The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics)

by Sioned Davies

  until he avenged the insult: a legal term, sarhad in Welsh. It has two meanings: the act of violation, and also the fine paid for the offence.

  They took revenge … a box on the ear: a serious offence according to medieval Welsh laws, which states that insult is done to a queen in three ways: ‘One is to break her protection. A second is to strike her a blow. A third is to snatch something from her hand’ (LHDd 6). Further instances of this insult are seen in the Mabinogion, in association with Gwenhwyfar, Arthur’s queen (see p. 68). Branwen’s story here takes on the Calumniated Wife theme; compare the fate of Rhiannon in the First Branch (p. 17).

  Saith Marchog: Bryn Saith Marchog (‘The Hill of the Seven Horsemen’) is located between Ruthin and Corwen in north-east Wales. Seven is a conventional number, compare the seven who return from Ireland (p. 32).

  Pendaran Dyfed, then a young lad: there is inconsistency here, since in the First Branch he is introduced as Pryderi’s foster-father (p. 21), while in this episode Pryderi is old enough to go into battle with Bendigeidfran.

  Caradog son of Brân was their chief steward: this tradition is also reflected in a triad, where Caradog is one of the three chief officers or stewards of the Island of Britain, together with Cawrdaf son of Caradog and Owain son of Maxen Wledig (TYP, p. 25). Caradog also appears in another triad, see notes to pp. 33 and 114.

  Later the sea spread out when it flooded the kingdoms: there are several references in Welsh literature to the sea overcoming the land; see, for example, the reference to Teithi Hen in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’ (p. 185), or the modern folk-tale of Cantre’r Gwaelod which, according to legend, lies beneath today’s Cardigan Bay and was drowned because Seithenyn, the keeper of the dyke, got drunk and forgot to close the sluice gates. See F. J. North, Sunken Cities (Cardiff, 1957).

  we have extraordinary news: the motif is known as the ‘Watchman Device’, where watchers describe what they have seen, which is in turn interpreted by a second party. The episode introduces humour and dramatic tension into the tale, and is certainly a favourite with illustrators of the Second Branch.

  There are loadstones … can sail across: the international motif of the ‘loadstone’ or ‘magnetic mountain’ is widely attested, one of the earliest references being that by Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79). Such rocks would pull nails out of any ships that approached, and as such were to be avoided at all costs.

  he who is a leader, let him be a bridge: an attempt to explain the derivation of a common Welsh proverb. Here the words are taken quite literally.

  hurdles were placed on him: perhaps a hidden explanation of the place-name Dublin—Baile Átha Cliath in Modern Irish, meaning ‘the Town of the Ford of the Hurdles’.

  hung a hide bag on each peg with an armed man in each one of them: compare the episode of the iron chamber, where enemies are tricked into attending a feast so that they can be killed. Here we also find another international motif, namely that of hiding warriors in a disguised object, the most famous example being that of the Trojan Horse. In the Mabinogi episode, however, the warriors are themselves killed before they can do any harm.

  And then he sang an englyn … combat: the englyn is one of the oldest Welsh strict-metre forms—this is an early three-lined type. Today the four-lined englyn is the norm, written in full cynghanedd (a complex system involving the repetition of consonants and internal rhyme). In this particular englyn there is a play on the word blawd, which means not only ‘flour’ but also ‘blossom, flower’ and thence ‘hero’ (compare Peredur, who is described as ‘the flower of knights’ on p. 68). Efnysien is told that there is ‘flour’ in each bag; however, when he sings his englyn he is punning on the word and using it also in the sense of ‘hero, champion’.

  Hounds of Gwern, beware of Morddwyd Tyllion: Bendigeidfran throws out a challenge to Gwern’s warriors, i.e. the Irish, referring to himself as Morddwyd Tyllion. The first element means ‘thigh’, while the second has two meanings—either ‘pierced’ or ‘large’. If we read the latter, then we can take it as a reference to Bendigeidfran’s enormous stature; the first, however, has resonances with the wounding of Bendigeidfran in the foot in the ensuing battle, and may also be associated with the wounding of the Fisher King in the groin in the Grail Cycle of medieval romance.

  Pryderi: this is the only reference to Pryderi in the Second Branch.

