In the translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones (1948), the tales are presented in the following order: The Four Branches of the Mabinogi (‘Pwyll prince of Dyfed’, ‘Branwen daughter of Llŷr’, ‘Manawydan son of Llŷr’, ‘Math son of Mathonwy’); The Four Independent Native Tales (‘The Dream of Macsen Wledig’, ‘Lludd and Llefelys’, ‘Culhwch and Olwen’, ‘The Dream of Rhonabwy’); The Three Romances (‘The Lady of the Fountain’, ‘Peredur son of Efrawg’, ‘Gereint son of Erbin’). Because of the immense popularity of their translation, these artificial groupings have, to a large extent, influenced our reading of the tales. In the White and Red Book manuscripts the following groupings are common to both: (i) The Four Branches of the Mabinogi; (ii) ‘Peredur son of Efrog’, ‘The Dream of the Emperor Maxen’, ‘Lludd and Llefelys’; (iii) ‘Geraint son of Erbin’, ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’. There may well be no particular rationale behind this—perhaps certain groupings already existed in the scribe’s exemplars. However, it seemed appropriate, for the purpose of the current translation, to reflect the groupings of the extant manuscripts. I also decided to follow the order of the earliest manuscript, placing ‘Rhonabwy’s Dream’, which is not included in the White Book, at the end of the ‘collection’ due to its apparent literary context. The aim, therefore, is to challenge any preconceived notions and to provide a platform from which to re-examine the relationship between the individual tales.
In an attempt to understand the resonances of these medieval Welsh texts, Explanatory Notes and Indexes of Personal and Place- Names are provided; their aim is to enhance the reading experience by placing the tales in a wider cultural and literary context, and by highlighting the intertextuality of medieval Welsh prose narrative. We can never expect to recover the tradition of reception that existed in medieval Wales. But we can try to recognize the signals, understand the cues, in order to transmit to a modern-day reader these unique theatrical experiences.
GUIDE TO PRONUNCIATION
Since the emphasis in this translation is on performance, it is important that readers think about how the texts would have sounded to a listening audience, especially the alliterative personal names. Welsh spelling is largely phonetic, with the stress falling almost always on the penultimate syllable, e.g. MabinÓgion, Perédur, Máxen, Llefélys, Géraint, Rhonábwy. The following is meant to be a very rough guide rather than an accurate phonetic description.
Welsh consonants
As in English, except for the following:
c carol; never as in cider
ch loch; never as in chair
dd this; never as in thorn
f as in of
ff as in off
g girl; never gem
ng sing; never angel or finger
h hat; never silent in Welsh
ll articulated by putting the tongue in the l position and producing a voiceless breathy sound
h hat; never silent in Welsh
r trilled/rolled as in Italian
rh articulated by putting the tongue in the r position and producing a voiceless breathy sound
s sit; never rose si + vowel is pronounced as sh, as in shop
th thin; never the
i and w can also be used as consonants:
i yes
w water
Welsh vowels can be short or long
a cat father
e pet bear
i sit machine
o pot more
u sit machine
w cook pool
y sit machine
cut (in all positions except monosyllables and final syllables)
Diphthongs
ae, ai, au aye
aw ah + oo
ei, eu, ey eye
ew eh + oo (well backwards)
iw, uw dew
oe, oi oil
ow Owen, not down
yw bough
wy gooy (with the two vowels compressed into one syllable)
Mutations
The beginnings of Welsh words change (or mutate) under certain circumstances; for example, Cymru (Wales) can appear as Gymru, Chymru, and Nghymru. A mutation also takes place in the second of two words joined together as a compound, thus affecting many of the proper names found in the Mabinogion (e.g. Glewlwyd < glew + llwyd; Ewingath < ewin + cath).
Pronunciation of Common Names (an accent denotes stress)
Aranrhod Arr-ánn-hrod
Bendigeidfran Ben-dee-géyed-vran
Blodeuedd Blod-éye-ethe
Branwen Brán-wen
Cai Kaye
Cigfa Kíg-vah
Culhwch Kíll-hooch
Enid Énn-id
Gilfaethwy Gill-váye-thooee
Gronw Gróh-noo
Gwenhwyfar Gwen-hóoy-varr
Gwydion Góoyd-eeon
Llefelys Llev-él-iss
Lleu Ll-eye
Lludd Lleethe
Luned Lýn-ed
Manawydan Man-ah-wúd-an [wud as in bud]
Matholwch Math-óll-ooch
Olwen Ól-wen
Owain Ów-aye-n
Peredur Per-éd-eer
Pryderi Prud-érry [Prud as in bud]
Pwyll Pooy-ll
Rhiannon Hree-án-on
Rhonabwy Hron-áb-ooee
Ysbaddaden Us-bath-ád-en [th as in then]
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Editions (including a substantial introduction and notes)
* denotes a Welsh-language edition
Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans, Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale (Cardiff, 1988).
