Merlin...The Fatherless Magician

I was doing an article on the origin and protocol of toasting, and rambled away with this bit on Merlin the magician, which I found interesting.(Absolutely nothing to do with "toasting", but running off at a tangent is what I specialise in)

The Romans carried this ritual (drinking wine) over to Britain, and was introduced to “the people wearing skins, painted all over in blue and with hair covering the upper lip” (Julius Caesar). The first recorded toast in Britain was round about 450AD. The British King Vortigen had a party the day before he was to be married to the daughter of a Saxon leader. During the party she raised her drinking vessel and proclaimed, “ Lord King, be of health” to which he replied “ Drink to health”. The two were duly married and lived unhappily for a short period thereafter.
To ramble, during King Vortigen’s reign a tower was built but kept on collapsing each night. Vortigen’s 12 Wise Men decided that there were evil spirits in the building and a young man with no father had to be sacrificed to drive out the evil Spirits. None other than young Merlin, the Wizard, was chosen to be sacrificed. Mythology states that Merlin’s father was the Devil, so he was the perfect choice. Merlin was not all that happy, and after having a look at the building he pronounced the Kings wise men idiots, as there was a pool under the foundation of the building that was causing the continual subsidence. This proved to be true, and on opening, two Dragons emerged, one white and one red. The dragons had a long drawn out battle, the white signifying the Anglos and the Saxons, the red the Welsh. The red dragon won, and that is why a red dragon is the Welsh national emblem.
True? I do not know……