  Then Bendigeidfran ordered his head to be cut off: the cult of the head, together with head-hunting, seems to have been important in Celtic society, as reflected in archaeology and in both Graeco-Roman and vernacular literature. Here, Bendigeidfran’s head serves as a talisman which will keep away invaders.

  the birds of Rhiannon: In ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’ they are described as birds who have marvellous powers—they wake the dead and send the living to sleep (p. 196), a motif found also in Irish literature. See note to p. 11 on Rhiannon.

  Gwales in Penfro: the Island of Grassholm in Pembroke, off the coast of south-west Wales. Stories in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries associate some of these offshore islands with the supernatural. See John Rhŷs, Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901).

  And so long as you do not open the door towards Aber Henfelen: it is common for a taboo to be associated with a mortal’s visit to the Otherworld: once the taboo is broken, so too is the spell. Aber Henfelen is probably the Bristol Channel.

  those seven men: there are parallels here with events in the poem Preiddiau Annwfn, ‘The Spoils of Annwfn’, which tells of Arthur’s disastrous expedition to the Otherworld to capture a magical cauldron, and of seven men returning. A variant is also found in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’, when Arthur sets off to Ireland in search of the cauldron of Diwrnach the Irishman (p. 208). In both Mabinogion versions Ireland has taken the place of the Otherworld. For a comparison of these versions, see Patrick Sims-Williams, ‘The Early Welsh Arthurian Poems’, in AOW 33–72.

  And they make a four-sided grave for her: her name is preserved in Ynys Bronwen, ‘the Island of Bronwen’, the site of a cromlech known locally as Branwen’s grave. It is claimed that an urn containing the calcified bones of a female were found there in 1813. Lady Charlotte Guest was particularly taken with the discovery, and includes a sketch of the urn in her translation. The publicity surrounding Branwen’s grave may well have been why she gave the title ‘Branwen daughter of Llŷr’ to the Second Branch (see note on p. 227).

  Caswallon son of Beli: brother to Lludd, Llefelys, and Nyniaw (see ‘Lludd and Llefelys’, p. 111). His name probably retains a memory of the historical Cassivellaunos, king of the Belgic tribe of the Catuvellauni, who led an assault against Caesar on his second expedition to Britain in 53 BC—his links with the Romans are reflected in the triads. However, in the Four Branches he conquers the Island of the Mighty during Bendigeidfran’s stay in Ireland and later, in the Third Branch, receives the homage of Pryderi, reflecting Welsh traditions linking him and his family with the domination of Britain.

  And he was one of the Three People who Broke their Hearts from Sorrow: TYP 95 notes that Branwen and Ffaraon Dandde, a character mentioned in ‘Lludd and Llefelys’ (p. 114), were the other two who broke their hearts.

  That night they stayed there … when Bendigeidfran had been alive with them: these are motifs common to descriptions of the blissful Otherworld—time lapses; humans do not age; there is no gloom, only happiness. There is a suggestion that Bendigeidfran’s head lived on, a motif paralleled in Irish in connection with the severed heads of great warriors.

  Shame on my beard: the beard was a symbol of manhood in medieval Wales. This is reflected in the Welsh laws, where wishing a blemish on the beard of one’s husband (i.e. casting aspersions on his virility) was a beatable offence. See Dafydd Jenkins and Morfydd E. Owen, The Welsh Law of Women (Cardiff, 1980).

  one of the Three Fortunate Concealments … one of the Three Unfortunate Disclosures: these triads have been preserved in full elsewhere. The other Fortunate Concealments are the dragons which Lludd son of Be
li buried in Dinas Emrys (see ‘Lludd and Llefelys’, p. 114), and the Bones of Gwerthefyr the Blessed. A further triad tells of their disclosure, and describes Arthur as disclosing the head of Brân the Blessed from the White Hill, ‘because it did not seem right to him that this Island should be defended by the strength of anyone, but by his own’ (TYP 37).

