The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics)

by Sioned Davies

  ‘Tell me, friend,’ said the man, ‘which of the lads plays better?’

  ‘I suspect’, said Peredur, ‘that the yellow-haired lad could have drawn blood long ago from the auburn-haired lad if he had wanted to.’

  ‘Friend, take the stick and shield from the auburn-haired lad and draw blood from the yellow-haired lad if you can.’

  Peredur got up and took the stick and the shield, and struck the yellow-haired lad until his eyebrow was down over his eye and the blood was streaming.

  ‘Well, friend,’ said the man, ‘come and sit down now—you will be the best swordsman in this Island. And I am your uncle, your mother’s brother. And you will stay with me for a while, learning manners and etiquette. Forget now your mother’s words—I will be your teacher and make you a knight. From now on this is what you must do: if you see something that you think is strange, do not ask about it unless someone is courteous enough to explain it to you. It will not be your fault, but mine, since I am your teacher.’ And they received every kind of honour and service, and when it was time they went to sleep.

  As soon as it was daybreak Peredur got up and took his horse, and with his uncle’s permission he departed. He came to a great forest, and at the far end of the forest he came to a level meadow, and beyond the meadow he could see a great fortress and a beautiful court. Peredur made for the court; and he found the door open and made for the hall. And when he entered, there was a handsome grey-haired man sitting to one side of the hall with many young men around him. And everyone got up to meet the squire, and the courtesy and service he received were excellent. He was placed to sit next to the nobleman who owned the court, and they talked. And when it was time to go and eat, he was placed to sit and eat next to the nobleman. When they had finished eating and drinking, for as long as it pleased them, the nobleman asked him if he knew how to strike with a sword.

  ‘If I were taught,’ said Peredur, ‘then I’m sure I would know.’

  There was a huge iron column in the hall floor, a warrior’s embrace in circumference.

  ‘Take that sword,’ said the man to Peredur, ‘and strike that iron column.’ Peredur got up and struck the column so that it was in two pieces and the sword in two pieces.

  ‘Put the pieces together and join them.’ Peredur put the pieces together, and they became one, as before. And he struck the second time so that the column broke into two pieces and the sword into two pieces. And as before, they became one. And he struck the third time so that the column broke into two pieces and the sword into two pieces.

  ‘Put them together again, and join them.’ Peredur placed them together the third time, but neither the column nor the sword could be joined.

  ‘Well, lad,’ he said, ‘go and sit down, and God’s blessing on you. You are the best swordsman in the kingdom. You have gained two-thirds of your strength, and the third is still to come. And when you have gained it all, you will surrender to no one. And I am your uncle, your mother’s brother, brother of the man whose court you were in last night.’ Peredur sat down next to his uncle, and they talked.

  Suddenly he could see two lads entering the hall, and from the hall they proceeded to a chamber, carrying a spear of huge proportions, with three streams of blood running from its socket to the floor. When everyone saw the lads coming in this way, they all began weeping and wailing so that it was not easy for anyone to endure it. Yet the man did not interrupt his conversation with Peredur. The man did not explain to Peredur what that was, nor did Peredur ask him about it. After a short silence, suddenly two maidens entered with a large salver between them, and a man’s head on the salver, and much blood around the head.* And then they all shrieked and wailed so that it was not easy for anyone to stay in the same building. At last they stopped, and remained sitting as long as it pleased them, and drank. After that a chamber was prepared for Peredur, and they went to sleep.

  Early the next day Peredur got up, and with his uncle’s permission he set off. From there he came to a forest, and deep inside the forest he could hear crying. He went to where the crying was coming from. When he arrived he saw a beautiful auburn-haired woman and a saddled horse standing beside her, a man’s corpse between the woman’s hands. And as she tried to place the corpse in the saddle, the corpse would fall to the ground, and then she would give a cry.

  ‘Tell me, sister,’ he said, ‘why are you crying?’

  ‘Alas, accursed Peredur,’ she said, ‘little relief have you ever brought me from my misery.’

  ‘Why should I be accursed?’ he said.

  ‘Because you are the cause of your mother’s death, for when you set off against her will, a shooting pain leapt up within her, and she died from it. And you are accursed because you are the cause of her death. And the dwarf and she-dwarf you saw in Arthur’s court, that was the dwarf of your father and mother. And I am a foster-sister of yours, and this is my husband, killed by the knight who is in the forest. And do not go near him in case you are killed too.’

