The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends (81 page)

The three sons devoured three entire cows and drank three casks of wine without blinking.

Genver finally asked: “Tell us, cousin Fidamdoustik, and tell us truly – does your journey here have no other reason than merely to visit us?”

Nol decided to be truthful in this regard.

“Well, in truth, cousin, I am on a journey to the Kingdom of the Shining Star. If you could show me the way, I would be very grateful.”

“I never heard of it?” replied Genver.

“I’ve heard of it, all right?” said C’hwevrer, “but I don’t know where it is.”

“I know it?” said Meurzh. “In fact, I blew over it only yesterday. There were great preparations in the land, for the princess is getting married tomorrow.”

Nol sat bolt upright.

“Married?”

“Oh yes. They’ve slaughtered one hundred cows and one hundred calves, one hundred sheep, and as many chickens and ducks. A great feast it will be.”

“But to whom is she getting married?” demanded Nol.

“I don’t know. Why?”

“I want to get there before the ceremony. Can you tell me how I can find the Kingdom of the Shining Star, cousin Meurzh?”

“I am due to go back there for a blow tomorrow, cousin. But you won’t be able to keep up.”

“That I can?” Nol assured him.

“Very well?” Meurzh was not sure. “If you can keep up with me, I’ll show you where.”

So about midnight, Meurzh told him it was time to go and spun up and out of the chimney. Nol followed him with his enchanted gaiters and kept up as Meurzh whistled across
the forests and finally came to a seashore.

“Wait!” cried Nol. “I can keep up with you but I cannot cross the water. Can you help me across the sea, cousin?”

Meurzh looked doubtful. “There is not one sea that stands between us and the Kingdom of the Shining Star, cousin.”

“Then, I beg you, take me on your broad back and carry me over the waves.”

With much grumbling, Meurzh did so. The first sea was crossed without problems. The second sea, Meurzh grumbled and said he was tired. The third sea was almost crossed when Meurzh said he was
that tired he was going to drop Nol. But Nol urged him on so much that when Meurzh finally dropped him, he landed right on the sandy seashore of the Kingdom of the Shining Star.

He thanked his mighty cousin and set off towards the great city in the distance, and his enchanted gaiters helped him reach there in a moment or two.

He thought that he would go to a tavern before making his way to the castle in the centre of the city. He knew that tavern-keepers were notorious at knowing all the news of the countryside. So
he found a tavern and went in and ordered food.

Sure enough, the tavern-keeper was loquacious enough.

“What is the talk of the city, tavern-keeper?” asked Nol, with an innocent look.

“Talk? Why, talk of nothing else except our princess’s wedding.”

“Is everyone overjoyed at it, then?” pressed Nol.

“Everyone except the princess?” replied the tavern-keeper.

Nol’s heart gave a quick throb. “Why so?” he whispered.

“They say the princess is getting married to someone who she doesn’t like.”

“Who is this person?”

“The Prince of Hent Sant Jakez.” And that was the Breton term for the Milky Way.

Nol wondered how he could ever claim his princess when she was marrying such a powerful prince.

“When will this wedding take place?”

“Not long now. If you wait here, you may see it, for the wedding procession passes this very tavern.”

Now an idea came into Nol’s mind. On a table outside the inn, he placed the first golden pear and kerchief, that which the princess had given Rosko.

The table stood within sight of the procession. Nol went to watch what would happen from the inn window.

Sure enough, the wedding procession came along. At the head was the princess and by her side was her betrothed, the Prince of the Milky Way. The princess started when she saw the golden pear and
kerchief.

“Wait, Prince?” she said, stopping the procession. “I feel quite unwell. Let us put off this wedding until tomorrow.”

The prince, frowning with bewilderment, finally agreed. The procession turned back to the palace and the ceremony was rearranged for the next day. Meanwhile, in her chambers, the princess sent
one of her handmaidens to the inn with instructions to buy the pear and kerchief from whoever was the owner.

The handmaiden returned them to the princess, for Nol had given them to her.

