MERLIN’S FATE.
The end or final fate of Merlin is surrounded by mysteries. A few years ago when I was staying in the neighbourhood of Carmarthen, Merlin’s Hill (Bryn Myrddin) was pointed out to me where the great magician still lives (so they say) in a cave in that hill, and held there in imprisonment by an artful woman who contrived his disappearance from among human beings. Moreover, it is added, that if you listen in the twilight, you will hear his groans, and also the clanking of the iron chains which hold him bound. Others say he is heard working in this underground prison.
It seems from Spenser’s “Faerie Queen,” however, that according to another ancient tradition, Merlin’s place of confinement is, or was, a cave near Dynevor, in the neighbourhood of Llandilo:
“And if you ever happen that same way to traveill, go to see that dreadful place. It is an hideous hollow cave (they say) under a rock that lyes a little apace emongst the woody hilles of Dynevowre (Dynevor), etc.”
Some stories describe Merlin as being held spellbound in a bush of white thorns in the woods of Bresilien in Brittany. Others say that he died, and was buried at Bardsey Island. But according to the Triads he went to sea and sailed in a house of glass, and was never heard of any more. In this voyage, Merlin took with him the thirteen curiosities of Britain, which were:—
1. Llen Arthur (the veil of Arthur), which made the person who put it on invisible.
2. Dyrnwyn.
3. Corn Brangaled (the horn of Brangaled), which furnished any liquor desired.
4. Cadair, neu car Morgan mwynfawr (the chair or car of Morgan Mwynfawr), which would carry a person seated in it wherever he wished to go.
5. Mwys Gwyddno (the hamper of Gwyddno), meat for one being put into it, would become meat for a hundred.
6. Hogalen Tudno (the whetstone of Tudno), which would sharpen none but the weapon of a brave man.
7. Pais Padarn (the cloak of Padarn).
8. Pair Drynog (the caldron of Drynog), none but the meat of a brave man would boil in it.
9. Dysgyl a gren Rhydderch (the dish and platter of Rhydderch), any meat desired would appear on it.
10. Tawlbwrdd (a chess board, or, rather backgammon board), the ground gold, and the men silver, and the men would play themselves.
11. Mantell (a robe).
12. Modrwy Eluned (the ring of Eluned), whoever put it on his finger could make himself invisible.
13. Cyllell Llawfrodedd,—which was a kind of knife with which the Druids killed their victims for sacrifices.
“The story of Merlin and Vivian as told in Brittany,” translated from the French-Breton magazine “L’Hermine,” edited by M. Tiercelin, is given in Part X. of the Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society, from which I give the following short extract—Viviane, the love-making temptress, had enchanted the enchanter (Merlin). He sleeps, says the legend, in the forest of Broceliande, vaulted by an impenetrable hedge, on the bank of the fountain of love, his head resting on the knees of Viviane; the enchanter enchanted; and nobody has yet awakened the Celtic Orpheus from his eternal slumber. “Ne onques puis Merlin ne issit de ceste tour, où sa mie, Viviane l’avait mis.”