“The triquetra is an ancient symbol dating back at least five thousand years. Many cultures and religions consider the number three holy or divine.”
Before anyone thought of recording time, when life was short and the world was dangerous, people had just begun to live in families. Women planted and men hunted, but some men worked with metals.
An artisan, Aethelwredd by name, was, upon a day, returning to his keep. He saw movement in the grass. He stopped, listened, and then, laughing, ran toward his child whose hair glinted gold and red in the setting sun. The child startled. She took one step toward the running man, arms upflung in welcome. At that moment, they both saw the coiled serpent. As quick as lighening flash, Aethelwredd picked up the child and flung her aside. At the same instant, the fangs of the serpent found their mark in Aethelwredd’s heel. The man was felled. His leg numbed as the venom worked its paralyzing evil. He cried out for help, his voice joining the screams of the terrified child.
Hildreth came with rock in hand. She crushed the head of the serpent, ground his head under her heel and cut him in two parts. One part she flung to the setting sun. One part she flung into the tall grass. She cut with flint the flesh of Aethelwredd. She squeezed the wound til blood flowed free. Putting her mouth to his heel, she sucked blood and venom. She spit out vile poison. She tied a cord around Aethelwredd’s leg and swung the child to her shoulders. She carried the child on her back while she dragged Aethelwredd to the keep. Day and night she kept her vigil. Aethelwredd lived.
In gratitude he fashioned for her a talisman—a circle of gold. Within it he placed three oblong shapes. “One for me. One for you. One for the child. The circle is the keep wherein we dwell secure.”
Note: This legend was lost until 2003 when “The Ballad of the Savior Wife” was discovered and translated by Old English scholar Marianne Booker.