原文: Four Tall Tales From the Lovely Land of Wales

1. 1. The Welsh got to America before Columbus

      Columbus may have sailed the ocean blues in fourteen hundred and ninety two but for many Welsh people, he was late by several hundred years. Step forward Prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd who left the green shores of Wales to settle in Alabama in the twelfth century - the year 1169 to be exact.
      
      
      
      
      
      Poetry from several hundred years later describes how ten ships set sale and discovered the far away land. Queen Elizabeth the First used this legend to usurp the Spanish claim to the New World. Madog it seems returned to Wales several years later and persuaded others to go with him - and the myth became enduring among the Welsh. It is supposed he landed in Alabama as there are several stone forts along the Alabama river. These have been dated to several hundred years before Columbus and the Cherokee from that are maintain that the forts were built by “white people”. The discovery of the Mandan tribe in the eighteenth century seems to have added fuels to the flames of this legend - they Mandan were described as fair in appearance, many being blue eyed.
      
      They laid their villages out along medieval European lines; created strange fishing boats just like the Welsh coracle and spoke a language remarkably similar to Welsh. It is believed that the inter-marrying of Welsh and Cherokee led to the creation of the Mandan tribe. Unfortunately the vas majority of them were wiped out by smallpox in the 1830s and full corroboration can not be provided.

   2. The Welsh Atlantis

      Many Welsh people believe that their country was once much, much larger. In fact the lost land of Tyno Helig is a common Welsh legend that deserves further exploration. In the year 331 AD this land was supposedly list to the sea. The area was ruled by a prince who went by the name of Helig ap Glannawg. There was a curse put upon his daughter when she and her lover murdered a nobleman to help raise money for their wedding party. When they married, the ghost of the murdered noble appeared at the wedding. He swore vengeance against four generations of their family and sure enough, when their great great grandson made his appearance in to the world, they and all their lands and wealth disappeared under the sea.
      
      Another legend is set around 600 AD when a storm blew up in the kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod. The sea walls were open due to their guards being drunk from a wedding feast. The sea rushed in and over sixteen villages were forever covered by water. This meant that the Welsh then had to retreat in to the hills and eek out a poorer living on the higher lands.
      
      While this makes a marvelous story, there is some evidence to suggest that there is more to this story than sheer myth. On the beaches in many places in Wales, the trunks of great, ancient trees can be seen at low tide. Is there more to this legend than meets the eye?

   3. The Welsh Nessie

      Anything the Scots can do the Welsh can do just as well! Although that might provoke argument among the Celtic tribes, there is a similar legend to the Loch Ness Monster in Wales. Teggie is the Welsh Nessie and has been sited since the 1920s. She inhabits Lake Bala which in welsh is translated to Llyn Tegid - the name deriving from the second word.
      
      Like Nessie she has proven remarkably difficult to pinpoint! In fact she makes Nessie look like a media junky such is the dearth of sitings of her. She was spotted on color film in the 1970s and a Japanese camera crew searched for her fruitlessly in 1999.
      
      Many Welsh believe that she is actually a witch of legend, Pontrhydfedigaid - a shape shifter who can turn herself in to any and all kinds of animals. Who can say!?!

   4. The Welsh Robin Hood

      At least there is proof that this man actually existed, separating the myth from the man remains troublesome for Welsh historians. It is k known that Twm Sion Cati, real name Thomas Jones, was born around 1530 in Cardiganshire.
      
      
      
      It is thought that he was the illegitimate son of local nobility and, deprived of his own lands, took to robbing the rich and giving to the poor. His reputation was one of kindness to his victims. It seems that he could shoot an arrow so accurately it would go through the clothes of his victims and pin them to a tree or to their saddle so he could then relieve them of his possessions but retain their lives.
      
      
      
      There are no records, though, that can prove for sure that Twm Sion Cati was truly kind to his victims and his popularity as a figure in Welsh folklore is, therefore, based on dubious hearsay. He does, however, remain popular in Welsh children's book as a rival to the Robin Hood of the English. Unlike the Hood story, though, legend has it that Twm married his very own Marion, a lady called Joan, when he was in his seventies. Thus he ended his life as part of the class from which he had spent the majority of his life stealing!

译文: 流传于美丽高地威尔士的四大传说

流传于美丽高地威尔士的四大传说

威尔士人先于哥伦布到达美洲

      哥伦布于1492年航行到达美洲,但许多威尔士人却认为他晚于他们的先祖至少好几百年.威尔士人普遍认为首先是他们的Madog Owain Gwynedd王子率部从从威尔士的绿色海岸出发,并于十二世纪到达了阿拉巴马----确切时间据说为1169年.

