Sion Cent and the Devil

Sion Cent, one of Cymru’s greatest bards, drew his first breath in a humble cottage which stood on the very spot where the three waters meet in Abertridwr. His parents were as poor as church mice but happy enough because Sion’s father believed that children were a poor man’s riches.

When Sion was still a stripling, Fortune fleeced him of his parents. Orphaned and alone, Sion sought work as a servant at Pontygwyndy Farm, Caerphilly.

One day Sion was preparing to plough a field when, like a bolt from the blue, the Devil appeared. His Satanic Majesty offered to plough the paddock for the lad, requesting a share of the final crop. Sion agreed, and give the devil his due, the field was most magnificently ploughed in a single night.

Sion planted the field with potatoes and when the crop was ripe, offered Satan the part he most desired. “Naturally,” bellowed Satan, “I will claim that which grows out of the soul.”

In this way Satan got the stalks whilst Sion pocketed the potatoes. Dancing mad because he’d been diddled, Satan insisted on a similar pact the following year. The Father of Lies ploughed the field but this time Sion sowed wheat. When autumn stole away the summer, the field was ready to be scythed and Sion again offered the Devil that part of the crop he most desired.

“Ha!” sniggered Satan. “Do you think that you can hoodwink me again? No! I claim that which grows in the soil.”

“Good choice, sirrah,” said Sion, “that means you will take the roots whilst I have the wheat harvest. You seem to have come a cropper again!”

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