|
|
|
|
(1, 1) 77 |
Rhagnell. Rhagnell! |
|
|
(1, 1) 79 |
Rhagnell! |
|
|
(1, 1) 82 |
Where's Blodeuwedd? In her chamber? |
|
|
(1, 1) 85 |
Go to her, and tell her this: my gifts for Math are ready. |
(1, 1) 86 |
We'll set out now while three hours of daylight still remain. |
(1, 1) 87 |
Gwydion and all the soldiers shall accompany me. |
|
|
(1, 1) 89 |
Yes. She'd better hurry if she wants to say goodbye. |
|
|
(1, 1) 107 |
Gwydion. Where have you been? We're ready. |
|
|
(1, 1) 111 |
No one could have wished for a better friend than you, Gwydion. |
|
|
(1, 1) 120 |
A mother's loathing outweighs an uncle's love. |
|
|
(1, 1) 128 |
But I still haven't escaped my mother's vengeance. |
(1, 1) 129 |
Blodeuwedd isn't like other women. |
|
|
(1, 1) 133 |
She won't bear my children. Isn't that so Gwydion? |
|
|
(1, 1) 135 |
I can. "He won't have a wife of woman born, |
(1, 1) 136 |
And won't have children of his own". |
(1, 1) 137 |
Those words are chiselled in my memory. |
(1, 1) 138 |
Is it a fate you can't circumvent? Will you fail? |
|
|
(1, 1) 142 |
I'll never forget that shimmering morning |
(1, 1) 143 |
When I first saw her, naked as that dawn itself, |
(1, 1) 144 |
The dew still glistening on her white breasts, |
(1, 1) 145 |
Breasts as pure as a snowdrop's petals |
(1, 1) 146 |
When the night furls their swell. She walked, |
(1, 1) 147 |
The soul of that virgin spring in a flawless mould of flesh. |
(1, 1) 148 |
I looked at her, and she at me. |
(1, 1) 149 |
I clothed her nakedness with kisses |
(1, 1) 150 |
And these arms, these awkward arms, |
(1, 1) 151 |
Which had been empty so long, encircled her. |
(1, 1) 152 |
But she was cold, so cold. I've never seen |
(1, 1) 153 |
A trace of a blush upon her cheeks, only a pallid glow, |
(1, 1) 154 |
Like that of the moon casting its random light |
(1, 1) 155 |
On the world below. Her very blood is alien. |
(1, 1) 156 |
She won't ever belong. To anyone. |
(1, 1) 157 |
She's closer to the wild animals in the forest |
(1, 1) 158 |
Than she is to me. That's her world. You know that. |
|
|
(1, 1) 162 |
One foul night of howling gales and sleeting rain, |
(1, 1) 163 |
She ran from my bed and into the storm's rage. |
(1, 1) 164 |
I followed - full of suspicion and anger |
(1, 1) 165 |
Beneath my cloak a sword. But no one came to her. |
(1, 1) 166 |
Not even the wolves were out on such a night. |
(1, 1) 167 |
Yet there she was, dancing to the tempest's fury. |
|
|
(1, 1) 169 |
I was frightened and called out. But she didn't hear. |
(1, 1) 170 |
And with the wind lashing trees and splintering boughs |
(1, 1) 171 |
I was lost in a fearful world |
(1, 1) 172 |
Where the only things that held their own |
(1, 1) 173 |
Were rock and rain, the stormy dark, |
(1, 1) 174 |
And her, Blodeuwedd... I ran after her, |
(1, 1) 175 |
Shouted louder, grasped her arm... |
(1, 1) 176 |
"You've caught me" she said, suddenly sad |
(1, 1) 177 |
Like a child woken from some distant dream |
(1, 1) 178 |
"You've caught me. Let's go home." |
(1, 1) 179 |
And I saw, in that night's storm |
(1, 1) 180 |
That I had no place in her life. |
(1, 1) 181 |
Why does a heart of ice lie beneath a breast |
(1, 1) 182 |
That excites desire like the first sun of summer. |
|
|
(1, 1) 185 |
Yes lady, we must go. |
|
|
(1, 1) 187 |
Gwydion too. |
|
|
(1, 1) 191 |
You won't be alone. |
(1, 1) 192 |
You have your maid, and many servants. |
|
|
(1, 1) 195 |
Since when? |
|
|
(1, 1) 198 |
No. Everyone's ready. We must go, |
(1, 1) 199 |
Math the king expects us. |
|
|
(1, 1) 217 |
Come uncle, it's time to leave. |
|
|
(1, 1) 228 |
My life can't be ruled on a girl's whim. |
|
|
(1, 1) 232 |
Don't be afraid. I'm destined |
(1, 1) 233 |
That no harm will easily befall me. |
(1, 1) 234 |
And you be wise. Don't stray too far from home. |
(1, 1) 235 |
Don't let the woodlands tempt you out at dusk, |
(1, 1) 236 |
But stay among my people here, |
(1, 1) 237 |
Be your best Blodeuwedd. I'll only be three days. |
(1, 1) 238 |
Farewell, farewell. |
|
|
(2, 2) 741 |
I've arrived sooner than expected? |
(2, 2) 742 |
I sped on ahead of my soldiers |
(2, 2) 743 |
To see Blodeuwedd first. |
|
|
(2, 2) 745 |
My fair, my flawless wife. |
|
|
(2, 2) 747 |
Today the wonder of your beauty is the same |
(2, 2) 748 |
As on that first morning, when the dew |
