The next manuscript to be mentioned is one of approximately the same data as the last-mentioned: I allude to the Book of Taliessin, where an obscure poem occurs, headed Kat Godeu. There, near the end, we have the following couplet:
| derwydon doethur. | Druids erudite, |
| darogenwch y Arthur. | Prophesy for Arthur. |
Another allusion to Arthur in the Book of Taliessin runs thus[1]:—
| heilyn pascadur. | Heilyn of the Passover |
| treded dofyn doethur | One of three deeply wise |
| y vendigaw Arthur. | To bless Arthur. |
| Arthur vendigan | Arthur they will bless |
| ar gerd gyfaenat | In elaborate song. |
Who the Heilyn mentioned here was does not appear, but he may be supposed to have been a priest or a bard.
Other references to Arthur occur in the Book of Taliessin, but the most important by far is the poem known as Preiddeu Annwfn, or the Harryings of Hades, which I subjoin, so far as it is in point, with an attempt to translate into English, as follows:—
Golychaf wledic pendeuic gwlat ri.
py ledas y pennaeth dros traeth mundi.
bu kyweir karchar gweir ygkaer sidi.
trwy ebostol pwyll aphryderi.
Neb kyn noc ef nyt aeth idi
yr gadwyn tromlas kywirwas ae ketwi.
A rac preideu annwfyn tost yt gent.
Ac yt urawt parahawt yn bard ivedi.
Tri lloneit prytwen yd aetham ni idi.
nam seith ny dyrreith o goer sidi.
I adore the noble prince and high king
Who extended his sway over the world’s strand.
Perfect was the captivity of Gwair in Caer Sidi,
Through the warning[2] of Pwyll and Pryderi.
- ↑ See Skene, ii. 456: vol. i. 259, gives a translation differing considerably from the one proposed here with great diffidence.
- ↑ As to this meaning of the word ebostol, see Llyvyr Agkyr Llandewivrevi (in the Anecdota Oxoniensia), p. 159. It is epistola borrowed and sometimes confounded with abostol from apostolus: the sequence of meanings seems to have been a letter, a message or admonition by letter, a warning. See a note on the word by Prof. Powel in the Cymmrodor, ix. 199.
Stephens’ Gododin, pp. 352–3; but I am convinced that the meaning of the words still remains to be discovered.
