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23 February 2010
Sir Jasper and Maesteg
A long long time ago, the last two remaining dragons were laying waste to the land surrounding The Black Mountains. Their names were Smaug and Maesteg. Smaug was a golden male dragon, and Maesteg was a much larger emerald green female dragon.
Sir Jasper of Konran was a brave Knight of noble birth, third in line to the throne of Cair Paravel. Along with his man at arms Jack of Genffordd, and doughty squire Mathew, Sir Jasper had made it his mission to rid Wales of these last two dragons.
Sir Jasper sought out the wise woman Martha of Tydvil, and asked her advice. She told him that his only chance of success was to attack the dragons when they mated, this would be atop Waun fach at the next full moon.
When the next full moon arrived, the trusty band were lying in wait, once the dragons were mating, they crept from their hiding place and attacked. Smaug was killed almost immediately, by a sword thrust through his right eye. Maesteg was wounded, her left wing was torn and she was bleeding from a slash to her neck, in her panic she managed to fly to nearby Castell Dinas. Sir Jasper was deeply worried, not only had both his companions been badly injured in the attack, but Maesteg had escaped and would shortly give birth to her dragoon brood.
After first ensuring his companions were safe, Sir Jasper set off in pursuit of Maesteg. On arrival at Castell Dinas, he found that all the inhabitants had fled, and Maesteg could be clearly seen clinging to the highest tower licking her wounds. Sir Jasper quickly hatched his plan, he ran into the courtyard in full view of Maesteg, immediately she flew from the tower in pursuit of Sir Jasper, he ran through the entrance and stood on the drawbridge. Maesteg's head came lunging through the entrance her body held back by the massive walls, quick as a flash Sir Jasper slashed the rope holding up the portcullis.
The portcullis fell, a giant spike piercing through Maesteg's neck, as she thrashed her huge body, the ground shook, and the towers tumbled down. Eventually Maesteg thrashed her last and was still, Sir Jasper slowly walked towards her, and inspected his victim, suddenly Maesteg's eyes opened and with her last breath Sir Jasper was burnt to ashes.
Even today the backbone ridge of Ygrib is Known locally as the dragons back.
The Terror Tree
Many years ago two giants roamed the area we now call the Black Mountains.
Their names were Kriik and Kraak, Kriik was good and kind, but Kraak was the complete opposite, he was angry mean and spiteful. Kriik spent his time working hard on their farm and playing his flute. Kraak spent his time stealing, drinking and sleeping.
When their elderly father died he left the farm to Kriik and his gold to Kraak. Kriik worked even harder on the farm and became very prosperous, Kraak soon spent all his gold, seeing his brother prosper Kraak became poisoned with jealousy and decided to kill Kriik so he could have his farm.
Late one evening as Kriik was working near Castell Dinas, Kraak sneaked up behind him and tightening a rope around Kriik's neck he started to strangle him. Kriik struggled and struggled but he could not break Kraak's hold on him. Kriik started to lose consciousness, in his desperation he took his flute from his pocket and blindly lashed out with it.
More by luck than judgement, Kriik had thrust his flute straight into Kraak's eye. Kraak fell down dead, the flute took root, feeding off kraak's blood as it drained into the earth.
The flute became a tree "THE TERROR TREE", it is said that if you stand by the tree at midnight, whilst the wind plays three notes, then you will be seized by the roots and drained of every drop of blood.
The Mouth of Orlof
Many years after the killing of the dragon Maesteg, a local farmer called Kris of Bowen, was struggling to make ends meet. He had a wife and three young children to support, he had been plagued by poor harvests for many years. One night as he settled down to sleep, full of worry, Kris had a dream that he would have a a great harvest if he collected up all of Maesteg's teeth and buried them under the ruin of the last remaining arch of Castell Dinas, and then crawled through it.
Kris awoke early the next morning full of optimism, and set out with a spring in his step for Castell Dinas. Even after all these years Maesteg's skull and skeleton were still complete. Kris climbed up to her skull, and using his dagger, after a great deal of effort, he managed to capture all of Maesteg's teeth. Carefully he buried them under the ruin of the last arch, and quickly crawled through.
Unfortunately Kris had been cruelly tricked, centuries before an evil spirit called Orlof, had been imprisoned deep underneath Castell Dinas. When Maesteg's huge body thrashed the ground, she created a tiny crack through which Orlof could reach out and trick people. In the beginning he was very weak, but eventually he was strong enough to enter Kris' dreams. Orlof needed the dragons teeth, but he also needed to eat the souls of twelve mortal humans, to break out of his prison.
Over the centuries the arch became known as the mouth of Orlof, it is believed that so far the mouth of Orlof has eaten eight souls. For those people who get too close, they cannot resist crawling through, fortunately Orlof can only eat souls on the stroke of midnight.
