Celtic Stories/The Dream of Maxen
THE DREAM OF MAXEN
One day Maxen the Roman Emperor, handsomest of men and wisest of emperors, held a council of kings and said to them: 'To-morrow I will hunt.' With two and thirty crowned kings who were his vassals he hunted along the river until mid-day. Then he slept in the great heat and men stood round him and kept off the sun with their shields. In his sleep he had a dream.
Riding along the valley of the river, he came to the highest mountain in the world, and from the summit he saw mighty rivers descending to the sea. Towards the mouths of the rivers he travelled over the fairest of plains. At length his road followed one of these rivers, the broadest he had ever seen, and at its mouth he came to a great city and a castle with many towers of different coloured stone. A fleet, the largest ever seen, was anchored in the river. To the largest and fairest of the ships led a bridge of whalebone, and he went over it into the ship. A sail of the ship was hoisted and he sailed over sea and ocean to the shore of the fairest island of the whole world. He landed and traversed the island to the furthest shore. He saw high mountains and deep valleys and terrible precipices, such as he had never seen before. From the top of one mountain he saw another island and a river flowing from the mountain into the sea. At the mouth of this river was a castle, the fairest that man ever saw, and the gate was open and he went in.
The hall was beautiful, having a roof of gold and walls of glittering gems, and doors also of gold. The tables were silver, the seats of gold. At one of the tables two youths with auburn hair were playing at chess, and they had a silver board and golden pieces. Their garments were of jet-black satin; their buskins of new Cordovan leather buckled with gold; and their hair was bound with chaplets of ruddy gold and jewels.
Beside one of the pillars of the hall Maxen saw a hoary-headed and mighty-looking man in a chair of ivory with two eagles of ruddy gold upon it. Gold bracelets were upon his arms, and many rings on his hands, and a collar of gold about his neck, and on his head a golden diadem. He had before him a golden chess-board and a rod of gold, and a steel file in his hand; and he was carving chess-men.
Facing the old man sat a maiden in a chair of ruddy gold. It was not more easy to gaze upon her than upon the sun at its brightest, she was so beautiful. She wore a vest of white silk clasped with red gold at her breast, a surcoat of gold tissue and a golden girdle; and a circlet of red gold, rubies and pearls upon her head.
The maiden rose from her chair and Maxen threw his arms about her neck and kissed her, but even while his arms were round her and his cheek against her cheek, the clashing of shields and the neighing of horses awoke the Emperor.
His attendants said to him: 'Lord, is it not past the time for thee to eat?' But he had no life or spirit left in him for love of that maiden. He mounted his horse, the saddest man that ever a man saw, and rode to Rome.
For a week it was vain to offer the Emperor meat or drink. He would hear no songs or tales; he would do nothing but sleep and strive by all possible means to sleep again, because in his dreams he could see that maiden. One day a page came into his room and told him that the people were discontented and speaking ill of him because he took no notice of anything that was said or done. 'Young man,' said Maxen, 'bring to me the wise men of Rome and I will tell them why I am sorrowful.'
The wise men sat round, and Maxen said:
'Wise men of Rome, I have had a dream. In the dream I saw a maiden, and for thinking of her I have no life or spirit left in me, and I can think of nothing but her.'
'Lord,' answered the wise men, 'since thou judgest us worthy to advise thee, this is our advice: that thou shalt send messengers into the three parts of the world to seek for the maiden of the dream. As thou knowest not what day or night may bring good news of her, the hope will give thee life.'
Messengers travelled for a year, wandering over the earth, seeking news of the island, the castle, and the maiden of Maxen's dream. But at the end of the year, though they had seen many islands, many castles, many maidens, they had discovered nothing about the dream. The Emperor was now more sorrowful than ever; he thought that he should never see the maiden again, and all his hours of sleep were busy with visions as if he had been awake, and his waking hours were all one dream.
Then the King of the Romans advised the Emperor to go forth to hunt as he had done on the day of the dream, and he did so and came to the bank of the river where he had slept. 'This,' said he, 'is where I was lying when I had the dream, and from here I seemed to go westward.'
Thirteen messengers, who had been taught about his dream, set out in search towards the west. They came to the highest mountain in the world, and from the summit they saw mighty rivers descending to the sea. They travelled over the fairest of plains, and came to a great city at the mouth of one of the rivers of the plain. They knew that this was the land of Maxen's dream, and they saw the fleet anchored in the river-mouth under the many-coloured high towers of the castle. As the Emperor had done, they went on board the fairest of the ships and sailed over sea and ocean till they came to an island. This island was Britain. They traversed it until they came to Snowdon. 'This,' they said, 'is the land of high mountains, deep valleys and terrible precipices that the Emperor saw.' From one of the crests they saw the island of Anglesey, and they knew that that was the other island of Maxen's dream. They saw also Aber Sain and a castle at the river's mouth. The gate was open and they went in. They knew the hall. The two youths with auburn hair were playing chess; the mighty old man was carving chess-men in the chair with the eagles of gold; the maiden was sitting opposite. The messengers fell down upon their knees before her, saying, 'Empress of Rome, all hail!'
'You seem honourable men, wearing the badge of envoys,' said the maiden, 'why then do ye mock me in this manner?'
'We mock thee not, lady. The Emperor of Rome has seen thee in his sleep, and since then he has no life or spirit left in him because of thee. Wilt thou come with us to Rome to be made empress, or wouldest thou rather that the Emperor should come hither to wed thee?'
'Lords,' she answered, 'I cannot deny what ye have said, neither can I believe it. If the Emperor love me let him come hither.'
The messengers hastened day and night back to Rome, and saluted the Emperor, saying: 'We have seen her; Helen is her name; and willingly shall we guide thee to her castle.'
Immediately the Emperor set forth with his army, and as he galloped over the mountains or walked up and down the ship he knew what was the difference between a dream and what is not a dream. He recognized the island far off. He landed, and galloped forward until he saw again the castle at the river's mouth. The gate was open and he entered. There sat Helen, the maiden whom he had seen in his sleep, and he bowed before her, saying, 'Empress of Rome, all hail!' She became his bride, and he gave her as a gift the island of Britain and the three lesser islands, and three castles to be built where she commanded. The highest she had made at Arvon, and the others at Caerlleon and Caermarthen. From one castle to another she made roads over the mountains right across Wales, and these are called to this day the roads of Helen; nor would the men of Britain have made these great roads except for her. To the castle at Arvon men brought Roman earth, so that the Emperor might sleep and sit and walk on native soil. He stayed there seven years, and the men of Rome were tired of waiting and made a new emperor. This man wrote a letter to Maxen containing only these words: 'If thou comest, and if thou ever comest to Rome.' And Maxen sent a letter back containing these words: 'If I come to Rome, and if I come.' Following the letter he led an army to the gates of Rome, and the brothers of Helen, the young men with auburn hair, took possession of the city for Maxen. There he ruled with Helen. As to the brothers they set forth again with a host. They conquered lands and castles and cities, and when their heads were grey they returned to Britain, taking with them some of the beautiful women of the conquered, whose tongues they had cut out lest they should spoil the speech of Britain.