The Mabinogian a guest post by Andrew Richardson
The Mabinogian
I first became fascinated by traditional Welsh tales when I was about six or seven. A storyteller told a few children’s versions in a television programme (Jackanory), and I was captivated by the powerful warlords, beautiful women, and remote locations. All these were woven together to tell stories more subtle than the traditional English and continental fairy tales I was used to.
I found out years later that these stories were a medieval Welsh collection called The Mabinogion. I quickly brought the paperback and devoured them all. My favourite became the story of King Math of Gwynedd, who must keep his foot in the lap of a maiden or he will expire. Despite the unpromising premise, it’s a wonderful tale of power, love, war and intrigue to match anything I’ve ever read.
As a writer, these stories appeal because they lack detail. That provides a golden opportunity to flesh out one-dimensional characters and add sub plots to the stories’ otherwise bare bones. In Math’s story, we’re not even told what Math’s affliction is, or why his foot needs a maiden, giving the writer a golden opportunity to make up something to fit the story’s key part.
That’s why I decided to write King Math’s story, and the novel became ‘The Footholder’s Tale’. I loved being able to make up the characters’ personalities and the reason for the foot holding lark. Because the story was set in an unspecified almost mythical Welsh past, I could even set it at whatever time I liked (I chose Roman Wales).
It was the character of the Footholder, though, that most fascinated me. For a character so central to the story, we know so little about her – only that she is called Goewin, and is a beautiful maiden from an obscure place called Dol Pebin. I could make up any characteristics I liked, and chose to shape the story around her. I made her quiet and shy and somewhat overawed by living with a king. But, I also gave her a quiet determination and a willingness to stand up to bullying priests and royals. Her character moulded her into the plot I wanted and let me build the novel around her.
Purchase your copy of ‘The Footholder’s Tale’ on Amazon.
I first became fascinated by traditional Welsh tales when I was about six or seven. A storyteller told a few children’s versions in a television programme (Jackanory), and I was captivated by the powerful warlords, beautiful women, and remote locations. All these were woven together to tell stories more subtle than the traditional English and continental fairy tales I was used to.
I found out years later that these stories were a medieval Welsh collection called The Mabinogion. I quickly brought the paperback and devoured them all. My favourite became the story of King Math of Gwynedd, who must keep his foot in the lap of a maiden or he will expire. Despite the unpromising premise, it’s a wonderful tale of power, love, war and intrigue to match anything I’ve ever read.
As a writer, these stories appeal because they lack detail. That provides a golden opportunity to flesh out one-dimensional characters and add sub plots to the stories’ otherwise bare bones. In Math’s story, we’re not even told what Math’s affliction is, or why his foot needs a maiden, giving the writer a golden opportunity to make up something to fit the story’s key part.
That’s why I decided to write King Math’s story, and the novel became ‘The Footholder’s Tale’. I loved being able to make up the characters’ personalities and the reason for the foot holding lark. Because the story was set in an unspecified almost mythical Welsh past, I could even set it at whatever time I liked (I chose Roman Wales).
It was the character of the Footholder, though, that most fascinated me. For a character so central to the story, we know so little about her – only that she is called Goewin, and is a beautiful maiden from an obscure place called Dol Pebin. I could make up any characteristics I liked, and chose to shape the story around her. I made her quiet and shy and somewhat overawed by living with a king. But, I also gave her a quiet determination and a willingness to stand up to bullying priests and royals. Her character moulded her into the plot I wanted and let me build the novel around her.
Purchase your copy of ‘The Footholder’s Tale’ on Amazon.
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