The Mabinogion. Manawydan Son of Llyr

To this Manawydan agreed. Then the bishop removed the spell so that the flocks returned to the hills, the huts to the valleys, and once more men, women and children laughed and played.

When he was putting on the crossbeam a priest on a horse trotted up. "Do not defile yourself by hanging that mouse. Here is three pounds for it." But still he would not let it go.

Pwyll rode towards a grassy clearing and came apon a dead stag surrounded by small but fiery hounds: their coats were a blinding white, and their ears like glowing red coals. Bravely, the Prince urged his horse into the glade, charged wildly at the dogs and scattered them away.

As his own pack returned and grouped around the deer, a huntsman rode out from the trees and hailed him: "Lord, I will not greet you because you have driven off my hounds from their prey".

At these words the Prince promised to make up for his discourtesy. "Well" said the stranger "This is how to win my friendship. I am Arawn, King of Annwn (the Other World), and I have a neighbour called King Hafgan who is forever causing trouble. Yet whenever I hit him more than one stroke, the next day he is as well as he was before."

Before The Lord of the Rings there was THE MABINOGION. Widely recognized as the finest arc of Celtic mythology, the eleven stories were preserved in two Welsh collections, The White Book of Rhydderch (1300-1325) and The Red Book of Hergest (1375-1425), though the stories themselves hail from an oral tradition dating back a thousand years. At its core are tales of heroes and men, birth and death, gods and beasts, penance and vindication, kinship and kingship, battles and quests. THE MABINOGION embraces much of ancient and early British culture, combining the numinous world of Celtic mythology, Arthurian legend and feudal Europe’s Age of Chivalry. Indeed, scholars have identified that it was out of THE MABINOGION that the Arthurian legends were born.

During their journey to bury King Bran's head on the White Mount of London friendship grew between Manawydan (his brother) and Pryderi. The young man was the son of Pwyll and now Lord over the Seven Regions. So firm was their bond that Pryderi invited his friend to Arberth and offered him the hand of his widowed mother, Rhiannon, in marriage.

Pryderi's wife was called Cigfa, and the two couples wandered together throughout Dyfed, enjoying the countryside and each other's company. The land was rich and plentiful, with deer in the woods, birds in the trees, and fish in the streams.

One day, as they were sitting on the mound of Gorsedd Arberth above the court, a white mist surrounded them and thunder split the air. When the mist cleared, the land shone with light. Yet though they looked all around, nothing familiar could they see: no flocks in the fields or huts in the valleys, no men or women working, no children playing. Only the empty, echoing courtrooms remained.

For a while the couples walked in the hills, hunting, fishing and taking honey from the bees. And during that time they saw no other person or dwelling in all the land.

Deprived of an income, the local saddlers decided to slay the two Welshmen. But they had warning of this, and Pryderi said: "We should kill the villains". Manawydan replied: "We would end up in prison. Let us move on".

At last, in despair, they set off for England in order to earn a living. In Hereford the men began making saddles, and Manawydan dyed the leather blue. So well-made were the saddles that soon the townspeople would not buy them from any other craftsman.

In the next town they began making shields, dying the leather blue. So well-made were the shields that once more the townsmen plotted against them. Pryderi said: "We should kill the villains". Manawydan replied: "We would end up dead. Let us move on".

After that, they became shoemakers, using golden buckles and only the finest leather. Soon the local craftsmen conspired together. Pryderi said: "We should kill the villains", but his friend said: "Let us leave England. It is time to move on".

The next year was spent in Dyfed, hunting and fishing, and they saw no other person or dwelling in all the land. Then one morning their hounds chased a white boar into a castle where they had never seen a building before.

Manawydan advised caution but his young friend followed after the dogs. Inside the castle he saw a golden bowl beside a marble fountain. He lifted the bowl - and was caught in the trap. His hands stuck to it, his feet gripped the ground, and his mouth clamped shut.

Until dusk fell, Manawydan waited for Pryderi and then he went home. When he told Rhiannon about the strange castle, she scolded him: "What a good friend you are to abandon him!".

Rhiannon went looking for the young man. When she found him, she touched the bowl too - and was caught under the same spell. At once a mist surrounded them, and when it cleared, the castle, Pryderi and Rhiannon had all disappeared.

The dogs being lost, Manawydan could no longer hunt, so he sewed three small fields with wheat and waited for the crop to ripen. In autumn the first field was ready, and he prepared his sickle against the next day. But by morning something had bitten off the ears, leaving only the stalks in the ground.

He went on to the second field. That would soon be ready, and he prepared to reap it. Come morning though, as before, only the stalks were left standing.

Manawydan determined to keep watch over the last field. At midnight the culprits arrived: hundreds of mice climbing up the stalks, swaying in the wind, breaking off the juicy ears and marching off with them. Manawydan leapt – and he managed to grab one lumbering mouse and tie it up in his glove.

Next day on Gorsedd Arberth he was preparing a gallows of sticks when a clerk came walking by. He said: "Shame on you for hanging that creature. Will you take one pound for it?". Although the clerk was the first stranger he'd seen for years, still Manawydan would not let it go.

When he was noosing the string a bishop with seven laden horses rode towards him. "You should not be seen with such a poor creature as that. I will give you seven pounds for it." Yet Manawydan would not let it go. All that the bishop offered him (twenty four pounds, even the horses with all their baggage) he refused.

At last the bishop confessed: "It was I who cast the spell over the Seven Regions of Dyfed to avenge myself on Pryderi, and it was my warriors who were turned into mice. My wife asked to be changed also, and since she is slow with child you were able to catch her. But I will remove the enchantment from Dyfed and return your two friends if you will let my wife go".

Back at court he told Cigfa: "I have caught the thief and will hang it tomorrow". She asked him to release it, saying: "It is beneath your dignity to hang such an animal" but he would not let it go.