The Mabinogion · 167 of 192 · tr. Lady Charlotte Guest
Tale MATH THE SON OF MATHONWYk
“By making a bath for me by the side of a river, and by putting a roof over the cauldron, and thatching it well and tightly, and bringing a buck, and putting it beside the cauldron.
Then if I place one foot on the buck’s back, and the other on the edge of the cauldron, whosoever strikes me thus will cause my death.” “Well,” said she, “I thank Heaven that it will be easy to avoid this.” No sooner had she held this discourse than she sent to Gronw Pebyr.
Gronw toiled at making the spear, and that day twelvemonth it was ready.
And that very day he caused her to be informed thereof.
“Lord,” said Blodeuwedd unto Llew, “I have been thinking how it is possible that what thou didst tell me formerly can be true; wilt thou show me in what manner thou couldst stand at once upon the edge of a cauldron and upon a buck, if I prepare the bath for thee?” “I will show thee,” said he.
Then she sent unto Gronw, and bade him be in ambush on the hill which is now called Bryn Kyvergyr, on the bank of the river Cynvael.
She caused also to be collected all the goats that were in the Cantrev, and had them brought to the other side of the river, opposite Bryn Kyvergyr.
And the next day she spoke thus.
“Lord,” said she, “I have caused the roof and the bath to be prepared, and lo!
they are ready.” “Well,” said Llew, “we will go gladly to look at them.” The day after they came and looked at the bath.
“Wilt thou go into the bath, lord?” said she.
“Willingly will I go in,” he answered.
So into the bath he went, and he anointed himself.
“Lord,” said she, “behold the animals which thou didst speak of as being called bucks.” “Well,” said he, “cause one of them to be caught and brought here.” And the buck was brought.
Then Llew rose out of the bath, and put on his trowsers, and he placed one foot on the edge of the bath and the other on the buck’s back.
Thereupon Gronw rose up from the bill which is called Bryn Kyvergyr, and he rested on one knee, and flung the poisoned dart and struck him on the side, so that the shaft started out, but the head of the dart remained in.
Then he flew up in the form of an eagle and gave a fearful scream.
And thenceforth was he no more seen.
As soon as he departed Gronw and Blodeuwedd went together unto the palace that night.
And the next day Gronw arose and took possession of Ardudwy.
And after he had overcome the land, he ruled over it, so that Ardudwy and Penllyn were both under his sway.
Then these tidings reached Math the son of Mathonwy.
And heaviness and grief came upon Math, and much more upon Gwydion than upon him.
“Lord,” said Gwydion, “I shall never rest until I have tidings of my nephew.” “Verily,” said Math, “may Heaven be thy strength.” Then Gwydion set forth and began to go forward.
And he went through Gwynedd and Powys to the confines.
And when he had done so, he went into Arvon, and came to the house of a vassal, in Maenawr Penardd.
And he alighted at the house, and stayed there that night.
The man of the house and his house-hold came in, and last of all came there the swineherd.
Themes
◆Animismcosmology
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The narrative treats specific landscape features like Bryn Kyvergyr and river Cynvael as significant named entities integral to the magical events.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Math invokes Heaven for strength, implying a belief in a higher power actively ordering affairs or offering support.
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 passage centrally features Llew transforming into an eagle after being struck, exemplifying form-mutability as a constitutional property of the hero.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The specific ritual arrangement of the cauldron, buck, and roof functions as a magical operation to bypass divine protection.