HARRI WEBB.
Rampage & Revel
The Stealing of the Mare
Now who will ride south with Trahaearn?
Come horse thieves and gather round me!
There's a mare on the hills above Senghennydd,
The sweetest you ever did see.
She's the pet of Cadwallon ap Ifor,
And she stands not in stable or stall
But, guarded by four hardy spearmen,
She sleeps every night in his hall!
So who will ride out with Trahaearn?
To prove what the whole world believes:
In the south they may have the best horses,
But the north breeds the cunningest thieves!
By Elennid and Elfael and Eppynt
He rides fast for a day and a night,
By morning he's over the Beacons
And the end of his quest is in sight.
Traehaearn has come to Senghennydd,
The mare's in the meadow at play,
But as dusk falls on Gelligaer common
To the hall she's led safely away.
Traehaearn has snaked through the darkness,
He has scooped a small hole in the wall,
Put his hand through and, shifting the doorbolt,
He has made his way into the hall.
In the shadows she's haltered and bridled
And she's at the far end from the door,
And there on a broad mat of rushes
The spearmen doze on the floor.
And the great open-hearth fire is burning,
A barrier of burning hot coal
That brings sweat to the face of Trahaearn
And flames between him and his goal.
He has seized the proud mare by the halter
And her tail to the rush-mat he ties
And the doorway is open to freedom
And over the hearth-fire she flies.
The mat on the hot coal is burning,
The spearmen wake up all alight,
Trahaearn's on horseback already
And is galloping in to the night..
Behind him the rushmat is flaming,
The dry heather is fired afar,
The spearmen dash into the darkness,
But he's gone like a bright blazing star.
Cadwallon is roused from his slumbers
Cadwallon is tearing his hair,
But the darkness has swallowed Trahaearn,
And Trahaearn's away with the mare!
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