The next day, the procession set out again and again passed the inn. Again Nol had set on the table outside the second pear and kerchief, while he himself looked on from behind a window. On
seeing them, the princess pretended to be ill again and asked that the ceremony be postponed until the next morning. Again, the prince, though more irritable than before, agreed. The princess sent
the same handmaiden to go to collect the pear and kerchief.

The same thing happened on the third day, except that this time, the princess asked her handmaiden to bring the owner back to her as well.

When Nol entered the room, she almost swooned with joy and they embraced at finding one another again.

Just then a messenger came to her chambers, saying that the Prince of the Milky Way had issued orders that, because every time the princess passed the inn she fell ill, they would
have their wedding feast and afterwards the ceremony would be performed in the castle.

Trying to devise a plan, the princess went down to the feasting hall and Nol also went down and took his place with the guests. He saw the princess was as radiant as ever he had seen her,
lighting the feasting hall like the sun.

As was the custom, following the feasting, there were many telling tales, each boastful and bragging.

Finally, the Prince of the Milky Way turned to the princess and said: “You have told us no tale. Soon we will be married and then it will be unseemly that you should do so. Tell us a tale
before we marry.”

“Well, there is a tale . . . a tale which my guests should give me advice on, for it concerns a matter about which I am much embarrassed.”

This intrigued everyone.

“Tell on.”

“I have a pretty little gold casket. Inside was a pretty little golden key. I liked it very much, but one day I lost the key and so had a new one made. But it happens that I’ve just
found the old key before having even tried the new one. The old one was very good and I don’t yet know if the new one would be any better. So the advice I would like is whether I should now
throw away the old one and use the new or throw away the new one and stick to the old.”

The guests gave their advice but the princess turned to the Prince of the Milky Way.

“It is your advice I need most in this, my lord. On your word, the decision hangs.”

The Prince of the Milky Way rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “One should always regard and respect the old. Better to keep what one knows will work than experiment with something
untried.”

The princess stood up with a laugh. “Then I will show you these keys.” And she made her way across the feasting hall and took Nol by the hand. “Here is the old key which was
lost and just recovered. You, my lord, are the new key.”

The Prince of the Milky Way stood up and his face was wreathed in anger.

“We have had our wedding feast!” he exclaimed.

“But no ceremony?” replied the princess. “And you have advised me clearly, in front of all these guests. I must respect the old and maintain it. I’ll keep my old key,
therefore, and leave the new key. And by the old key I refer to this courageous and faithful young man, who delivered me from the bondage of the three evil magicians. Nol was willing to give his
life for me, and then came in search of me, daring a thousand evils, leaving all that was comfortable.”

Her subjects applauded and started to rejoice, for they had all known that the princess had not been happy with the prospect of her marriage.

The Prince of the Milky Way left the Kingdom of the Shining Star forthwith and returned to his twenty-seven star wives, for he did not need the companionship of the single Shining Star when he
could roam the twenty-seven courts of his universe.

“We shall never again be parted?” the princess assured Nol. “And for the first part of our eternity, we shall return to your land and be married there.”

So in a star-coloured carriage, drawn by twenty-seven white horses, each with a starburst on their foreheads, they travelled back to the Lannion and the banks of the Leguer and the old castle,
where the faithful Rosko was waiting for them. There was great joy in the land and the wedding feast far surpassed that which had been held in the Kingdom of the Shining Star.

Recommended Further Reading

To make recommendations for further reading is a hard task – hard in that there are many titles one is forced to leave out rather than in the consideration of what has to
be put in. There are many books that I would be tempted to put in, such as the books of Ethne Carbery (1866–1911), which were a joy in my childhood: for example,
The Four Winds of
Eirinn
(1902) and
In the Celtic Past
(1904). However, I have tried to keep to those titles which, in my opinion, will collectively serve as a good, broad introduction into the Celtic
world of myth and legend.

Brekilien, Yann.
La mythologie celtique,
Editions Jean Picollec, Paris, 1981.

Caldecott, Moyra.
Women in Celtic Myth
, Arrow Books, London, 1988.

