Climb the wooded slopes above Beddgelert in Eryri, and you will find a small craggy hill called Dinas Emrys. It is unassuming today, but Welsh tradition holds that this is the birthplace of the Red Dragon — the symbol that still flies over our nation.
The story is told in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum. King Vortigern, fleeing the Saxons, tries to build a fortress on this hill. Every night, his walls collapse. His advisors tell him the only remedy is to sprinkle the foundations with the blood of a fatherless boy.
His soldiers find such a boy. He is brought before the king — and instead of accepting his fate, he speaks. He tells Vortigern that beneath the hill lies a hidden pool, and within the pool, two dragons sleep. One white, one red. Their nightly battle shakes the earth and topples the king's walls.
The pool is dug out. The dragons rise. The white dragon — the Saxons — is winning. But the red dragon — the Britons — turns and drives him back, and at last triumphs.
The boy, of course, was Myrddin Emrys. The world would later know him as Merlin.
From this single tale, the red dragon became the rallying emblem of the Welsh people. Henry Tudor flew it at Bosworth in 1485. It was made the official flag of Wales in 1959. And it began on a small hill in Gwynedd, in a story about a boy, a king, and two creatures that should never have shared a pool.
Y Ddraig Goch ddyry cychwyn — the Red Dragon will lead the way.