beingarthurian

Taliesin (Welsh bard and prophet)

All morays are said to be female, having their right of male sex removed

5 citations1 sources1 traditions

All morays are said to be female, having their right of male sex removed (Vita Merlini, Vita Merlini > Reunion and Return to Court)

Morays reproduce and multiply their offspring through the seed of serpents (Vita Merlini, Vita Merlini > Reunion and Return to Court)

Serpents gather frequently at the shores where morays dwell, making sounds and hissing pleasantly, and thus mate with the morays according to custom (Vita Merlini, Vita Merlini > Reunion and Return to Court)

The heron flies up to the clouds when it dreads rain and storms, in order to avoid such dangers (Vita Merlini, Vita Merlini > Taliesin's Learned Discourse)

The shining circinea bird bears a marvellous feather that glows like a fiery lamp in the dark of night and provides light to guide the traveller who carries it (Vita Merlini, Vita Merlini > Maeldinus and Ganieda's Prophecy)

Vita Merlini

  • attestation: All morays are said to be female, having their right of male sex removed (Vita Merlini > Reunion and Return to Court)

    "Femineo sexu subtracto iure murænas Esse ferunt cunctas"

  • attestation: Morays reproduce and multiply their offspring through the seed of serpents (Vita Merlini > Reunion and Return to Court)

    "coeunt tamen ac renovantur, Multiplicantque suos alieno germine fœtus."

  • attestation: Serpents gather frequently at the shores where morays dwell, making sounds and hissing pleasantly, and thus mate with the morays according to custom (Vita Merlini > Reunion and Return to Court)

    "Conveniunt etenim per littora sæpius angues Quo degunt, faciuntque sonos et sibila grati, Et sic eductis coeunt ex more murænis."

  • attestation: The heron flies up to the clouds when it dreads rain and storms, in order to avoid such dangers (Vita Merlini > Taliesin's Learned Discourse)

    "Ardea, cum pluvias tempestatesque perhorret, Evolat ad nubes ut tanta pericula vitet."

  • attestation: The shining circinea bird bears a marvellous feather that glows like a fiery lamp in the dark of night and provides light to guide the traveller who carries it (Vita Merlini > Maeldinus and Ganieda's Prophecy)

    "Fert quoque mirandam splendens circinea pennam, Nocte sub obscura quæ fulget ut ignea lampas, Atque ministrat iter si præportetur eunti."

Appears in: Beings, Entities in Vita Merlini, Arthurian Tradition