  And the five provinces of Ireland still reflect that division: a reference to the Irish word cóiced, meaning ‘a fifth’, which ultimately developed to mean ‘province’. This, together with other elements in the branch, suggests that the author was familiar with Ireland and with Irish literature. For further details, see Proinsias Mac Cana, Branwen Daughter of Llŷr.

  one of the Three Unfortunate Blows: this ‘blow’ or ‘hard slap’ is mentioned in a triad (TYP 53), together with the blow struck by Gwenhwyfach on Gwenhwyfar (leading to the battle of Camlan), and the blow by Golydan the Poet on Cadwaladr the Blessed. In the triad, however, Branwen is struck by her husband Matholwch rather than the butcher. The Second Branch ends with a list of the constituent stories that made up the tale, strengthening the argument that the author was drawing on a variety of oral sources.

  THE THIRD BRANCH OF THE MABINOGI

  After the seven men we spoke of above: this branch does not make use of the traditional opening formula; rather, the continuity between the Second and Third Branches is emphasized, in written rather than in oral terms.

  Caswallon: see note to p. 33.

  you are one of the Three Undemanding Chieftains: in a surviving triad the other two chieftains are named as Llywarch the Old and Gwgon Gwron son of Peredur (TYP 8). The meaning of lledyf (‘undemanding’ or ‘unassuming’) is explained further: ‘because they would not seek a dominion, and nobody could deny it to them.’ In the tale Bendigeidfran, the king of the Island of the Mighty, is dead, as is his son Caradog, which leaves Manawydan with a legitimate claim to the throne. However, his cousin Caswallon has seized the crown. For more details on Manawydan, see note to p. 22.

  The seven cantrefs of Dyfed: see note to p. 3.

  Gorsedd Arberth: for the peculiarites of the mound at Arberth, see note to p. 8. The location may be regarded as a liminal zone, where this world and the other converge.

  They heard a tumultuous noise … only the four of them remained: in the Mabinogion a huge noise or an uproar signals a supernatural incident; compare the disappearance of Pryderi and Rhiannon (p. 40), the appearance of the mice (p. 42), the disappearance of Teyrnon’s foal (p. 18), and the events concerning the Black Knight in the tale of ‘The Lady of the Well’ (p. 119). Here, in the Third Branch, the noise brings in its wake a magical mist which robs the land of its people, animals, and dwelling-places; this has clear parallels with the ‘waste land’ theme, although Dyfed here is deserted rather than infertile.

  Llasar Llaesgyngwyd: the context here suggests that the name Llasar means some sort of substance (perhaps blue enamel) that was used to decorate harness and weapons. In the Second Branch (p. 28), Llashar son of Llasar Llaesgyngwyd is one of the men that Bendigeidfran leaves behind to defend the Island of the Mighty, while Llasar Llaes Gyfnewid is the huge and monstrous man who brings the Cauldron of Rebirth to Bendigeidfran (p. 26). It is unclear whether these characters should be regarded as one and the same.

  Cordovan leather: high-quality Spanish leather, or ‘cordwain’, produced in Cordoba during the Moorish period. It was used especially to make shoes.

  one of the Three Golden Shoemakers: Manawydan’s role as shoemaker can perhaps be explained by the connection between his name and manawyd (‘awl’); however, this is a false derivation (see note to p. 22). In a surviving triad the other two shoemakers are named as Caswallon son of Beli, and Lleu Llaw Gyffes, ‘when he and Gwydion were seeking a name and arms from his mother Aranrhod’ (TYP 67), an incident described in the Fourth Branch (p. 56). The adjective eur, which literally means ‘golden’, can also be taken figuratively to mean ‘splendid’ or ‘noble’, the implication being that each of the high-status characters was forced at some point to adopt the humble craft of shoemaking.

  a gleaming white boar: a common motif whereby the pursuing of an enchanted animal leads to an Otherworld encounter. Swine play a significant role in the Four Branches: Arawn, king of Annwfn (the Otherworld), gives swine as a gift to Pryderi (p. 48); Gwydion tricks Pryderi into parting with the swine in the Fourth Branch, an act that ultimately costs Pryderi his life (p. 51); and a sow leads Gwydion to the wounded Lleu at the end of the branch (p. 62). The boar Twrch Trwyth plays a central role in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’ (see note to p. 198).

  I give you God as my guarantor: mach (‘guarantor’ or ‘surety’) is a legal term. Here, Manawydan is giving God as his surety, in the absence of a third party.

