Mabinogi

Mabinogi, Mabinogion [W, a tale of youth (?); see also MAPONOS, divine youth]. The preferred form, Mabinogi, is an abbreviation of the title Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi [Four Branches of the Mabinogi], namely the tales Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan, and Math, which together form the masterwork of medieval Welsh literature. The form Mabinogion, first used by Lady Charlotte Guest in her three-volume translation, 1838–49, and also in the more authoritative translation of Gwyn and Thomas Jones (1949), has wide currency in English; it denotes twelve tales, not only the four branches of the Mabinogi but also Culhwch ac Olwen, Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig [The Dream of Macsen Wledig], Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys [The Meeting / Adventure of Lludd and Llefelys], Breuddwyd Rhonabwy [The Dream of Rhonabwy], and stories of Geraint, Owain, Peredur, and Taliesin. The Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi, while drawing from extensive oral tradition and only loosely connected internally, was put together, possibly by a single hand, before the mid-12th century. The two surviving complete manuscripts are found in the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest, while fragments survive in pre-15th century collections.

Part I.

Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed. The first branch deals with Pwyll [W, wisdom, reason], prince or ruler of Dyfed, a peninsula of south-western Wales, his adventures in the Otherworld, his marriage to Rhiannon, and the birth of their son Pryderi. The action begins one day when Pwyll is hunting near Glyn Cuch [glen scowl] and becomes separated from his companions. He sees a pack of hounds, not his own, running down a stag; they are snow white with red ears, colours indicating otherworldliness. Just as he is about to drive them off, their owner appears and reproaches Pwyll for his discourtesy. The stranger's name is Arawn, a king of Annwfn; he speaks of being harried by a rival king, Hafgan [summer white], and suggests that Pwyll can redeem himself by meeting Hafgan in a single combat in a year's time. Under the plan he suggests, Pwyll and Arawn will exchange shapes and kingdoms for a year. At the end, Pwyll in the shape of Arawn will have to lay Hafgan low with a single blow—because a second would allow him to revive.

Pwyll agrees to the adventure, although he does not realize what a year's imposture will entail. He is a wise and good ruler of Annwfn, but he has overlooked his obligations to Arawn's beautiful wife. When the time comes for them to go to bed together, Pwyll sets his face to the wall, says nothing, and does not so much as touch the wife, much to her surprise and disappointment. None the less, Pwyll is courteous to the wife in public during the day. In a year's time Pwyll meets Hafgan in a combat at a river ford. In one bold stroke, Pwyll as Arawn splits Hafgan's shield and knocks him the length of an arm and a shield over his horse's rump. In deathly bravado, Hafgan asks for another blow to finish him off, but Pwyll remembers that he has been told he would regret a second blow. Arawn's men rejoice that his kingdom is now united. Pwyll then returns to Glyn Cuch, where he greets Arawn. The two kings thank each other for their stewardship and resume their own kingdoms in their own shapes. When Pwyll makes love that night to his own wife (not named), he is impressed to learn that Arawn has kept his part of the bargain and has remained celibate. Arawn has also been a just ruler in Pwyll's absence. As a reward, the mortal king acquires a new title: Pwyll Pen Annwfn [ruler of Annwfn].

Some time later Pwyll is sitting on a magical mound named Arberth. It was thought that those who sat on the mound would have a strange adventure—perhaps to see a wonder. Pwyll is not disappointed; he soon sees a woman dressed in brilliant gold brocade mounted on a majestic pale white horse. Neither he nor any of his men can determine her name. They set out to pursue her, but she is too fast for them; on a fourth attempt he speaks to her. Identifying herself as Rhiannon, daughter of Hyfaidd Hen, she says that she has been looking for him, lamenting that she is betrothed to another man against her will when she loves only Pwyll. Then Pwyll assents that he now loves only her as well. They agree to meet at a marriage feast a year from that night. When the year elapses, Pwyll arrives with a hundred men and begins the wedding feast at Rhiannon's father's palace. Shortly a tall, auburn-haired stranger, dressed in satin, with regal bearing, enters and asks a favour of Pwyll. To Rhiannon's chagrin he grants it, for the stranger is Gwawl, her other suitor, and he is seeking her hand now. Pwyll is bound by the honour of his word, but Rhiannon will not marry Gwawl before another year has passed. Meanwhile, Rhiannon gives Pwyll a magical bag and tells him to make good use of it when the time comes. When a year has passed, another great wedding feast is held, this time with Gwawl in the place of honour. As the company is making merry, an old beggar clad in rags and clumsy shoes enters, asking a boon of Gwawl. All he needs is to have his bag filled with food. Gwawl cheerfully consents, but no matter how much food an attendant puts in the bag, it will not fill up. The bag cannot be filled, the beggar says, until a man wealthy in treasure and land gets in the bag and stamps it down with his feet. Rhiannon encourages Gwawl to check the voracity of the bag. Gwawl has only put his two feet in when the beggar, now revealed to be Pwyll, draws the bag over Gwawl's head and ties it. Pwyll then blows his horn and invites the other revellers to join him in a game of ‘badger in the bag’, using Gwawl as the bagged badger, striking and kicking him about the hall. When Gwawl agrees not to seek revenge, he is released and Pwyll and Rhiannon are happily married.

