There lived on an island in Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake in North Wales) a Goddess called Ceridwen, feared by many because of her knowledge and wisdom and magical skills. She was married to Tegid Foel of Penllyn, a giant so named as he was totally bald. His spirit is said to be the guardian of the lake that bears his name. They had two children, a girl named Creirfyw, beautiful and fair as a summer day, the other a boy, named Morfran (great crow) ab Tegid, who was extremely ill favoured, in fact so ugly was he that he was nicknamed Afagddu (utter darkness) by all who saw him.
Ceridwen was displeased at this unfairness and decided to compensate, so she consulted the Llyfrau Fferyllt, where lay all manner of magical spells and selected one that would give her son prophetic knowledge and inspiration (Awen) so that he would be accepted by his peers and the court of Maelgwyn Gwynedd and honoured for his knowledge. Ceridwen had a Cauldron of Awen, and after consulting Llyfrau Fferyllt, she had to boil a magical brew, for a year and a day, at which time the essence would be given to her son and he would acquire all the knowledge and inspiration to admit him as an honoured member of the court.
Gwion Bach ap Gwreang was enlisted to stir the cauldron as he was but a lad with no knowledge of anything and Morda, the blind, who was enlisted to stoke the fire beneath the cauldron, never allowing it to go out, and as he could not see what Ceridwen was doing. Ceridwen tended to her cauldron, regularly putting in magical herbs and all manner of things as prescribed by the Fferyllt, chanting incantations as she did so. Gwion Bach dutifully stirred the cauldron and Morda stoked the fire.
All went well until one day as Gwion Bach stirred the last remaining liquid which had been reduced to but a few drops and these flew out of the cauldron and landed on the little finger of Gwion Bach, who, as they were hot and it burnt him, licked them off immediately and became gifted with all that Ceridwen had wished and prepared for her son. The cauldron then split in two and the remaining mixture flowed out and into a nearby stream where the horses of Gwyddno Garanhir were grazing and were poisoned. Realising the implications of what had just happened, Gwion Bach fled, as he knew that Ceridwen in her anger would destroy him. When she found out that the magic potion was gone, she flew into a rage, hit Morda with a piece of wood knocking his eye out and chased after Gwion Bach.
And so it was that Gwion Bach, pursued by Ceridwen, changed himself into a Hare and ran swiftly away across the fields and meadows. She became a greyhound and caught up with him.
He changed himself into a fish diving into a river and She became an Otter and swam after him.
He changed into a Wren and flew out of the river high into the sky and she became a Hawk and dived towards him.
He changed into a grain of wheat and fell from the sky into a vat of wheat in a barn.
Nine months later she bore a child, a male, but on account of his beauty, Ceridwen could not bring herself to kill him, so instead, she wrapped him in a leather bag and carried him away from Llyn Tegid across the mountains of Eryri till she came upon a river and placed the leather bag, with the baby inside, in a coracle which she set upon the water. Gwyddno Garanhir who lived in the land between Cardigan Bay and the Lleyn Peninsular before it was flooded, had a Salmon Weir on the river between Dyfi and Aberystwyth and he had a son called Elphin, who was considered a luckless fellow of poor mind. He was sent by his father to catch Salmon at the weir but this day instead of Salmon the luckless fellow found a leather bag caught up in the weir having tumbled out of the coracle. Elphin opened the bag much to the amusement of his fellow fishermen, as he had failed to catch any Salmon. Inside he found an infant of beauteous countenance who stared up at him and Elphin exclaimed, ‘Behold a radiant brow‘ And the child sang to Elphin and from that moment the fortunes of Elphin changed for the better, and Elphin ap Gwyddno Garanhir said, ‘He will be called Taliesin’.
