- Mythology and the Oral Tradition: Wales -
centuries; Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys (The Encounter of Lludd and Llefelys)
first appears in the thirteenth century when a Welsh translator of Geoffrey of
Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) inserted it
into his translation - the episode then appears as an independent tale in the Red
Book and the White Book manuscripts; Breuddwyd Rhonabwy (The Dream of
Rhonabwy) is the latest of all and is a parody on the Arthurian age. These then are
the only surviving examples of traditional Welsh narrative - obviously much has been
lost as testified by allusions in these and other sources, especially the bardic triads
Trioedd Ynys Prydein (The Triads of the Island of Britain).
A scattering of mythological characters, motifs and allusions are to be found
throughout these narratives. Shape-shifting, for example, occurs in Culhwch ac
Olwen -the supernatural wild boar is a king who has been transformed because of
his wickedness, while Menw has the ability to change himself into a bird. Magical
objects such as a hamper and a horn of plenty feature in the tale, and many of
Arthur's men possess supernatural powers. It has been argued that the three
Romances contain traces of a Celtic mythological sovereignty theme, involving a
symbolic marriage between king and goddess, and combats with Otherworld powers
(Bromwich 1983). In the tale of Owein, the keeper of the forest who has power over
all the animals, may well be analogous to the Celtic god Cernunnos, an antlered deity
(Green 1992: 59-61; Mac Cana 1983: 39-42). However, of the extant tales, the
Four Branches of the Mabinogi are of greatest importance in the context of Celtic
mythology. Many of their characters are Otherworld beings, and their world is one
where the supernatural impinges on the lives of everyday mortals. It is generally held
that the Four Branches are the work of one individual, a deliberate artistic piece of
literature (Davies 1992). Indeed, the author may well have been Sulien, bishop of St
David's, or his son Rhigyfarch. Even so, the author is clearly drawing on traditional
sources for his material. He states this categorically on two occasions:
And that is what this cyfarwyddyd says of their encounter. 'The men who set
forth from Ireland' is that.
Qones and Jones 1976: 40)
And according to the cyfarwyddyd, he was lord thereafter over Gwynedd.
Qones and Jones 1976 : 75)In other words, he is trying to distance himself from the traditional material. As
Kellogg says of the compiler of a thirteenth-century Icelandic manuscript (1991:
139), he is aware of himself as occupying a boundary between two worlds - his own
rational, scholarly, literary world and the more fantastic world of ancient myth and
legend from which the tales have come down. However, as emphasized by Green
(1986: 16), it is evident that the author of the Four Branches and other writers of the
period were fairly ignorant of the actual beliefs of the people about whom they
wrote. Yet a careful examination of the texts can enrich our general understanding of
Celtic mythology.
The first branch tells of Pwyll prince of Dyfed and his encounter with Arawn,
king of Annwfn, the Otherworld. They exchange places for one year during which
time Pwyll kills Arawn's enemy - an example of an Otherworld figure invoking the