The Story of Merlin and Y Ddraig Goch (the Red Dragon of Wales)!

At Archaeosoup Towers, we love books! In this series we review books (Old and New) from the world of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Today I am delighted to continue sharing some of my favourite ancient Welsh stories. These stories are not only old, but they are still cherished today and formed a crucial part of my childhood in North Wales!
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Note: This video is not being directly monetized and the written story copyright remains the author's.

[@rob6738]

Thanks for sharing this! As an American it's hard to find decent content relating to y ddraig goch. Helps me reconnect to my Welsh/Irish roots. I love these stories passed down for centuries.

[@leonbrooks2107]

Those are certainly deep roots to connect too. I love Welsh and Irish mythology and I’m glad to see our American cousins are rediscovering their history.

[@joalexsg9741]

Oh my goodness, you have such a natural flair for reading stories that I was just taking a look at the video before going to sleep and mark it as 'watch later' stuff and had to lie down and watch it through cause your narration was truly captivating! I've loved Celtic cultures and languages for decades, and, for my tired eyes, whenever I can get something read out loud for free (some audio books are too expensive for me:-)), I take the chance promptly, cause I already have to read about too many subjects, to catch up with the time lost when I still worked (retired now) and could dedicate to my cultural passions. Thank you so much for this delightful reading! Cymru am byth! May all the Celtic languages and cultures thrive and never die! Greetings from Brazil. A must share, for sure!

[@raserapps8230]

I live in Wales and was just randomly listening to Welsh mythology and history in the background, then I came across your channel/video. Thank you for taking the time to do this, found t really enjoyable and I think you have a talent for reading/story telling

[@sianroberts-jones2513]

Just came across this video. I’m from Bala in north Wales and moved to the US when I was about 8. I grew up hearing so many versions of this story depending on where in Wales I was. I love the way you told this because it is so close to the first telling of it I heard. Diolch! Hir fyw Cymru! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@wenofzen9139]

WOW! You are a gifted storyteller. I could SEE the dragons fighting!

[@qUinnwd]

I love learning about old stories but especially welsh stories so thank you

[@sieglinde553]

Watched this today during my first ever visit to Wales, at our campsite, just after dinner. Wonderful!

[@neodragon3037]

I LOVE this story. This is my first time hearing it, but my parents are of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh decent, and I am a huge dragon nut so this just fills me with joy that very few other stories have

[@sherrirodarte7240]

Thank you so much for this story. I just purchased the Wales flag and wanted to learn more of the history of this flag. I have been drawn to this flag since childhood and the story that you had read has it made more enchanting.

[@leonbrooks2107]

As a Welshman this puts a smile on my face. We have a wonderful history full of myths and legends many of which have formed the basis for a lot of the fantasy stories of today. Even the master himself JRR Tolkien pointed to Welsh myths as his greatest inspiration for his writings.

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

That was lovely. Thank you.

[@susiehel]

You are a wonderful story teller!

[@Archaeos0up]

What a wonderful comment. Thank you :)

[@kushcloud420]

My nan use to tell me it flys over Wales and protects Its people and rests on carphilly castel as a child

[@ramon6890]

Good stuff man

[@stargirl7646]

What excellent story telling! Really enjoyed listening

[@carolbibby3055]

Wonderful story, perfectly read! More please, looking forward to the next one.

[@IanM1984]

Diolch yn fawr iawn! I'm an immigrant cymraeg living in Poland, and I just played this to show him our culture on Dydd Gwyl Dewi.

[@thefastingflamingo]

Your voice is so lovely! I enjoyed this so much, thank you! :)

[@mothratemporalradio517]

I'm half asleep and not listening properly.. but dropping in to say it occurred to me around 8:30 when you were using silly voices for dialogue that you're a great storyteller! Easier said than done where dialogue and expressivity and overall tone and rhythm are concerned. Great stuff! Diolch from Australia - my grandmother was from South Wales. i love our Welsh history dearly, so this is a treat, given I'm on the other side of the world. Cheers and hope you are going well!

