The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) (43 page)

Aberffraw:
Aberffraw was the chief court of the princes of Gwynedd, located in Anglesey.

he shall have as his honour-price … as broad as his face:
‘honour-price’ is the compensation that is paid for insult. According to the Welsh laws, the honour-price of the king of Aberffraw consisted of ‘a hundred cows for every cantred he has, with a red-eared bull for every hundred cows, and a rod of gold as tall as himself and as thick as his little finger, and a plate of gold as broad as his face, and as thick as the nail of a ploughman who has been a ploughman seven years’ (
LHDd
5–6). In the Second Branch text ‘his little finger’, or a similar comparison, needs to be added to make grammatical sense of the sentence. This practice may reflect the original custom whereby a person’s weight in gold or silver was given as compensation.

I will give you a cauldron:
cauldrons played a significant part in Celtic ritual, as evidenced by both archaeological and literary evidence. Parallels have been drawn between this Cauldron of Rebirth and a scene portrayed on the Gundestrup Cauldron from Denmark, a gilded silver bowl belonging to the first or second century
BC
, which shows a man
plunged head-first into a vat, interpreted by some as a cauldron of immortality.

Talebolion:
a commot in Anglesey (see note to
p. 3
). Here we have an attempt—albeit incorrect—to explain the place-name: the Welsh
tâl
means ‘payment’ (but also ‘end’) and
ebolion
means foals (but also ‘hollows’ or ‘ridges’), hence ‘Payment of the Foals’. But the original meaning was probably
Talybolion
, ‘the far end of the hollows/ridges’.

Llasar Llaes Gyfnewid:
see note to
p. 37
.

a chamber completely of iron:
this motif, whereby enemies are invited to a banquet and killed, appears again in the tale, when the Irish build a great house for Bendigeidfran and prepare a feast for him and his men (
p. 30
). There are examples of similar episodes in Irish literature. Particular attention has been drawn to the parallels between the Welsh version and the Irish tale
Mesca Ulad
(The Intoxication of the Men of Ulster). For a general discussion of the parallels between the Second Branch and elements from Irish literature, see Proinsias Mac Cana,
Branwen Daughter of Llŷr: A Study of the Irish Affinities and of the Composition of the Second Branch of the Mabinogi
(Cardiff, 1958).

they are numerous, and prosper everywhere:
a possible reference to the Irish settlements in Wales.

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 Beli 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.