This is the song of the bard Kian, also known as the bard Gwenc'hlan.
Contents
ToggleThe Song of the Bard Kian
I
When the sun sets, when the sea swells, I sing on my doorstep.
When I was young, I sang; When I got old, I still sing.
I sing at night, I sing during the day, and yet I am sad.
If I have my head down, if I am sad, it is not without reason.
It's not that I'm afraid; I'm not afraid of being killed.
It's not that I'm afraid; long enough I have lived.
When they don't look for me, they will find me; and when they look for me, they don't find me.
No matter what happens. what must be will be.
Everyone must die three times before finally resting.
II
I see the wild boar coming out of the woods; he limps a lot; his foot is injured,
The mouth gaping and full of blood, and the hair white with age;
He is surrounded by his pigs, who are grunting with hunger.
I see the sea horse coming to meet him, making the shore tremble with terror.
It is as white as shining snow; he wears silver horns on his forehead.
The water boils beneath him, in the fire of the thunder of his nostrils.
Sea horses surround him, as crowded as the grass at the edge of the pond.
- Hold on ! hold on ! Seahorse ; hit him on the head; hit hard, hit!
Bare feet slip in blood! Even stronger! So strike! even stronger!
I see blood like a stream! Hit hard ! So strike! even stronger!
I see the blood coming to his knee! I see blood like a pool!
Even stronger! So strike! even stronger! You will rest tomorrow.
Hit hard ! strike hard, sea horse! Hit him in the head! hit hard ! struck ! —
III
As I lay gently asleep in my cold grave, I heard the eagle calling in the middle of the night.
He called his eaglets and all the birds of the air,
And he said to them while calling them:
— Get up quickly on your two wings!
It is not the rotten flesh of dogs or sheep; It’s Christian flesh that we need! —
— Old sea crow, listen; tell me: what are you holding there?
— I hold the head of the Army Chief; I want to have both of his red eyes.
I'm tearing out both his eyes, because he took out yours.
—And you, fox, tell me, what are you holding there?
— I hold his heart, which was as false as mine.
Who desired your death, and made you die long ago.
— And you, tell me, toad, what are you doing there, at the corner of his mouth?
— I put myself here to wait for his soul as he passed.
It will remain in me as long as I live, as punishment for the crime he committed
Against the Bard who no longer lives between Roc'h-allaz and Porz-gwenn. —