Ogo'r Ddinas, the Cave Without a Hill

Caves are entrances to the unknown. When one first enters the darkness within the breadth and depth can never be known except by those determined to explore. Some are but a dent in the side of a mountain while others can branch off and go for miles. In the exploration of a cave one must keep in mind that when encountering a dead end it must be considered “Was it always a dead end or did something seal it? Is there a passage somewhere just on the other side of a roadblock which might not be a block to one who knows the way? Or what happens when the hill in question finds itself destroyed? If a fairytale be assigned to that spot does the story die with the hill?” Questions one might wonder should a hill holding such a cavern be destroyed.

            

Depending on who you ask, the cave called Ogo’r Ddinas (which burrowed into the hill called Craig y Ddinas) has a sleeping army guarding a great treasure. The leader of the army is not always agreed upon; for it could be Owen Glyn Dwr, Owain Lawgoch, or even King Arthur himself (the latter of which if true would make the king a very busy guardian, for several other treasures are said to be guarded by him as well). These three possibilities are all well-known heroes in the history of Wales. After all, what better way to strike fear into would be explorers and hunters than to have a known great warrior leading an army to guard the place?

            

One of the main stories dealing with this subject involves a man who inadvertently came across a wooden stick on a hill in Wales which he used as a staff. The hill was none other than Craig y Ddinas. He wandered from there to London to sell his geese and sheep at the market. It was on his return that a stranger approached the man asking him where he had gotten his stick. Determining the hill the traveler took it from the stranger showed him the nature of the stick. It opened a door into a cavern where a vast treasure and a sleeping army was found. The stranger informed the traveler that he could take what he could carry with him (the stranger had no interest in it) and return when he wished to so long as he didn’t ring the bell. The ringing of the bell would awaken the army, and if that should happen a phrase must be given or they would arise and cast him out. As with all such stories, this visitor would set off the bell and forget the phrase, after which he was cast out never to find the stick or the entrance again. Afterward he would die a destitute man.

            

Craig y Ddinas is a hill made mostly of silica (quartz) having been subject to much mining and quarrying in the 19^thand 20^th Century. This deformed the hill greatly. One might ask if the ancient guardians of Britain would recognize it. Many a place mined to its extremity have caved in or the hill itself becoming completely leveled. A hill once present or prominent in ancient times can find itself obliterated.

So now one might consider an interesting question. What happens to a ghost, a guardian, or a mystic treasure/idea when the hill of the cavern holding it should come to destruction? If it be the entrance to the Other World is the entrance gone or just hidden? The Otherworld was a single world and not a bunch of pockets where many magical elements could reside. Granted one aspect of the Otherworld is that there are many different kinds of places in that world, just as there are different kinds of places in this one. A major difference is that the Other is completely magical. Almost anything can be attributed to it for it is almost completely unknown. Our sources for information about it are scarce and have been altered over the years by mostly Christian ideas.

Welsh tales like The Lady and the Fountain in The Mabinogion and Pwyll Prince of Dyvedbring out the ideas of the Celtic Otherworld that persisted after Christianity took over in the Celtic lands. To get to the Otherworld would require a special ritual, an invitation by one of its residents, or some kind of accident. Invitations are made when a resident of the Otherworld crosses over to do so. The rituals can vary as with Owen’s throwing of water from a bowl on a specific slab near a fountain. That ritual brought a horrendous rainstorm, but then that person found himself in the Otherworld (as made evident by the arrival of mysterious birds whose nature indicated their origin from there). This is a more elaborate ritual than that of the stranger on the hill in Wales who simply had to place a staff in a crevice. The story of Pwyll has the protagonist meeting the King of Annwn who was to trade places with him with nobody being the wiser. (Annwn was a Celtic Otherworld or underworld). Pwyll could not have reached it without the King of Annwn’s assistance. If one wishes to know stories about people who might stumble into the Otherworld Irish legends are full of them. Stories of the Sidh and fairy mounds are everywhere. If we want to stick with things on the island of Great Britain one could look at Cornish tales where humans inadvertently wander into pixie rings or follow a strange creature into a cave. Strange things are encountered whether it be great treasures or creatures the likes of which never been seen before.

Why these examples? With the exception of those being brought to the Otherworld at the behest of one of its leaders, specific locations or rituals were the only way for a mortal to enter. What if the fountain, bowl, or stone slab were not there when Owen had followed the instructions given by his friend Cynon? If the Otherworlders had removed it the land clearly would still exist, but the way there would be gone. If those things and the hill had been destroyed by some means, would that have destroyed that part of the Otherworld? The water against the slab brought terrible rain as well as moving Owen to another land which likely was beneath where he originally stood. Then a pixie ring destroyed by a bulldozer or an enchanted place under a hill would obliterate the entrance to a world and perhaps a section of the world itself. The pixies or other magical beings would be wiped out, for there is no known place for those beings to go.

One could argue that the creatures or beings might just move further back beneath the surface to a place where no damage had been done. That being the case what of Ogo’r Ddinas’ sleeping warriors who are to arise from slumber to defend Britain? The cavern may be sealed off from most prying eyes so that the soldiers would not be disturbed, but a complete destruction of the hill wouldn’t miss such a place. If the cavern is simply hidden by magic, the bulldozer would find it and the sleeping army would not hear the chime in time to save itself; or if the bell should ring and none say the right word, what should the magic do? Throw the bulldozer out of the hill? Maybe it should divert the thing and spare that spot from destruction, unless the entire hill were gone.

So what if the King’s Army (doesn’t matter which king) were in a spot of the Otherworld that is not affected by things in this one? That would mean that the hill would be gone, including the entrance to that world. Unless the entrance did not require an obvious physical ground upon which to cross over. The gateway would be controlled from the other side. A portal could open out of thin air and where once only ground or air was an army appears. The portal idea might be most appealing to those who think along these lines; otherwise one would have to admit that a stick of dynamite and a bulldozer is mightier than the heroes of Britain coming forth to defend it.

This is an attempt to combine old folktales and legends with modern historic processes in the story of Ogo’r Ddinas and the King’s Army asleep there. The King’s Army is supposed to be unbeatable as shown with that of King Arthur. The caves that delve deeply into the mountains of Wales are always purported to contain magic and mysteries unknown. Secret caverns containing wonders and riches untold are part of folktales of almost every culture.  The darkness of caverns adds to the mysteries. A secret passage could be behind any wall or open up under the foot of one either knowing the way or accidentally stumbling through a fairy’s door. The removal of a hill does not always mean the end of the story, but the story can then be said to be but a glimpse of days gone by.