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![]() Vortigern's Hide-Out? The Tradition: The Mabinogion tells us that Dinas Emrys was the place where the Celtic God of Health & Healing, Lludd Llaw Ereint (the Silver-Handed) buried two fighting dragons on the advice of his brother Llefelys. Nennius, followed by Geoffrey of Monmouth, further wrote how centuries later, when the High-King Vortigern fled into Wales to escape the Saxon hoards, he chose this lofty hillfort as the site for his Royal Retreat. Every day his men would work hard erecting the first of several proposed towers for the palace; but the next morning they would return to find the masonry collapsed in a heap. This continued for many weeks until Vortigern was advised to seek the help of a young orphan boy born of the fairies. The King sent his soldiers out across the land to find such a lad. They were eventually successful at the city which became known as Caer Myrddin (Carmarthen). The boy was called Myrddin Emrys, better known as Merlin today. He told Vortigern of the dragons fighting within the hillside beneath a pool and, when they were uncovered, he explained how the White Dragon of the Saxons though winning the battle at present, would soon be defeated by the British Red Dragon. After Vortigern's downfall, the fort was given to High-King Ambrosius Aurelianus alias Emrys Wledig (the Imperator), hence its name.
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