Welsh Journals

An Imaginary Encounter Written for Broadcasting Saunders Lewis and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd By EMYR HUMPHREYS Saunders Lewis "As I walked in loneliness through the Heart of Wales I took to thinking much of the dead unhappy princes, who sought by their arm's strength to establish the pattern of authority, the image of good order, on this wild land to protect it from foreign invasion and from domestic disruption. And after much remembering I became heavy with sadness, and resting in a dark wood I dreamt I saw the body of the last Welsh prince lying amid the blood stained autumnal leaves where the broom no longer grew, and in the wind that blew through the silent wood I thought I heard the voice of the dead man's soul." Llywelyn Who are you sleeping stranger, who come to rest in the shadow of the trees where my impetuous body lay in the first posture of death?" Saunders Lewis One who wishes to learn the secret remedies of an ailing nation, wishing my people well, in body and soul, nothing more or less. I am here to meet you as you fell and to follow your falling." Llywelyn Later, after the battle, when the pale winter sun was setting, the border knight and his friends came back to strip the unnamed body where it still lay bleeding. When they saw whom it was they were stripping, like oafs stumbling across a jewel in a stoney field, they laughed with joy at their incredible good fortune. Each one kicked the body, spat on the cold face, in jest, in fear, already boasting I kicked a king, I spat in a king's face, I trod on a king's belly.' Then Stephen de Francton hit a giggling youth for kicking the king in his face, for damaging the unquestionable image of the king, and to avoid further loss, he drew his sword and cut off the head. That night, with his closest friends, he set out for Conway to the English king, with a royal head in a sack tied to his saddle." Saunders Lewis Hope always flickers and goes out Like a candle in the wind. We have inherited the legacy of sadness." Llywelyn At London, the citizens lined the street to see my head at the end of a horseman's spear, crowned with a wreath of ivy. Then