The Mabinogion · 181 of 192 · tr. Lady Charlotte Guest

Tale TALIESINb

And just as she was about to stoop upon him, and he was in fear of death, he espied a heap of winnowed wheat on the floor of a barn, and he dropped among the wheat, and turned himself into one of the grains.

Then she transformed herself into a high-crested black hen, and went to the wheat and scratched it with her feet, and found him out and swallowed him.

And, as the story says, she bore him nine months, and when she was delivered of him, she could not find it in her heart to kill him, by reason of his beauty.

So she wrapped him in a leathern bag, and cast him into the sea to the mercy of God, on the twenty-ninth day of April.

And at that time the weir of Gwyddno was on the strand between Dyvi and Aberystwyth, near to his own castle, and the value of an hundred pounds was taken in that weir every May eve.

And in those days Gwyddno had an only son named Elphin, the most hapless of youths, and the most needy.

And it grieved his father sore, for he thought that he was born in an evil hour.

And by the advice of his council, his father had granted him the drawing of the weir that year, to see if good luck would ever befall him, and to give him something wherewith to begin the world.

And the next day when Elphin went to look, there was nothing in the weir.

But as he turned back he perceived the leathern bag upon a pole of the weir.

Then said one of the weir-ward unto Elphin, “Thou wast never unlucky until to-night, and now thou hast destroyed the virtues of the weir, which always yielded the value of an hundred pounds every May eve, and to-night there is nothing but this leathern skin within it.” “How now,” said Elphin, “there may be therein the value of an hundred pounds.” Well, they took up the leathern bag, and he who opened it saw the forehead of the boy, and said to Elphin, “Behold a radiant brow!” [6] “Taliesin be he called,” said Elphin.

And he lifted the boy in his arms, and lamenting his mischance, he placed him sorrowfully behind him.

And he made his horse amble gently, that before had been trotting, and he carried him as softly as if he had been sitting in the easiest chair in the world.

And presently the boy made a Consolation and praise to Elphin, and foretold honour to Elphin; and the Consolation was as you may see:— “Fair Elphin, cease to lament!

Let no one be dissatisfied with his own, To despair will bring no advantage.

No man sees what supports him; The prayer of Cynllo will not be in vain; God will not violate his promise.

Never in Gwyddno’s weir Was there such good luck as this night.

Fair Elphin, dry thy cheeks!

Being too sad will not avail.

Although thou thinkest thou hast no gain, Too much grief will bring thee no good; Nor doubt the miracles of the Almighty: Although I am but little, I am highly gifted.

From seas, and from mountains, And from the depths of rivers, God brings wealth to the fortunate man.

Elphin of lively qualities, Thy resolution is unmanly; Thou must not be over sorrowful: Better to trust in God than to forbode ill.

Weak and small as I am, On the foaming beach of the ocean, In the day of trouble I shall be Of more service to thee than three hundred salmon.

Themes

◆Childlike Innocenceanthropology

The infant or child as symbol of the unfallen, undivided spiritual state; return to primordial simplicity.

The infant Taliesin possesses wisdom and prophetic ability despite his small physical stature.

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◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The text states that 'No man sees what supports him,' indicating a divine support system hidden from ordinary perception.

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◆Divine Providencetheology

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.

The story emphasizes God's active ordering of events, such as the bag landing in the weir at the precise moment Elphin needs luck.

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◆Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

The name Taliesin means 'Radiant Brow,' symbolizing an inner spiritual gift manifesting as external beauty.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

God is depicted as an active, personal reality who shows mercy, keeps promises, and performs miracles in human affairs.

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◆Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The text contrasts the boy's smallness with his great gift, teaching that size does not determine spiritual value.

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◆Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The poem explicitly references the efficacy of prayer, stating 'The prayer of Cynllo will not be in vain.'

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◆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 narrative centrally features the protagonist transforming into wheat and the antagonist into a hen as a mechanism of pursuit and survival.

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◆Word Power Incantationpraxis

The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.

Taliesin's prophetic poem is presented as having the power to console, foretell honor, and alter the father's fortune through spoken wisdom.

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