“He would sooner the wolves had his flesh than go to his own wedding”

This description of Hyfeidd the Tall appears in the 9th century record called the Gododdin, of an early Scottish people.

…Wearing a brooch, in the front rank, bearing weapons in battle, a mighty man in the fight before his death-day, a champion in the charge in the van of the armies; there fell five times fifty before his blades, of the men of Deira and Bernicia a hundred score fell and were destroyed in a single hour. He would sooner the wolves had his flesh than go to his own wedding, he would rather be prey for ravens than go to the altar; he would sooner his blood flowed to the ground than get due burial, making return for his mead with the hosts in the hall. Hyfeidd the Tall shall be honoured as long as there is a minstrel…

-from A Celtic Miscellany, Trans. Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson, p.249

Good grief! He must have been one mean dude.