      此后数百年,许多诗歌累篇巨牍地描述了那十艘航船是如何出发的,如何发现远岛阿拉巴马的.伊莉莎白女王曾据此传说霸占过西班牙发现的新大陆.Madog王子好像曾于数年后回过国,说服别人同他一起去新岛----此传说一直是威尔士人心中的一个末解之谜.有人说Madog王子登岸的海岸沿着阿拉巴马河有一些石头垒成的城堡,这可比哥伦布发现新大陆要早好几百年呢.切罗基族人坚称那些石头城堡是由白种人&Ldquo所建.随着十八世纪曼丹部落的发现,这种说法更是水涨船高----曼丹人的形貌与传说描述极为相似, 且多为蓝眼睛.

      曼丹部落的村庄排列仍沿袭中世纪欧洲的传统,他们发明了一种独特的捕鱼船,外形酷似威尔士的科拉科尔小艇,且所说语言跟威尔士语极为相似.人们普遍认为,曼丹人是威尔士人和切罗基人结合的后代.不幸的是,许多曼丹人在17世纪30年代的天花霍乱中未能幸免于难.当然,此种说法未经证实.

威尔士沉岛之谜

      许多威尔士人认为他们的国家一度幅员更为辽阔.事实上,关于Tyno Helig岛沉没的传说有待进一步考究.Tyno Helig岛据传在公元前331年前位于海中,此岛由一位名为Helig ap Glannawg的王子所统辖.当这位王子的女儿及女婿为了筹备婚礼的费用而谋杀了一个贵族时,他的女儿从此被附上了诅咒.当婚礼进行时,那个被谋杀的贵族的鬼魂出现了,出于复仇,他施咒于Helig四代家族,且该诅咒果然应验.当他们可爱的孙子出生时,他们的家族及整个岛屿沉没到了海中.

      另一个传说是,公元前600年,一场巨大的风暴即将袭击Cantre'r Gwaelod王国, 但他们的守卫们却在一个婚宴上一个个喝得酩酊大醉,导致护国的海墙门户大开. 海水汹涌而入,淹没了十六多个村庄.威尔人不得不退到山上,从此在高地上艰难渡日.

      一些证据表明这个传说可能不仅仅是传说,更使得这个故事引人入胜.在威尔士的许多海岸,当潮水退潮时,在低岸处常能看到许多巨大的古树树干.还有什么比眼见之实更能证明这个传说的吗?

威尔士水怪

      任何苏格兰人能做的威尔士人同样能做到!此种言论极易引起凯尔特部落的内部冲突的, 但如同尼斯湖中有水怪一样, 威尔士也有水怪. 水怪Teggie据称于18世纪20年代便栖息于威尔士的Bala湖中,此湖在威尔士语中为Llyn Tegid----水怪名字便是从第二个单词而来.

      同尼斯湖水怪一样, 世人也极难指证Teggie水怪的真实性的.事实上,她使得尼斯湖水怪变成了媒体充儿,因至今无人目睹过她使得她比尼斯湖水怪更加吸引人.她的彩色照片首现于18世纪70年代, 有一日本摄影队曾于1999年去专门寻访过她的行踪,最终一无所获.

      许多威尔士人认为水怪实际上是传说中的一个名叫Pontrhydfedigaid女巫变形而来. 该女巫据说是个变形大师, 能变幻成各种动物的形状,谁知道呢!?

威尔士的"罗宾汉"

      至少不同于别的让历史学家劳神费思而无从考证的无名氏, 威尔士确有过那么一位响当当的绿林好汉.该好汉以Twm Sion Cati这个名字闻名于世,而他本名实为Thomas Jones, 于1530年在Cardiganshire出生.

      据传他是当地一个贵族的私生子, 被剥夺了土地, 从此劫富济贫. 他因对所劫之人怀有仁慈而名声在外.据说他有百步穿杨的好箭法, 每次他抢劫富人时却只是射穿过那些富人的衣服,将其射定要树上或马鞍上, 然后他只劫去财物,而不伤人性命.

      但无任何史料能证明Twm Sion Cati果真对受害人怀有怜悯之心, 经由道听途说,以讹传讹,他在民间传说中是大受吹捧. 不仅如此,他至今仍在威尔士的儿童读物中倍受欢迎, 大有与英国的盗侠罗宾汉一较高下之势.与罗宾汉的故事不同的是,传说Twm在七十多岁时和自己爱人结婚了,是一个叫Joan的贵族小姐.也就是说, Twm大半生都在偷盗上流阶级的钱财,最后却在这个阶级中终老.