WALES
The mythic tales included in the Mabinogion collection, written down in the eleventh century AD, are entitled “The Four Branches of the Mabinogi.” They focus on the activities of various British deities who have been Christianized into heroes and kings. The one character common to each of the four branches is the King of Dyfed, Pryderi fab Pwyll. He is born in the first branch and killed in the fourth. It is thought that he may be a humanized version of the god Maponos.
Pryderi’s mother, Rhiannon, is related to the horse goddess Epona. The British queen Rigantona is another character who is a transformed deity. There is also the peaceable British prince Manawydan, who later becomes Rigantona’s second husband. Manawydan is a transformation of the Irish sea god Manannan mac Lir.
THE FIRST BRANCH: PWYLL, PRINCE OF DYFED
Pwyll changes places for a year with Arawn, the ruler of the Underworld, Annwn. There he defeats Arawn’s enemy Hafgan. On his return he meets Rhiannon, a beautiful young woman whose horse is too fast to catch. He manages to win her hand at the expense of Gwawl, to whom Rhiannon is betrothed. She bears Pwyll a son, but shortly after his birth the baby disappears. Rhiannon is accused of murdering him and is punished by being made to carry guests on her back. In reality the baby has been abducted by a monster and is rescued by Teyrnon and his wife. They bring him up as their own child, giving him the name Gwri of the Golden Hair. But as he grows up, his resemblance to Pwyll becomes apparent, and Teyrnon and his wife return the child to his real parents. Rhiannon is released from her punishment and the boy is given the name Pryderi.
THE SECOND BRANCH: BRANWEN FERCH LLDR
The story of Branwen, Bran the Blessed, and Matholwch (see Branwen). At the end of the story just five pregnant women survive in Ireland; it is left to them and their offspring to repopulate the land of Ireland.
THE THIRD BRANCH: MANAWYDAN FAB LLDR
Pryderi returns to Dyfed with Manawydan. There Manawydan marries Rhiannon and Pryderi marries Cigfa. Fog descends on the land, leaving it desolate. The four live at first by hunting, but then go to England where they make shields, saddles, and shoes. Their work is of such high quality that local craftsmen cannot match it and the locals drive them away They move from town to town, eventually returning to Dyfed, where they resume hunting.
While they are hunting, a white boar leads them to a mysterious castle. Manawaydan advises against going in, but Pryderi does so. He does not return.
Rhiannon goes to find him and finds him clinging to a bowl: he has lost the power of speech. The same thing happens to her, and the castle vanishes.
Manawydan and Cigfa travel back into England, where they resume their shoemaking, but as before the local craftsmen drive them out. They are forced to return to Dyfed.
They sow three fields with wheat. The first is destroyed before it can be harvested. The following night the second field is destroyed. Manawydan keeps a careful watch the next night over the third field. When he sees it destroyed by mice he catches the leader of the mice and decides to hang it.
Three men appear—a priest, a scholar, and a bishop—and each in turn offers him gifts if he will spare the mouse’s life. He refuses.
When they ask what he will accept in return for the mouse’s life, he asks for the release of Rhiannon and Pryderi and the lifting of the enchantment that hangs over Dyfed.
The bishop agrees to this: the mouse is in fact his wife. He has been waging a war of magic against Dyfed because he is a friend of Gwawl, whom Pryderi’s father, Pwyll, humiliated.
THE FOURTH BRANCH: MATH FAB MATHONWY
Math, son of Mathonwy, is King of Gwynedd. His feet must be held by a virgin, except when he is fighting. His current foot-holder is a maid called Goewin, and his nephew Gilfaethwy is in love with her. His brother Gwydion tricks Math into going to fight Pryderi so that Gilfaethwy can have access to Goewin. Gwydion kills Pryderi in single combat. Gilfaethwy rapes Goewin. Then Math marries Goewin to rescue her from disgrace and banishes Gwydion and Gilfaethwy from his kingdom, changing them into a pair of deer, then pigs, and then wolves. After three years he restores them to human form and allows them to return.
Math needs a new foot-holder. Gwydion proposes his sister Arianrhod. Math has a way of magically testing her virginity and she gives birth to two sons. One, Dylan, goes to sea. The other is brought up by Gwydion, but he is warned by Arianrhod that he will never have a name or arms unless she gives them to him. She refuses to give him either, but Gwydion tricks her first into giving him a name, Lleu Llaw Gyffes (Bright, of Skillfial Hand), and then into giving him arms.
Arianrhod warns Lleu that he will never marry a wife of any race that lives on the
Earth, so Gwydion and Math make him a wife out of flowers, called Blodeuwedd (Flower-face). However, the flower-maiden falls in love with a hunter named Gronw Pebr and the two of them plot to kill Lleu. Blodeuwedd tricks Lleu into telling her how he may be killed, but when Gronw attempts to kill him Lleu changes into an eagle and escapes.
When Gwydion finds Lleu he turns him back into human form. He also turns Blodeuwedd into an owl and curses her. Gronw offers compensation to Lleu, but Lleu turns this offer down, insisting on returning the blow that Gronw aimed at him. Gronw tries to hide behind a rock, but Lleu throws his spear so hard that it passes right through the rock and into Gronw.
World History