  There was a huge army of mice: devastation of crops by supernatural creatures is a common motif. Compare also a poem on the ‘Unhappy Harvest’, attributed to Rhigyfarch son of Sulien, where ‘a host of mice refuse to spare the fields’ (see Michael Lapidge, ‘The Welsh-Latin Poetry of Sulien’s Family’, Studia Celtica, 8/9 (1973–4), 68–106). Rhigyfarch was the author of the Vita Davidis (a Life of St David) composed about 1094. Indeed, some have argued that the Four Branches of the Mabinogi can be attributed to Rhigyfarch, or his father Sulien. A. C. Breeze, on the other hand, argues that the author was Gwenllian (1097–1136), daughter of Gruffudd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd (see Medieval Welsh Literature, Dublin, 1997).

  a cleric: he is followed by a priest and then a bishop, implying that ‘cleric’ is a man in holy orders, of the lowest rank.

  I am punishing it in accordance with the law: for the laws concerning theft, see LHDd 156–69. If the mouse can not redeem itself through compurgation, then it can buy its way out for seven pounds. Failing that, it would be banished.

  Gwawl son of Clud … Badger in the Bag: a reference to events in the First Branch when Pwyll tricked Rhiannon’s suitor Gwawl into a bag; he was then kicked and beaten by Pwyll’s men as if he were an animal (see note to p. 14). However, Gwawl promised not to seek vengeance for the humiliation.

  gate-hammers: gordd meaning a ‘hammer’ or ‘mallet’, presumably refers here to a fixture for knocking, attached to the door. How Pryderi would have worn this around his neck is uncertain; but it is clear that the punishment was meant to humiliate him.

  the Mabinogi of the Collar and the Hammer: an attempt to explain the title traditionally given to this part of the story. Indeed, at one time it may have been an independent mabinogi rather than part of a ‘branch’ of a mabinogi. It seems that Rhiannon and Pryderi were punished during their captivity, in retaliation for Gwawl’s ill-treatment in the First Branch. It has been suggested that the noun mynweir (‘collar’) may also reflect the proper name Gwair, one of the Three Exalted Prisoners of the Island of Britain according to the triads, who was imprisoned in the Otherworld (TYP 52).

  THE FOURTH BRANCH OF THE MABINOGI

  Math son of Mathonwy was lord over Gwynedd: a powerful magician, as reflected also in early Welsh poetry. He has a magic wand with which he can accomplish transformations, perform a virginity test, and create a woman out of flowers. In the triads he is associated with one of the Three Great Enchantments of the Island of Britain (TYP 28). It is unclear whether Mathonwy is the name of his mother or his father—the family to which Math belonged was perhaps matrilinear, as reflected in the names of his nephews Gwydion and Gilfaethwy, sons of Dôn (their mother), while at the end of the branch Lleu inherits Gwynedd through his mother, Math’s sister. Or Mathonwy may perhaps be a non-person and merely a doublet of Math’s own name; compare the pairs of invented names in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’: Sugn son of Sugnedydd, Drem son of Dremidydd. Gwynedd consisted of the following seven cantrefs: Cemais, Aberffraw, Rhosyr (in Môn), Llŷn, Arfon, Arllechwedd, and Dunoding.

  Pryderi son of Pwyll … Ystrad Tywi: Pryderi is the only character to appear in all Four Branches (see Introduction). For the seven cantrefs of Dyfed, see note to p. 3. For details of the Welsh administrativ
e divisions, see William Rees, An Historical Atlas of Wales (Cardiff, 1972; 1st edn. 1951).

  could not live unless his feet were in the lap of a virgin … Caer Dathyl in Arfon: in the law tracts the foot-holder is listed as one of the additional officers at court: ‘It is right for him to hold the King’s feet in his lap from when he begins sitting at the banquet until he goes to sleep, and to scratch the King’ (LHDd 32–3). Here, Math’s very existence depends on his virgin foot-holder. Dol Pebin is probably in the Nantlle Valley (see note to p. 62); however, there is no certainty as to the location of Caer Dathyl—it is clearly a fort somewhere on the coast between Dinas Dinlle and Caernarfon (see note to p. 108). The name Tathal also occurs in ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’, p. 184.