save thyself by speedy flight! Brân is thy name, thou with the fair locks! The horse careers along the dry plain in the midst of a cloud of dust and sand. The serpents hiss in the rear; the noise of their hissing is heard afar. The horse pants with fatigue and heat: his pursuers appear to have the wings of dragons, so swiftly do they follow. O for the scantiest rill of water! for the running stream they dare not pass. At length he nears the water, but the serpents hiss around him. Shall he be pos sessed of his treasure, or shall he end his life in torment? The horse staggers under his exertion. Hope seems lost. He rolls headlong down the rugged bank; but the water received him. gained. Thus the treasure was He had it enchased in gold, and threw it in a river. It floated, and swam against the stream; and so he knew it was good: for this is the test whereby the virtue of the serpent's egg is proved. This is the account that the Druids give of the obtaining of the serpent's egg. The Coranied held three places sacred in the land of Guitt. The first was the western extremity of the island, where the pale cliffs totter high over the ocean, and the giant rocks rear themselves like towers from the waves. In the midst of these, rising tall and thin from the water, stood the sacred stone of Ur.* The second was on Mottestone hill, where stood the pillar of a rock, and near it the wonderful Logan stone, which swung from its foundation to the summer breeze; but the strength of many men could not move it from its place. The hand of a child might sway it to and fro, but it was said that if a man had guilt upon his soul, though his arm might be like an arm of iron, yet would the rock remain firm like the hill on which it stood. The third sacred place was the grove of oaks in the Hexel ground of Yar.† Here dwelt the Arch-druid Coll, the son of Cyllin, with the other Druids of the race of Coranied. Supposed to be the Needle Rock, which fell some years ago. Where Brading Haven now is. Here was their most sacred grove of oaks, and once in every year they built a tall pile of dry wood, on the top of which it was said that they bound a living man, confining him in a vessel of wicker-work, and they sacrificed him with fire. After a time there came three strangers to the land of Wight. They were dressed in mean apparel: they were neither merchants, nor hunters, nor warriors; neither did they wear the sacred robes of Druids. But they lived upon the charity of those who offered them hospitality; they ate their scanty meal in thankfulness, and blessed those that gave to them. The men of the race of Cimri received them with kindness, for the hearts of the persecuted are ever kind. But the wisdom of the three strangers was greater than the wisdom of the Druids. They knew all traditions of the olden time; they could chant the triads, and read the sprigs of the trees;* they knew the history of other countries; they knew the ancient prophecies; and they taught that * The symbols by which the Druids communicated their houghts to one another, as we do by writing. many prophecies which seemed clothed in darkness had come to the fulness of their time. They taught how one had died for the sins of the world; that the blood of goats and of oxen, sacrificed from the days of old, were but the types of him that the world waited for. They were Christians. Many of the Cimri listened to them; but the Druids of the Cimri held aloof, because they feared to lose their authority with the people. The Druids of the Cimri sacrificed a white bull at the pillar of Mottestone; and they sang a hymn, to Hu Gadarn, (the Supreme Being,) and they played on their harps— "Hu Gadarn,* the sovereign and protector; The smallest in the world's judgment; The greatest, and Lord over us, And the God of our ministry; Light his course and swift. And he is great on land and sea, Greater than the worlds."+ Literally, the mighty inspector. + See O. Dick. v. Mymryn. This hymn is nearly the same as one that may be found in the writings of the Bard Rhys Brydad. |