Page:The Mabinogion.djvu/518

Rh Puny bards, crows of the district,

Why do you not take to flight?

A bard that will not silence me,

Silence may he not obtain,

Till he goes to be covered

Under gravel and pebbles;

Such as shall listen to me,

May God listen to him."

Then sang he the piece called "The Spite of the Bards."

Minstrels persevere in their false custom,

Immoral ditties are their delight;

Vain and tasteless praise they recite;

Falsehood at all times do they utter;

The innocent persons they ridicule;

Married women they destroy,

Innocent virgins of Mary they corrupt;

As they pass their lives away in vanity,

Poor innocent persons they ridicule;

At night they get drunk, they sleep the day;

In idleness without work they feed themselves;

The Church they hate, and the tavern they frequent;

With thieves and perjured fellows they associate;

At courts they inquire after feasts;

Every senseless word they bring forward;

Every deadly sin they praise;

Every vile course of life they lead;

Through every village, town, and country they stroll;

Concerning the gripe of death they think not;

Neither lodging nor charity do they give;

Indulging in victuals to excess.

Psalms or prayers they do not use,

Tithes or offerings to God they do not pay,

On holidays or Sundays they do not worship;

Vigils or festivals they do not heed.

The birds do fly, the fish do swim,

The bees collect honey, worms do crawl,

Every thing travails to obtain its food,

Except minstrels and lazy useless thieves.

I deride neither song nor minstrelsy,

For they are given by God to lighten thought;

But him who abuses them,

For blaspheming Jesus and his service."

Taliesin having set his master free from prison, and having