Llyfyr Taliesin XVI
The Chair of Cerridwen
Sovereign of the power of the air, thou also
The satisfaction of my transgressions
At midnight and at matins
There shone my lights.
Courteous the life of Minawg ap Lleu,
Whom I saw here a short while ago.
The end, in the slope of Lleu.
Aredent was his push in combats;
Avagddu my son also.
Happy the Lord made him,
In the competition of songs,
His wisdom was bettter than mine,
The most skillful man ever heard of.
Gwydion the son of Don, of toil severe,
Formed a woman out of flowers,
And brought the pigs from the South,
Though he had no pigstyes for them;
The bold traveller out of plated twigs
Formed a cavalcade,
From the springing
Plants, and illustrious saddles.
When are judged the chairs,
Excelling them (will be) mine
My chair, my cauldron and my laws,
And my parading eloquence, meet for the chair.
I am called skilful in the court of Don.
I and Euronwy, and Euron.
I saw a fierce conflict in Nant Frangeon
On a Sunday, at the time of dawn,
Between the bird of wrath and Gwydion
Thursday, certainly they went to Mona
To obtain whirlings and sorcerers.
Arianrhod, of laudable aspect, dawn of serenity
The greatest disgrace evidently on the side of the Brython,
Hastily sends about his court the stream of a rainbow,
A stream that scares away violence from the earth.
The poison of its former state, about the world, it will leave.
They speak not falsely, the books of Bede.
The chair of the Preserver is here.
And till doom, shall continue in Europe
May the Trinity grant us
Mercy in the day of judgment.
A fair alms from good men.
Told from the point of view of Cerridwen, it speaks about Gwydion's activities in the Mabinogion, such as creating a woman out of flowers (Blodeuwedd) for his nephew Lleu, and stealing the swine of Pryderi. It also mentions Venerable Bede, the Saxon historian, which goes to show the late date of the poem; that is, it isn't composed by the historical Taliesin, but by a later scribe familiar with the story of "Math fab Mathonwy."