(2, 2) 749 |
Glistened in your footsteps. Fair wife |
(2, 2) 750 |
I didn't know the power of your spell |
(2, 2) 751 |
Until I felt its loss. |
|
|
(2, 2) 753 |
Nor will I again until I die. |
|
|
(2, 2) 755 |
What did you do while I was away? |
|
|
(2, 2) 769 |
Oh, wife, why wasn't I |
(2, 2) 770 |
Allowed to come to know you before. |
|
|
(2, 2) 773 |
I believed you cold, uncaring. |
(2, 2) 774 |
I didn't know you could weep |
(2, 2) 775 |
And blur those bright eyes with tears of longing. |
(2, 2) 776 |
Why did you keep from me till now this tenderness? |
|
|
(2, 2) 790 |
You are my wife. I hope through you |
(2, 2) 791 |
To found a race to rule Ardudwy. I wanted |
(2, 2) 792 |
To love you as a father loves the mother of his sons. |
(2, 2) 793 |
What greater love than that could a man dream of? |
|
|
(2, 2) 797 |
Woman of flowers, teach me then |
(2, 2) 798 |
How to fight my way past the petals |
(2, 2) 799 |
And bury myself like a bee in your core. |
(2, 2) 800 |
I too, my love, am alone in this world. |
(2, 2) 801 |
I was a stranger to my own mother's arms. |
(2, 2) 802 |
She cast me from her womb before my time |
(2, 2) 803 |
Then persecuted me. In my young life |
(2, 2) 804 |
I'd never tasted a kiss before yours, |
(2, 2) 805 |
Nor a girl's arms around my neck. |
(2, 2) 806 |
I never knew a brother or sister's tenderness. |
(2, 2) 807 |
I have such longing for your love, girl. |
(2, 2) 808 |
Teach me how to love you in your way |
(2, 2) 809 |
For shouldn't love attract love |
(2, 2) 810 |
And one heart fire another? My wife, my world, |
(2, 2) 811 |
Why do you keep yourself from me? |
|
|
(2, 2) 814 |
You gave your body, but kept your soul. |
|
|
(2, 2) 818 |
Was it true what Rhagnell said about you weeping? |
|
|
(2, 2) 820 |
Blodeuwedd, look at me. Answer me. |
(2, 2) 821 |
Why don't you answer? |
|
|
(2, 2) 825 |
Was your love for me so great? |
|
|
(2, 2) 827 |
Half my soul, now I know your love, |
(2, 2) 828 |
From now on life will sing to me sweetly. |
(2, 2) 829 |
We'll make a family and a future in Ardudwy. |
(2, 2) 830 |
Young saplings will grow in this oak's shadow. |
(2, 2) 831 |
We'll be like a sheltered orchard |
(2, 2) 832 |
Our love a palisade around us |
(2, 2) 833 |
Keeping out the chill winds of loneliness. |
(2, 2) 834 |
My wife, you'll be an exile no longer. |
(2, 2) 835 |
I'll be your kith and kin. And unless I'm killed... |
|
|
(2, 2) 837 |
Don't be afraid. Killing me isn't easy. |
(2, 2) 838 |
I'm fated that my death |
(2, 2) 839 |
Is unlikely by the hand of any man. |
|
|
(2, 2) 845 |
It's a secret that I shouldn't share with anyone. |
|
|
(2, 2) 847 |
I love you. Even more now than when I left. |
(2, 2) 848 |
When I was with Math I asked him |
(2, 2) 849 |
How he and my uncle Gwydion created you. |
(2, 2) 850 |
He instructed, Gwydion foraged and fretted, |
(2, 2) 851 |
Beaded sap and dew, collected scents, |
(2, 2) 852 |
Wreathed together leaves and light |
(2, 2) 853 |
And called on untried spells to turn that essence |
(2, 2) 854 |
Of things wild and beautiful and primal |
(2, 2) 855 |
Into woman. Into you. |
|
|
(2, 2) 857 |
Hearing Math's tale I was in awe of you |
(2, 2) 858 |
And realised I'd been given the greatest gift of all. |
(2, 2) 859 |
Oh yes, I love you, Blodeuwedd. Doubly so |
(2, 2) 860 |
Now that I know the secret of your making. |
(2, 2) 861 |
And I'll gladly tell you my secret too. |
|
|
(2, 2) 863 |
A full year must be spent |
(2, 2) 864 |
Making the spear which is to strike me. |
(2, 2) 865 |
It may only be fashioned at the time |
(2, 2) 866 |
Of Sacrifice at Sunday Mass. |
|
|
(2, 2) 868 |
Quite certain. |
(2, 2) 869 |
Neither can I be killed inside a house |
(2, 2) 870 |
Nor on my horse. Nor with a foot upon the ground. |
(2, 2) 871 |
I have to stand on a water trough |
(2, 2) 872 |
That is set beside a river. Positioned so, |
(2, 2) 873 |
And struck in the back with the poisoned spear, |
(2, 2) 874 |
I could be killed. |
|
|
(2, 2) 876 |
Many a time, Blodeuwedd, I wished my own death. |
(2, 2) 877 |
But now I've a new taste for life. Love grows, |
(2, 2) 878 |
Like an oak, strengthened by life's storms. |
(2, 2) 879 |
Beneath its great branches flourishes |
(2, 2) 880 |
Family, home, estates and kingdom. |
(2, 2) 881 |
