A Dream of England (or the Chronicles of Britannia)

A dream of England, beauteous fair, of all those who lived and died there

Part the Fourth:
The legend of the Giants’ Dance & the death of Uther Pendragon

When Ambrosius had put everything in good stead,
he travelled to visit the place of the dead:
where many brave Britons ‘fore Saxons did fall;
he wept for his people who once stood so tall.
“A monument will stand on Salisbury Plain”,
he said, “As a tribute to those who were slain”.
But the builders and masons, the best in the land,
felt themselves unable to produce so grand
and noble a tribute to heroic men.
Ambrosius almost despaired – that was when
a wise man said to him, “Merlin’s your man,
if anyone can build your monument he can”.
“Who is this Merlin?” Ambrosius asked.
“He’s a great magician and there is no task
that he cannot accomplish”. Ambrosius took cheer:
“Go find me this Merlin and bring him back here!”
Messengers searched through the land for to bring
this mysterious Merlin to come see he king.
When Merlin discovered what were the king’s plans
he said, “Send to Ireland for the Giants’ Dance
if you want a monument which forever will last”.
“What is this ‘Giants’ Dance’?” Ambrosius asked.
“A great ring of stones, so old and so grand,
that nobody knows how they came to the land;
rumor says that they come from a country afar,
by giants brought to Ireland from Africa”.
Ambrosius laughed saying, “this can’t be done”.
But Merlin looked sternly on Constan’s royal son,
“They are magical stones and you can be sure
there is no kind of illness that they cannot cure”.
When the Britons heard this they all said with once voice,
“These stones we must have!” The poor king had no choice.
Uther Pendragon, his brother, he’d send
with Merlin to bring back these stones from Ireland.
Now the king of Ireland, he laughed them to scorn
but Uther, a warrior much battle-worn,
with his troops ‘gainst the Irish soon put them to flight;
then they looked on the Giants’ Dance stones with delight.
But how to get them home? The stones would not flinch,
the smallest of them moved not one single inch.
Merlin, he just smiled, and with cunning tricks
soon had all the stones loaded up on the ships.
On landing messengers were sent to the king
who, with nobles and clergy, came to see this thing.
With great celebrations on Salisbury Plain
in a circle the Giants’ Dance stones were arranged.
Ambrosius named their monument, “Stonehenge”,
and they duly buried their brave fighting men.
But, all this time growing in strength, was still
the Saxons who’s stayed after Hengist was killed:
Aurielius Ambrosius’s time was soon up
when he fell foul of a Saxon’s poisoned cup.
Almost in chaos the country was thrown
‘Till Uther Pendragon stepped up to the throne.
Many more Saxon war ships were then brought
and many fierce, terrible, battles were fought:
in most of them Uther the Saxons would rout
but he never managed to drive them all out
to the day, like his brother, when poisoned, he died.
The country’s in turmoil when Merlin arrived;
the quarrelling nobles, he silenced each one
when he stated, “Uther Pendragon has a son!”


TO BE CONTINUED…

NEXT ON “A DREAM OF ENGLAND”:
Arthur and the golden age of Camelot


NOTES:
I was in two minds whether to include this story or not as it is quite clearly folklore. But a nation’s mythology is as much part of its character as its literal history and, as this account is recorded in some of the earliest written histories of Britain, I took that as license to include it. As to the real history of Stonehenge: recent archaeological research has shown that the stones were actually quarried in Wales and set up on Salisbury Plain as an ancient cemetery (or burial site, as in the story). A number of bodies have been excavated on the site itself.