Merlin is interesting because he is Arthur’s great bard and magician.  Taliesin is interesting because in a book called The Mabinogion, which is a translation of some of the oldest Welsh stories, we have the tale of his wonderful birth and life.

Mabinogion really means tales for the young.  Except the History of Taliesin, all the stories in this book are translated from a very old manuscript called the Red Book of Hergest..  This Red Book belongs to the fourteenth century, but many of the stories are far far older, having, it is thought, been told in some form or other for hundreds of years before they were written down at all.  Unlike many old tales, too, they are written in prose, not in poetry.

One of the stories in The Mabinogion, the story of King Ludd, takes us back a long way.  King Ludd was a king in Britain, and in another book we learn that he was a brother of Cassevelaunis, who fought against Julius Caesar, so from that we can judge of the time in which he reigned.

“King Ludd,” we are told in The Mabinogion, “ruled prosperously and rebuilt the walls of London, and encompassed it about with numberless towers.  And after that he bade the citizens build houses therein, such as no houses in the kingdom could equal.  And, moreover, he was a mighty warrior, and generous and liberal in giving meat and drink to all that sought them.  And though he had many castles and cities, this one loved he more than any.  And he dwelt therein most part of the year, and therefore was it called Caer Ludd, and at last Caer London.  And after the strange race came there, it was called London.”  It is interesting to remember that there is still a street in London called Ludgate.  Caer is the Celtic word for Castle, and is still to be found in many Welsh names, such as Carnarvon, Caerleon, and so on.

Now, although Ludd was such a wise king, three plagues fell upon the island of Britain.  “The first was a certain race that came and was called Coranians, and so great was their knowledge that there was no discourse upon the face of the island, however low it might be spoken, but what, if the wind met it, it was known to them.

“The second plague was a shriek which came on every May-eve over every hearth in the island of Britain.  And this went through peoples’ hearts and frightened them out of their senses.

“The third plague was, however much of provision and food might be prepared in the king’s courts, were there even so much as a year’s provision of meat and drink, none of it could ever be found, except what was consumed upon the first night.”

The story goes on to tell how good King Ludd freed the island of Britain from all three plagues and lived in peace all the days of his life.

In five of the stories of The Mabinogion, King Arthur appears.  And, although these were all written in Welsh, it has been thought that some may have been brought to Wales from France.