The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) (41 page)

‘Lord,’ said Owain, ‘your move.’ They played. The rider turned back towards the battle, and the ravens were no more restrained than before.

When they had played a little they could heard a great commotion, and the screaming of men, and the croaking of ravens as they seized the men by brute force into the sky and tore them apart between each other, and let them fall in pieces to the ground. Out of the commotion they could see a rider approaching on a pale white horse, and the horse’s left foreleg was pure black down to the top of the hoof. The rider and his horse were dressed in large, heavy, green armour. He wore a cloak of yellow, damasked, brocaded silk, and the fringes of the cloak were green. His horse’s covering was pure black with its fringes bright yellow. On the squire’s thigh was a long, heavy, triple-grooved sword, with a sheath of engraved, red leather, and the belt of new red deerskin, with many golden cross-pieces, and a clasp made of whalebone with a pure black tongue. On the rider’s head a golden helmet with magic sapphires in it, and on top of the helmet an image of a yellow-red lion, its foot-long, flame-red tongue sticking out of its mouth, and crimson-red, poisonous eyes in its head. The rider carried a stout spear of ash in his hand, with a new, bloody head on it and silver rivets. And the squire greeted the emperor.

‘Lord,’ he said, ‘your squires and young lads have been
killed, together with the sons of the noblemen of the Island of Britain, so that from now on it will never be easy to protect this Island.’

‘Owain,’ said Arthur, ‘call off your ravens.’

‘Lord,’ said Owain, ‘your move.’

That game ended and they began another. When they were at the end of that game, behold, they heard a great commotion, and the screaming of armed men, and the croaking of ravens and their fluttering in the sky as they let the weapons fall to the ground in one piece but the men and horses were in pieces. Then they could see a rider on a black-hoofed, high-headed horse, and the top of the horse’s left leg was bright red, and its right foreleg was pure white to the top of the hoof. The rider and his horse were dressed in mottled yellow armour, speckled with Spanish latten. He and his horse wore a cloak, in two halves, white and pure black, and the fringes of his cloak were golden purple. On top of his cloak was a golden-hilted, shining, triple-grooved sword. The sword’s belt was of yellow gold cloth, with a clasp made of the eyelid of a pure black whale and a tongue of yellow gold. On the rider’s head was a shiny helmet of yellow latten with shining crystals in it, and on top of the helmet an image of a griffin with magic stones in its head. In his hand was a spear of ash with a rounded shaft, coloured with blue azure, with a new, bloody head on the spear, riveted with precious silver. The rider came angrily to where Arthur was, and said that the ravens had killed his retinue and the sons of the noblemen of this Island, and asked him to persuade Owain to call off his ravens. Then Arthur asked Owain to call off his ravens. Then Arthur crushed the golden pieces that were on the board until they were nothing but dust; and Owain asked Gwres son of Rheged to lower his banner. Then it was lowered and everything was peaceful.

Then Rhonabwy asked Iddog who were the first three men who had come to tell Owain that his ravens were being killed. Iddog said, ‘Men who were unhappy at Owain’s loss, fellow noblemen and companions, Selyf son of Cynan Garwyn from Powys, and Gwgawn Gleddyfrudd,
*
and Gwres son of Rheged, the man who carries Owain’s banner on the day of battle and combat.’

‘Who were the last three men who came to tell Arthur that the ravens were killing his men?’ said Rhonabwy.

‘The best and bravest men,’ said Iddog, ‘and they hate to see
Arthur suffer any loss: Blathaon son of Mwrheth, and Rhuawn Bebyr son of Deorthach Wledig, and Hyfaidd Unllen.’
*

