Given below is a metrical version of the origin of ale. It is put in this place between the account of the use of ale by the Britons and its use by the Saxons, because our anonymous poet does not seem to have quite made up his mind whether he is recording a British or a Saxon myth. The name of the king would seem to point to a British origin, whilst some of the gods on whom he calls are Teutonic.
THE ORIGIN OF BEER.
In a jolly field of barley good King Cambrinus slept, And dreaming of his thirsty realm the merry monarch wept, “In all my land of Netherland there grows no mead or wine, And water I could never coax adown this throat of mine.
“Now list to me, ye heathen gods, and eke ye Christian too, Both Zernebock and Jupiter, and Mary clad in blue; And mighty Thor the Thunderer, and any else that be, The one who aids me in my need his servant I will be.”
And as this sinful heathen all in the barley lay, There came in dreams an angel bright who soft these words did say— “Arise, thou poor Cambrinus, for even all around, In the barley where thou sleepest a nectar may be found.
“In the barley where thou sleepest there hides a nectar clear, Which men shall know in later times as porter, ale or beer.” Then in terms the most explicit he “put the monarch through,” And gave him ere the dream was out the recipe to brew.
Uprose good King Cambrinus and shook him in the sun. “Away, ye wretched heathen gods—with you I’m quit and done! Ye’ve left me with my subjects in error and in thirst; Till in our dreadful dryness we scarce know which is worst.”
It was the good Cambrinus unto his palace went, And messengers through all the land unto his lords he sent, “Leave Odin, under pain of death!”—his orders were severe, Yet touched with mildness—for he sent the recipe for beer. {30}
Oh, then a merry sound was heard of building through the land, And the churches and the breweries went up on every hand; For the masons they were hard at work where’er a spot seemed pat, And some had bricks within their hods, and some within their hats.
In the sister Island are to be found very early references to ale. The Senchus Mor, which contains some of the oldest and most important of the ancient laws of Ireland, has the following passages in which mention of this drink occurs:—