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The group of stories known collectively as The Four Branches of the Mabinogi contains some of the most fascinating and vigorously disputed material in the entire medieval Welsh literary corpus. It is in the first of these four tales, Pwyll Prince of Dyfed, that the enigmatic figure of Rhiannon features most prominently. The text is full of tantalizing hints that she is more than simply a British chieftain's daughter who happens to take a fancy to the Prince of Dyfed. Rather, she seems to be a complex blend of euhemerized Celtic goddess, fairy mistress, folktale heroine, and elegantly imagined literary character. In this discussion I shall be focusing on two specific incidents in the first Branch which may help shed light on certain aspects of this mixed parentage.
Pwyll tells the story of the early career and marriage of the Prince of Dyfed and the plot falls fairly neatly into three sections. In the first Pwyll meets the Otherworld king Arawn while hunting and exchanges forms and kingdoms with him for the space of a year. The second section deals with Pwyll's meeting with and subsequent marriage to Rhiannon, daughter of Hefeydd Hen. In this part, Pwyll first encounters his future bride by sitting upon a magic mound near his court at Arberth, from which he observes Rhiannon riding by on a slow-moving white horse. No matter how fast his messengers gallop after her, they are unable to overtake the lady until Pwyll on the third try calls out to her to wait. They then arrange to marry, despite the fact that Rhiannon has been promised to another man, Gwawl son of Clud. Pwyll foolishly manages to promise away his wife at the wedding feast, but a year later wins her back by following her clever advice to trick Gwawl into climbing into a magic sack. In the third section, the story has advanced three years and there are grumblings at court because Rhiannon has not produced an heir. Pwyll rejects advice to divorce her and she soon thereafter gives birth to a son. The baby then vanishes mysteriously from his mother's chamber and the terrified maidservants smear puppies' blood on Rhiannon to frame her for infanticide and cannibalism. While Rhiannon suffers penance by sitting...