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Roebuck and a Whelp from Annwm.’ In the ancient Welsh Triads, which are a collection of sententious or historical observations arranged epigrammatically in threes, it is reckoned as one of the ‘Three Frivolous Battles of Britain’. And the Romance of Taliesin contains a long poem, or group of poems run together, called Câd Goddeu, the verses of which seem as nonsensical as the Hanes Taliesin because they have been deliberately ‘pied’. Here is the poem in D. W. Nash’s mid-Victorian translation, said to be unreliable but the best at present available. The original is written in short rhyming lines, the same rhyme often being sustained for ten or fifteen lines. Less than half of them belong to the poem which gives its name to the whole medley, and these must be laboriously sorted before their relevance to Gwion’s riddle can be explained. Patience!
    C ÂD G ODDEU
(The Battle of the Trees) 
    I have been in many shapes ,
Before I attained a congenial form.
I have been a narrow blade of a sword.
(I will believe it when it appears.)  
5 have been a drop in the air.
I have been a shining star.
I have been a word in a book.
I have been a book originally.
I have been a light in a lantern.  
10 A year and a half.
I have been a bridge for passing over
Three-score rivers.
I have journeyed as an eagle.
I have been a boat on the sea.  
15 have been a director in battle.
I have been the string of a child’s swaddling clout.
I have been a sword in the hand.
I have been a shield in the fight.
I have been the string of a harp,  
20 Enchanted for a year
In the foam of water.
I have been a poker in the fire.
I have been a tree in a covert.
There is nothing in which I have not been.  
25 I have fought, though small ,
In the Battle of Goddeu Brig,
Before the Ruler of Britain,
Abounding in fleets.
Indifferent bards pretend ,
30 They pretend a monstrous beast ,
With a hundred heads,
And a grievous combat
At the root of the tongue.
And another fight there is  
35 At the back of the head.
A toad having on his thighs
A hundred claws ,
A spotted crested snake ,
For punishing in their flesh  
40 A hundred souls on account of then sins.
I was in Caer Fefynedd,
Thither were hastening grasses and trees.
Wayfarers perceive them ,
Warriors are astonished  
45 At a renewal of the conflicts
Such as Gwydion made.
There is calling on Heaven ,
And on Christ that he would effect
Their deliverance,  
50 The all-powerful Lord.
If the Lord had answered,
Through charms and magic skill ,
Assume the forms of the principal trees,
With you in array  
55 Restrain the people
Inexperienced in battle.
When the trees were enchanted
There was hope for the trees ,
That they should frustrate the intention  
60 Of the surrounding fires….
Better are three in unison,
And enjoying themselves in a circle,
And one of them relating
The story of the deluge,  
65 And of the cross of Christ ,
And of the Day of Judgement near at hand ,
The alder-trees in the first line ,
They made the commencement.
Willow and quicken tree ,
70 They were slow in their array.
The plum is a tree
Not beloved of men;
The medlar of a like nature ,
Overcoming severe toil.  
75 The bean bearing in its shade
An army of phantoms.
The raspberry makes
Not the best of food.
In shelter live ,
80 The privet and the woodbine ,
And the ivy in its season.
Great is the gorse in battle.
The cherry-tree had been reproached.
The birch, though very magnanimous,  
85 Was late in arraying himself;
It was not through cowardice ,
But on account of his great size.
The appearance of the …
Is that of a foreigner and a savage.  
90 The pine-tree in the court ,
Strong in battle,
By me greatly exalted
In the presence of kings,
The elm-trees are his subjects.  
95 He turns not aside the measure of a foot ,
But strikes right in the middle ,
And at the farthest end.
The hazel is the judge ,
His berries are thy dowry.  
100 The privet is blessed.
Strong chiefs in war
Are the…and the mulberry.
Prosperous the