Our love, fair lady, will provide Ardudwy |
(2, 2) 882 |
With security and strength |
|
|
(2, 2) 885 |
I'll come. Let's feast today |
(2, 2) 886 |
As if at a wedding. I left here |
(2, 2) 887 |
Three days ago with a heavy heart. |
(2, 2) 888 |
I return today to a new found joy, |
(2, 2) 889 |
Greater than any I've known. This day |
(2, 2) 890 |
Has unfurled like a flag above my fortress, for |
(2, 2) 891 |
I've found at last the meaning of a wife's loyalty. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1103 |
You're up early, lady. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1106 |
And like a rabbit you ventured out barefoot. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1109 |
My mother wouldn't brave the outdoors barefoot. |
(3, 2) 1110 |
She sent servants with her foot measurements. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1113 |
Not a spear. No one could transfix |
(3, 2) 1114 |
A wren with a spear. But a cobbler's needle, |
(3, 2) 1115 |
On an arrow. With that I did. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1118 |
Gladly. But first, shouldn't you tell me |
(3, 2) 1119 |
Why you summoned me so early from my bed? |
|
|
(3, 2) 1121 |
No. Your story first. |
(3, 2) 1122 |
Why did you call me here from the fort? |
|
|
(3, 2) 1124 |
I promise. So what is your secret then? |
|
|
(3, 2) 1126 |
You told me that you'd keep some joyous news |
(3, 2) 1127 |
Until today, to celebrate the anniversary |
(3, 2) 1128 |
Of my return from Math's court. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1130 |
How could I not have been? Your trust |
(3, 2) 1131 |
Was a nest to me. You've been civil and sweet, |
(3, 2) 1132 |
No longer a wild bird trapped in a cage. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1134 |
My mother was wild. She persecuted me. |
(3, 2) 1135 |
She taught me fear. I grew up |
(3, 2) 1136 |
Not knowing who my own father was. |
(3, 2) 1137 |
I hated all things wild. They're cowardly |
(3, 2) 1138 |
And base. They stalk and strike from behind. |
(3, 2) 1139 |
But you've been my walled and cultured garden, |
(3, 2) 1140 |
That makes me safe. This is the first year |
(3, 2) 1141 |
I've not feared a traitor's dagger in my back. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1143 |
Each one she named. There was another. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1147 |
Only when you give me the best news of my life. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1149 |
Dare I hope? The glorious news |
(3, 2) 1150 |
That through you I have a son and heir. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1152 |
My mother tried to kill me. In that she failed. |
(3, 2) 1153 |
My birth sullied her. I personified |
(3, 2) 1154 |
Her degradation, and was the focus |
(3, 2) 1155 |
For all her hatred towards the world. |
(3, 2) 1156 |
She cut me off from mankind, sundered me |
(3, 2) 1157 |
From the carefree days of boyhood; |
(3, 2) 1158 |
I was forbidden the very trappings |
(3, 2) 1159 |
Of young manhood; a name, arms, a woman. |
(3, 2) 1160 |
I had to fight against her for my sense of self. |
(3, 2) 1161 |
Gwydion was like a father to me. You're now my wife. |
(3, 2) 1162 |
King Math gave me lands for my princedom. |
(3, 2) 1163 |
I've known the cares common to men; through you |
(3, 2) 1164 |
This year, I've known caring. Love. The nightmare |
(3, 2) 1165 |
Has receded and is often forgotten. But Blodeuwedd |
(3, 2) 1166 |
If I once saw, cradled against your breast |
(3, 2) 1167 |
A boy, my heir, the last link in that cruel chain |
(3, 2) 1168 |
Would fall away and I would glory |
(3, 2) 1169 |
In being a life-giver. In fathering a future. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1171 |
Without that, I'll be content. With that my love |
(3, 2) 1172 |
And gratitude would serenade you endlessly. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1178 |
I'll say it when a boy rests in your arms. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1181 |
You know for certain? |
|
|
(3, 2) 1183 |
Oh, my queen! Let the fates make it a son. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1185 |
I never dared to think |
(3, 2) 1186 |
Your words last night hinted at this. |
(3, 2) 1187 |
My cup is brimful. If death itself should strike now |
(3, 2) 1188 |