Then twenty-four horsemen came from Osla Gyllellfawr to ask Arthur for a truce until the end of a fortnight and a month. Arthur got up and took counsel. He went up to a large man with curly auburn hair standing a short distance from him. And there his counsellors were brought to him: Bedwin the Bishop, and Gwarthegydd son of Caw, and March son of Meirchawn, and Caradog Freichfras, and Gwalchmai son of Gwyar, and Edern son of Nudd, and Rhuawn Bebyr son of Deorthach Wledig, and Rhiogan son of the king of Ireland, and Gwenwynwyn son of Naf, Hywel son of Emyr Llydaw, Gwilym son of the king of France, and Daned son of Oth, and Gorau son of Custennin, and Mabon son of Modron, and Peredur Paladr Hir, and Hyfaidd Unllen, and Twrch son of Perif, Nerth son of Cadarn, and Gobrw son of Echel Forddwyd Twll, Gwair son of Gwystyl, and Adwy son of Geraint, Dyrstan son of Tallwch, Morien Manog, Granwen son of Llŷr, and Llacheu son of Arthur, and Llawfrodedd Farfog, and Cadwr, earl of Cornwall, Morfran son of Tegid, and Rhyawdd son of Morgant, and Dyfyr son of Alun Dyfed, Gwrhyr Gwalstawd Ieithoedd, Addaon son of Taliesin, and Llara son of Casnar Wledig, and Fflewddwr Fflam, and Greidol Gallddofydd, Gilbert son of Cadgyffro, Menw son of Teirgwaedd, Gyrthmwl Wledig, Cawrdaf son of Caradog Freichfras, Gildas son of Caw, Cadyriaith son of Saidi, and many men from Norway and Denmark, together with many men from Greece.
*
And plenty of people came to that counsel.

‘Iddog,’ said Rhonabwy, ‘who is the man with auburn hair they approached just now?’

‘Rhun son of Maelgwn Gwynedd, a man who has such authority that everyone goes to him for advice.’

‘Why was a lad as young as Cadyriaith son of Saidi
*
brought to a counsel of such high-ranking men as those over there?’

‘Because no one in Prydain gives more solid advice than he.’

Then, behold, poets came to perform a poem for Arthur. And no one understood the poem, apart from Cadyriaith himself, except that it was in praise of Arthur.
*
Then, behold, twenty-four mules arrived with their loads of gold and silver, and a tired and weary man with each of them, bringing tribute to Arthur from the Islands of Greece. Then Cadyriaith son of Saidi asked that a truce be given to Osla
Gyllellfawr for a fortnight and a month; and that the mules which had brought the tribute be given to the poets, along with what was on them, as a reward for waiting; and that during the truce they should be given payment for their singing. And that was agreed.

‘Rhonabwy,’ said Iddog, ‘would it not be wrong to stop a young man who can give such generous advice as that from attending his lord’s council?’

Then Cai got up and said, ‘Whoever wishes to follow Arthur, let him be with him tonight in Cornwall.
*
And he who does not, let him stand against Arthur until the end of the truce.’

So loud was that commotion, Rhonabwy awoke. And when he awoke he was on the yellow ox-skin, having slept for three nights and three days.

And this story is called the Dream of Rhonabwy. This is why no one knows the dream— neither poet nor storyteller—without a book,
*
because of the number of colours on the horses, and the many unusual colours both on the armour and their trappings, and on the precious mantles and the magic stones.

In the White and Red Book manuscripts there are no specific titles to the Four Branches: each tale ends with a variation on the colophon ‘and so ends this branch of the Mabinogi’, giving rise to the current title which was popularized by Ifor Williams in his classic edition
Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi
(Cardiff, 1930)—‘The Four Branches of the Mabinogi’. However, it is not clear whether there were only four branches. In the Red Book of Hergest the words
llyma dechreu mabinogi
(‘this is the beginning of a mabinogi’) appear before the First Branch; similar introductions are given to the other three tales: ‘this is the Second/Third/Fourth Branch of the mabinogi’. Yet, there is no closing formula informing us that the
mabinogi
has come to an end, again implying that there may well have been more than four branches originally (see also the note to
p. 21
on
branch of the Mabinogion
.

