Writer's Block: Stories of old
Mar. 29th, 2011 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sandra_lindsey[Error: unknown template qotd]Y Ddraig Goch!
(The red dragon, which fought with the white dragon & caused Vortigern's castle on Dinas Bran to fall down every night. How could you not know that? ;-) )
I love Welsh tales. I think because they're the only ones I ever heard when I was young that hadn't been pounded by translators into making sense. They're weird and cool and make you go "huh?", and because they don't necessarily conform to the mores of our own times, make you wonder about the past.
To be honest, there are probably tales which had more impact on me at the time of hearing, but it's been so long (24 years? really??) I'm a bit hazy on the details. I know there was a tale about King Bran, and his ?sister? Branwyn, and I *think* it involves building a bridge across the Irish Sea... but other than that...
And lets not forget Prince Madoc (Madog?), who tried to get to Ireland by boat, got blown off course and ended up discovering America - centuries before Mr Columbus! The easy-to-read version made for young school children contained the hilariously un-PC line "Helo Mr Indiwn Coch! Sut wyt ti?" ("Hello Mr Red Indian! How are you?") and an illustration of Madog trying to cross the Irish Sea in a little one-man rowing boat that's pointing the wrong way. This last point was something the teachers found amusing, and therefore made a point of pointing it out, so I sure I'm not the only person who remembers the tale as "Madog rowed the wrong way across the Irish Sea and ended up in America"!
I think I need to get myself a copy of the Mabinogion (among other books)!
(The red dragon, which fought with the white dragon & caused Vortigern's castle on Dinas Bran to fall down every night. How could you not know that? ;-) )
I love Welsh tales. I think because they're the only ones I ever heard when I was young that hadn't been pounded by translators into making sense. They're weird and cool and make you go "huh?", and because they don't necessarily conform to the mores of our own times, make you wonder about the past.
To be honest, there are probably tales which had more impact on me at the time of hearing, but it's been so long (24 years? really??) I'm a bit hazy on the details. I know there was a tale about King Bran, and his ?sister? Branwyn, and I *think* it involves building a bridge across the Irish Sea... but other than that...
And lets not forget Prince Madoc (Madog?), who tried to get to Ireland by boat, got blown off course and ended up discovering America - centuries before Mr Columbus! The easy-to-read version made for young school children contained the hilariously un-PC line "Helo Mr Indiwn Coch! Sut wyt ti?" ("Hello Mr Red Indian! How are you?") and an illustration of Madog trying to cross the Irish Sea in a little one-man rowing boat that's pointing the wrong way. This last point was something the teachers found amusing, and therefore made a point of pointing it out, so I sure I'm not the only person who remembers the tale as "Madog rowed the wrong way across the Irish Sea and ended up in America"!
I think I need to get myself a copy of the Mabinogion (among other books)!