  ‘You are wrong, sister,’ he said, ‘to blame me. And because I have stayed with you as long as I have, I will scarcely defeat the knight;and were I to stay longer I would never overcome him. And as for you, stop your crying now, for help is closer than before. And I will bury the man, and go with you to where the knight is, and if I can get revenge I will do so.’

  After burying the man, they came to where the knight was riding his horse in the clearing. At once the knight asked Peredur where he came from.

  ‘I come from Arthur’s court.’

  ‘Are you Arthur’s man?’

  ‘I am, by my faith.’

  ‘A fine place for you to acknowledge Arthur.’ Without further delay they attacked each other, and there and then Peredur overthrew the knight. The knight asked for mercy.

  ‘You shall have mercy on condition that you take this woman as a wife, and treat her as well as you have treated other women, since you killed her husband for no reason; and proceed to Arthur’s court and tell him that it was I who overthrew you in service and honour to Arthur. And tell him that I will not set foot in his court until I confront the tall man who is there, to avenge the insult to the dwarf and the maiden.’ And Peredur accepted his assurance on that. The knight sat the woman properly on a horse beside him, and came to Arthur’s court and told Arthur of his adventure and of the threat to Cai. And Cai was reprimanded by Arthur and the household for having driven away from Arthur’s court a lad as good as Peredur.

  ‘That squire will never come to the court,’ said Owain. ‘Nor will Cai venture out.’

  ‘By my faith,’ said Arthur, ‘I will search the waste lands of the Island of Britain until I find him, and then let them do their worst to each other.’

  Meanwhile Peredur went on his way and came to a great, desolate forest. He could see neither the tracks of men nor herds in the forest, only thickets and vegetation. And when he comes to the far end of the forest, he can see a great, ivy-covered fortress with many strong towers. And near the gate the vegetation is taller than elsewhere.

  Suddenly, a lean lad with reddish-yellow hair appears on the battlement above him.

  ‘Take your choice, lord,’ he said; ‘either I shall open the gate for you, or I shall tell the man in charge that you are in the gateway.’

  ‘Say that I am here, and if he wants me to enter I will.’ The lad returned quickly and opened the gate for Peredur, and he proceeded into the hall. And when he came into the hall he could see eighteen lean, red-headed lads, of the same height and the same appearance and the same age and the same dress as the lad who had opened the gate for him. And their manners and their service were excellent. They helped him to dismount, and took off his armour. And they sat and talked.

  Suddenly, five maidens came into the hall from a chamber. As for the principal maiden amongst them, he was sure that he had never seen such a beautiful sight. She wore an old dress of tattered brocaded silk that had once been good; where her flesh could be seen through it, it was whiter than the flo
wers of the whitest crystal; her hair and her eyebrows were blacker than jet; two tiny red spots in her cheeks, redder than the reddest thing. The maiden greeted Peredur and embraced him, and sat down next to him. Not long after that he saw two nuns entering, one carrying a flagon full of wine and the other six loaves of white bread.

  ‘Lady,’ they said, ‘God knows, tonight the convent over there has only this amount again of food and drink.’ Then they went to eat. Peredur saw that the maiden wanted to give him more of the food and drink than anyone else.

  ‘Sister,’ he said, ‘I will share out the food and drink.’

  ‘No, friend,’ she said.

  ‘Shame on my beard’, he said, ‘if I don’t.’ Peredur took the bread and shared it equally among everyone, and likewise with the drink, to the cupful. When the meal was finished, ‘I would be glad,’ said Peredur, ‘if I could have a comfortable place to sleep.’ A room was prepared for him and Peredur went to sleep.

  ‘Sister,’ said the lads to the maiden, ‘this is what we advise.’

  ‘What is that?’ she said.

  ‘Go to the squire in the chamber nearby, and offer yourself to him however he wants, either as his wife or as his mistress.’

  ‘That,’ she said, ‘is something which is not proper—I, who have never been with a man, offering myself to him before he courts me. I cannot do that on any account.’

  ‘By our confession to God,’ they said, ‘unless you do that, we will leave you here to your enemies.’

  With that the maiden got up in tears, and went straight to the chamber. And with the noise of the door opening, Peredur woke up. And the maiden had tears running down her cheeks.

  ‘Tell me, sister,’ said Peredur, ‘why are you crying?’

