It was winter, and the lake was covered with waterfowl of every kind. Gruffydd ap Rhys was riding home from the king's court, and with him were two of the most powerful Normans in the March: Miles, earl of Hereford and lord of Brecknock, and Payn fitz John, lord of Ewyas. Gruffydd held only a small part of what his father had ruled, and the Normans were enjoying themselves at his expense.
Miles brought up an old saying of the country. If the natural prince of Wales came to this lake and ordered the birds to sing, they would sing for him at once. Gruffydd, who had lost most of his inheritance but none of his pride, told Miles that since he and Payn now held the land, they should try it first. They did, and nothing happened.
Then it was Gruffydd's turn. Gerald describes him getting down from his horse, kneeling facing east as a man would before a battle, lying flat on the ground in prayer, and then standing and making the sign of the cross. He asked God to show, if he really was descended from the natural princes of Wales, that the birds would declare it. At that, the birds all over the lake began beating the water with their wings and crying out.
Miles and Payn hurried back to court and told the king. Henry, by Gerald's account, was not much surprised. However much the Normans took by force, he said, the Welsh were known to be the rightful heirs of the land. Gerald, himself part Norman and part Welsh, was pleased enough with the story to write it down twice.
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