I'd not begrudge it! |
|
|
(3, 2) 1191 |
My mother's wrath counts for nothing if I have an heir. |
(3, 2) 1192 |
What will he be like? Imagine it my love. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1197 |
I'll teach him his father's skill at games. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1199 |
And how to row and how to make a shoe for his mother |
(3, 2) 1200 |
So she doesn't have to go barefoot in the dew. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1202 |
I can picture him now, a three year old |
(3, 2) 1203 |
In your lap listening to Gwydion's tales. |
(3, 2) 1204 |
How the old wizard will make the boy smile |
(3, 2) 1205 |
With his story of our boat outside Arianrhod's keep. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1209 |
Here, mid-deck, |
(3, 2) 1210 |
Peering down at my mother's foot. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1213 |
There in the stern. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1215 |
Yes. Long and hard with lips pursed. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1217 |
Gwydion had woven a spell. |
(3, 2) 1218 |
She was beautiful, standing, her foot on the boat's rail. |
(3, 2) 1219 |
Upright, and proud, a princess. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1221 |
It was spring. Ten yards offshore |
(3, 2) 1222 |
Stood a stone sea-wall. From one of its crannies |
(3, 2) 1223 |
The wren appeared, skipping and darting |
(3, 2) 1224 |
In and out of the crevice. It flitted |
(3, 2) 1225 |
Then came to rest on the boat's prow. |
|
|
(3, 2) 1227 |
Look, like this... |
|
|
(3, 2) 1229 |
There stand Gwydion and my mother |
(3, 2) 1230 |
Myself here. A moment of stillness. |
(3, 2) 1231 |
The water's surface shimmering, not a sound... |
(3, 2) 1232 |
The wren perches. He raises one wing |
(3, 2) 1233 |
Like this... his head downwards. That second, |
(3, 2) 1234 |
The needle weighted in my fingers... |
|
|
(3, 2) 1236 |
I aimed at him... |
|
|
(3, 2) 1265 |
I'm dying. Gwydion. Where are you? Gwydion! |
(3, 2) 1266 |
I'm dying. Uncle! Help me! |
|
|
(4, 2) 1489 |
Where are your men, traitor? |
|
|
(4, 2) 1502 |
I won't let him escape. Only a cord of flax binds his arms; |
(4, 2) 1503 |
He bound me with the tethers of a wife's lies. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1505 |
Your life. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1507 |
You spent a whole year plotting my death |
(4, 2) 1508 |
Another full year you took possession of my bed, |
(4, 2) 1509 |
My fortress, my princedom and this half-human harpy |
(4, 2) 1510 |
Who once passed as a wife. It's not for that either |
(4, 2) 1511 |
That I want your blood, rather because you heard |
(4, 2) 1512 |
The greatest secret of my soul, and laughed. |
(4, 2) 1513 |
You mocked at my misfortune – you ridiculed |
(4, 2) 1514 |
The confession of a man ensnared by love |
(4, 2) 1515 |
Your treachery cut you from mankind; |
(4, 2) 1516 |
The mark of the forest is on you. You can't live. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1518 |
Uncle Gwydion, what shall we do with him? |
|
|
(4, 2) 1595 |
Gwydion, it's true. She has been wronged. |
(4, 2) 1596 |
She doesn't deserve to die as that other does. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1600 |
I came here bitter, intending for you |
(4, 2) 1601 |
A savage punishment. I see now |
(4, 2) 1602 |
That you've always been a creature to pity. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1605 |
That's why I can forgive you. |
(4, 2) 1606 |
No rational soul could love like you. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1608 |
And he's chosen death to escape from you. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1613 |
I'll accept my destiny |
(4, 2) 1614 |
And make a nest of my sorrows. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1618 |
We're all exiles. The world's a cold hearth. |
(4, 2) 1619 |
I'll join the army of bitter souls. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1622 |
The love I could achieve, I gave to you. |
(4, 2) 1623 |
I put my life in your hands. You betrayed it. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1626 |
I can't. You may walk from here, freely. |
|
|
(4, 2) 1645 |
Am I? With everything around me dead or dying. |