C. J. Jones's comic blend of fact and fiction about a small island
safety-pinned to the coast of Wales. . . . . The story of Branwen
is already famous across the world because of its place in the
Mabinogion. She married Matholwch from Ireland in a splendid
ceremony held at Aberffraw in a silk tent. Branwen's brother, Bran,
was a man of such large stature as used to inhabit this sacred
isle, that he could not fit into any house or building. It was
necessary for him to carry a tent wherever he went for protection
from the elements since there was not a dwelling that could contain
him. Tragically, Matholwch, the man of Ireland, turned out, like so
many of the scoundrels, not to be a good husband; treating his wife
Branwen badly once he returned with her to Ireland and she was away
from the aid and succour of her family, getting his servants to box
her ears because he was often too tired to knock her about himself.
After a time Branwen was obliged to send for her brother to come
and sort out her husband. The huge Welshman was forced to wade to
Ireland, being too big to go in a ship. He arrived in a bit of a
chip due to wet feet and sodden clothes, and a fight broke out with
the in-laws which got out of hand. One or two people were killed
but fortunately the Welshman carried a stock of Celtic magic about
with him in the form of a cauldron which could resurrect the dead,
and once the drunken brawlers had been thrown into the pot and
brought back to life a semblance of order was restored.
Unfortunately during the fight, our hero, the giant Welshman, the
like of whose stature has never been seen since, copped it by way
of a poisoned spear in his ankle. Like all true Celts, our Bran was
so distraught at the thought that he would never be able to talk
again or see his home; he got his friends to cut off his head and
carry it back to this fair isle. Such is the power of the magic air
of his Celtic homeland, he was able to keep on talking and eating
for eighty years after his death, or at least his head was since
they left the body in Ireland. . . . . Just as the Tylwyth Teg
never leave their own locality, my nephew, Dylan Jones's worst
thing is crossing the bridge to the mainland. He once saw a
television programme in which a suspension bridge undulated in the
wind and cracked its road surface. He is terrified that one day the
Menai Suspension Bridge is going to collapse under the weight of
heavy traffic and it may be on the very occasion when he is
travelling across it. My nephew is never happy until he is back on
the island again. In vain I reassure him that the last time the
road broke in the wind was in 1839 and that the bridge has
undergone improvements in its construction since, and an increase
in its weight-bearing capacity. It has stood for many years without
mishap and the days when bus conductors had to ask certain
passengers to descend and walk across the bridge, to lighten the
load of the bus, are long gone. How they chose which passengers
should ride and which should cross the bridge on foot in those
pre-political correctness days I have not been able to find out.
Whether it was totally based on weight considerations, the girth of
one's belly, or whether they had regard to age, infirmity or gender
in deciding who to eject from their seats I do not know. The White
Knight in, 'Through the Looking Glass' tells Alice that he had
completed a design, "To Keep the Menai Bridge from rust. By boiling
it in wine." So far as I can ascertain, the iron chains were never
boiled in wine although I understand that Thomas Telford had them
boiled in warm linseed oil to preserve them, but it seems no more
preposterous a suggestion to boil a bridge in wine than it does to
hang a road up on chains across a vast chasm with a huge drop below
it.
General
Imprint: |
Cider Press
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
September 2011 |
First published: |
November 2011 |
Authors: |
C.J. Jones
|
Dimensions: |
203 x 127 x 10mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
190 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-9570585-0-7 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-9570585-0-0 |
Barcode: |
9780957058507 |
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