The Boy and the Wyvern
by Andrea Scroggs

There once was a young man who had known neither father nor mother. "Boy," his companions called him, and all in the village seemed to know of the boy's parentage. Yet none would speak of it for he was born after a raid on his people by a mighty foe, his mother having died in childbirth nine months later.

Boy was twice as big as of any of his friends; his feats at games of sport were twice those of his companions. Boy was so good at these games that soon none would challenge him to a bout of play.

One day in frustration Boy went to challenge the old druid, to whom all gave respect. Yet when Boy came to meet the old crone, he did not bow his head in proper respect due an elder, but nodded to the woman as an equal.

"Ah young Boy, you've grown large for your age and your head seems to be twice the size as it should." The old woman bent over her smoking cauldron while her bony hands clutched a knotted stick that stirred the pot.

"Who are my parents?" The challenge in his voice rang clear. The old crone could see the determination in the eyes of the young man whose name no longer fit his size.

"Your father is the one whose name must not be spoken, and your mother has gone on to the other world. Dead to us she is now and forever she will be. No good will come from speaking of them."

"I can throw a spear further than anyone in the village. I can track hind faster than the best of the hunters. I've blooded my sword in battle. Yet I am still called Boy." The word 'Boy' was spoken in a sneer, his broad shoulders hunched with frustration.

"This is the first time you've questioned your name's fit. You know that one born in violence must earn his name, be he a good man or not. His name is not given until he has proven his character."

She seemed to ponder the young man for a moment and then having made a decision stopped stirring the cauldron. Speaking gravely, waggling a long skinny finger in his face, "You know of the flying dragon, the one who lives in the wood? When I was a girl child, the druid put a task to me of catching it. Only a very special one can actually touch the jeweled winged Wyvern. A gift will be given if you can find it, for the dragon knows the truth of every man. Only the most worthy will receive its treasure. Then your true name will be revealed. You must track this dragon and return with its gift, which will only be given to you. I'll know if you return with a false gift. If you try to trick me I will place a geise on you that will outlast your descendants!"

The crone gave the way to set forth on the morrow in the wood but warned him of a castle whose host guarded his keep fiercely. She told Boy he should not come upon the host unawares. Days later Boy set eyes on an old castle whose ramparts were crumbling. Seeing no one in the courtyard Boy gave a fierce holler and the left side of the castle wall crashed to the ground. A squawk of dismay came from inside the castle and a knight with a giant stomach strode down the stair strapping his sword belt around his gut as he did so.

"Look what you've done to my castle! I know it is old, but it's mine! Do you know how difficult it is for a landless knight to gain property, whelp?" The knight shouted with a gruff voice.

Boy frowned at the knight and the crumbling castle. Truth be told, he had no idea the value of the keep.

"Tell me what I can do to make you my friend, for I have need of it."

The knight squinted his face at Boy and said, "You must fix my caste wall and make it look as though nothing ever happened to it. In truth, you must do better than that, replant my gardens, harvest my fields and clean my cesspit."

Boy nodded his agreement but said, "I know not of these things you ask, but will do them if you tell me how."

"Go to the man who traveled to the Isle of Weeping and look for a girl who has saddened eyes. She will teach you all you will need to know."

Boy traveled by horse and then by water to seek the lands of the sad faced girl. Finally he found the lands of Maeldun. On his way to castle he saw a girl of dark beauty wading in a pool of water shrouded in black. Although her face was dominated by dark sad eyes, Boy found her most pleasing. Keeping her image in his mind he traveled to Maeldun and asked for the girl that the knight had spoken of. Maeldun agreed and told him where to find the girl, for she was his daughter and was unhappy in his country. When Boy went to collect the girl she was found sitting at the edge of a lake, her sadness etched in her fair face. The same girl she was that he'd spied before. Boy rode over to her and dismounted at her side.

"What wounds you so, my lovely maiden? Tell me so you might be gained as a friend to me."

"My father was angry and threw my game of fidchell into the lake and now I must retrieve it."

"Have no fear, for I shall retrieve your game even though I've never played it. With this task I will win your affection."

With those words Boy thrashed into the lake for three days and nights and finally on the third day found the game, guarded by a giant salmon. Boy slew the fish and brought the board to the maiden but not the pieces for the salmon had swallowed them. Having won her friendship, Boy then took his leave of Maeldun's hall. He carried the girl by the name of Maela the sad faced, in a large bag slung across his palfrey for he'd been warned her sadness could spread to him if in her presence too long.

After three days of travel and three nights of sleep Boy and Maela, came to the castle of the knight. Maela knew her job well and had the castle running smoothly in no time as Boy worked in the fields and fixed the walls. Finally the day came when work was finished and Boy approached the host to ask about the Dragon.

"Ah, you seek the Wyvern. Take my falcon and follow him. He will lead you to the Wyvern. Otherwise you'll never find it." The knight called for his falcon that was hooded in a red cloth. Once the hood was taken off, the bird was released into the air.

Boy who had grown in stature and mind, listened to Maela when she told him she had learned her father's skill to follow falcons when they had traveled from the Isle of Weeping. She led Boy deep into the thick forest until they saw perched high on a branch the falcon. As they gazed upon the bird's beauty it began to shake from head to tail in a great wave. As it did so its feathers fell to the ground and before them was the great Wyvern, which was no larger than the falcon had been. Jeweled wings it had now instead of feathered ones. At their feet lay the feathers of the falcon and they too were jeweled. Boy bent and plucked the feathers from the ground and held them up to the light as they sparkled in the sun. That was the gift the dragon had given. Boy and Maela left the dragon and made their way back to his village. They took the feathers to the druid who was picking over plants in the meadow. She went to the sacred grove where the large oak tree lived and pulled mistletoe from the branches. After reading knowledge from the leaves of the wise oak, she asked "You've a special board with you?"

"Yes, my fidchell board, but it has no pieces for they were swallowed by a giant salmon." Maela replied.

"Boy, take you these feathers and shape them into the missing pieces."

Boy gathered the feathers from the druid and worked on them night and day. On the third day the board and jeweled pieces were united.

"Well done, Boy!"

All the villagers shouted as they learned how to play the game of chess—some in frustration and some in excitement. The merriment suddenly stopped for all looked to see that Boy was indeed a man before them, and no longer the stripling they had known. The druid spoke then and addressed them all.

"Boy is now a man and has proven his worth, his true nature of good sense and loyalty. He must be named and Maela is the one who can do so for she loves him true and he is never saddened by her whilst others are afflicted by her melancholy face."

"Boy shall be known as Gwydd for it had been prophesied at my birth that the man I would have for a husband was called by that name," replied Maela.

Gwydd and Maela lived for many years in the village and the game they created spread across the land and was then known as Gwyddbwyll forever more.

Nominated by Jan Anderson, English Department