Regarding the titles of the individual tales, the First and Fourth Branches are commonly referred to by their
incipits
—‘Pwyll, prince of Dyfed’ and ‘Math son of Mathonwy’. The Third Branch is, in reality, a continuation of the Second, and no personal name appears in the opening lines (indeed, these may have been one branch originally); however, Manawydan is central to the plot, and it could thus be argued that ‘Manawydan son of Llŷr’ is a suitable title. The Second Branch begins with the words ‘Bendigeidfran fab Llŷr’; until the middle of the nineteenth century this, too, was commonly known in scholarly publications as
Mabinogi Bendigeidfran
or
Brân
(another version of his name). However, the tale is commonly known today as ‘Branwen daughter of Llŷr’, a title bestowed on the branch by Lady Charlotte Guest. From her textual notes, it would seem that Branwen had captured Guest’s imagination, and especially the ‘discovery’ of her grave in 1813. To the male scholars of her time it was the king who was central to the tale; to Guest, however, it was the ‘unfortunate heroine’, Branwen. One could surmise about whether Guest felt some empathy with Branwen who, like her, had left her homeland for foreign parts in order to get married (see Sioned Davies, ‘A Charming Guest:
Translating the
Mabinogion’, Studia Celtica
, 38 (2004), 157–78). The current translation uses the less neutral titles, and those that emanate from the colophons themselves.

Pwyll, prince of Dyfed … seven cantrefs of Dyfed:
the name Pwyll means ‘wisdom, caution’. Dyfed is an area in the south-west of Wales, comprising today’s Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire.
Cantref
was the basic territorial administrative unit in medieval Wales: the seven cantrefs of Dyfed were Cemais, Pebidiog, Rhos, Penfro, Daugleddyf, Emlyn, and Cantref Gwarthaf. A cantref would be subdivided into
cymydau
(‘commots’), usually corresponding to the English ‘hundred’.

Arberth, one of his chief courts … Glyn Cuch: Arberth
is usually equated with the town of Arberth in Pembrokeshire (English: Narberth), while the Cuch Valley runs along the border of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.
One of his chief courts
refers to the practice whereby the lord, together with his retinue and officials, would circuit the land, staying at various courts of his where he would be maintained by his subjects. Hunting was a common pastime for the noblemen of medieval Wales, with its own terminology and legalities. The hunt is often used in medieval French and English tales and romances as well as in the
Mabinogion
as a precursor to an encounter with the supernatural (see e.g.
p. 26
), while the prince lost on a hunt is a well-known international device for beginning an adventure. See also note to p. 8.

they were a gleaming shining white, and their ears were red:
red and white are colours traditionally associated with the supernatural in Welsh and Irish tradition.

but I will not greet you:
greeting formulae are very common in the
Mabinogion
, and follow specific patterns. Usually it is the character of lower rank who greets first, and the other responds by wishing
graessaw Duw
(‘God’s welcome’). Pwyll believes that Arawn is refusing to greet him because his status prevents it; however, when Pwyll discovers that Arawn is a king, and therefore of higher rank, he responds immediately with ‘good day to you’. For a discussion of formulae in the Four Branches, see Sioned Davies,
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi
(Llandysul, 1993), 32–42.

I will redeem your friendship:
Pwyll has insulted Arawn by feeding his own dogs on the stag killed by Arawn’s pack. He must therefore pay compensation to the king for injuring his honour.

Annwfn:
a name for the Celtic Otherworld, derived from
an
(‘in, inside’) +
dwfn
(‘world’). In both Welsh and Irish traditions the Otherworld was generally believed to be located either on an island or under the earth. Here, however, it seems to be a land within Pwyll’s realm of Dyfed, while the two Otherworld feasts that occur in the Second Branch are located at Harlech (on the north-west coast of Wales) and on the Island of Grassholm (see pp.
33–4
). Under Christian influence, Annwfn came to be
regarded as synonymous with hell, though in modern Brittany, despite its strong Catholic heritage,
Annaon
became synonymous with paradise rather than hell (
mont da Annaon
—to go to Annaon—is a common euphemism for ‘to die’). For further details, see Proinsias Mac Cana,
Celtic Mythology
(London 1983).

you must give him only one blow—he will not survive it:
supernatural creatures needing the help of mortals to overcome an adversary is a theme found in Irish and Welsh literature, while the taboo that surrounds striking a monster twice is a common international motif—were the hero to strike a second time, then the monster would revive. For a list of the motifs in the Four Branches, see Andrew Welsh, ‘The Traditional Narrative Motifs of
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi’, Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies
, 15 (1988), 51–62.