# Four Branches of the Mabinogi

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi or Pedair Cainc Y Mabinogi are the earliest prose stories in the literature of Britain. Originally written in Wales in Middle Welsh, but widely available in translations, the Mabinogi is generally agreed to be a single work in four parts, or "branches." The interrelated tales can be read as mythology, political themes, romances, or magical fantasies. The tales are popular today in book format, as storytelling or theatre performances; they appear in recordings and on film, and continue to inspire reinterpretations in artwork and modern fiction, such as the New Stories of the Mabinogion series and The Assembly of the Severed Head by Hugh Lupton

## Overview

The Mabinogi are known as the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, or Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi in Welsh. The tales were compiled from oral tradition in the 11th century. They survived in private family libraries via medieval manuscripts, of which two main versions and some fragments continue to survive today. Early modern scholarship of the Mabinogi saw the tales as a garbled Welsh mythology which prompted attempts to salvage or reconstruct them. Since the 1970s the tales have become recognised as a complex secular literature, though rooted in and containing elements of Welsh Mythology, with powerfully explored characters, political, ethical and gendered themes, as well as imaginative fantasies. The style of writing is admired for its deceptive simplicity and controlled wordpower, as well as intricate doublets where mirrorings have been compared to Celtic knotwork. The world displayed within the Mabinogi extends across Wales, to Ireland, and into England. It presents a legendary Britain as a united land under a king, yet with powerful separate princedoms, where native Welsh law, hud (magic), and romance, combine in a unique synergy. Possible authors who have been proposed for the Four Branches include Rhigyfarch and Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd.
Each Branch contains several tale episodes in a sequence, and each Branch is titled with the name of a leading protagonist. These titles are Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan and Math, but this is a modern custom; the Branches are not titled in the mediaeval manuscripts. Only one character appears in all four Branches, Pryderi, though he is never dominant or central to any of the Branches.
* Pwyll Prince of Dyfed tells of the heroic and magical sojourn of Pwyll in Annwfn, his shapeshifting, chastity and a duel, which all establish a mighty alliance. The formidable Rhiannon courts him, and he helps her win her freedom to marry him. The strange abduction at birth of their baby son follows, with his rescue, fostering and restoration by the good lord Teyrnon of the Kingdom of Gwent. The child is named Pryderi.
* Branwen Daughter of Llŷr follows Branwen's marriage to the King of Ireland, who abuses her due to insult by her half brother, Efnysien. A tragically genocidal war develops fomented by Efnysien, in which a Cauldron which resurrects the dead figures, and the giant king Bran's head survives his death in an enchanted idyll. Pryderi is merely named as a war survivor, and Branwen dies, heartbroken.
* Manawydan Son of Llŷr brother of Branwen, heir to the throne of Britain, becomes Pryderi's good friend during the war. Pryderi arranges his friend's marriage to Rhiannon. The land of Dyfed is devastated. Journeys in England setting up craft businesses follow. An enchanted trap removes Pryderi and Rhiannon: Manawydan becomes a farmer. He cannily negotiates their release, as well as the restoration of the land, by confronting the villain behind it all.
* Math Son of Mathonwy is a dark sequence of deception and treachery: war with Dyfed, the death of Pryderi, the double rape of a virgin girl, and the rejection of an unwanted hero son by proud Arianrhod. Gwydion her magician brother is the architect of all these destinies. He adds an artificially incubated pregnancy, and a synthetic woman. She, Blodeuwedd, creates a treacherous love triangle, murder in a peculiar manner. Gwydion makes a shamanic journey of redemption.

