Part 20 (1/2)

One day, as Morfran sat resting from stirring the brew, he was startled to see someone very like himself appear on the other side of the billowing smoke. This stranger was clearly a boy, but he was larger than Morfran, with skin so pale that purplish blue marks showed on it.

The new boy drew back when he saw Morfran and covered his eyes against the brightness of Morfran's hair.

”Who are you?” asked Morfran.

”Gwion,” said the boy.

”Where do you come from?” asked Morfran.

”The valley,” said the boy.

”Who is your Mother?” asked Morfran.

The boy said nothing. Then he tried to look at Morfran.

”I can't look at your head,” he said.

”Your hair's like the sun.”

”It's my Mother's hair,” said Morfran.

”Hey, I know.” Morfran scooped up some ash from the fire and rubbed it on his hair. The brightness immediately dulled.

”Look now,” said Morfran.

The boy looked. This time he could keep his eyes on Morfran. Morfran could see that the boy looked frightened and hungry. When he handed him a bowl of food, the boy flinched but then grabbed it and ate quickly.

”Who is your Mother?” asked Morfran again when Gwion had finished eating.

”My mother is the richest, nicest queen in the world, and my father is the strongest, most wonderful king,” he said.

That evening Cerridwen tied a cloth around Her head so Gwion could look at Her. Cerridwen, the Nine Sisters, and Morfran shared their food and made a bed for Gwion, and they listened as he boasted about how powerful and good his parents were. When Cerridwen asked him why he'd left his parents, Gwion said he was tired and went to bed.

Cerridwen and Morfran sat together a long time in the dark.

”Mother,” said Morfran finally.

”Gwion is not well, and he is lying about his parents.”

”What a magician you're going to be,” said Cerridwen, ”when you are so wise already.”

The next day Cerridwen asked Gwion how he'd gotten the bruises on his arms and legs. Gwion began to cry. The Nine Sisters held him, and after a long time Gwion told them that his parents were not really a king and a queen. They beat him, he said, and sometimes he thought they did not even know his name. His job was to fetch things for his parents, and even when he did that, they hit him anyway.

”You are welcome here on the mountain,” said Cerridwen. So Gwion stayed. He found that he'd come to the mountain of Cerridwen, Queen of Wisdom, and that Her son Morfran was stirring the Cauldron of the Deep, from which all things come and to which all things return. In less than a year and a day now, Gwion learned, Morfran would drink the first three drops of the Cauldron's brew and would walk in wisdom and magic.

Gwion was amazed at all that he saw. He had never felt so free and safe and cared for. Many times he pretended that his real mother was Cerridwen and that Morfran was not his friend but his brother. But many other times, Gwion was scared. He remembered so clearly his pain and loneliness in the valley, and he was sure it had all happened because he was bad. In his secret heart, Gwion began to hate Morfran.

Even though he helped Morfran stir the brew, played games with him at the side of the fire, and told stories with him at night, he cringed to see Morfran getting hugged by Cerridwen, and he told himself that Morfran was ugly and weak.

As the year and a day drew to a close, Gwion began to ask himself why it should be Morfran who got to drink the first three drops from the Cauldron of the Deep.

”He has everything,” said Gwion to himself.