The Mabinogion · 91 of 191 · tr. Lady Charlotte Guest
Tale KILHWCH AND OLWEN-i
Uchtryd Varyf Draws (who spread his red untrimmed beard over the eight-and-forty rafters which were in Arthur’s Hall).
Elidyr Gyvarwydd.
Yskyrdav and Yscudydd (two attendants of Gwenhwyvar were they.
Their feet were swift as their thoughts when bearing a message).
Brys the son of Bryssethach (from the Hill of the Black Fernbrake in North Britain).
And Grudlwyn Gorr.
Bwlch, and Kyfwlch, and Sefwlch, the sons of Cleddyf Kyfwlch, the grandsons of Cleddyf Difwlch.
(Their three shields were three gleaming glitterers; their three spears were three pointed piercers; their three swords were three grinding gashers; Glas, Glessic, and Gleisad.
Their three dogs, Call, Cuall, and Cavall.
Their three horses, Hwyrdyddwd, and Drwgdyddwd, and Llwyrdyddwg.
Their three wives, Och, and Garym, and Diaspad.
Their three grandchildren, Lluched, and Neved, and Eissiwed.
Their three daughters, Drwg, and Gwaeth, and Gwaethav Oll.
Their three hand-maids, Eheubryd the daughter of Kyfwlch, Gorascwrn the daughter of Nerth, Ewaedan the daughter of Kynvelyn Keudawd Pwyll the half-man.) Dwnn Diessic Unbenn, Eiladyr the son of Pen Llarcau, Kynedyr Wyllt the son of Hettwn Talaryant, Sawyl Ben Uchel, Gwalchmai the son of Gwyar, Gwalhaved the son of Gwyar, Gwrhyr Gwastawd Ieithoedd (to whom all tongues were known), and Kethcrwm the Priest.
Clust the son of Clustveinad (though he were buried seven cubits beneath the earth, he would hear the ant fifty miles off rise from her nest in the morning).
Medyr the son of Methredydd (from Gelli Wic he could, in a twinkling, shoot the wren through the two legs upon Esgeir Oervel in Ireland).
Gwiawn Llygad Cath (who could cut a haw from the eye of the gnat without hurting him).
Ol the son of Olwydd (seven years before he was born his father’s swine were carried off, and when he grew up a man he tracked the swine, and brought them back in seven herds).
Bedwini the Bishop (who blessed Arthur’s meat and drink).
For the sake of the golden-chained daughters of this island.
For the sake of Gwenhwyvar its chief lady, and Gwennhwyach her sister, and Rathtyeu the only daughter of Clemenhill, and Rhelemon the daughter of Kai, and Tannwen the daughter of Gweir Datharwenîddawg.
Gwenn Alarch the daughter of Kynwyl Canbwch.
Eurneid the daughter of Clydno Eiddin.
Eneuawc the daughter of Bedwyr.
Enrydreg the daughter of Tudvathar.
Gwennwledyr the daughter of Gwaledyr Kyrvach.
Erddudnid the daughter of Tryffin.
Eurolwen the daughter of Gwdolwyn Gorr.
Teleri the daughter of Peul.
Indeg the daughter of Garwy Hir.
Morvudd the daughter of Urien Rheged.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Ancestor Venerationpraxis
Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. Shinto uji-gami and obon, Norse disir and the alfablot, Celtic samhain and the feast for the deceased, Roman lares and parentalia, Chinese ancestor rites, Vedic śrāddha. Practice-coded rather than belief-coded: distinct from soul_migration (cosmological doctrine of soul-transmigration) and theosis_deification (deification trajectory); ancestor_veneration centres the living's ongoing ritual obligation to the dead.
Individuals are defined almost exclusively through genealogical lineage ('son of', 'daughter of'), reflecting the cultural centrality of ancestors in identity.
All passages →Shapeshifting Transformationtheology
Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.
The inclusion of 'Pwyll the half-man' references a figure known for hybrid nature or shape-shifting within the Mabinogion corpus.
All passages →Related passages · 10 parallels
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Shared concept: Shapeshifting Transformation — Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. (derived)
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Shared concept: Shapeshifting Transformation — Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. (derived)
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Shared concept: Shapeshifting Transformation — Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. (derived)
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“The life of beings is a progressive transformation, and its forms can be deter-mined, renewed, prolonged further, or destroyed sooner.
If the doctrine of metempsychosis were true, might one not say that the debauch represented by Circe rea…”
Shared concept: Shapeshifting Transformation — Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. (derived)
hinduism|The Bhagavad Gita|Chapter XI, Section 1a
“CHAPTER XI.
Ar g una said: In consequence of the excellent and mysterious words concerning the relation of the supreme and individual soul,, which you have spoken for my welfare, this delusion of mine is gone away.
O you whose eyes are li…”
Shared concept: Shapeshifting Transformation — Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. (derived)
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“At every meal time, a dish of food was placed under it, and some person of the same sex and age as the one who was gone must afterward be invited in to partake of the food.
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Shared concept: Ancestor Veneration — Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. (derived)
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“Thus, a fatal law drives demons downward when they wish and believe themselves to be ascending.
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As to the horde of perverse spirits, they tremble before a…”
Shared concept: Ancestor Veneration — Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. (derived)
hinduism|The Bhagavad Gita|Chapter I, Section 1c
“In consequence of the predominance of impiety, O K ri sh n a!
the women of the family become corrupt ; and the women becoming corrupt, O descendant of V ri sh n i!
intermingling of castes results; that intermingling necessarily leads the…”
Shared concept: Ancestor Veneration — Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. (derived)
mesopotamian|Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XII — Gilgamish Enquires of the Dead|Tablet XII, Section 1a
“THE TWELFTH TABLET.
GILGAMISH, IN DESPAIR, ENQUIRES OF THE DEAD.
.
(Then), what time that the seine had pass’d through the Architect 's dwelling, (Aye, and) the net [had taken its toll] .
.
.
.
[said he]: "Lord, what [is’t I may do]…”
Shared concept: Ancestor Veneration — Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. (derived)
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“The roving Norsemen of the tenth century, very few of whom had as yet accepted Christianity, were nevertheless in close contact with Celtic races which had already been converted, and in many ways the Celtic influence was strongly felt.
It…”
Shared concept: Ancestor Veneration — Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. (derived)