Sacred Texts  Legends and Sagas  Celtic 

The Death of Arthur by James Archer (Public Domain Image)

The Mabinogion

by Lady Charlotte Guest

[1877]


Contents    Start Reading    Page Index    Text [Zipped]

This is Lady Guests' translation of the Mabinogion. The Mabinogion is a cycle of Welsh legends collected in the Red Book of Hergest, a manuscript which is in the library of Oxford University. Mabinogion means 'tales of youth'; although this appellation only applies to a few of the stories, Lady Guest appropriated it as the title of this book, and The Mabinogion is now used as the name of the entire collection. The stories are based on historical characters and incidents from the dark ages in Wales and environs, embellished with supernatural and folklore elements. Throughout there are echoes of primordial Celtic mythology and folklore, including the ancient gods and goddesses.

The first five tales are Welsh versions of incidents from the Arthurian canon. The Mabinogion per se consists of the four connected narratives (called 'the branches') from Pwll, Prince of Dyved, through Math, the Son of Mathonwy. Following these are three additional stories, including the legend of one of the most famous bards of Wales, Taliesin.

The Mabinogion is one of the masterpieces of world literature, and a must-read for anyone who wants to have an understanding of Celtic lore.

One minor barrier for some readers may be the spelling of Welsh, particularly in place names and names of people. In a nutshell, 'w' and 'y' are vowels, pronounced like 'u' and 'i' respectively. Technically, double 'l' is voiceless; rest assured, 'Ll' at the start of a word is not a typo. So 'Pwyll', which on the face of it doesn't appear to have any vowels, can be thought of as being pronounced approximately like 'poo-eel'.

PRODUCTION NOTES: This version is up to current site standards, and includes anchored page numbers, linked foot- and end-notes, and so on. This version includes all of the endnotes which are omitted from previous etexts of this book, and corrects several errors in the body text. Unicode is used through this text to display archaic orthography.

John Bruno Hare, March 4th, 2004.


Title Page
Dedication
Preface to the Second Edition
Contents
Introduction

The Lady of the Fountain

The Lady of the Fountain
Notes to the Lady of the Fountain
Versions in Other Languages
Note on the Forest of Breceliande and the Fountain of Baranton
Llyn Dulyn in Snowdon

Peredur the Son of Evrawc

Peredur the Son of Evrawc
Notes to Peredur the Son of Evrawc
Notice of Various Other Versions

Geraint the Son of Erbin

Geraint the Son of Erbin
Notes to Geraint the Son of Erbin
Notice of Various Other Versions

Kilhwch and Olwen

Kilhwch and Olwen
Notes to Kilhwch and Olwen

The Dream of Rhonabwy

The Dream of Rhonabwy
Notes to the Dream of Rhonabwy

Pwyll Prince of Dyved

Pwyll Prince of Dyved
Notes to Pwyll Prince of Dyved

Branwen the Daughter of Llyr

Branwen the Daughter of Llyr
Notes to Branwen the Daughter of Llyr

Manawyddan the Son of Llyr

Manawyddan the Son of Llyr
Note on Manawyddan the Son of Llyr

Math the Son of Mathonwy

Math the Son of Mathonwy
Notes to Math the Son of Mathonwy

The Dream of Maxen Wledig

The Dream of Maxen Wledig
Note on Maxen Wledig

The Story of Lludd and Llevelys

Here is the Story of Lludd and Llevelys
Note on Lludd and Llevelys

Taliesin

Taliesin
Notes to Taliesin