“Also, few of these stories actually corroborated others, and therefore, to be one hundred percent accurate, we have to discount them as realistic contenders from being anywhere near the true history of the period that they purport to record. Many different countries have legends that involve the rightful ruler or champion pulling a sword out of something: a stone, an anvil or even a tree. What is important that the sword is an important symbol of power, as well as being a crude instrument of death.”
“So, what sword are we talking about?”
“I believe that the sword of Arthur was the hereditary symbol of kingship that the people believed possessed amazing qualities and bestowed those powers onto the rightful person who held it. We never hear of Arthur’s crown, do we?”
“No.”
“That’s because it was the sword that was important.”
“So, someone who stole it would not be able to acquire the powers?”
“I have no idea, but if it possessed powers that were tied to the true blood-line, then the chances are that in the wrong hands, it would just be another lump of sharp metal.”
“Talking about powers, there is reference to the Mage. Would this be Merlin, and did Merlin exist?”
“‘Mage’ was a common term for ‘wise-man’ or ‘counsellor’ - an adviser to a leader. The Celts’ priests were often Druids, and could be more important than local Celtic warlords or even kings. You have to remember the land was very different then. The Romans left a vacuum that was filled with different groups often with different languages, customs and religions. Chieftains or kings might only rule over a few hundred or a thousand people, so it was not uncommon for the priests or druids to hold power over several tribes or supposed kingdoms. A King might have a thousand loyal subjects, while one powerful Mage might be looked up to by tens of thousands. The word was often twisted to become Magician, or wizard. This is not helped by Disney portraying him in a long pointy hat with stars and crescents on it and waving a magic wand.”
“So?”
“Just as I am convinced that ‘Arthur’ was a title handed down from one leader to the next, I think that the ‘Merlin’ of the legends might well have been a similar title.”
“So, no magic?”
Gwen started to laugh. Tamsyn smiled patiently, but the older woman laughed some more.
“Oh, Tamsyn, you are priceless!”
“Why?”
“Look in a mirror, dear, and then tell me that there is no magic!”
“Oh.”
“We call stuff magic when we fail to understand it. Early man would have looked at aeroplanes, TVs, telephones and even an electric light and called them all magic. We humans are just so damn arrogant that we always think we know everything. Remember the general who said that, in his opinion, there was no future in warfare for the new fangled aeroplane; or the man who advised his son to turn away Henry Ford claiming that there was nothing better than a horse and buggy?”
“Uh, okay, I’ll take your word for it, but what does this all mean?”
“Okay, we’ve covered Arthur and Merlin, so the last thing is the lake.”
“The lady’s lake?”
“Whatever. I think that this is another hash-up due to language and romantic fools. Whoever heard of a sword coming from a lake? No, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who I think invented most of this stuff several centuries after the event, called the origin of Excalibur the Island of Avalon.”
“So, no lake?”
“In those days, to get to an island, one would have to cross water. Avalon may well have come from the old Cornish ‘Avallen’, meaning fruit trees. Bearing in mind that the Irish, Welsh and Cornish all were linked through culture and language; there is one clear possibility of the location of this place across water with fruit trees.”
“Being?”
“There is an Island in the Irish sea, close to Wales, Ireland and by those virtues not unknown to the Cornish. Today we call it the Isle of Man.”
“Is it before you get to Scotia?”
Gwen laughed again.
“I’m not sure from where you got your information, but it’s accurate, if not confusing.”
“Scotia is Scotland, right?”
“Wrong. Scotia was where the Scotti people came from. This was 600 AD, or thereabouts. The Scots were the people group that pushed the native Picts up to the extreme north of Scotland.”
“So, not Scotland?”
“No, Ireland. The Celts of northern Gaul and Germany came to Britain over many generations, often settling in the West Country. The Scotti lived in the northern part of Ireland, and as foreigners moved in to the south, some of them moved out of Ireland and over to Scotland. Ironically, it was the Celts from the West Country that left and went to Brittany as the Germanic Saxons moved in, hence the links in language and culture.
“There seems to have been an awful lot of moving about. So, the Isle of Man could be the place?”
“Yes, did you get anything about where on the island?”
“Just something to do with St. Patrick. I think that it was an island called St. Patrick, or something..”
“Peel Castle!” said Gwen with enthusiasm.
“Huh?”
“Peel is a small town on the west coast of the Isle of Man with an old ruined castle. The castle is on a very small island called St. Patrick’s Isle. My goodness, we are really getting there. Peel Castle was built by the Vikings on ruins of a Celtic building. It is one of the possible sites of the legendary Grail Castle – Avalon. The chances are the torque and the sword came from the same place. If we’re right, Avalon is on the Isle of Man, and the smith, Gladwyn probably worked somewhere close to Peel. Now, to fully understand the runes is the first task, and the answer may be there, and the next task will be to locate the sword and if possible return it to the blacksmith’s forge!”
“Not the lake?”
“Forget the lake. The words would have been similar, in that one had to go to water, only instead of chucking a perfectly good sword into a lake, one had to cross the water and find the place where it was actually made. To a romantic fiction writer, even if the story had a basis in fact, what sounds more romantic, a grubby old blacksmith on a rather bleak Island, or an elegant and mysterious water nymph distributing swords to signify the divine right of kingship?”
“The latter, I guess.”
“Exactly, so there is one reason that treasure hunters and the curious have never gone beyond the legends.”
“Yeah, like that will be easy. I mean, in this age of computers, how many blacksmiths are still working on the same spot as they had back in the year 600?”
“Tamsyn, in a time of miracles, you dare question what is possible?”
Tamsyn grinned sheepishly.
“Well, there is one more thing,” Gwen said.
“Oh?”
“Your name.”
“Tamsyn?”
“No, although that’s a good old Cornish girl’s name. I’m referring to your surname - Morrghan.”
“What about it?”
“Did you choose it, or did it choose you?”
“How do you mean?”
“As far as I can make out, you chose the name Tamsyn for your computer thingy, yes?”