Some time later, after a period of barrenness, Rhiannon gives birth to a child who mysteriously disappears before the dawn of the next morning. The women of the household, fearing they will be punished, contrive to make it appear that Rhiannon has killed her own son. Pwyll will not put his wife away but instead agrees that she should be punished by sitting every day by the horse-block at the gate of the castle. She must tell her tale to every passing stranger and offer to carry them on her back.

Across Wales in Gwent Is Coed, there lives a lord named Teyrnon Twrf Liant, who raises horses. His prize mare foals every Calan Mai [May Day], but no one knows what becomes of the offspring. One year Teyrnon determines to know the reason. On the night of the foaling he is waiting in the horse barn when a great, clawed arm comes through the window. Smiting off the arm at the elbow, he rushes outside to see what is behind it. As it is dark he can see nothing, but when he returns to the barn he finds an infant boy wrapped in a mantle of satin. Having no other children, Teyrnon and his wife raise the boy as their own, calling him Gwri of the Golden Hair. The boy grows rapidly until Teyrnon and his wife recognize that he greatly resembles Pwyll. They take him to Pwyll's castle, where there is great rejoicing and Rhiannon is released from her undeserved punishment. Now that the son has been returned to his rightful parents he is named Pryderi.

Part II.

Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr. Despite its title, this tale deals more with the children of Llŷr, the Welsh sea-god. In the family are Bendigeidfran (or Bran [crow/raven?] the Blessed), his brave brother Manawydan, and their beautiful sister Branwen, as well as two half-brothers born of the same mother, malevolent Efnisien and gentle Nisien. Branwen is forced into a marriage of convenience with Matholwch, king of Ireland. After Efnisien has insulted Matholwch, a war ensues between the children of Llŷr and the Irish. Branwen dies and Bendigeidfran is killed, but his severed head is buried in London.

At the beginning of the action Bendigeidfran is made king of the Island of the Mighty (Britain) with his court and family at Harlech. While sitting on a nearby rock one day, Bendigeidfran sees thirteen ships coming from Ireland with a fair wind. They bring Matholwch, king of Ireland, seeking to make an alliance. Bendigeidfran and Manawydan agree to marry Branwen to Matholwch without her consultation. Initially all goes well. A great celebration is held in a tent because Bendigeidfran cannot fit into a building. The next day Efnisien expresses his displeasure at not being asked for his permission by mutilating Matholwch's horses, cutting their lips, ears, and tails. When Matholwch seems astounded by this, Bendigeidfran explains that the deed was only a whim of his ill-natured half-brother and makes up the loss, horse for horse, adding gold and silver gifts. Most importantly, Bendigeidfran gives Matholwch a cauldron of regeneration that will restore slain warriors to life overnight. Bendigeidfran explains that he has received the cauldron from Llassar Llaes Gyfnewid, who had escaped from a fiery iron house in Ireland with his wife, Cymidei Cymeinfoll. Matholwch acknowledges having heard of the story, and returns home with his entourage and bride.

During Branwen's first year as queen of Ireland she is loved and acclaimed, and she produces a son named Gwern. In the second year, Matholwch's brothers incite him to seek revenge for Efnisien's old insult, and so Branwen is reduced to being a cook and her ears are boxed each day. When in three years no travellers carry this news back to Wales, Branwen trains a starling to take the news home for her. Upon reading her letter Bendigeidfran immediately prepares a great army to invade Ireland; the men go in ships, but Bendigeidfran is so huge that he is obliged to wade across. The Irish are befuddled by Bendigeidfran's size, but Branwen knows that her brother has come to save her.

