The Mabinogion

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The Mabinogion

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Title: The Mabinogion
Translator: Lady Charlotte Guest
Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5160] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 22, 2002]

[Most recently updated: May 22, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE
MABINOGION ***

Transcribed from the 1849 edition text by David Price, email
[email protected]

THE MABINOGION TRANSLATED BY LADY CHARLOTTE
GUEST

Contents: Introduction The Lady of the Fountain Peredur the Son of
Evrawc Geraint the son of Erbin Kilhwch and Olwen The dream of
Rhonabwy Pwyll Prince of Dyved Branwen the daughter of Llyr
Manawyddan the son of Llyr Math the son of Mathonwy The dream of
Maxen Wledig The story of Lludd and Llevelys Taliesin

INTRODUCTION

Whilst engaged on the Translations contained in these volumes, and on
the Notes appended to the various Tales, I have found myself led
unavoidably into a much more extensive course of reading than I had
originally contemplated, and one which in great measure bears directly
upon the earlier Mediaeval Romance.

Before commencing these labours, I was aware, generally, that there
existed a connexion between the Welsh Mabinogion and the Romance
of the Continent; but as I advanced, I became better acquainted with the
closeness and extent of that connexion, its history, and the proofs by
which it is supported.
At the same time, indeed, I became aware, and still strongly feel, that it
is one thing to collect facts, and quite another to classify and draw from
them their legitimate conclusions; and though I am loth that what has
been collected with some pains, should be entirely thrown away, it is
unwillingly, and with diffidence, that I trespass beyond the
acknowledged province of a translator.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there arose into general notoriety
in Europe, a body of "Romance," which in various forms retained its
popularity till the Reformation. In it the plot, the incidents, the
characters, were almost wholly those of Chivalry, that bond which
united the warriors of France, Spain, and Italy, with those of pure
Teutonic descent, and embraced more or less firmly all the nations of
Europe, excepting only the Slavonic races, not yet risen to power, and
the Celts, who had fallen from it. It is not difficult to account for this
latter omission. The Celts, driven from the plains into the mountains
and islands, preserved their liberty, and hated their oppressors with
fierce, and not causeless, hatred. A proud and free people, isolated both
in country and language, were not likely to adopt customs which
implied brotherhood with their foes.
Such being the case, it is remarkable that when the chief romances are
examined, the name of many of the heroes and their scenes of action
are found to be Celtic, and those of persons and places famous in the
traditions of Wales and Brittany. Of this the romances of Ywaine and
Gawaine, Sir Perceval de Galles, Eric and Enide, Mort d'Arthur, Sir
Lancelot, Sir Tristan, the Graal, &c., may be cited as examples. In
some cases a tendency to triads, and other matters of internal evidence,
point in the same direction.
It may seem difficult to account for this. Although the ancient
dominion of the Celts over Europe is not without enduring evidence in

the names of the mountains and streams, the great features of a country,
yet the loss of their prior language by the great mass of the Celtic
nations in Southern Europe (if indeed their successors in territory be at
all of their blood), prevents us from clearly seeing, and makes us
wonder, how stories, originally embodied in the Celtic dialects of Great
Britain and France, could so influence the literature of nations to whom
the Celtic languages were utterly unknown. Whence then came these
internal