Bran invades Ireland, to avenge one of 'the three unhappy blows of
this island,' the daily striking of Branwen by her husband Matholwch,
King of Ireland. Bran is mortally wounded by a poisoned dart, and
only seven men of Britain, 'the Island of the Mighty,' escape, among
them Taliesin:-
'And Bran commanded them that they should cut off his head. And take
you my head, said he, and bear it even unto the White Mount in
London, and bury it there with the face towards France. And a long
time will you be upon the road. In Harlech you will be feasting
seven years, the birds of Rhiannon singing unto you the while. And
all that time the head will be to you as pleasant company as it ever
was when on my body. And at Gwales in Penvro you will be fourscore
years, and you may remain there, and the head with you uncorrupted,
until you open the door that looks towards Aber Henvelen and towards
Cornwall. And after you have opened that door, there you may no
longer tarry; set forth then to London to bury the head, and go
straight forward.
'So they cut off his head, and those seven went forward therewith.
And Branwen was the eighth with them, and they came to land at Aber
Alaw in Anglesey, and they sate down to rest. And Branwen looked
towards Ireland and towards the Island of the Mighty, to see if she
could descry them.
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