Campbell, John Francis.
Popular Tales of the West Highlands
, Edinburgh, 1860–62.

Campbell, John Gregerson
Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition
,
3
vols, London, 1891.

Carmichael, Alexander.
Carmina Gadelica
, Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, Vols I and II (1900); Vols III and IV (1940–41) and Vols V and VI (1954 and 1971).

Carney, James.
Studies in Irish Literature and History
, Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, 1955.

Coghlan, Ronan.
A Pocket Dictionary of Irish Myths and Legends,
Appletree Press, Belfast, 1985.

Coghlan, Ronan.
The Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends
, Element, Shaftesbury, Dorset, 1991.

Croker, J. Crofton.
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland
, John Murray, London, 1834.

Cross, Tom P. and Slover, Clark H.
Ancient Irish Tales
, Harrap, London, 1937.

Curtin, Jeremiah.
Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland
, Dover, New York, 1975.

de Jubainville, H. d’Arbois.
Essai d’un de la Litterature de I’Irlande,
Paris, 1882.

de Jubainville, H. d’Arbois.
Le cycle mythologique irlandais et la mythologie celtique
, Paris, 1884. English translation -
The Irish Mythological Cycle
, Hodges
& Figgis, Dublin, 1903.

Delaney, Frank.
Legends of the Celts
, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1989.

Dillon, Myles.
The Cycles of the Kings
, Oxford University Press, 1946.

Dillon, Myles.
Early Irish Literature
, University of Chicago Press, Chicago USA, 1948.

Dillon, Myles, ed.
Irish Sagas
, Mercier Press, Cork, 1968

Dunn, Joseph.
The Ancient Irish Epic Tale — Táin Bó Cúalnge,
David Nutt, London, 1914.

Easter, Delawarr B.
A Study of the Magic Elements in the Romans d’Aventure and the Romans Bretons
, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1906.

Ellis, Peter Berresford.
The Cornish Language and its Literature,
Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1974.

Ellis, Peter Berresford.
A Dictionary of Irish Mythology
, Constable, London, 1987.

Ellis, Peter Berresford.
A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology
, Constable, London, 1992.

Ellis, Peter Berresford.
The Druids
, Constable, London, 1994.

Ellis, Peter Berresford.
Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature
, Constable, London, 1995.

Ellis, T.P. and Lloyd, John.
The Mabinogion
, Oxford University Press, 1929.

Evans, J. Gwenogfryn.
The White Book Mabinogion
, Pwllheli (1907). Reprint as
Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch (The White Book of Rhydderch).
Introduced by Professor R.M. Jones,
University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1973.

Flower, Robin.
Byron and Ossian
, Oxford University Press, 1928.

Flower, Robin.
The Irish Tradition
, Oxford University Press, 1947.

Ford, P.K. ed. and trs.
The Mabinogion and Other Medieval Welsh Tales
, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1977.

Gantz, Jeffrey.
Early Irish Myths and Sagas
, Penguin, London, 1981.

Gantz, Jeffrey
The Mabinogion
, Penguin, London, 1976.

Gose, E.G.
The World of the Irish Wonder Tale
, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1985.

Graves, Alfred P.
The Irish Fairy Book
, T. Fisher Unwin, London

Green, Miranda.
A Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend
, Thames & Hudson, London, 1992.

Gregory, Lady Augusta.
Gods and Fighting Men
, John Murray, London, 1904.

Gruffydd, W.J.
Math vab Mathonwy
, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1928.

Gruffydd. W.J.
Rhiannon
, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1953.

Guest, Lady Charlotte.
The Mabinogion from Llyfr Coch a Hergest
, London (1838–1849). Everyman edition, London, 1906.

Guyonvarc’h, Christian J.
Textes mythologiques irlandais
, Ogam-Celticum, Brittany, 1981.

Gwynn, Edward John ed. and trs.
The Metrical Dindsenchas
, Hodges Figgis, Dublin, 1903–1935.

Henderson, George.
Fled Bricrend
, London, 189.

Henderson, George.
Survivals in Belief Among the Celts
, J. Maclehose, Glasgow, 1911.