They will not take them if it be through disgrace.
It is not their custom to be hard.
I will not speak falsely, upon my privilege,
Than the tenants of the two strands better the serfs of Dyved,
An associate, if he gives a banquet of deliverers,
Will contain between every two the best multitude.

IV. A pleasant Caer there is, it will be made complete
By meads, and praise, and mountain-birds. p. 305
Smooth its songs, on its festival,
And my intelligent Lord, a splendid distributor,
Before he went into his grave, in the boundary of the Llan,
He gave me mead and wine from a crystal cup.

V. A pleasant Caer there is on the shore of the gulf,
Pleasantly is given to every one his share.
I know in Dinbych, white with sea-mews,
A mild associate, the lord of Erlysan.
He was my law, on New Year's eve,
His song (was) solace, the king of splendid war.
And a veil of green colour, and possessing a feast.
This may I be, a tongue over the bards of Prydain.

VI. A pleasant Caer there is, that is supported with gifts,
Mine were its fords, should I have chosen.
I will not speak of the progress of the law that I had kept,
He deserves not a New Year's gift that knows not this.
The writing of Prydain, anxious care,
While the waves continue to be agitated about it,
If necessary, far into a cell I would penetrate.

VII. A pleasant Caer there is, rising up,
May we have shares in its meads and praises.
Pleasant on its boundary the sending forth of its chieftains.
A cormorant approaches me, long its wings,
There comes to the top of the scream of the sea-birds.
Wrath within fate, let it penetrate the sands and stones,
And the gray wolf the best of conflicts.
May there be derived from above the banquet accordant reasonings. p. 306
The blessing of the beneficent Ruler of Heaven's harmonious heights (be)
Upon them; may He make denizens (there) the worthies of Owain.

VIII. A pleasant Caer there is on the margin of the flood.
Pleasantly is given to every (one) his desire.
Address thou Gwyned, be thine the increase.
The dartings of the terrible spears were poured forth.
Wednesday, I saw men in distress,
Thursday, to their disgrace they returned.
And there were crimsoned hair, and clamorous woe.
Exhausted were the men of Gwyned the day that they came.
And on Cevn Llech Vaelwy shields they will break.
They fell at the Cevn, a host of kinsmen.