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The Mabinogion

Anonymous,

Thomas Jones (Translator)

Gwyn Jones (Translator)

John Updike (Preface)

3.95 · Rating details · 6,081 ratings · 343 reviews

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)

Preface by John Updike

The 11 stories of The Mabinogion, first assembled on paper in the fourteenth century, reach far back into the earlier oral traditions of Welsh poetry.

Closely linked to the Arthurian legends--King Arthur himself is a character--they summon up a world of mystery and magic that is still evoked by the Welsh landscape ...more

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Hardcover, Everyman's Library), 259 pages

Published February 13th 2001 by Everyman's Library (first published 1150)

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Oct 25, 2010 Mary Jones rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm splitting the difference between my love of the medieval collection (i.e. Y Mabinogi and other Welsh tales) and Lady Charlotte Guest's sometimes-bowdlerized, romanticized, nineteenth-century (and I mean that in the worst possible way) translation (which would garner at best two stars, because I'm feeling generous). The real advantage of this book is if you're interested in the history of how the Mabinogion has been treated in the English language; otherwise, you should decide if you want

a.) ...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Jan-Maat added it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, fantasy, celtic-fringe

The Mabinogion is a collection of Welsh stories preserved in manuscripts from the fourteenth century, but it's assumed that the stories are older than that, they have been translated into English since the eighteenth century and this collection is in that tradition.

The odd thing about collections like this is the need to drop any idea of an original version of the stories. Stories are told and changed, always in flux until they are caught between the pages of a book. Then a version is set in ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 7jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: read part of Welsh history, connection to King Arthur stories

"On the bank of the river he saw a tall tree: from roots to crown one half was aflame and the other green with leaves."

Here is 11 Welsh stories with myth, folklore and history shining through. In a way, they are escapist stories, but real history grounds them. They were mostly written down from oral stories (from storytelling bards) around 13th century, and happen in the forest and valleys of Wales, and the shadowy otherworld connected to it. Each story has its own introduction; there is also a "On the bank of the river he saw a tall tree: from roots to crown one half was aflame and the other green with leaves."

Here is 11 Welsh stories with myth, folklore and history shining through. In a way, they are escapist stories, but real history grounds them. They were mostly written down from oral stories (from storytelling bards) around 13th century, and happen in the forest and valleys of Wales, and the shadowy otherworld connected to it. Each story has its own introduction; there is also a writing on the pronunciation of certain words, plus a map of Wales. The title of the book was established only around 1849, but is actually quite suitable (and short)

People with interest in Arthurian legends will find some familiar stories here, especially towards the end. I didn't find it quite clear if they were influenced by the French collection of stories of Arthur, or the other way around. Most of the stories have some patchwork in making each a story, but really they are easy to follow, though some inconsistencies exist. In my own reading experience, only "Peredur Son Of Evrawg" was clangingly clearly taped-together, and its ending wasn't quite smooth.
The stories have had newer stuff (and values) multilayered over the original, French appearing over Celtic, but some common themes still shine through. Some characters, who appear briefly or in minor character might have had bigger roles and their own stories in the past. Some historical people appear, sometimes under Welsh-name versions.

The stories vary in length. There are some bizarre-amusing etc. elements that stand out, like a Loki-like character, other dimensions of the same place just with no people, vanishing fortresses, people taking mice-forms, guarding virginity by keeping your feet in the maiden's lap, two men as an animal couple (and not just one kind of animal!), a dragon in Oxford, people like a person who
"were he buried seven fathoms in the earth he would hear an ant stirring from its bed in the morning fifty miles away"
donkeys from Greece, having a lion as a friend, a woman described in a way Snow White is usually described - but in this case the cheeks have the red, not the lips - and guaranteed luck in winning against other knights, and plenty of saving maids ::)

Sometimes the repetition in the story was a little boring, but I've read worse. The one story with a pages-long list of companions accompanying one person was bizarre, but sometimes having amusing comments like that ant-quote above.