The Irish flee across the River Shannon and destroy the only bridge after them. This prompts Bendigeidfran to make of himself a human bridge, allowing his men to cross on his back. To make amends for misusing Branwen, Matholwch and the Irish offer to build a house big enough to hold Bendigeidfran. But in it they put a peg in each of a hundred columns, and from each of the pegs they hang a bag containing an armed warrior. The foul-mouthed Efnisien, making himself useful for once, asks the Irishmen what is in the bags. Hearing that they are filled with flour, he squeezes each bag until he has killed every warrior. But because of their ruse, the Irish cannot acknowledge their dead.

That night there is feasting shared by the Welsh and the Irish. The Irish confer their sovereignty on Gwern, Branwen and Matholwch's son. Both Welsh and Irish love the boy, all except Efnisien, who in a fit of jealousy thrusts Gwern headlong into the fire. Fighting erupts, with slaughter on both sides. Efnisien sees that the Irish plan to regenerate their dead in the cauldron, and so he hides himself among their corpses. When he is cast in the cauldron he stretches out and breaks it in four ways—and bursts his own heart as well.

In the end all the Irishmen are slain, and all the Welshmen perish except for seven, including Pryderi, Manawydan, and Bendigeidfran, who is later mortally wounded with a poisoned spear in his heel. Bendigeidfran asks that his head be struck off and taken to Gwyn Fryn, facing France, where it will always provide protection for the Island of the Mighty. Along the way the head will provide company, uncorrupted, both at Harlech and at Gwales. On her landing in Britain, Branwen can still see Ireland when she cries out, ‘Dear Son of God—alas that I was born! Two good islands have been destroyed because of me.’ At this she sighs deeply and her heart breaks.

In Ireland only five pregnant women survive, each bearing sons. After each is born he mates with different mothers, to produce the tribes who will become the five provinces of Ireland.

Part III.

Manawydan, Son of Llŷr. The third branch continues the action of the second and borrows characters from the first. Manawydan and Rhiannon, Pryderi and Cigfa all play leading roles in locales from south-western Wales to England. There is much magic in this branch, but also portrayals of the lives of tradesmen and the mock execution of a mouse.

After Pryderi and Manawydan have fled from Ireland in Branwen, they decide to live in Dyfed, where Pryderi is lord of seven cantrefs. He decides to ask his still-beautiful mother, Rhiannon, to marry Manawydan, while he chooses Cigfa for himself. The four live pleasantly in prosperous surroundings, until one night when they are at Arberth after a feast; a mysterious mist suddenly overcomes them and leaves the land desolate. Initially they are able to support themselves hunting game until Manawydan speaks of his discontent and suggests they all move to Lloegyr [England], where they earn their living at trades. They turn to leather goods, making saddles, shields, and shoes of the highest quality, so that competitors can no longer sell their wares. The other tradesmen angrily seek to bring them harm, but each time Manawydan argues that they should go quietly and not cause trouble. At last they resolve to return to Dyfed and to live by hunting as before.

One day a gleaming white wild boar charges them and is subsequently chased by their dogs. When the boar makes for a fort, the dogs follow. Pryderi, against Manawydan's advice, also enters the fort. Chiding Manawydan for allowing her son to enter what is probably an enchanted place, Rhiannon goes in search of Pryderi. Inside she finds him clinging to a bowl, unable to speak. Rhiannon too seizes the bowl, and the same fate befalls her. Shortly after, the fort disappears in a thunder-clap. Cigfa weeps to see her husband gone, but Manawydan reassures her that he will be a helpful companion for her. And, like Pwyll in Part I, he is a chaste respecter of a woman's vows to another man.