[@benstevinson764]

Pendragon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿❤️ Arthurian Legend

[@NolanFriedline]

Dude!! This is a good one :)

[@Chris_Jenkins_Wales_Strongest]

Great story teller. Diolch, thank you for the story 😊👍

[@celiarosser7290]

I enjoyed this story!

[@cardiffcityforum]

Hi, enjoyed the video, always good to hear that story being retold. I have always been of the opinion that Arthurian legend has been stolen wholesale from Cymru and if you'd ask anyone around the world where they think King Arthur and his knights are from I bet they would answer "England", which is a bit perverse really. The many reimaginings of Arthur in TV and film haven't helped, Wales pretty much never gets mentioned in any of them and we owe it to our nation to right this wrong at every opportunity. Also, Dinas Emrys should be a much more famous Welsh landmark and treated with greater respect so I'm happy to see you shining a light on it with your channel. Good luck and keep 'em coming!

[@goatboy722]

Great vid, thank you fella!

[@damianjones7554]

Absolutely delightful 😉👍

[@djowlz4934]

Well that was nice, thank you. Like you said, I vaguely remember being told this story growing up in Wales, so a nice sense of nostalgia for me, tho I haven't heard this version :)

[@arcanemuses]

Thank you.

[@boostedaura406]

Now I know where the idea of Ddraig and Albion was taken from in High School DxD😏😏

[@ZephyrBW]

This is so cool I’m actually trying to come up with us hero for Welsh and this story just gets better and better

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

You have a very pleasant voice, I found it very soothing,

[@jcastproductions7100]

Subscribed! That was great! Learning more about my Motherland. My Mom's maiden last name is Owens!

[@Archaeos0up]

Brilliant. I aim to restart telling these stories later this month :)

[@myrice101]

Great story telling, you should do contracted audio books Not much of a reader myself but was curious about Y Ddraig Goch, thanks for the informative story

[@michaelbellchambers3492]

TY U R THE LITIRAL BEST TY

[@michaelbarret4610]

Ddraig in real life: *POWER OF PRIDE* Ddraig in fairy tail: "power of friendship" Ddraig in highschool dxd: PoWeR oF oPpAi

[@justabrokezombie6252]

Wrong, Ddraig is [BOOST]. Opp@i is Issei who is just the host.

[@KillerDragon117]

We do indeed enjoy a good story.

[@benstevinson764]

❤️ Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@sarac762]

I saw the red dragon 🐉 he was majestic

[@humanman7368]

You talk in a very soothing tone. It’s nice to listen too. Have you ever considered doing audiobooks?

[@nickyjohns3602]

Cool

[@mrspanky369]

i was born in Canada as far west as you can go Vancouver island ..welsh decent the red dragon is tattoo on my chest and I never knew why but I have always had a synergy with the red dragon... awe the story of the two wolves or good or evil that live inside of us all

[@honissabe]

Draig is Welsh for Dragon. Dragon in Welsh means "Chieftain" or "Lord" so Pendragon means head chieftain, so was a title given to the overall leader

[@nicarodriguez9649]

No my friend, YOUR like a warm blanket or warm soup lol💯

[@user-xh3nb6gi7o]

What is the name of the book you read?

[@Penddraig7]

Pendragon is a welsh word, you are making the common mistake of translating it using half welsh half English. The word dragon in welsh isn’t related to the mythical creature. Dragon is the welsh for a leader, so pendragon means the head leader, not the head dragon or head of the dragon, if it meant head dragon or head of the dragon it would be Penddraig not pendragon. The English word Dragon meaning the mythical creature the welsh call Ddraig came from a mistranslation, they mistakingly used the welsh word Dragon (a leader) and that’s where the confusion started

[@arigunnarsson8921]

Sorry about this late reply, but the meaning Dragon came before Ddraig. You've got it in reverse (in the context your referring).

