The people of Wales said Cerridwen lived on an island in the middle of Lake Tegid with her two children, the beautiful maiden Creidwy and the ugliest boy in the world, Afagdu. To compensate her son for bestowing such a body on him, the goddess brewed a magical formula that would make her son the most brilliant and inspired of all men. For a year and a day, she kept herbs simmering in her great cauldron, which she left in the care of a young boy named Gwion.

One day, while the goddess was out collecting more herbs for her brew, a few drops of the bubbling liquid splashed onto Gwion's finger. Scowling in pain, he stuck his burned finger in his mouth. Suddenly and miraculously, he was able to hear everything in the world and to understand the secrets of both the past and the future.

His enchanted foresight showed him how angry Cerridwen would be when she found a mere mortal had acquired the inspiration intended for her son, so he ran away. The all-knowing Cerridwen realized what had happened and pursued him. Gwion changed himself into a hare; Cerridwen pursued huim as a greyhound. So they ran, metamorphosing: he as a fish, she as an otter; he as a bird, she as a hawk; he as a grain of wheat, she as a hen.

It was in this final form that she caught and devoured him, bearing him nine months later as a child. She threw the baby into the water where he was caught by a prince and grew up to be Taliesin, the greatest poet of his language. Thus the Welsh expressed their understanding that death and rebirth were neccessary for true inspiration to be brought into this world.

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