As a celibate couple, Manawydan and Cigfa go again to England and resume the trade of shoemaking. Once again Manawydan is a success, but the jealousy of English shoemakers forces the couple to return to Dyfed, where they fish and hunt before tilling the soil in three crofts sown with wheat. Before Manawydan can bring in a harvest, the first croft is devastated. The next night the second croft is ruined. Determined to get at the bottom of the mystery, Manawydan keeps watch on the third croft. When he sees an enormous host of mice ravaging the field, he catches one and announces that he will hang it. Cigfa objects that it is unseemly for Manawydan to trouble himself about vermin, but he retorts that he will murder them all if he can catch them. The next day Manawydan takes the mouse to a mound at Arberth for the execution, but before he can complete the task he is interrupted by three travellers, the first strangers he has seen in seven years. All argue that it is undignified to kill such a lowly beast as a mouse. The first traveller, a shabbily dressed scholar, offers a ransom of one pound. The second, a priest, offers a ransom of three pounds. The third, a bishop, offers a ransom of seven pounds, and when that is not enough, twenty-four pounds, and then his horses and seven loads of baggage and seven horses to pull the loads. When Manawydan still will not yield, the bishop asks whatever else he might want. ‘The release of Rhiannon and Pryderi,’ Manawydan begins, ‘and the removal of the magic enchantment from the seven cantrefs of Dyfed.’ The bishop admits that he will pay such a price because the mouse is his transformed pregnant wife. He and his family have been harassing Dyfed because the ‘bishop’ is really Llwyd, son of Cil Coed, a friend of Gwawl, whom Pwyll, Pryderi's father, has humiliated with the game of ‘badger-in-the-bag’ in Part I. The entrapment of Pryderi and Rhiannon plus the enchantment of Dyfed and the devastation of the crops were all forms of revenge. When Llwyd promises never to trouble Dyfed again, Manawydan releases the mouse, who is immediately transformed into the fairest young woman anyone has ever seen. Everything is restored and Rhiannon and Manawydan, Pryderi and Cigfa return to their former happiness.

Part IV.

Math, Son of Mathonwy. The last branch is far and away the most complex, combining mythological, magical, and human elements. While the story is filled with abrupt transitions, it is usually the most appealing to a modern reader. Part of its attraction is the array of arresting characters, including the enchanter Gwydion, the adulterous Blodeuedd, and the heroic Lleu Llaw Gyffes.

Math son of Mathonwy is the lord of Gwynedd in the north and Pryderi is the ruler of the south, not only of Dyfed but also of portions of Morgannwg, Ceredigion, and Ystrad Tywi. In Math's household are two nephews, Gwydion and Gilfaethwy. As he has supernatural powers, Gwydion can discern that his brother is smitten with the beautiful Goewin, a girl whose ceremonial duty is to hold the feet of the king, unless he be away for war. Gwydion proposes a complicated plan to allow Gilfaethwy to be with his heart's desire-part of which requires Math to go to war and leave his foot-holder behind. Gwydion promises to obtain some of the swine of Pryderi, animals new to the kingdom, whose meat is reputed to be sweeter than beef. With ten companions he sets off for Dyfed disguised as a bard. Although this charms Pryderi, the king will not give up his swine until he has received comparable exchange. Gwydion conjures up twelve phantom steeds and twelve phantom hounds and then leaves immediately with his prizes. When the ruse fades the next morning, the two petty kingdoms are at war. This allows Gilfaethwy his moment with Goewin, but she is unwilling and he forces his affections on her dishonourably. The war is settled when Gwydion meets Pryderi in a single combat and kills him.

Shortly after this, Goewin confesses to Math that she is no longer a maiden. In response Math marries Goewin to save her from shame, but expresses his anger with the brothers Gilfaethwy and Gwydion, changing them successively into a pair of deer, pigs, and wolves. Their sexes are changed as well. At the end of the first year as a hind and stag they produce the fawn Hyddwn [little stag]. As a boar and sow they give birth to Hychdwn Hir [tall piglet]. As wolf and bitch they are parents to Bleiddwn [wolf cub]. After the three-year transformation, the two brothers resume their human form, are cleansed and anointed, and rejoin the court.

The need then arises for another virgin foot-holder. Gwydion suggests his sister, Arianrhod. But when put to Math's magical test of virginity, Arianrhod fails, and in the process gives birth to two sons. Dylan, sturdy and golden-haired, immediately leaves for the sea and takes the sea's nature. The other infant is seized by Gwydion and nurtured under protection. When Gwydion takes the child to his mother, Arianrhod is angered to see this exposer of her deception. She upbraids Gwydion for bringing the child and says she will prevent its getting a name until she decides on an appropriate one herself. But later, while Gwydion has the boy in disguise as a shoemaker, Arianrhod admires the youngster's ability to throw a stone accurately and calls him Lleu Llaw Gyffes [light/ fair one of the sure/steady hand]. Angered at Gwydion's deception, Arianrhod says that Lleu cannot have weapons until she gives them to him. But when her palace appears threatened, she does indeed give weapons to the boy. Angered a third time, Arianrhod declares that Lleu cannot have a wife of any race on this earth. Gwydion and Math then contrive a wife from flowers and name her Blodeuedd [flower face]. She and Lleu are immediately attracted to one another, and make love on the first night.

