A String in the Harp
Page 36
“Oh, yes!” Peter cried joyfully. “Yes!”
The 5:10 to Ynyslas Turn was crowded mostly with students—full of cheerful noise. Peter and David had to find separate seats for the ride up Penglais Hill. From the rear of the bus, Peter could only glimpse the back of his father’s head between passengers. No promises, no commitments. David hadn’t torn up the letter, only said they’d discuss it. But Peter was happy. He watched the rows of houses grind past the window as the bus stuttered up Penglais. At the top a jumble of students piled off, and Peter went up to sit with his father.
Beyond Aber they were once more riding between fields hemmed in by hedges of hawthorn, blackthorn, and blackberry. Bow Street, Llandre, Dolybont. At the Borth post office they climbed out and walked to Upper Borth in the windy evening. Gulls blew overhead, crying, on stretched wings. The lights were coming on behind curtains. The narrow margin that was Borth, a single strand spun thin between the sea and the bog, was beginning to emerge from the twilight—beads of light on a string.
This was not their place forever, but it wasn’t a place to be despised, as Peter had once believed. He’d been unhappy here, alone and lonely and resentful. But he’d found something in Borth: a thing more important even than the Key. He had learned that he was part of other people and they part of him and he was glad. He could accept it now.
“Next year, where will we be?” he asked softly.
If David heard him, he didn’t answer, but they walked toward Bryn Celyn side by side, so close their arms touched. As they turned up the path, the front door opened, spilling yellow light into the Welsh dusk. Jen and Becky were there, waiting for them.
Primary chief Bard am I to Elphin,
And my original country is that of the Summer Stars;
Idno and Heinin called me Merddin,
At last every king will call me Taliesin.
***
I have been given the Muse from the cauldron of Caridwen;
I have been Bard of the Harp to Lleon of Lochlin.
I have been on the White Hill, in the Court of Cynfelin.
I have been fostered in the lands of Rheged and Caerleon,
I have been teacher to all manner of men,
I am able to instruct all the Universe.
I shall be until the Day of Doom upon the face of the earth;
And it is not known whether I am man, beast, or fish.
—from The Mabinogion, Taliesin
Author’s Note
TALIESIN HIMSELF was a real Welsh bard. He lived during the sixth century, and fragments of his poetry have survived and been translated into English. From the fragments, written down long after his death when Welsh became a written as well as a spoken language, it is known that he was familiar with the courts of men like Maelgwn, Gwyddno, and Urien Rheged—possibly even Arthur’s at Caerleon. The story of Taliesin is translated in Lady Charlotte Guest’s version of The Mabinogion, but it is a fairy tale, a legend that grew around the real man. Perhaps it has its roots in fact; at least so I would like to believe. The poetry in this story is thought to be that of Taliesin and his contemporaries and was translated by Lady Charlotte Guest and William Skene. I have made minor changes in their translations. The life of Taliesin that the Key shows Peter is what I have imagined his real story to be. It is my own version. To my knowledge there is no harp key, and it is not known where Taliesin is buried.
But if you ever travel to Cardiganshire in Wales, you will find the village of Borth as I have described it: caught between the sea and the Bog; and the town of Aberystwyth with its National Library and University. With the help of an Ordnance Survey Map you can even find Bedd Taliesin, Sarn Cynfelin, Nant-y-moch, and Pumlumon Fawr. You’ll meet Hugheses and Evanses and Rhyses—but not the ones I’ve written about—because Welsh surnames are few, and hear Welsh spoken in the shops and on the buses. If you go in the spring you will see primroses and lambs, and unless you’re extraordinarily lucky, you will discover that I have not exaggerated about the rain!
Perhaps, if you’re there long enough, you will feel the wildness and ancient power of the country, watch buzzards over the hills, discover cairns and hill forts, and understand that there are indeed many kinds of magic.
