" Forthwith the
king commanded the squire to fetch him; and he went to the nook
where Taliesin sat, and brought him before the king, who asked him
what he was, and whence he came. And he answered the king in
verse:
"Primary chief bard am I to Elphin,
And my native country is the region of the summer stars;
I have been in Asia with Noah in the ark,
I have seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
I was in India when Rome was built,
I have now come here to the remnant of Troia."
When the king and his nobles had heard the song, they wondered
much, for they had never heard the like from a boy so young as he.
And when the king knew that he was the bard of Elphin he bade
Heinin, his first and wisest bard, to answer Taliesin, and to
strive with him. But when he came he could do no other than play
"Blerwm!" on his lips; and when he sent for the others of the four
and twenty bards, they all did likewise, and could do no other.
And Maelgan asked the boy Taliesin what was his errand, and he
answered him in song:
"Elphin, the son of Gwyddno,
Is in the land of Artro,
Secured by thirteen locks,
For praising his instructor.
Therefore I, Taliesin,
Chief of the bards of the west,
Will loosen Elphin
Out of a golden fetter."
Then he sang to them a riddle:
"Discover thou what is
The strong creature from before the flood,
Without flesh, without bone,
Without vein, without blood,
Without head, without feet;
It will neither be older nor younger
Than at the beginning.
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