## The Branches
### First branch: Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed

Pwyll Pendefeg Dyfed, "Pwyll Prince of Dyfed", hunting on his own land, meets the shining Cŵn Annwn or "Hounds of Annwfn", and takes another man's kill, a stag, for himself. Arawn, the king of Annwfn, is greatly offended. As recompense, Pwyll switches bodies with Arawn and dwells in Annwfn to vanquish Arawn's adversary. Pwyll chastely shares the queen's bed for a year. Pwyll defeats Arawn's enemy Hafgan, and is then rewarded with an alliance between his land of Dyfed, and Annwfn. Pwyll then returns home to Dyfed where he finds it has been well ruled by Arawn in the past year.
Next, Pwyll encounters Rhiannon, a beautiful and powerful maiden on a shining magical horse. They are strangely unreachable by anyone, for as they attempt to approach, Rhiannon and her horse get further away. Finally, they ask her to stop in which she complies and it is revealed that Rhiannon has chosen Pwyll as her husband, which he welcomes. On Rhiannon and Pwyll's wedding day in the court of Hyfaidd Hen, Gwawl appears in disguise and tricks Pwyll into giving him the entire wedding feast and Rhiannon. Rhiannon then guides Pwyll through a cunning strategy using her magic bag which can never be filled, to extricate her from her betrothal to the princely Gwawl. Gwawl is trapped in the bag and beaten by Pwyll's men until he agrees to Rhiannon's terms, including foregoing vengeance.
Rhiannon eventually bears Pwyll a son and heir, but the child disappears the night he is born. Rhiannon's maids, in fear of their lives, accuse her of killing and eating her own baby. Rhiannon negotiates a penalty where she must sit at the castle gate every day for seven years telling her terrible tale to strangers and offer them a ride on her back. Meanwhile, the child is rescued from its monstrous abductor by Teyrnon Twrf Lliant. He and his wife adopt the boy who grows heroically apace, and adores horses. They called him Gwri Wallt Efryn (Gwri 'Golden Hair', Welsh: Gwallt Euraid). Teyrnon sees the boy's resemblance to Pwyll, so he restores the boy to Dyfed for a happy ending. Rhiannon is vindicated as is Pwyll's loyalty to her. Their son is renamed Pryderi "Loss", as is custom from his mother's first words to him: Pryderi puns on anxiety and labour. In due course, Pryderi inherits the rule of Dyfed.

### Second Branch: Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr

In the second branch, Branwen, sister of Brân the Blessed, king of Britain, is requested by and given in marriage to Matholwch, king of Ireland. Brân's half-brother Efnysien, angered that no one consulted him, insults Matholwch by mutilating all his valuable horses so horribly they become useless. Brân the Blessed gives Matholwch compensation in the form of new horses and treasure, then added a magical cauldron (Welsh: Pair Dadeni) which can restore the dead to life, although the revived persons will always remain unable to speak. The legend of this cauldron, when the two kings compare its lore, is that it came from Ireland.
In Ireland, Matholwch and Branwen have a son, Gwern. The Irish nobles continue to be hostile because of what Efnysien did. Matholwch allows them to sway him, and casts Branwen away to serf in the kitchens, struck on the face every day by a low-caste butcher. Branwen trains a starling to take a message to Brân across the Irish Sea. He musters his host and crosses the sea to war on Matholwch. Brân is so huge he wades across with his ships beside him. Branwen persuades the Irish to sue for peace by building a colossal building to house Brân, which he has never had before.
The Irish hide two hundred warriors in the house, hanging in bags on its pillars. Efnysien shrewdly suspects treachery and disbelieves the Irish story these are bags of flour. He crushes the skull of each hidden warrior, singing after he does it. Later, at the feast, Efnysien deliberately seeks to create discord. He throws his infant nephew Gwern on the fire and kills him. Fighting breaks out and the Irish use the Cauldron to revive their dead. Efnysien hides among the corpses to get in the Cauldron, stretches and cracks it, dying as he does so.
The war had become a genocide. Five pregnant women survive to repopulate Ireland. Only Seven Survivors remained of the British host, besides Branwen. One is Manawydan, Branwen's other brother, and his good friend Pryderi. Brân, mortally wounded by a poisoned spear, bids the survivors to cut off his head, and take it to bury at the White Tower in London. He prophesies his head will be their good companion and advise them, while they will sojourn for many years of idyllic feasting, first at Harlech in Gwynedd, then on the isle of Gwales in Dyfed. But on arriving back in Britain, Branwen dies of grief for the many who have died.
Brân means 'raven'; Branwen means 'white raven'; and Efnysien means 'trouble, strife'.

