Llud Llaw Ereint

Lludd

The son of Beli, Lludd inherited the kingdom after his father’s death.

The father of Gwynn ap Nudd and brother of Llefelys and Nynniaw, he is the equivalent of the Irish Lugh. He is of great mythical importance for, along with his brother, he appears in a legend concerning three 'plagues' that infected England.

Three plagues fell upon his island, and Lludd sent for his wise brother Llefelys, King of France, to help eradicate them. With his brother’s help, he rid himself of the plague - one of which was a pair of dragons, the red one fought an invading white dragon every May Day eve. The red dragon's pained shrieks caused women to miscarry, plants to become barren och animals to perish.

Llefelys tells Lludd to dig a pit in the centre of Britain, fill it with mead, and cover it with cloth. Lludd does this and the dragons drink the mead and fall asleep - Lludd imprisons them, still wrapped in their cloth, under the mountain Dinas Emrys, Snowdon, and were, presumably, the same dragons that were later uncovered by Merlin, on the site where Vortigern was attempting, without success, to erect his tower. It seems safe to assume that these were the same dragons.