The Symbolism Within Pwyll Prince of Dyved

Using Lady Guest's Translation of the Mabinogion

Pwyll Prince of Dyved is a Cymric myth rich on a variety of levels; the human search for centeredness or wholeness; the origins of the immortal soul; and a snapshot of the cultural assimilation by the Celtic tribes of Britain of both the aboriginal inhabitants and the later Celtic invasions of the earlier ones.

Pwyll is made Lord of Anwynn

Pwyll (Prudence)1 is Prince of Dyved, which is that corner of Wales where the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Britain made a stand as the island was repeatedly invaded. Being a culturally separate people, their gods and goddesses had different names, while being invested in similar powers and characteristics. Dyved in the story is adjacent to the Underworld, Annwvyn.2 Dyfed had it's local tribe of gods, and on one level, this story shows the relationships between the older gods and those of the Celtic invaders. Pwyll and his tribe are deities in a process of change, and while they are allied with the Children of Llyr, gods of the darkness, the sea, and the underworld, and hostile to the Children of Don, or Danu, gods of light, the sky and the Upperworld 3, they have some of the attributes of the Children of Don. In this story, Pwyll experiences a shapeshifting adventure that results in his receiving the guardianship of Annwvyn, gaining the name Pen Annwn.4 He receives it from Arawn, a Child of Llyr, and a King of the Underworld.
However, it also is a story of personal growth and the bringing of wisdom from the Underworld, as I shall explain.
The story starts with Pwyll going hunting; as anyone who engages in this activity can attest, a temporary cure for that restlessness and discontent that a person might experience if they felt somehow 'incomplete'. The hunt represents to me the search for part of his soul. He becomes separated from his companions, and in a glade in the forest he sees the Cwn Annwn, the hunting pack of Arawn, King of Annwvyn, pursue and bring down a stag. This stag represents Pwyll's soul5, and the taking of the stag represents Pwyll's death. In this we see the beginnings of the legend of the Wild Hunt, which in it's later developments have Gynn Ap Nudd and his Yell Hounds roaming the world hunting the souls of the dead. Pwyll's efforts to replace the Cwn Annwn with his own dogs represents an effort to negate his own death, which as well as being an impossible task aggrieves Arawn. Pwyll knows he is severely in the wrong, as any hunter can tell you , and attempts to make things right with Arawn. Arawn is appeased, but Pwyll must still go to Annwvyn.
By trying to make things right with Arawn, Pwyll gains the respect of Arawn. They swear eternal friendship. In this spirit of mutual respect, Arawn magickally disguises Pwyll as himself, and himself as Pwyll, for they are to swap kingdoms for a year. Pwyll must go to Annwvyn, but he shall go as King; Arawn shall tend Pwyll's kingdom in his absence. Arawn shows Pwyll a secret path to his castle and kingdom, and returns to the upper world to mind Dyved. This represents a handing on of responsibility as guardian of Annwvyn to Pwyll.6 It does seem strange that such a great decision is made after such a short relationship. It is part of the nature of Underworld experiences that such an exchange of power is based on mutual respect between the parties involved. However, Pwyll has not been picked at random. He was out hunting himself, looking for some part of himself, and was found by Arawn and his dogs. Arawn, after all, has an ulterior motive in all this.
Arawn (Silver-Tongue) is at war with a fellow king or chieftain in Annwvyn, named Havgan (Summer-White)7. Apparently Arawn is unable to defeat Havgan due to the magick of Havgan, which is that if he is struck a second time after a fatal blow, he is healed and presumably (due to Arawns discomfiture) can no longer be injured by his assailant. At any rate, Arawn is helpless before Havgan, and seeks help.
Pwyll is shapeshifted by Arawn and proceeds to his castle, where he is accepted by all as their lord, Arawn. One of the more telling pieces of legend tell how Pwyll did not take advantage of Arawn's hospitality by bedding his wife, but "turned his back to her and slept facing the wall." This shows, to me that Pwyll was not engaged in working with the energies of his anima, but had in fact switched places with his shadow-self.
Pwyll meets Havgan at a Ford, a place of boundary between one world and another, and in single combat fatally wounds him with one stroke. Here is the main lesson Pwyll is here to learn; the correct application of will to a situation. In order to obtain his desired result, he must perform the correct act in the correct way. Expending excess energy (striking a second blow) negates all efforts, and must be shunned. To obtain the correct result requires correct action. All Pwyll has done up to this time has led up to this, and by following though with correct inaction, he gets the desired result.
Things rapidly come to a conclusion. Pwyll receives the submission of Havgan's nobles and annexes his realm. He returns to keep his tryst with Arawn at Glyn Cuch, and the two retake their own shapes. Here Pwyll learns his Dyved had never been so well ruled or been as prosperous as in the past year, and Arawn finds his enemy gone, his domain extended, and 'when he caressed his wife, she asked him why he did so now after the lapse of a whole year.'8
This made the friendship of Annwvyn and Dyved strong, and Pwyll gained the title Pen Annwn, Head of Annwn. Pwyll has learned that to obtain the correct result, one must act correctly, and has brought this knowledge, as well as his personal knowledge of Annwn, back from the Underworld.

Pwyll meets Rhiannon

Pwyll (Prudence) is at Narberth, his chief palace where a feast is being held for him and his men. After the first meal Pwyll goes for a walk, and is told that the mound above his palace, called Gorsedd Arberth, or "Black Gate"9, "is peculiar....that whosoever sits upon the mound cannot go thence without either receiving wounds or blows, or else seeing a marvel."10 This marks the mound as a gateway between the worlds.
Pwyll, stout lad, determines to sit upon the mound and see what happens. He hasn't long to wait; Pwyll and his entourage see a lady on a pure white horse wearing a garment of shining gold, part of which is a veil. She is "...coming along the highway that led from the mound..."11 That is, she rides towards the mound, but cannot be seen unless one is sitting on it. Pwyll sends one of his men to ask her who she is, but the fellow cannot overtake her, even though the horse is moving only at a walk. Pwyll tells him to get a horse and catch her. Despite the white horse proceeding at the same pace, he still cannot overtake her. Pwyll calls it quits for the day. Next day, he tries it again; sitting on the mound. Once again, the lady on the white horse appears. This time Pwyll's man is already mounted, and he still can't catch her. The third day, Pwyll himself makes the attempt. Pwyll himself cannot catch her, so he calls out "O maiden, for the sake of him who thou lovest, stay for me!" "Gladly will I stay, and it were better for thy horse hadst thou asked it long since." Pwyll thinks she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and asks her what is her purpose. Her purpose is to seek him out, which pleases him greatly; then he asks her name. "I am Rhiannon, daughter of Heveydd Hên..."(Heveydd the Old)12
Rhiannon; Rigatona to the Belgic Britons and on the Continent, means "Great Queen". Her first appearance riding a white horse links her with the Gaullic Epona, and marks her as a bringer of dreams and as a moon deity.13 The linkage to a moon goddess is shown in the three attempts that needed to be made to communicate with her. Her aspect as a horse goddess shows her also to be a goddess of death, an association (horses and death) common in Celtic myth14. This is reinforced by her being accompanied by three ravens, the Birds of Rhiannon, who could "sing the dead to life and the living into the sleep of death."15.
Rhiannon is looking for Pwyll because she is in love with him., despite being promised to another. She is a woman of the Underworld, and as is common in myths from many cultures, wants a human as a mate. This may be a way of explaining mythologically the origins of souls. "In an endless cycle of births, it is hard to discover where the soul itself is born."16 Pwyll pledges to meet Rhiannon at Heveydd's palace one year later to ask for her hand. It may seem strange that a pagan death goddess needs to be given away by her Pa; I think we can safely say this is a gloss added by Christian monks. However, Pwyll is at Heveydd's palace at the wedding feast when a stranger comes in. He asks a favor of Pwyll, and Pwyll, feeling generous, says "Anything you want." He has been tricked by Rhiannon's former betrothed, Gwawl ap Clud, who by his appearance "...tall auburn-haired youth, of royal bearing, clothed in a garment of satin."17 and the fact that 'Ap Clud' means 'of light'18,is a type of solar deity. Gwawl asks to sleep with Rhiannon, who is understandably pissed off. She says "You have to agree, on your honor, but put him off for one year." That is agreed to, and Rhiannon has a plan to take care of the troublesome suitor.
At the wedding feast for Gwawl a year later, Pwyll comes with a hundred warriors, and disguises himself as a begger at the feast. He asks for some food, enough to fill a bag he is carrying. This time it is Gwawl who's feeling magnanimous, and he agrees. However, the bag was given to Pwyll by Rhiannon, and it cannot be filled. All goes according to Rhiannon's plan. When Gwawl gets tired of seeing all the victuals going in the bag, he asks what's going on and is told it will never be filled until a man of noble birth and great wealth presses the food in with both feet, saying "Enough has been put therein.". Well, Gwawl is a haughty lad, and determines to do this, and it works; the bag is no longer bottomless, but he is in the bag, which Pwyll pulls up over him and ties, calling in his warriors, each of which gives the bag (and Gwawl) a blow. Gwawl promises to quit his claim to Rhiannon and to not seek revenge, and is set free.
Here we see a variation of the Indo-European solar twins; a god of the dark half of the year (Pwyll) besting a god of the light half of the year (Gwawl). I find significance in the fact that in this case the dark twin, corresponding to the Wren or Holly King overcomes the light twin, corresponding to the Robin or Oak King.I believe Pwyll is , in this context, a melding of the Indo-European dark twin with a pre-existing god of darkness, either of night or the waning year, and his overcoming Gwawl represents the superior position of the pre-Celtic dark god over the Celtic archetype within Dyved.For Dyved, in Pembrookshire, was that corner of Wales where the pre Celtic people of Britain made a stronghold against the Celtic invaders, being of a different race down to Roman times.19
At any rate, here we have a man who has experienced the Underworld and takes a woman of the Underworld as wife, besting the solar deity she was 'betrothed' to. Pwyll replaces the solar deity, marking the continuance of a pre-Celtic archetype in Westernmost Britain

Birth of Pryderi

Rhiannon and Pwyll had been married three years, and Rhiannon had not yet had a child. The nobles of the land came to ask Pwyll to take another wife so as to ensure an heir. Soon after, Rhiannon was with child. At the delivery Rhiannon was attended by seven women. When the baby had been born and Rhiannon was asleep the attendants fell asleep themselves, and when they awoke, there was no sign of the newborn. In order to divert blame from themselves, they took some puppies recently born and killed them, smearing the blood on Rhiannon's face and putting some of the bones in the bed with her. When she awoke and asked for the baby, the women told her she had killed and eaten the baby in the night. Now Pwyll apparently didn't believe this story, but had to make some show of punishing Rhiannon for this alleged deed. She was condemned for seven years to stand by the horse block at the gate of Harberth and relay her story to all who should come by, and she should offer to carry anyone into the castle. The story of the puppies recalls the Roman practice of sacrificing red puppies in the spring to 'avert the baleful influence of the Dog Star on their grain.'20 21 This part of the tale, with Rhiannon appearing to eat her child, shows some relationship to the goddess Cerridwen, who as a Sow-Goddess also had a reputation for eating children, like Gwion. Graves suggests the story fragment illustrates the replacement of a Sow-Goddess of the harvest with a Horse-Goddess of the harvest22, which may reflect the establishment of Celtic people in the lands of the original Iberian folk. Swine are animals that had been stolen from the underworld in various Celtic traditions, which indicates to me that they were an animal associated with the agricultural people the Celts overran in Western Europe. Also, swine are not an animal that lends itself to a nomadic, herding way of life, rather requiring pens and a fixed base of agriculture in order to utilize them.
On a side trail here, who exactly is Cerridwen? The closest to a lineage I have been able to find is The Bard Taliesin's referring to her as 'Cerridwen, Mistress of Awen'23. The similarity between Awen and Anwynn is too close to ignore; could Cerridwen have been Arawn's Lady? As Pwyll is a reflection of Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, Rhiannon is a reflection of Cerridwen, Lady of the Underworld.
The business of standing at the horse block and carrying guests on her back reinforces Rhiannon's position as a horse goddess, and giving birth and then appearing to eat her baby reinforces her position as a goddess of birth and of death, and, as we shall see, rebirth.
The story now jumps to a fellow named Teirnyon Twryv Vliant, Lord of Gwent Is Coed. He had a mare, of which it was said 'neither mare nor horse in the kingdom was more beautiful.'24 On the first of every May she foaled, and no one ever knew what became of the colts. Teirnyon decides he's had enough of this, so he stays up, armed, May Eve to see what's taking the foals. He sees a great arm with a claw on the end of it reach in the window and seize the colt by the mane. He strikes at the arm and severs it, saving the colt. He pursues the monster, but loses it in the dark. When he returns to the barn, he finds a baby, wrapped in satin, with a head of golden blonde hair. Since his wife and himself are childless, they decide to raise the boy as their own, naming him Gwri Wallt Euryn. The boy grew fast, walking before his first year was over, being the size of a three year old; looking six when he was two, and being given the foal of his finding when he was four.
In the clawed arm that stole the foals and had the child I see a reflection of the Formor, children of Domnu, pre-Celtic nature deities of the aboriginal Iberian inhabitants of Britain. Gwri Wally Euryn is obviously no ordinary boy himself.
As the boy grows, his resemblance to Pwyll is apparent to his foster father, and he and his wife agree that it would be wrong to keep the boy as their own, with the Lady Rhiannon bearing the blame for the boy's disappearance. So they travel to Pwyll's castle to return the boy to his true parents.
When the story of the foal and the finding of the boy is told, and his resemblance to Pwyll is noted, Rhiannon says '"...if this be true, there is indeed an end to my trouble."'25 Thus the boy received his name from his mother, as trouble (actually, anxiety)26 is Pryderi in Cymric, and Pryderi he was called from that time forward.
So, Rhiannon's son had not been killed, but had been found in circumstances similar to birth, associated with an ancient nature deity, which legends generally said were in the underworld, or under the sea; the domains of the Children of Llyr It seems to me that there was a gradual shift in which were the preeminent pantheon of the Cymry as they met and assimilated different peoples. Arranged chronologically by preeminence, in this table:

Whether the pre-Celtic deities can be shoehorned into a father-mother-son system is problematical. It is possible from the scarce reports made by literate cultures about these people that they did not have this sort of family structure; they may not have had permanent or semi-permanent mates, instead coupling at will and raising children in common. While Cerridwen is recorded to have had a daughter and a son in the story of the birth of Taliesin, this story is of comparatively recent origin if this theory of pantheon shift is valid. I admit that the story of Taliesin, with it's more recent invocation of Cerridwen throws a monkey wrench in this theory, however it may just as likely be that in the Tale of Taliesin the references to Cerridwen represented at that time a reference to knowledge that had almost been forgotten, which would make sense if it were the elder myth.
So, it seems to me that the tale of Pwyll, Prince of Dyved is a myth explaining the presence of the intermediate, mixed Goidelic-Brythonic pantheon among the Cymry of Dyved, which was the part Wales with some of the original pre-Celtic inhabitants of the land. It could, though, even be a good Welsh pun, relating how Prudence (Pwyll) leads to Anxiety (Pryderi).

Footnotes

1 Graves, Robert; The White Goddess; Noonday Press; 1948; p. 385
2 Squire, Charles; Celtic Myth and Legend; Gresham Publishing Co., Inc,1905; p. 278
3 Ibid.; p. 252
4 Ibid.; p. 278
5 Graves Robert; The White Goddess; Noonday Press, 1948; p.216
6 Matthews, Caitlin and John; Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom; Element Books, Inc. 1994; p. 156 7 Squire, Charles; Celtic Myth and Legend; Gresham Publishing Co., Inc,1905; p. 279
8 Ibid.; p. 282
9 Ibid. p. 282
10 Lady Guest; The Mabinogion; Dover Publications; 1997; p. 5
11 Ibid.; p. 6
12 Ibid.; p. 7
13 McCoy, Edain; Celtic Myth and Magick; Llewellyn Publications; 1996; p. 233
14 Graves, Robert; The White Goddess; Noonday Press; 1948; p. 384
15 Squire, Charles; Celtic Myth and Legend; Gresham Publishing Co., Inc,1905; p. 273
16 Matthews, Caitlín and John: Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom; Element Books, Ltd.;1994; p.301
17 Lady Guest; The Mabinogion; Dover Publications; 1997; p. 7
18 McCoy, Edain; Celtic Myth and Magick; Llewellyn Publications; 1996; p. 297
19 Squire, Charles; Celtic Myth and Legend; Newcastle Publishing Co. Inc.;1975; p. 278
20 Graves, Robert; The White Goddess; Noonday Press; 1948; p. 385
21 Frazer, Sir James; The Golden Bough; Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.; 1922; p. 514
22 Ibid.; p. 385
23 Matthews, Caitlín and John: Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom; Element Books, Ltd.;1994; p.188
24 Lady Guest; The Mabinogion; Dover Publications, 1997; p 12
25 Ibid.; p 13
26 Ibid.; p. 13

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