### Third Branch: Manawydan, son of Llŷr

Pryderi of Dyfed returns from the Irish War as one of its few survivors, to reunite with his mother Rhiannon, and his wife Cigfa. He brings with him his beloved war comrade, Manawydan, the heir to the kingship of all Britain. But Manawydan's rights as heir to Britain have been usurped by Caswallon, and he does not want more war. Pryderi establishes him as the lord of Dyfed, including marriage to Rhiannon, a union which both partners welcome. The four of them, Pryderi, Cigfa, Rhiannon and her new husband Manawydan, become very good friends indeed, and travel the land of Dyfed admiring how bountiful it is.
Together they sit the Gorsedd Arberth, as Pwyll once did. A clap of thunder, a bright light, and magical mist descend. Afterwards the land is devastated of all other life except wild animals. The four live by hunting, but after two years they want more, so they travel to England. In three towns in turn they craft saddles, shields and shoes of such quality that the local craftsmen cannot compete, so their envy becomes dangerous. Pryderi dislikes the lower class way of life, and Manawydan stops him from fighting their enemies. Instead Manawydan insists on moving away. After three attempts like this, they return to Dyfed.
Once more living as hunters Pryderi and Manawydan follow a shining white boar to a strange castle. Pryderi, against Manawydan's advice, follows his hounds inside to become trapped there by a golden bowl. Manawydan waits, then reports to Rhiannon who rebukes his failure to rescue his friend. But when she follows her son she too becomes trapped. Alone with Cigfa, Manawydan reassures her he will respect her virtue. After another attempt in England as shoemakers, the pair return to Dyfed, and Manawydan farms three fields of wheat next to Gorsedd Arberth. But his first field's harvest is cut down by thieves, and his second. He sits vigil at night, and sees a horde of mice eating the ripe corn. He catches a slow, fat one. Against Cigfa's protest he sets up a miniature gibbet to hang it as a thief.
A scholar, a priest and a bishop in turn offer him money if he will spare the mouse which he refuses. When asked what he wants for the mouse's life he first demands an explanation. The bishop tells him he is Llwyd, friend of the wronged Gwawl, the mouse is Llwyd's shapeshiften wife, and the devastation of Dyfed is to avenge Gwawl. Manawydan bargains to release of Pryderi and Rhiannon, and the lifting of the curse on Dyfed.

### Fourth Branch: Math, son of Mathonwy

Gwynedd in North Wales is ruled by the magician king Math fab Mathonwy, whose feet must be held by a virgin at all times except while he is at war. Math's nephew Gilfaethwy is infatuated with Goewin, the royal maiden foot-holder, so Gilfaethwy's brother Gwydion plots to aid him. He deceives Pryderi of Dyfed with magical sham gifts of horses and dogs, in exchange for Pryderi's valuable swine, a gift from Annwfn. Dyfed makes war in revenge, so Math leaves Goewin without his protection. Gwydion and Gilfaethwy rape her, and Gwydion kills Pryderi in single combat. Math marries Goewin in compensation for her rape. He punishes the two brothers by shapeshifting them into animal pairs who must mate and bear young; first deer, then boars, then wolves. The sons they bear become Math's foster sons, and after three years the brothers are reconciled with Math.
Gwydion suggests his sister Arianrhod as the new footholder. Math magically tests her virginity requiring her to step over his wand. She immediately gives birth to a son, Dylan ail Don, who takes to the sea. She also drops a scrap of life which Gwydion scoops up and incubates in a chest by his bed. Arianrhod is deeply shamed and angered so she utterly rejects the boy. She swears a doom upon him that he cannot have a name, nor warrior arms, unless she gives them to him. Gwydion tricks her into naming the boy Lleu Llaw Gyffes (Bright Skillful Hand) by speaking to him, not knowing who he is as he is shapeshifted. More shapeshifting fakes a military attack so Arianrhod gives them arms - dressing and arming Lleu herself.
Arianrhod's third curse is Lleu may not marry a human woman. Gwydion and Math construct a beautiful wife for him from oak blossom, broom flowers, and meadowsweet, naming her Blodeuwedd (Flower Face). But Blodeuwedd and Gronw Pebr fall deeply in love. Gronw tells her to find out the secret of Lleu's protected life, which she does in the trust of her marriage bed. She begs Lleu to explain so she can know how to protect him. The method is complicated, taking a year of almost impossible effort but Gronw completes it and Lleu falls to his spear, transforms into an eagle and departs. Blodeuwedd and Gronw then live together.
Gwydion pursues a quest to find Lleu, who far away in eagle form perches up a tree, dying. Gwydion tracks a sow which he finds eating maggots falling from Lleu's rotting body. Gwydion sings a magical englyn (poem) gradually bringing Lleu back to humanity. Gronw offers to compensate Lleu; but Lleu insists on returning the blow as it was struck against him. Gronw is cowardly and attempts to evade it using a stone shield. Lleu kills Gronw with his spear, which pierces him through the stone. Gwydion punishes Blodeuwedd by transforming her into an owl, a pariah among birds.

## Locations

Some of the locations mentioned in the text have been identified in reality. Many are associated with Arberth and the surrounding district. Some have not been identified and may be methodological or in need of further archeological and historical discoveries (ex. Caer Dathyl).