[@Penddraig7]

@@arigunnarsson8921 it’s not reverse at all, they are two completely separate terms that have been conflated by English. Ddraig is the Welsh term for what we refer to in English as a dragon, although the Welsh Ddraig, Y Ddraig Goch is not actually a dragon, that’s another misconception. The Welsh word dragon means leader and has nothing to do with the mythical creature the English call a Dragon. Like I said, the term Dragon came from a misunderstanding between a Welsh speaker and a non Welsh speaker. I think you might be conflating the use of Draco by the Romans etc with the word Dragon Back in the day, in Welsh culture, the Draig was a symbol of the sun, it being a fiery serpent, an appellative term. Ddraig as a word means a generating principle or procreator, the supreme power, “a fiery serpent” and the sum being the thing that gives live to everything. They also used appellatives like Adon, Addon, Beli and Bâl. Beli as is Beli Mawr Beli deriving from Bâl, the â of Bâl becomes an e due to vowel inflection caused by the -i suffix which forms an abstract noun from the root word. In Welsh a circumflex over a vowel indicates one of two things, the word is a compound of two words, the first ending in y and the second starting with a vowel so when they are combined the y is dropped and the vowel that starts the second compound word is given a circumflex denoting this and causes the vowel to be a long vowel as opposed to its standard form. For example Fy + Ad would become Fâd. However the other circumstance occurs when the vowel at the end of the first word is the same as the vowel that starts the second word for example Ba + al would become Bâl and again would be a long vowel. So Bâl is Ba + al or in Canaanite Baal who was the Canaanite god of the sun and war and Beli was the Welsh god of war. Beli was also the father of the gods and where the term Beltane comes from for the festival of light to celebrate the start of summer. The Greek equivalent of Baal is Zeus and Zeus is the King of Gods, he is also the god of lightning. Draig is also the god of lightning and hence the Welsh terms Dreigiau (silent lightnings), Dreigiaw (to lighten without thunder) The dragon refers to the standard bearer not the standard. The standard bearer was the one who would lead their regiment and hence why the Welsh word Dragon means leader. One Welsh regiment was the cavalry for which the standard was the Draig the equivalent of the Roman Draco standard which was a metal head of a serpent with a fabric wind sock as the tail of the serpent. The Draig standard was used by horseback archers to determine wind strength and direction and when archers set their arrowheads ablaze and fired at the enemy it resembled a meteor shower of which the draconids are a meteor shower that are said to originate from the Draco constellation. The were other dragons were standard bearers of other regiments, like the eagle standard and the wolf standard, again, much like the Roman army. They would all lead their regiments and were dragons (leaders) The person who would lead the entire army was the chief leader, the head leader, the pen dragon. The commander in chief/generalissimo to use modern technology. The Pendragon would fly the standard which represented the entire army and so combined the Serpent, the eagle and the wolf and the result was what we now see as the dragon on the Welsh flag y ddraig goch which is not a dragon, but this is how the term dragon got conflated with Draig. They thought the symbol that represented the Pendragon was a dragon (Draig) The design of Y Draig Goch has changed slightly over time, originally the back legs were that of the wolf as eagles don’t have 4 legs but they became taloned feet much later. The head is the wolf’s head with the tongue of the serpent. The front legs and wings were that of the eagle and the skin and tail being that of the serpent.

[@arigunnarsson8921]

​@@Penddraig7 I was talking about the English word Dragon comes from the ancient English word dracan as seen in the Beowulf poem. There is also the Latin term Draco (Draconis) or draconem (Huge Serpent). This word is derived from the Greek word drakon, which refers to snakes and serpents. Old English words such as Dracan are believed to have originated from Greek/Latin words.