Patrick K. Ford, Math uab Mathonwy (Belmont, Mass., 1999).
—— Manawydan uab Llyr (Belmont, Mass., 2000).
Glenys Witchard Goetinck, Historia Peredur vab Efrawc (Cardiff, 1976).*
—— Manawydan uab Llyr (Belmont, Mass., 2000).
Ian Hughes, Math uab Mathonwy (Aberystwyth, 2000).*
Melville Richards, Breudwyt Ronabwy (Cardiff, 1948).*
Brynley F. Roberts, Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys (Dublin, 1975).
—— Breudwyt Maxen Wledic (Dublin, 2005).
Derick S. Thomson, Branwen Uerch Lyr (Dublin, 1976).
R. L. Thomson, Pwyll Pendeuic Dyuet (Dublin, 1957).
—— Owein or Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnawn (Dublin, 1968).
—— Ystorya Gereint Uab Erbin (Dublin, 1997).
Ifor Williams, Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi (Cardiff, 1930).*
Translations
T. P. Ellis and John Lloyd, The Mabinogion: A New Translation (Oxford, 1929).
Patrick K. Ford, The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1977).
Jeffrey Gantz, The Mabinogion (Harmondsworth, 1976).
Lady Charlotte Guest, The Mabinogion from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest, and other Ancient Welsh manuscripts (London, 1836–49).
Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, The Mabinogion (London, 1948).
Critical Studies
Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman, and Brynley F. Roberts (eds.), The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (Cardiff, 1991).
Sioned Davies, The Four Branches of the Mabinogi (Llandysul, 1993).
—— Crefft y Cyfarwydd: Astudiaeth o dechnegau naratif yn Y Mabinogion
(Cardiff, 1995).
—— and Peter Wynn Thomas (eds.), Canhwyll Marchogyon: Cyd-destunoli Peredur (Cardiff, 2000).
Glenys Goetinck, Peredur: A Study of Welsh Tradition in the Grail Legends (Cardiff, 1975).
W. J. Gruffydd, Rhiannon: An Inquiry into the First and Third Branches of the Mabinogi (Cardiff, 1953).
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan (ed.), Arthurian Literature XXI: Celtic Arthurian Material (Cambridge, 2004).
Proinsias Mac Cana, The Mabinogi (Cardiff, 1977; revised edn. 1992).
O. J. Padel, Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature (Cardiff, 2000).
Brynley F. Roberts, Studies on Middle Welsh Literature (Lewiston, Queenston, and Lampeter, 1992).
C. W. Sullivan II
I (ed.), The Mabinogi: A Book of Essays (New York and London, 1996).
Cultural and Social Background
Rachel Bromwich (ed. and trans.), Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain (Cardiff, 1961; revised edn. 2006).
R. R. Davies, Conquest, Coexistence and Change: Wales 1063–1415 (Oxford, 1987).
Sioned Davies and Nerys Ann Jones (eds.), The Horse in Celtic Culture: Medieval Welsh Perspectives (Cardiff, 1997).
Miranda Green, The Gods of the Celts (Gloucester, 1986).
Daniel Huws, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts (Cardiff, 2000).
Dafydd Jenkins (ed. and trans.), The Law of Hywel Dda (Llandysul, 1986).
—— and Morfydd E. Owen (eds.), The Welsh Law of Women (Cardiff, 1980).
Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology (London, 1968; revised edn. 1983).
Huw Pryce (ed.), Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies (Cambridge, 1998).
Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain (London, 1967).
Lewis Thorpe (trans.), Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain (Harmondsworth, 1966).
Further Reading in Oxford World’s Classics
Eirik the Red, ed. Gwyn Jones.
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, trans. Cyril Edwards, introduction by Richard Barber.
Elias Lönnrot, The Kalevala, trans. Keith Bosley.
Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, trans. Helen Cooper.
The Poetic Edda, ed. Caroline Larrington.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. Keith Harrison and Helen Cooper.
Tales of the Elders of Ireland, ed. Ann Dooley and Harry Roe.
The Wales of the Mabinogion
THE
MABINOGION
The First Branch of the Mabinogi
PWYLL, prince of Dyfed, was lord over the seven cantrefs of Dyfed.* Once upon a time he was at Arberth, one of his chief courts, and it came into his head and his heart to go hunting. The part of his realm he wanted to hunt was Glyn Cuch.* He set out that night from Arberth, and came as far as Pen Llwyn Diarwya, and stayed there that night. And early the next day he got up, and came to Glyn Cuch to unleash his dogs in the forest. And he blew his horn, and began to muster the hunt, and went off after the dogs, and became separated from his companions. And as he was listening for the cry of his pack, he heard the cry of another pack, but these had a different cry, and they were coming towards his own pack. And he could see a clearing in the forest, a level field; and as his own pack was reaching the edge of the clearing, he saw a stag in front of the other pack. And towards the middle of the clearing, the pack that was chasing caught up with the stag and brought it to the ground.
