The Mabinogion · 177 of 192 · tr. Lady Charlotte Guest

Tale THE STORY OF LLUDD AND LLEVELYSb

And by the common counsel of the nobles, Lludd the son of Beli went to Llevelys his brother, king of France, for he was a man great of counsel and wisdom, to seek his advice.

And they made ready a fleet, and that in secret and in silence, lest that race should know the cause of their errand, or any besides the king and his counsellors.

And when they were made ready, they went into their ships, Lludd and those whom he chose with him.

And they began to cleave the seas towards France.

And when these tidings came to Llevelys, seeing that he knew not the cause of his brother’s ships, he came on the other side to meet him, and with him was a fleet vast of size.

And when Lludd saw this, he left all the ships out upon the sea except one only; and in that one he came to meet his brother, and he likewise with a single ship came to meet him.

And when they were come together, each put his arms about the other’s neck, and they welcomed each other with brotherly love.

After that Lludd had shown his brother the cause of his errand, Llevelys said that he himself knew the cause of the coming to those lands.

And they took counsel together to discourse on the matter otherwise than thus, in order that the wind might not catch their words, nor the Coranians know what they might say.

Then Llevelys caused a long horn to be made of brass, and through this horn they discoursed.

But whatsoever words they spoke through this horn, one to the other, neither of them could hear any other but harsh and hostile words.

And when Llevelys saw this, and that there was a demon thwarting them and disturbing through this horn, he caused wine to be put therein to wash it.

And through the virtue of the wine the demon was driven out of the horn.

And when their discourse was unobstructed, Llevelys told his brother that he would give him some insects whereof he should keep some to breed, lest by chance the like affliction might come a second time.

And other of these insects he should take and bruise in water.

And he assured him that it would have power to destroy the race of the Coranians.

That is to say, that when he came home to his kingdom he should call together all the people both of his own race and of the race of the Coranians for a conference, as though with the intent of making peace between them; and that when they were all together, he should take this charmed water, and cast it over all alike.

And he assured him that the water would poison the race of the Coranians, but that it would not slay or harm those of his own race.

“And the second plague,” said he, “that is in thy dominion, behold it is a dragon.

And another dragon of a foreign race is fighting with it, and striving to overcome it.

And therefore does your dragon make a fearful outcry.

And on this wise mayest thou come to know this.

After thou hast returned home, cause the Island to be measured in its length and breadth, and in the place where thou dost find the exact central point, there cause a pit to be dug, and cause a cauldron full of the best mead that can be made to be put in the pit, with a covering of satin over the face of the cauldron.

And then, in thine own person do thou remain there watching, and thou wilt see the dragon fighting in the form of terrific animals.

And at length they will take the form of dragons in the air.

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 depicts the landscape as inhabited by active spiritual agents like dragons and demons that directly affect human affairs.

All passages →

◆Cosmic Sympathycosmology

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The fighting of dragons underground causes a fearful outcry across the land, showing resonance between hidden and visible realms.

All passages →

◆Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

Counsel is exchanged secretly through a horn to prevent eavesdropping by hostile forces or the wind.

All passages →

◆Ritual Puritypraxis

The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.

Wine is used to wash the horn and drive out a demon, restoring the ability to communicate clearly.

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 dragons explicitly change form from terrific animals to dragons in the air as a central element of the ritual solution.

All passages →

◆Theurgypraxis

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.

Lludd performs a specific ritual using material symbols like a cauldron, mead, and satin to engage and capture supernatural entities.

All passages →

◆World Tree Axiscosmology

A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.

The instruction to find the exact central point of the island for the pit establishes a cosmic center connecting the surface and the underworld.

All passages →

Related passages · 1 parallel

◆sufism|The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi)|STORY IIIa

“The Jewish King, his Vazir, and the Christians. A certain Jewish king used to persecute the Christians, desiring to exterminate their faith. His Vazir persuaded him to try a stratagem, namely, to mutilate the Vazir himself, and expel him…”

Both passages involve a wise figure (Llevelys and the Vazir) providing strategic advice to a ruler (Lludd and the Jewish king) to overcome a significant challenge. The advice involves deception and the use of specific tools or methods to achieve a resolution, highlighting the theme of wisdom and strategy in leadership.