his led to Monmouth's version including an account of two warring dragons, instead of two warring "vermin." So this orthography scholar decided that basically it might be two really big badgers that fought and were buried...
This reminds me of the closing line of the failed Trojan Rabbit scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
posted 5:39 PM
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
More Fun With Medieval Welsh
Despite grand tales of retrieving the Holy Grail, which come later on in Arthurian literature, the original Welsh Arthur had a different quest.
In Culhwch ac Olwen,
Arthur and his men pursue a giant boar in order to retrieve the golden comb and shears from between its ears. Ah, what nobler quest could one ask for? Not only must they battle the boar, Twrch Trwyth, but they must fight its deadly piglets, as well.
Arthur sends his men to Ireland to see if the boar is there, and if it has the treasures between its ears. The text reads: "That the boar was there was certain; it had already destroyed a third of Ireland."
Later on the text reads: "Dogs attacked the boar from all directions, and the Irish battled it throughout the day until night fell; despite that, a fifth of Ireland was destroyed by it." (Somehow these fractions add up. Let's see - a third plus a fifth - is that a majority of Ireland yet?)
Arthur does not kill the boar -- it lumbers into the sea, its sides bristling with spears, to hunt another day.
posted 2:39 PM
Monday, March 13, 2006
The Fun of Translating Medieval Welsh
Oftentimes people ask me about the translation of Middle (Medieval) Welsh, and the manuscripts I've worked with. Here's a few of the stranger and more humorous lines I've translated from Middle Welsh. The following belong to a manuscript entitled "Culhwch ac Olwen," one of the earliest manuscripts in which King Arthur appears. This is the original Arthur of Welsh tradition, before other European authors added all the bits about him being an upstanding warrior with a Round Table and all that. Let's face it. The original Arthur is just a bit 