Then Pwyll looked at the colour of the pack, without bothering to look at the stag. And of all the hounds he had seen in the world, he had never seen dogs of this colour—they were a gleaming shining white, and their ears were red.* And as the whiteness of the dogs shone so did the redness of their ears. Then he came to the dogs, and drove away the pack that had killed the stag, and fed his own pack on it.
As he was feeding the dogs, he could see a rider coming after the pack on a large dapple-grey horse, with a hunting horn round his neck, and wearing hunting clothes of a light grey material. Then the rider came up to him, and spoke to him like this: ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘I know who you are, but I will not greet you.’*
‘Well,’ said Pwyll, ‘perhaps your rank is such that you are not obliged to.’
‘God knows,’ he said, ‘it’s not the level of my rank that prevents me.’
‘What else, sir?’ said Pwyll.
‘Between me and God,’ he said, ‘your own lack of manners and discourtesy.’
‘What discourtesy, sir, have you seen in me?’
‘I have seen no greater discourtesy in a man,’ he said, ‘than to drive away the pack that had killed the stag, and feed your own pack on it; that’, he said, ‘was discourtesy: and although I will not take revenge upon you, between me and God,’ he said, ‘I will bring shame upon you to the value of a hundred stags.’
‘Sir,’ said Pwyll, ‘if I have done wrong, I will redeem your friendship.’*
‘How will you redeem it?’ he replied.
‘According to your rank, but I do not know who you are.’
‘I am a crowned king in the land that I come from.’
‘Lord,’ said Pwyll, ‘good day to you. And which land do you come from?’
‘From Annwfn,’ he replied. ‘I am Arawn, king of Annwfn.’*
‘Lord,’ said Pwyll, ‘how shall I win your friendship?’
‘This is how,’ he replied. ‘A man whose territory is next to mine is forever fighting me. He is Hafgan, a king from Annwfn. By ridding me of that oppression—and you can do that easily—you will win my friendship.’
‘I will do that gladly,’ said Pwyll. ‘Tell me how I can do it.’
‘I will,’ he replied. ‘This is how: I will make a firm alliance with you. What I shall do is to put you in my place in Annwfn, and give you the most beautiful woman you have ever seen to sleep with you every night, and give you my face and form so that no chamberlain nor officer nor any other person who has ever served me shall know that you are not me. All this’, he said, ‘from tomorrow until the end of the year, and then we shall meet again in this place.’
‘Well and good,’ Pwyll replied, ‘but even if I am there until the end of the year, how will I find the man of whom you speak?’
‘A year from tonight,’ Arawn said, ‘there is a meeting between him and me at the ford. Be there in my shape,’ he said, ‘and you must give him only one blow—he will not survive it.* And although he may ask you to give him another, you must not, however much he begs you. Because no matter how many more blows I gave him, the next day he was fighting against me as well as before.’
‘Well and good,’ said Pwyll, ‘but what shall I do with my realm?’
‘I shall arrange that no man or woman in your realm realizes that I am not you, and I will take your place,’* said Arawn.
‘Gladly,’ said Pwyll, ‘and I will go on my way.’
‘Your path will be smooth, and nothing will hinder you until you get to my land, and I will escort you.’
Arawn escorted Pwyll until he saw the court and dwelling-places.
‘There is the court and the realm under your authority,’ he said. ‘Make for the court; there is no one there who will not recognize you. And as you observe the service there, you will come to know the custom of the court.’
He made his way to the court. He saw sleeping quarters there and halls and rooms and the most beautifully adorned buildings that anyone had seen. And he went to the hall to take off his boots. Chamberlains and young lads came to remove his boots, and everyone greeted him as they arrived. Two knights came to remove his hunting clothes, and to dress him in a golden garment of brocaded silk. The hall was got ready. With that he could see a war-band and retinues coming in, and the fairest and best-equipped men that anyone had ever seen, and the queen with them, the most beautiful woman that anyone had seen, wearing a golden garment of shining brocaded silk. Then they went to wash, and went to the tables, and sat like this,* the queen on his one side and the earl,* he supposed, on the other. And he and the queen began to converse. As he conversed with her, he found her to be the most noble woman and the most gracious of disposition and discourse he had ever seen. They spent the time eating and drinking, singing and carousing. Of all the courts he had seen on earth, that was the court with the most food and drink and golden vessels and royal jewels. Time came for them to go to sleep, and they went to sleep,* he and the queen. As soon as they got into bed, he turned his face to the edge of the bed,* and his back to her. From then to the next day, he did not say a word to her. The next day there was tenderness and friendly conversation between them. Whatever affection existed between them during the day, not a single night until the end of the year was different from the first night.
The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) Page 4
