Britons and Celts

The Conscience of an Assassin

“Then after she had drained the lethal draught she immediately began: “But that witch’s potion ought not to suffice as full atonement for me who committed such a great crime. No! rather should I be tied to the tails of horses and dragged off to be hanged and this unspeakable body should be burnt to ashes in fires of thorns and the ashes scattered to the wind.” […]

Britons and Celts

The Magic of Music

“When the fish heard him singing, they came up from the bottom and began to swim in a circle round the boat – in such a way that the brothers could not see beyond the fish anywhere, so great was the multitude of the different fishes swimming.” […]

Britons and Celts

A Taste of Welsh Kindness

“Here are two things worth remembering: the Irish are the most jealous people on earth, but the Welsh do not seem to know what jealousy is; and in every Welsh court or family the menfolk consider playing on the harp to be the greatest of accomplishments.” […]

Britons and Celts

What Makes a Man Turn Neutral?

“We wander through various regions of the air and the firmament and the earth, just like the other spirits that travel on their missions. But on holy days and Sundays we are given bodies such as you now see so that we may stay here and praise our creator.” […]

Britons and Celts

The Dog of War

” While the dogs were unleashed and they were running about in all directions chasing wild beasts for about the length of a day, a certain hound, which used to follow the scent on the tracks of the beasts, was stolen away by the Picts, and was immediately discovered in their possession.” […]

Britons and Celts

Curiosity Killed the Bacon

“They alighted out of the coach, and went into a woman woman’s house at the bottom of Highgate Hill, and bought a hen, and make the woman exenterate [disembowel] it, and then stuff the body with snow.” […]