A strange experience, reading this book. Requiring some patience, but the introduction was well done, and smoothed the experience, improving it and explaning pretty well. A good reading experience with some through-provoking, funny details. ...more

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Mar 27, 2008 Beth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I'm reading the Mabinogion after a childhood spent reading books that were based on these Welsh myths: The Chronicles of Prydain, The Dark is Rising, The Owl Service... I recall that those retellings/recyclings were a bit more user-friendly, but what I love about mythology is the concentrated nature of it. These are oral traditions boiled down to their essence--the versions finally set to paper are meant to communicate what was really important to someone nearly 1000 years ago, from stories that ...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Nikki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: dissertation, classics, medieval-literature, welsh-writing

Supervisor wanted me to use a different translation to my old one (the Everyman 1993 edition). So I had to get this one. It's supposed to be more accurate -- I don't know about that, but it does seem a bit more immediate and colourful than the old Everyman edition. The little I know suggests it is a good translation, and it's certainly readable, and has a full complement of explanatory notes, introduction, etc, which is more than I can say for the Everyman edition. Slightly odd order of tales, ...more

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Mar 17, 2019 Nathanimal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: recently-excited-about, myth-legend

I like mythological and I like medieval but this book is much more than that. There’s a dreaminess to these tales I find so surprising, seductive, and mysterious. They intoxicate me with dream and weird my imagination in wonderful ways.

That said, it’s a very uneven book. The first four “branches” are really where the sauce is. The tales that follow, mostly chivalric Arthurian adventures, can be dry (though interesting for predating any round tables or swanky grails). I’ll make an exception for I like mythological and I like medieval but this book is much more than that. There’s a dreaminess to these tales I find so surprising, seductive, and mysterious. They intoxicate me with dream and weird my imagination in wonderful ways.

That said, it’s a very uneven book. The first four “branches” are really where the sauce is. The tales that follow, mostly chivalric Arthurian adventures, can be dry (though interesting for predating any round tables or swanky grails). I’ll make an exception for the tale of Cuhlwch whose mad crush on Olwen leads uncle Arthur into an epically misguided hunt for a divine boar, which, for some reason, has a comb and a razor and a pair of sheers all caught in the tuft of hair between its ears. The hunt is such an ordeal it kills off nearly every last Briton (which is a shame since the author went to such great lengths to name all of them [phew!]). But Cuhlwch gets the girl in the end, so . . . alls well that ends well?

Anyway. Here’s a list of some of my favorite dream imagery from the book, mostly from the four branches:

- You’re hunting alone in the forest and encounter a stag being chased by brilliant white hounds with blood-red ears. Seeing no one around, you chase the hounds off and let your own dogs feed on the kill. But out of the forest appears the king of the Otherworld who says the stag was his and claims offense. The only way make amends, he says, will be to trade places with him for a year—he will become you and you will become him.

- On the mounting block at the entrance of the castle you meet a woman with beautiful long hair. As you tie up your horse she tells you that to fulfill her punishment she must confess to you all her sins as she carries you up to the royal court on her back.

- There emerges from the lake a giant, hideous-looking man with a cauldron humped on his back. After him emerges his wife who is twice as big and twice as hideous-looking. Someone once tried to kill them in a fire but failed.

- The cauldron has a special power. Leave your dead in it overnight and in the morning they will have returned to life but with one defect: they will have lost the ability to speak.

- The king is enormous. Sometimes he’s too big to fit in his hall, at other times he’s so big he can wade right across the Irish Sea with his navy in his wake. When mortally injured in battle, he tells his men to cut his head from his body and carry it back home. This turns into a long, difficult quest where the men are seduced into magic castles and waste many years at a time in hypnotic trances. But the whole time the head of their king remains alive and the best of company.

- The only way the hero can be killed, he says, is if he’s standing with one foot on the edge of the bath with his other foot on the back of a goat and someone chucks a spear at him. When such a billygoat bathtub* is eventually contrived and the spear strikes him, he dies by transforming into a decaying eagle and flying up into a tree. Every time the eagle ruffles its feathers, rotting eagle meat falls to the ground.

- To punish the two criminals for raping the virgin who cradled the king’s feet in court, the king transformed them into deer, male and female, who were forced by their animal natures to mate with each other. And so after a year they had a fawn, which the king made human and baptized. And then the two were transformed into wild pigs, male and female, and they had a piglet who the king made human and baptized. And the year after that they were transformed into wolves, m & f, and had a cub, who the king made human and baptized. And after three years of that the king transformed them back into their human selves and commanded them to go have a bath.

- Often there are deafening noises that come roaring out of nowhere and seem to cue some intrusion from the Otherworld. It’s not uncommon after such a noise to find the landscape completely devoid of people or to suddenly find oneself standing in front of a vast army of horses and men with banners whipping in the wind.

* