The Mabinogion (Oxford World's Classics) (5 page)

In the translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones (1948), the tales are presented in the following order:
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi
(‘Pwyll prince of Dyfed’, ‘Branwen daughter of Llŷr’, ‘Manawydan son of Llŷr’, ‘Math son of Mathonwy’);
The Four Independent Native Tales
(‘The Dream of Macsen Wledig’, ‘Lludd and Llefelys’, ‘Culhwch and Olwen’, ‘The Dream of Rhonabwy’);
The Three Romances
(‘The Lady of the Fountain’, ‘Peredur son of Efrawg’, ‘Gereint son of Erbin’). Because of the immense popularity of their translation, these artificial groupings have, to a large extent, influenced our reading of the tales. In the White and Red Book manuscripts the following groupings are common to both: (i) The Four Branches of the
Mabinogi
; (ii) ‘Peredur son of Efrog’, ‘The Dream of the Emperor Maxen’, ‘Lludd and Llefelys’; (iii) ‘Geraint son of Erbin’, ‘How Culhwch Won Olwen’. There may well be no particular rationale behind this—perhaps certain groupings already existed in the scribe’s exemplars. However, it seemed appropriate, for the purpose of the current translation, to reflect the groupings of the extant manuscripts. I also decided to follow the order of the earliest manuscript, placing ‘Rhonabwy’s Dream’, which is not included in the White Book, at the end of the ‘collection’ due to its apparent literary context. The aim, therefore, is to challenge any preconceived notions and to provide a platform from which to re-examine the relationship between the individual tales.

In an attempt to understand the resonances of these medieval
Welsh texts, Explanatory Notes and Indexes of Personal and Place- Names are provided; their aim is to enhance the reading experience by placing the tales in a wider cultural and literary context, and by highlighting the intertextuality of medieval Welsh prose narrative. We can never expect to recover the tradition of reception that existed in medieval Wales. But we can try to recognize the signals, understand the cues, in order to transmit to a modern-day reader these unique theatrical experiences.

Since the emphasis in this translation is on performance, it is important that readers think about how the texts would have sounded to a listening audience, especially the alliterative personal names. Welsh spelling is largely phonetic, with the stress falling almost always on the penultimate syllable, e.g. MabinÓgion, Perédur, Máxen, Llefélys, Géraint, Rhonábwy. The following is meant to be a very rough guide rather than an accurate phonetic description.

As in English, except for the following:

The beginnings of Welsh words change (or mutate) under certain circumstances; for example,
Cymru
(Wales) can appear as
Gymru
,
Chymru
, and
Nghymru
. A mutation also takes place in the second of two words joined together as a compound, thus affecting many of the proper names found in the
Mabinogion
(e.g. Glewlwyd < glew + llwyd; Ewingath < ewin + cath).

Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans,
Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale
(Cardiff, 1988).

Patrick K. Ford,
Math uab Mathonwy
(Belmont, Mass., 1999).

——
Manawydan uab Llyr
(Belmont, Mass., 2000).

Glenys Witchard Goetinck,
Historia Peredur vab Efrawc
(Cardiff, 1976).*

——
Manawydan uab Llyr
(Belmont, Mass., 2000).

Ian Hughes,
Math uab Mathonwy
(Aberystwyth, 2000).*

Melville Richards,
Breudwyt Ronabwy
(Cardiff, 1948).*

Brynley F. Roberts,
Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys
(Dublin, 1975).

——
Breudwyt Maxen Wledic
(Dublin, 2005).

Derick S. Thomson,
Branwen Uerch Lyr
(Dublin, 1976).

R. L. Thomson,
Pwyll Pendeuic Dyuet
(Dublin, 1957).

——
Owein or Chwedyl Iarlles y Ffynnawn
(Dublin, 1968).

——
Ystorya Gereint Uab Erbin
(Dublin, 1997).

Ifor Williams,
Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi
(Cardiff, 1930).*

T. P. Ellis and John Lloyd,
The Mabinogion: A New Translation
(Oxford, 1929).

Patrick K. Ford,
The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales
(Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1977).

Jeffrey Gantz,
The Mabinogion
(Harmondsworth, 1976).

Lady Charlotte Guest,
The Mabinogion from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest, and other Ancient Welsh manuscripts
(London, 1836–49).

Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones,
The Mabinogion
(London, 1948).

Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman, and Brynley F. Roberts (eds.),
The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature
(Cardiff, 1991).

Sioned Davies,
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi
(Llandysul, 1993).

——
Crefft y Cyfarwydd: Astudiaeth o dechnegau naratif yn Y Mabinogion

(Cardiff, 1995).

—— and Peter Wynn Thomas (eds.),
Canhwyll Marchogyon: Cyd-destunoli Peredur
(Cardiff, 2000).

Glenys Goetinck,
Peredur: A Study of Welsh Tradition in the Grail Legends
(Cardiff, 1975).

W. J. Gruffydd,
Rhiannon: An Inquiry into the First and Third Branches of the Mabinogi
(Cardiff, 1953).

Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan (ed.),
Arthurian Literature XXI: Celtic Arthurian Material
(Cambridge, 2004).

Proinsias Mac Cana,
The Mabinogi
(Cardiff, 1977; revised edn. 1992).

O. J. Padel,
Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature
(Cardiff, 2000).

Brynley F. Roberts,
Studies on Middle Welsh Literature
(Lewiston, Queenston, and Lampeter, 1992).

C. W. Sullivan III (ed.),
The Mabinogi: A Book of Essays
(New York and London, 1996).

Rachel Bromwich (ed. and trans.),
Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain
(Cardiff, 1961; revised edn. 2006).

R. R. Davies,
Conquest, Coexistence and Change: Wales 1063–1415
(Oxford, 1987).

Sioned Davies and Nerys Ann Jones (eds.),
The Horse in Celtic Culture
:
Medieval Welsh Perspectives
(Cardiff, 1997).

Miranda Green,
The Gods of the Celts
(Gloucester, 1986).

Daniel Huws,
Medieval Welsh Manuscripts
(Cardiff, 2000).

Dafydd Jenkins (ed. and trans.),
The Law of Hywel Dda
(Llandysul, 1986).

—— and Morfydd E. Owen (eds.),
The Welsh Law of Women
(Cardiff, 1980).

Proinsias Mac Cana,
Celtic Mythology
(London, 1968; revised edn. 1983).

Huw Pryce (ed.),
Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies
(Cambridge, 1998).

Anne Ross,
Pagan Celtic Britain
(London, 1967).

Lewis Thorpe (trans.),
Geoffrey of Monmouth: The History of the Kings of Britain
(Harmondsworth, 1966).

Eirik the Red
, ed. Gwyn Jones.

Wolfram von Eschenbach,
Parzival
, trans. Cyril Edwards, introduction by Richard Barber.

Elias Lönnrot,
The Kalevala
, trans. Keith Bosley.

Thomas Malory,
Le Morte Darthur
, trans. Helen Cooper.

The Poetic Edda
, ed. Caroline Larrington.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
, ed. Keith Harrison and Helen Cooper.

Tales of the Elders of Ireland
, ed. Ann Dooley and Harry Roe.