Math and Gwydion help the couple establish a household in the far cantref of Dinoding. Lleu and Blodeuedd live happily for a short while until he returns for a stay at Math's court. In the interim a hunter named Gronw Pebyr stops nearby, and when he and Blodeuedd first see each other they fall deeply in love. As with her husband, Blodeuedd is quick to go to bed with her paramour. Knowing that their love is endangered, the adulterers feel they must kill Lleu Llaw Gyffes before he discovers. Wary of Lleu's near-invulnerability, Blodeuedd, feigning an interest in his welfare, asks him how he may be killed. Although most weapons cannot harm him, Lleu foolishly admits that he can be killed by a spear made over a year's time while most people are at prayer-and then only if it is thrown at him while he is bathing in a special kind of tub and one of his feet touches a billy-goat. Blodeuedd and Gronw Pebyr then meet all the conditions. When Gronw Pebyr tries to pierce the hero, Lleu Llaw Gyffes utters a horrible scream, takes flight in the shape of an eagle, and flies out of sight. Gronw Pebyr then adds Lleu's castle and lands to his own.

Math and Gwydion are depressed and anxious when they hear the news of adultery and attempted murder. With great difficulty they find Lleu Llaw Gyffes in eagle shape. Gwydion touches the eagle with his magician's wand and restores Lleu to human shape, finding him distressingly thin and weak. Gwydion also finds Blodeuedd and, to shame her, changes her into an owl, condemning her never again to show her face to the light. Gronw Pebyr offers retribution for the attempted murder, and Lleu asks to return whatever blow was given to him. Although Gronw Pebyr is allowed to hide behind a stone, Lleu Llaw Gyffes's thrust of the spear is so great as to pierce both the stone and the adulterer's back, killing him instantly. Lleu Llaw Gyffes regains possession of his land and rules it successfully. Thus end the four branches of the Mabinogi.

Bibliography

Standard text in Welsh: Ifor Williams , Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi (Caerdydd [Cardiff], 1930; rev. 1959);
R. L. Thomson , Pwyll Pendeuic Dyuet (Dublin, 1957);
Derick S. Thomson , Branwen Uerch Lyr (Dublin, 1961).
Translations: Gwyn Jones and and Thomas Jones , The Mabinogion (London, 1949);
Jeffrey Gantz , The Mabinogion (Harmondsworth, 1976);
Patrick K. Ford , The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1977);
Sionas Davies , The Four Branches of the Mabinogi (Llanysul, UK, 1993).
Commentary: Edward Anwyl , ‘The Four Branches of the Mabinogi’, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, 1 (1896), 277–93; 2 (1898), 124–33; 3 (1900), 123–34;
Catherine E. Byfield , ‘Character and Conflict in The Four Branches of the Mabinogi’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 40 (1993), 51–72;
T. M. Charles-Edwards , ‘The Date of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (1970), 263–98;
W. J. Gruffydd , Math vab Mathonwy (Cardiff, 1928); Rhiannon (Cardiff, 1953); Folklore and Myth in the Mabinogion (Cardiff, 1958); Pierre Yves Lambert , Les Quatre Branches du Mabinogi et autres contes gallois du Moyen ge (Paris, 1993);
Proinsias MacCana , Branwen Daughter of Llyˆr (Cardiff, 1958); The Mabinogi (1st edn., Cardiff, 1977; 2nd edn., 1992);
Kenneth H. Jackson , The International Popular Tale and Early Welsh Tradition (Cardiff, 1961);
Glyn E. Jones , ‘The Mabinogi’, in A. O. H. Jarman and G. H. Hughes (eds.), Guide to Welsh Literature, i (Swansea, 1976), 189–202;
Charles W. Johnson (ed.), Mabinogi: A Book of Essays (New York, 1996).
See also Evangeline Walton 's 4-vol. fantasy fiction retellings, The Prince of Annwn [pt. i] (New York, 1974); The Children of Llyr [pt. ii] (New York, 1971); The Song of Rhiannon [pt. iii] (New York, 1972); The Virgin and the Swine [pt. iv] (Chicago, 1936), later known as The Island of the Mighty (New York, 1970).