NOTICES OF THE POWERS OF

THE BARD.

In water there is a quality endowed with a blessing; on God it is most just to meditate aright; to God it is proper to supplicate with seriousness, since no obstacle can there be to obtain a reward from him.

Three times have I been born, I know by meditation; it were miserable for a person not to come and obtain all the sciences

of the world, collected together in my breast, for I know what has been, what in future will

occur.

I will supplicate my Lord that I get a refuge in him, a regard I may obtain in his grace; the Son of Mary is my trust, great in him is my delight, for in him is the world continually upholden.

God has been to instruct me and to raise my expectation, the true Creator of heaven, who affords me protection; it is rightly intended that the saints should daily pray, for God, the renovator, will bring them to him.

SYNIADAU AR DDONIAU Y
BARDD.

AR ddwvr mae cyvlwrw càn vendigaw;

ar duw mae iawnav iawn synwyraw,

ar duw mae cyviawn gweddïaw yn brudd,

càn ni ellir lludd cael budd iwrthaw.

Tair gwaith ym ganed, gwn vyvyriaw;

truan oedd i ddyn na ddoai i geisiaw holl gelvyddydau byd yn byddinaw i'm bru,

canys gwn llaw. Cyvarçav ym Nav nawdd i'm gantaw, cyvarçwel ym del dawn o'i eiddaw;

vu, à vydd rhag

ym crair yw Mab Mair, mawr arnav vy mryd, canys delir y byd bob awr iwrthaw.

Bu Duw i'm dysgu a'm dysgwyliaw,

gwir Greawdyr nev nawdd i'm gantaw:

cywraint yw i'r saint weddïaw beunydd,

canys Duw Dovydd eu dwg

ataw.

A CHALLENGE TO THE BARDS OF MAELGON.

Is it not natural to be excited by the allurement of praise;

HER I VEIRDD MAELGWN.

Neud gognawd gyru

a gwawd ddvvyru;

by the belief in a narrative, as to what the world has been? as to who is accomplished to sing before the throne of Jesus, in the presence of the three hosts, when He shall be judging? what minstrel will sing when Cynan shall be called to a summoned chair,

in the presence of Cadwalader, when there shall be a natural end to Cynan son of Bran?

If you be primary bards to the master of sciences, declare ye mysteries

that relate to the inhabitants of the world:

there is a noxious creature, from the rampart of Satanas, which has overcome all between the deep and the shallow; equally wide are his jaws as the mountains of the Alps; him death will not subdue, nor hand or blades;

there is the load of nine hun

dred waggons

in the hair of his two paws; there is in his head an eye

a thraethawd gredu, pa vyd à ddyvu? pwy á wyr canu gèr bron yr Iesu, yn ngwydd y tri llu, pan vydd yn barnu? pa gerddawr á gan, pan alwer Cynan I ddyvyn gader, gèr bron Cadwalader, pan vydd tranc anian ar Cynan ab Bran?

Os yo briv veirddion I rwyv celvyddon, treuthwç orçuddion O vundi mäon:

y mae pryv atgas,
O gaer Satanas,
a oresgynas
cyvrwng dwvn a bas;
Cyvled ei enau

a mynydd Mynnau ;
nis gorvydd angau
na llaw na llavnau;
mae llwyth naw cant men

yn

rhawn dwy bawen; İlygad yn ei ben

icicle;

three springs arise

in the nape of his neck; sea-roughs thereon

swim through it;

there was the dissolution of the oxen

of Deivrdonwy the water-gifted. The names of the three springs from the midst of the ocean; one generating brine which is from the Corini, to replenish the flood, over seas disappearing; the second without injury it will fall on us,

when there is rain abroad, through the whelming sky;

tair fynnon y sydd yn ei wegilydd; mor-vryçed arno a noviant drwyddo ; bu laith bualawn

Deivrdonwy dyvr-ddawn.
Henw y tair fynnon
o ganol eigion :
un llwydd heli
pan yw Corini,
I edryd lliant

dros voroedd divant;
yr ail yn ddï nam
a ddygwydd arnam,
pan yw gwlaw allan,
drwy awyr dylan ;

the third will appear
through the mountain veins,
like a flinty banquet,

the work of the King of kings.

A most strange creature will

come

from the sea marsh of Rhianedd, as a punishment of iniquity on Maelgwn Gwynedd; his hair, his teeth,

and his eyes being as gold; and this will bring destruction upon Maelgwn Gwynedd.

It is I who am a diviner and a leading bard, who know every passage of the cave of silence; I shall liberate Elphin from the belly of the stony tower; I am Taliesin,

chief of the bards of the west,
who will loosen Elphin
out of the golden fetter.

trydedd á ddarwedd
drwy wythi mynyddedd,
mal callestrig wledd,
o waith Rex rexedd.
E ddaw pryv rhyvedd

o vorva Rhianedd,
I ddial enwiredd
ar Vaelgwn Gwynedd ;
ei vlew, ei ddannedd,
a'i lygaid yn eurwedd ;
a hwn gwna ddiwedd
ar Vaelgwn Gwynedd.
Myvi sy ddewin
a bardd-cyfredin,
a wn bob gorsin
gogov gorthewin:
rhyddâav vi Elfin
o vòl twr meinin;
mi wyv
Taliesin,
pen beirdd gorllewin,
a ollwng Elfin

o hual eurin.

ETO I VEIRDD MAELGWN.

Gosgordd vardd uçod, gosgordd vardd isod, nid ces van wybod dàn huan a rhod; ni wyddoç çwithau pa draeth tavodau, na dosbarth diau rhwng eiç gwir a gau;

beirdd byçain, brain'bro,

braidd nad ews àr fo. Bardd na'm gostego, gosteg nis cafo nes el mewn gortho o ddaiar a gro, sawl à'm gwrandawo,

God.

Elphin the son of Gwyddno

is in the land of Arthro,

Elfin ab Gwyddno,

sy'n naiar Arthro,

under thirteen locks, for praising his teacher. It is I who am Taliesin, chief of the bards of the west, who knows every outlet of the cave of silence, who will loosen Elphin from his golden fetter.

tàn dri-àr-ddeg clo, am ganmawl athro : myvi wyv Taliesin, pen beirdd gorllewin, a wn bob gorsin gogov gorthewin a ollwng Elfin

o'i hual eurin.

THE CASUALTIES OF THE BARD.

First, I have been formed a comely person,

in the court of Ceridwen I have done penance; though little I was seen, placidly received,

I was great on the floor of the

place to where I was led; I have been a prized defence,

the sweet muse the cause, and by law without speech I have been liberated by a smiling black old hag, when irritated

dreadful her claim when pursued:

I have fled with vigour,

I have fled as a frog,

I have fled in the semblance of

a crow, scarcely finding rest;

I have fled vehemently,

I have fled as a chain,

I have fled as a roe

into an entangled thicket;

I have fled as a wolf cub,

I have fled as a wolf in a wil

quirks;

I have fled as a martin,

which did not avail :

I have fled as a squirrel, that

vainly hides,

foais yn velau,

mál na thyciwys: foais yn wiwair, ni cynnydd celwys,