  ‘I will tell you, lord,’ she said. ‘My father owned this court, along with the best earldom in the world. Now the son of another earl was asking my father for me. I would not go to him of my own free will; my father would not give me against my will to him or to anyone else. And my father had no other children but me. And after my father died the realm fell into my hands. I was then even less eager to have the man than before. So what he did was to wage war against me and overcome my realm apart from this one house. And because the men you saw are so brave—they are my foster-brothers—and the house is so strong, we could never be overpowered as long as food and drink lasted. And now they have run out, were it not for the nuns you saw feeding us, as they are free to travel through the land and the realm. But now they too have neither food nor drink. And no later than tomorrow the earl and all his might will descend on this place. If he takes me, my fate will be no better than if I were given to his stable lads. So I come to offer myself to you, lord, in whatever way you please, in exchange for helping us to escape or else defending us here.’

  ‘Go to sleep, sister,’ he said. ‘And I will not leave you without doing one or the other.’ The maiden left and went to sleep.

  Early the next day the maiden got up and went to Peredur, and greeted him.

  ‘God be good to you, friend,’ he said. ‘Do you have any news?’

  ‘None but good news, lord, as long as you’re well—but that the earl and all his might have descended on the house. No one has ever seen a place with more pavilions or knights calling on each other to fight.’

  ‘Very well,’ said Peredur, ‘prepare my horse, and I will get up.’ They prepared his horse for him, and he got up and made for the meadow. And when he arrived a knight was riding his horse, having raised the signal for combat. Peredur threw him over his horse’s crupper to the ground. And he threw many that day.

  And in the afternoon, towards the end of the day, an exceptional knight came to fight him, and Peredur overthrew him too. He asked for mercy.

  ‘Who are you then?’ said Peredur.

  ‘In truth,’ he said, ‘the head of the earl’s retinue.’*

  ‘How much of the countess’s realm do you own?’

  ‘In truth,’ he said, ‘a third.’

  ‘Very well,’ he said, ‘tonight in her court return a third of her realm to her in full, together with all the profit you have made from it, and food and drink for a hundred men, and horses and weapons for them; and you will be her prisoner, but you shall not lose your life.’

  That was done immediately. The maiden was joyously happy that night, a third of her realm hers, and plenty of horses and weapons and food and drink in her court. They rested for as long as it pleased them, and then went to sleep.

  Early the next day Peredur made for the meadow, and overthrew large numbers that day. And at the end of the day an exceptional, arrogant knight came along, and Peredur overthrew him too. And he asked for mercy.

  ‘Who are you then?’ said Peredur.

  ‘The court steward,’* he said.

  ‘How much of the maiden’s realm do you own?’

  ‘A third,’ he said.

  ‘Then give a third of her realm back to the maiden, and all the profit you have made from it, and food and drink for two hundred men, and horses and weapons for them, and you will be her prisoner.’ That was done immediately.

  And the third day Peredur came to the meadow, and he overthrew more that day than on any other day. And finally the earl came to fight him, and Peredur threw him to the ground. And the earl asked for mercy.

  ‘Who are you then?’ said Peredur.

  ‘I will not conceal myself,’ he said. ‘I am the earl.’

  ‘Very well,’ he said, ‘then give the whole of her earldom back to the maiden and also your earldom, too, and food and drink and horses and weapons for three hundred men, and you yourself will be under her authority.’

  And so for three weeks Peredur arranged tribute and submission to the maiden. And when he had settled and secured her in her realm, ‘With your permission,’ said Peredur, ‘I shall be on my way.’

  ‘Brother, is that what you want?’

  ‘Yes, by my faith. And if I did not love you, I would have left long ago.’

  ‘Friend,’ she said, ‘who are you then?’

  ‘Peredur son of Efrog from the North. And if you are ever in distress or danger, let me know, and I will defend you if I can.’

  Then Peredur set off, and far from there he was met by a lady rider on a lean, sweaty horse. She greeted the knight.

  ‘Where do you come from, sister?’ said Peredur. She explained her situation and the reason for the journey. She was the wife of the Proud One of the Clearing.

  ‘Well,’ said Peredur, ‘I am the knight on whose account you have suffered this distress, and whoever brought this upon you will be sorry.’ And with that a knight approaches, asking Peredur if he had seen such a knight as he was after.

  ‘Be silent,’ said Peredur. ‘I am the one you are after, and by my faith, the maiden is innocent on my account.’ But they fought each other, and Peredur overthrew the knight. He asked for mercy.

