such as has a wish for it;
I have fled as a fierce bull bitterly fighting,
I have fled as a bristly boar seen in a ravine,
I have fled as a white grain of pure wheat,
On the skirt of a hempen sheet entangled,
That seemed of the size of a mare's foal,
That is filling like a ship on the waters;
Into a dark leathern bag I was thrown,
And on a boundless sea I was sent adrift;
Which was to me an omen of being tenderly nursed,
And the Lord God then set me at liberty."

Then came Elphin to the house or court of Gwyddno his father, and
Taliesin with him. And Gwyddno asked him if he had had a good haul at
the weir, and he told him that he had got that which was better than
fish. "What was that?" said Gwyddno. "A Bard," answered Elphin. Then
said Gwyddno, "Alas, what will he profit thee?" And Taliesin himself
replied and said, "He will profit him more than the weir ever profited
thee." Asked Gwyddno, "Art thou able to speak, and thou so little?" And
Taliesin answered him, "I am better able to speak than thou to question
me." "Let me hear what thou canst say," quoth Gwyddno. Then Taliesin
sang,--

"In water there is a quality endowed with a blessing;
On God it is most just to meditate aright;
To God it is proper to supplicate with seriousness,
Since no obstacle can there be to obtain a reward from him.
Three times have I been born, I know by meditation;
It were miserable for a person not to come and obtain
All the sciences of the world, collected together in my breast,
For I know what has been, what in future will occur.
I will supplicate my Lord that I get refuge in him,
A regard I may obtain in his grace;
The Son of Mary is my trust, great in Him is my delight,
For in Him is the world continually upholden.
God has been to instruct me and to raise my expectation,
The true Creator of heaven, who affords me protection;
It is rightly intended that the saints should daily pray,
For God, the renovator, will bring them to him.

* * * * *

And forthwith Elphin gave his haul to his wife, and she nursed him
tenderly and lovingly. Thenceforward Elphin increased in riches more and
more day after day, and in love and favour with the king, and there abode
Taliesin until he was thirteen years old, when Elphin son of Gwyddno went
by a Christmas invitation to his uncle, Maelgwn Gwynedd, who sometime
after this held open court at Christmas-tide in t