I had known of the Taliesin from school days way back when. and had been to the monument as a child and had forgotten about it, till the interest come on me again. So I decided to make a day trip of sorts maybe a pilgrimage to see and enjoy the valley again, and It was brilliant to behold with older eyes and more mature understanding. it,s historical legend was an utter marvel to me. It,s tale has been told and re-told in many forms and its metaphor used in a lot of spiritual practices, and there's also the link to king Arthur, and much much more.

Try the HD for a big BIG picture.

Llyn Geirionydd lies in a valley in North Wales in snowdonia in the Gwydyr Forest part of the Carneddau mountains range. there is a pillar of stone. a monument to a 6th century Welsh bard, and the earliest poet of the Welsh language. He was an inhabitant of the area, namely living on the shores of the lake The Red Book of Hergest contains the line - "I being Taliesin, from the borders of the lake of Geirionnydd." Some sources claim that he was also born in this area it,s is also said that he is buried there.#

Elffin, Elphin. Spendthrift son of Gwyddno Garanhir who discovers the baby Taliesin in his father's fish-dam, or weir, rears him, and becomes his patron. Gwyddno, a wealthy man in the court of Maelgwn Gwynedd, sees his riches diminishing but decides to give his feckless son Elffin one more chance to improve his circumstances by granting him the first haul of fish from his weir between Aberystwyth and the Dyfi estuary on Calan Mai [May Day], when the catch will be especially valuable. Elffin, often thought unlucky, catches not one fish. He finds instead an infant in a basket, exclaiming, Dyma dâliesin [what a beautiful forehead]. The child answers, naming himself, Taliesin bid [let it be Taliesin]. Elffin takes the child to court, and from that day forward his fortunes improve; he also fosters the boy until he is 13 years old. Much later, emboldened by his changed fortune, Elffin boasts to Maelgwn that his wife is the fairest in the kingdom, his horses the swiftest, and his poet the wisest. For this arrogance Maelgwn imprisons him, but in silver chains, respecting his noble status. Taliesin returns to exculpate Elffin and assists in his release. Taliesin also foils Maelgwn's plot to ruin the good name of Elffin's wife with Rhun's failed seduction and, further, performs at court, besting all other poets present. Elffin is then released. His horses easily defeat those of Maelgwn, and Elffin's jockey drops his cap at a point where, Taliesin explains, a cauldron of gold would be found to compensate for the seemingly fruitless night at the weir.

Towards the end of his life Taliesin makes a famous prophecy about the fate of the British, which has had tremendous significance in contemporary Wales:

Their Lord they shall praise,
Their language they shall keep,
Their land they shall lose -
Except wild Wales.

http://www.maryjones.us/jce/taliesin1...
http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=b...
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/songoftaliesin/
http://www.trefriwtrails.org.uk/ (less info)