  ‘You shall have mercy, by going back the way you came to let it be known that the girl has been found innocent, and that as recompense for the insult I overthrew you.’ The knight promised to do that.

  And Peredur went on his way. On a mountain not far from him he could see a castle. And he made for the castle and hammered on the door with his spear. Then behold, a handsome auburn-haired lad opening the door, in stature and strength a warrior, but in age a boy. When Peredur came into the hall there was a large, handsome woman sitting in a chair and numerous handmaidens about her. And the good lady made him welcome. And when it was time to go to eat, they went. And after eating, ‘You would do well, lord,’ said the lady, ‘to go elsewhere to sleep.’

  ‘Can’t I sleep here?’

  ‘There are nine witches here, friend,’ she said, ‘together with their father and mother. They are the witches of Caerloyw.* And by daybreak we shall be no nearer to making our escape than to being killed. And they have taken over and laid waste the land, except for this one house.’

  ‘Well,’ said Peredur, ‘here is where I want to be tonight, a
nd if there is trouble and I can be of use, I will. I shall certainly do no harm.’ They went to sleep.

  And at dawn Peredur heard a scream. He got up quickly in his shirt and trousers, with his sword about his neck, and out he went. And when he arrived a witch was grabbing hold of the watchman,and he was screaming. Peredur attacked the witch and struck her on the head with a sword until her helmet and mail cap spread out like a dish on her head.

  ‘Your mercy, fair Peredur son of Efrog, and the mercy of God.’

  ‘How did you know, witch, that I am Peredur?’

  ‘It was fated and foretold that I would suffer grief at your hands, and that you would receive a horse and weapons from me. And you will stay with me for a while as I teach you how to ride your horse and handle your weapons.’

  ‘This is how I shall show you mercy,’ he replied. ‘Give your word that you will never do harm again to this countess’s land.’ Peredur took assurance to that effect, and with the countess’s permission he set off with the witch to the witches’ court. And there he stayed for three successive weeks. Then Peredur chose his horse and his weapons, and went on his way. At the close of day he came to a valley, and at the far end of the valley he came to a hermit’s cell. And the hermit welcomed him and he stayed there that night.

  Early the next morning he got up, and when he came outside a fall of snow had come down the night before. And a wild hawk had killed a duck near the cell. And what with the noise of the horse, the hawk rose and a raven descended on the bird’s flesh. Peredur stood and compared the blackness of the raven and the whiteness of the snow and the redness of the blood to the hair of the woman he loved best, which was as black as jet, and her skin to the whiteness of the snow, and the redness of the blood in the white snow to the two red spots in the cheeks of the woman he loved best.*

  Meanwhile, Arthur and his retinue were searching for Peredur. ‘Do you know,’ said Arthur, ‘who is the knight with the long spear, standing in the valley above?’

  ‘Lord,’ said one, ‘I shall go and find out who he is.’ Then the squire approached Peredur, and asked him what he was doing there and who he was. But Peredur was thinking so hard about the woman he loved best that he gave no answer. The squire attacked Peredur with a spear, but Peredur turned on him and threw him over his horse’s crupper to the ground. Twenty-four knights came in succession, and he would not answer one more than another, but treated each one the same—he threw each one with a single thrust over his horse’s crupper to the ground. Then Cai came up to him, and spoke harshly and rudely to Peredur. And Peredur struck him with a spear under his jaw and threw him a long distance away, so that his arm and collar-bone were broken. And while he was in a dead faint—such was the pain he had received—his horse returned, galloping wildly. And when all the retinue saw the horse coming without its rider, they rushed to where the encounter had taken place. And when they got there, they thought Cai had been killed. They realized, however, that if he had a physician who could set his bone and bandage his joints well, he would be none the worse. Peredur was not distracted from his thoughts any more than before, despite seeing the crowd around Cai. And Cai was brought to Arthur’s pavilion, and Arthur had skilful physicians brought to him. Arthur was sorry for the pain that Cai had received, for he loved him greatly. And then Gwalchmai said, ‘No one should distract an ordained knight from his thoughts in a discourteous way, for perhaps he has either suffered a loss or he is thinking about the woman he loves best. Such discourtesy, perhaps, was shown by the man who saw him last. If you wish, lord, I shall go and see whether the knight has stirred from those thoughts, and if he has, I shall ask him kindly to come and see you.’