The mighty king Bran, a being of gigantic size, sat one day on the cliffs
of his island in the Atlantic Ocean, near to Hades and the Gates of Night,
when he saw ships sailing towards him and sent men to ask what they were.
They were a fleet sent by Matholweh, the king of Ireland, who had sent to
ask for Branwen, Bran's sister, as his wife. Without moving from his rock
Bran bid the monarch land, and sent Branwen back with him as queen.

But there came a time when Branwen was ill-treated at the palace; they
sent her into the kitchen and made her cook for the court, and they caused
the butcher to come every day (after he had cut up the meat) and give her
a blow on the ear. They also drew up all their boats on the shore for
three years, that she might not send for her brother. But she reared a
starling in the cover of the kneading-trough, taught it to speak, and told
it how to find her brother; and then she wrote a letter describing her
sorrows and bound it to the bird's wing, and it flew to the island and
alighted on Bran's shoulder, "ruffling its feathers" (says the Welsh
legend) "so that the letter was seen, and they knew that the bird had been
reared in a domestic manner." Then Bran resolved to cross the sea, but he
had to wade through the water, as no ship had yet been built large enough
to hold him; and he carried all his musicians (pipers) on his shoulders.
As he approached the Irish shore, men ran to the king, saying that they
had seen a forest on the sea, where there never before had been a tree,
and that they had also seen a mountain which moved. Then the king asked
Branwen, the queen, what it could be. She answered, "These are the men of
the Island of the Mighty, who have come hither to protect me." "What is
the forest?" they asked. "The yards and masts of ships." "What mountain is
that by the side of the ships?" "It is Bran my brother, coming to the
shoal water and rising." "What is the lofty ridge with the lake on each
side?" "That is his nose," she said, "and the two lakes are his fierce