The Abergyln Discovery
Ray Forde
________
Owen Jenkins, the Lord Mayor of Aberglyn, was confident that he had done everything within his power to make today’s event a big success, but doing everything is no guarantee of doing enough.
Times had been very tough in Aberglyn for many decades.
Tourism favours picturesque hamlets over run-down former mining towns, particularly when the decaying remnants of that industry are eyesores in every direction. But Aberglyn was a proud town, with loyal residents determined to fight through the challenges they now faced.
Numerous attempts to reinvent the town fell way short, until the underground mines were reopened as a visitor centre, and thereafter enhanced by perpetuating the tongue-in-cheek myth that dragons once inhabited the caves within.
This local myth was once moderately famous thanks to a local author (and Druid), Dwyffed Griffin, who wrote a popular series of books in the fifties under the collective name:
• King Arthur: Master of the Dragons
The books told how Arthur defeated many opponents on behalf of Wales; ranging from the Romans, to the Saxons, to the Vikings (and back in the 1950s, few people questioned the timelines involved, because they were children’s stories, and when you are assisted by Merlin the Wizard, nothing seemed implausible).
Dwyffed however, insisted the stories were serious and historically factual, and narrated to him by his Druid spiritual guide: Merlin himself, so he was opposed to his publishers’ plans to illustrate the books for children (as that would trivialise them). That was until he met the illustrator in person. She assured him she would create images to his exact descriptions, and so he relented.
That decision proved a good one, and thereafter a very successful series of books followed. Arthur at long last was a national hero, who led his army into battle from the front line, aided and abetted by the legion of dragons he commanded – which made his land impregnable, even when facing overwhelming odds.
The eventual decline of book-sales mirrored the decline of mining in Aberglyn, but as a committed Druid, it was of no importance to Dwyffed when his fame slowly shrunk in ever-decreasing circles, until few beyond the local pubs were aware of him.
However, King Arthur’s killer catchphrase remained firmly entrenched in everyday conversation. Arthur used it in every instance of defeating an opponent, when he’d tower bold and upright above them, and announce:
“Welcome to Wales!”
Mayor Evans himself loved that phrase, and it became his silent mantra whenever he secured any improvement grant or business investment in Aberglyn. No political opponents ever tried to oust him.
He, and he alone, fought for Aberglyn, and Aberglyn was loyal to him. So everyone followed his instructions on keeping the discovery of dinosaur bones in the mines a secret, whilst he devised today’s Publicity Strategy to put Aberglyn back on the map.
These bones were found in an excavation of landslide mass within the caves, and short of finding gold down there – this was a greater opportunity than he could have ever dreamed.
The top palaeontologists from Oxford and Cambridge were engaged in secret, and allowed advanced (but private) inspection, plus photos and X-rays to formalise their conclusions, which they would present today at the launch event.
The follow-up theme park would be announced very soon after.
He also invited Dwyffed to play a key role in forever associating these fossils to Aberglyn – and he turned up in his full druid cloak and regalia, welcoming everyone in his own genial charismatic way.
The photographers loved it.
Mayor Evans chose his moment, and proudly took the microphone to welcome each expert to a seat on the stage, with a summary of their qualifications. Last of all, he welcomed Dwyffed to the last remaining seat, with a list of his literary achievements, which caught most by surprise (they assumed he was just a local character bringing a bit of colour to the occasion). Dwyffed sat silently, with his large hands resting on the metal handle of an ornate walking stick, as the experts talked through the large-screen presentations of photos and X-rays of the fossil.
They painted a full forensic picture of this well-preserved artefact, which captured a snapshot of a fight between two different species, before a landslide buried them in an instant.
The defeated dinosaur was quickly identified and agreed upon all around. It was well preserved, but with an 8 to 10-inch region of its neck missing. There was no doubt the victorious creature ripped it out in a fight to the death.
But in conclusion, there was no agreement on what that victorious species was, as the landslide had rendered severe damage to the torso, and ribcage in particular.
The skull was in better shape. It appeared avian, and closer to a modern eagle, than anything known to date back as far as the late Jurassic period. So even when pressed by Mayor Evans, they could not rule out that this was the discovery of a previously unknown species.
This was the perfect cliffhanger to wrap up Part 1 of the ‘New Aberglyn’ rebirth strategy. The experts had created intrigue, and the press relished it. The content had public interest, and the visuals were exciting and captivating.
Mayor Evans had his speech ready, with a clear plan to spin their dilapidated coalmine into a tourism goldmine; but just as he was about to take centre stage, he looked up and saw an ancient druid at the podium. His hands were crossed on his walking stick, and he looked fiercely at the audience below.
Then he spoke with a calm but firm authority:
“Put Slide 17 back on the screen.”
Mayor Evans was bemused, but he backstepped without any concern. Dwyffed had never been a problem in his life, and he had been a huge asset to this event, so if he was under the impression he was expected to speak, it was perfectly ok.
When Slide 17 appeared, Dwyffed turned the palaeontologist experts, and wielded his walking stick in their direction like a weapon.
He turned to the audience and barked:
“These boys are idiots! Every one of them!”
Mayor Evans dropped his speech, and his mouth.
Dwyffed walked to the screen, pointed to the crushed ribcage, and barked louder than before:
“Those are not the bones of a ribcage – they are wings!”
Everyone turned to look at that slide again.
Now that it was pointed out, they were undeniably wings, even though there was no logic as to why they should be. Mayor Evans and the experts stared and blinked and stared again as they tried to make scientific sense of it all. If those were wings, this was no creature that had been documented previously.
Dwyffed barked again:
“Put up the final slide!”
The slide appeared, and it was a book cover from his Master of the Dragons series, entitled: “The Final Fight.”
Dwyffed yelled: “I told you what happened in 1953!”
The book cover displayed a beautiful illustration of a dragon, looking down upon a long-necked reptile creature that it had just defeated, with a bite through the neck – a perfect match of this unearthed relic.
Dwyffed walked to the front of the stage and looked down at the audience in silence, just as the dragon did. Then he opened his cloak to reveal a T-shirt with large words emblazoned on it, which he bellowed at the crowd:
“WELCOME TO WALES!”
With that, he marched straight through them, without a sideways glance, but with all other eyes and camera lenses fixed firmly on him.
The Mayor was in as much disbelief as everyone. The likeness between the book cover and the fossil was so striking that he didn’t even notice the smallprint below it until this moment:
“Available as a re-release in 2 weeks.”
A sly smile of realisation crept onto his face, and he whispered to himself:
“You Swine!”