“Where will I get me a wife?” cried the eagle, as he clung to a rugged crag on the Stackpole rock in Pembroke. His sharp eyes looked far out to sea, where a Dolphin frolicked in the great waves. But the Eagle paid no heed to the Dolphin. “Alack and alas! My mate has died,” he moaned to the wind that beat and blustered around his lonely perch. “Who is worthy to replace her? I am the king of the birds. Where will I get me a wife?” “Marry the Owl,” answered the Southwest wind. “Marry the Owl who lives in the little dell in the valley of the Taf. The Eagle blinked his eyes and thought. “You advise me well, O Southwest wind. But as I am king of the birds it were well that I make enquiries about the Owl. Is she worthy to be my queen? Is she old, and is she good?” The Southwest wind did not stay to speak further to the lordly Eagle, but sped away towards the Precelly hills, bearing rain-clouds to quench the thirst of the parched lands. The Eagle said: “I will go to the park lands of Minevia. I will ask my friend the deer all about the Owl of Taf.” Soaring high into the sky he glided down again slowly and gracefully. He then summoned the Deer to a lonely nook, and bade him tell all about Mistress Owl. The Deer, rubbing his antlers against a bark of an old Welsh Oak, said “ behold this old Oak, O king of the birds? I am old- so old that I can remember this oak when it was only an acorn on the very old Oak yonder. Seven hundred years it has taken this oak to grow into a great tree. For seven hundred years it has flowered in its glory. For seven hundred years it has been dying. So old it is O king, that I advise you ask of the old oak the age of Mistress Owl of the Taf.” The Eagle turned to the oak and asked his question. The oak rustled his leaves nervously when addressed by the king of the birds, but answered clearly. “O king, I have known Mistress Owl many hundreds of years, so many hundreds that I lose count of them. Mistress Owl was old when first I knew her. I am old, it is true, but my friend the Salmon of Roch is older than I. He may help you. Go sire, and ask him the age of Mistress Owl.” The Eagle flew to Roch and asked his question. The Salmon basked in a sunny pool, and was quite indifferent to the Eagle’s impatience. Yet he answered straightforwardly saying: “ Go to the Blackbird of Rudbaxton. He is older than I. He will know the age of Mistress Owl. Go ask him.” The Blackbird stopped whistling his merry tune when he saw the Eagle approach. He hid in fear in the shadow of a great flint. “Have no fear, happy warbler,” called the Eagle. “I come but to ask the age of Mistress Owl of the Taf.” The Blackbird ruffling his feathers forgot his nervousness. “O mighty king,” he whistled, “You see the old flint that casts it’s shadow on the land? I can remember it when it was far greater. In my childhood it was a high and rugged mountain. Each night before I have gone to rest, I have rubbed my back upon it. Thus has the towering mountain become a great rock. Know then that I am old, very old, but even I cannot remember Mistress Owl but as she is today.” The Eagle’s face puckered in thought. The Blackbird was sorry for him. “I have a friend who is far older than I, O king. If you will fly to the Toad of Freystrop, he may be able to tell you something of Mistress Owl.” The Eagle bowed his thanks and flew to Freystrop. The Toad was resting in a muddy Pool but he hopped on to a tuft of heather and answered the Eagle. “Sire, I eat the dust, to be sure. Yet I do not eat enough to satisfy my hunger. Around the bog you see great hills. I can remember this land as a great plain. I am old, very old. You can reckon my age when I tell you that it is I who have eaten away the land between the great hills of the Precelly range. Yet old as I am, I can only remember Mistress Owl as a very old woman screaming “Tu-whit! Tu-whit! Tu-whooo! Just as she does today.” The Eagle thanked the Toad. He flew straight away to the Taf valley. He was satisfied now that Mistress Owl came of good family, and that she was old, very old. The Eagle and the Mistress Owl were married. The wedding guests were the deer of Menevia, the Salmon of Roch, the Blackbird of Rudbaxton, and the Toad of Freystrop- all very old, but the happy couple loved them all the more, because of that.
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