Nancy Bond
NANCY BOND has spent most of her life in Massachusetts: growing up and living in Concord, going to college at Mt. Holyoke in South Hadley, working in Boston, Lincoln and Gardner. Her three greatest interests as long as she can remember have been natural history, books—especially children’s books—and Britain, and she has spent most of her time on one or another or all three. She has worked in the promotion departments of two publishing houses and as a librarian; participated in nature and conservation workshops and organizations; and lived a total of almost four years in the British Isles. Her latest trip there was in 1971-1972 when she studied at the College of Librarianship Wales, in Aberystwyth, for her library degree. It was out of the experiences of that year that A String in the Harp, her first book grew.
Map and frontispiece drawing by Allen Davis
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblancen to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1976 by Nancy Bond
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole
or in part in any form.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks
of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Also available in a Margaret K. McElderry hardcover edition.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition March 1996
Second Aladdin Paperbacks edition January 2007
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Bond, Nancy.
A string in the harp
“A Margaret K. McElderry book.”
Summary: Relates what happens to three American children, unwillingly transplanted to Wales for one year, when one of them finds an ancient harp-tuning key that takes him back to the time of the great sixth-century bard Taliesin.
[1. Space and time—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B63684St [Fic] 75-28181
ISBN-13: 978-0-698-50036-7 (hc)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4424-6594-7 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 0-689-50036-X (hc)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-2771-6 (pbk)
ISBN-10: 1-4169-2771-9 (pbk)
An Aladdin Reading Group Guide to A String in the Harp
***
About this Book
The Morgans are miserable. Jen, Peter, and Becky—still reeling from their mother’s death—don’t know quite what to make of their father’s decision to spend a year in Wales, far from everything the family knows. Jen wants her father to take care of the family’s problems, Peter wants him to take them home, and Becky just wants everyone to take a break from fighting. When Peter finds a mysterious object on the beach—one that sings to him and shows him scenes from an ancient life—he finds himself pulled further and further into the past and away from his family. Will this archaic magic pull the family completely apart . . . or save them?
***
Discussion Questions
• How do each of the Morgans deal with their grief over their recent loss? How do each of these methods effect the family as a whole?
• Who is responsible for the family . . . for their decisions and their happiness? Does this change as the story progresses? Who is best equipped to deal with this responsibility? Do you think that any of the decisions that are made are bad ones?
• There are a number of “characters” in this book who are very important to the plot, but who aren’t present in the narr
ative, or don’t interact with the other characters, or who aren’t even human. Discuss these characters . . . who they are, why they are important to the story, and why the author included them.
• In what ways is Peter “helping” the key? In what ways is the key helping Peter? Which is affected more by the experience?
• How do the different characters feel about magic? On what do they base their opinions? What is the relationship between science and magic?
• In what ways do Dr. Rhys and Dr. Owen differ? Why do they still get along? Why do Jen and Peter each turn to Dr. Rhys for help? Is he able to help them?
• Dr. Owen argues that Welsh artifacts belong to Wales and that their proper place is in a museum, not with the people who found them. Do you agree with this argument? Did Peter have the right to keep the key as long as he did, or to leave it under Nant-y-moch? Do you think that the Welsh tendency to define people as outsiders if their ancestors weren’t Welsh has any bearing on this question?
• Peter comes to see time as a bunch of layers, one on top of another. How does this change the way he views his life and his experience in Wales? How do the other characters react when these layers start to bleed into one another? How does the author’s writing style reflect this concept of time being a series of layers?
***
Activities
• The Morgans often talk about the fact that they are learning the Welsh language. Perhaps you can learn a bit of Welsh, too. See if you can find a history of the language, a Welsh-English dictionary, or maybe even someone in your town who can speak Welsh, and learn a few simple phrases.
• Visit a museum and think about where the artifacts came from, how they add to the history of your culture, and who might have used them before.
• Taliesin was a bard, charged with orally preserving the stories of his community before there was a written language. Are there any stories in your family or your town that have never been written down? Write them down now so that they won’t be lost. Or become a modern-day bard by turning one of these stories into a song or poem that you can recite.
• This book is full of the folklore, legend, and mythology of Wales, all of which is closely tied to the land. Native-American mythology is the closest parallel the United States has to this. Read some of these Native-American legends and folk tales.
• Taliesin used the key to tune his harp, which was an integral part of his profession. Listen to some harp music, either live performances or recordings.