"Ar rannoù" ("The Series")
CALL 1. Fair child of the Druid, come on,
To make you both wise and strong,
Shall I sing one of my songs?
Sing me ONE (TWO, THREE, ETC.) in a row:
That's what I want to know.
Responses:
1. No series for number one: the single Need; Death, father of pain; nothing before, nothing more.
2. Two oxen harnessed to a shell; if they pull, they will die; behold a miracle!
3. There are three parts to the world: three beginnings and three ends, for man and for the oak too. Three kingdoms of Merzin; golden fruits, bright flowers, little laughing children.
4. There are four whetstones: Merzin's whetstones, which sharpen swift swords.
5. There are five zones around the earth: five ages in the span of time; a dolmen on our sister.
6. There are six little children of wax, quickened by the energy of the moon; if you don't know it, I know it. There are six medicinal plants in the small cauldron; the little
dwarf mixes the drink, little finger in mouth.
7. There are seven suns and seven moons, seven planets with the hen. Seven elements with the flour of the air (atoms).
8. There are eight months and eight signs; the last but one, the Archer, shoots his arrow armed with a
sting.
8. There are eight winds blowing; eight fires with the fire of the father, lit in the month of May on the mountain of war.
Eight heifers of the dazzling whiteness of sea foam, grazing the grass of the deep island;
9. There are nine little white hands on the threshing-floor table near Lezarmeur's tower, and nine mothers who groan aloud.
There are the boar-sow and her nine piglets at the door of the château, their lair, growling and burrowing, burrowing and growling. Babies! Babies! Babies! Hurry back to the apple-tree! The old boar will give you a lesson.
Nine sons in arms returning from Naoned, Their broken swords, Their bloody shirts, The most terrible son who holds his head high, Is frightened to see them
10. Ten enemy ships have been seen coming from
Naoned. Woe to you, woe to them, men of
Gwened!
11. Eleven armed belek coming from Gwened, with their swords shattered; and their robes bloodied; and their hazel-wood crutches; of three hundred of them only eleven are left.
12. There are Twelve winds blowing; Twelve Fires with
Fire of the Father, lit in the month of Bleuñvadegou on the mountain of war.
The twelve signs are at war. The beautiful cow, the black cow with the white star on her brow, comes out of the forest of spoils;
In her breast is the sting of the arrow; her blood is flowing; she bellows, head raised;
The trumpet sounds: fire and thunder; rain and wind; thunder and fire; nothing ; nothing ; nothing, no series!
The Ar Rannoù is a Druidic song, serving as a memory ritual. The lead speaker gives the call, and the respondents give a response in Kan ha diskan form with the called upon series, repeating all preceding series each time until the 12th and final is reached.
The complex pattern is meant to assist with the memory of young children in druidic communities. The exact meaning of many of the verses are unknown, but refer to a past conflict between Naoned and Gwened.
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