[@Penddraig7]

@@arigunnarsson8921 no, Dragon derives in English from the Welsh, welsh was the native language of the Britons and predates old English and especially Beowulf, I already explained the whole Latin Draco thing, so you obviously didn’t read my comment. Dragon was used in Middle English and came from the Old French word Dragon which itself came from the Gaul, the Gaul being the Gâl (Britons) whose language was Welsh and its how Dragon was used in French as opposed to Draco from Latin. French was the official language of England from 1066 till 1362, the time at which it was Old French which is why Dragon is used in English because it came from when the official language was old French and they used the term Dragon

[@arigunnarsson8921]

@@Penddraig7 I am afraid I have to disagree with you on that matter. The Latin word Draco dates back as far as 200 AD. Soldiers would wear the symbol of the serpent on their banner. Later on, the Gauls and Gallics would even start to bear the same symbol on theirs, and it's said to have been an inspiration for the Welsh Dragon. We are also talking about its written form, which in Welsh is entirely different from the English one. The disparity only started cropping up after people started rewriting the old poems and stories much later on, but the earlier records are still kept and are open for discussion.

[@camirynstarr9436]

I'm 33percent Welsh and I would love to know about the dragon I love dragons

[@minstrelofMir]

this story is in mary stewarts books im not that well read,but oddly i have read them ;-) my fav books are terry goodkind"S sword of truth series ;-) and carlos castaneda books... i moved to Angelsey age10 in 1974..its a magical place

[@jackieroberts7895]

Why when king Arthur and merlyn are mentioned why do the keep going on about Cornwall instead of wales ?

[@maximilianolimamoreira5002]

because they want to make him a Briton from what is now England.

[@jackieroberts7895]

@@maximilianolimamoreira5002 welsh people are the Brythonic celts who are the Britons the English are the Anglo Saxons

[@Ulysses3113]

I bought this book recently but I was a little disappointed that it was so elementary. I know its aimed at children but was expecting much more detailed stories. Are there any sources for more more mature Welsh folk tails that are more appropriate for teens and young adults? Any help is much appreciated.

[@charlenewalsh4834]

I live in wales

[@DemonArshan]

Merlin should've been the next king 👑

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

The white dragon represents the Anglo-Saxons, not a generalised enemy. Little bit of censorship on behalf of the author, methinks.

[@charlenewalsh4834]

I still don't know why Americans say mom and Wales said mum

[@gifthippy8670]

I want to marry you! You are wonderful! Thank you!

[@colependrey2542]

As i watched this chills came over me and i was put right in that room My name is Cole Pendrey and i believe to be direct decendent of early Europe royal bloodlines i have so many reasons to explain why i think history repeats and i was part of a larger story.first I have proof my ancestors came from wessex england in 1630 William james Pendrey who changes his name 3 times from manifests to have a grandson with the ey at the end of our name.in celtic meaning Pendrey.Pend meaning awaiting a conclusion or ongoing dispute.The R meaning REX.for king and lastly the EY. Meaning island.so assentialy my name means awaiting the return of the king of the island.my grandfather would pull me aside when i was young before he passed and would tell me your name is important and never change it and the EY never let anyone mispell it or change it.Your name is more important then you will ever know. Im starting to find out what he meant.when i engraved my last name into a round table i thought i should learn more of where i came from and sent me on a path of information i could understand but hard to believe.Right before that i found a very rare meteorite.The stone.From 3 years old till i hit puberty i had a reaccuring nightmare of a red dragon that would come and rip my home apart if i was to scream every night without tale.i watched a documentary on possibilities of the true arthur on tintagel i had been there i have seen that island before and i knew the layout of the castle without even seeing the foundation yet i closed my eyes and pictured every room including the stone floor that seamed odd.Im connected to this story and feel its not over.so many more coincidences to list here.everything i have said is 100 percent truth.if anything ive said may have further significance inform me pls and ty if you have read this far. Cole Pendrey.

[@gonein1982]

Very interesting ☘️ I too feel connected to this story/. Also I think the great sword was made out of a meteorite 🙏👍the king is back and is in (Manchester uk and they know who he is and are trying to stop him / kill him 👀 Freemasonry is trying to bring him down ! But he’s strong You do know they his people are awaiting him on Arthur’s seat maybe you should go!

[@michaelbarret4610]

Sadly His reputation has ruined by an anime that i don t like very much. His name is highschool dxd.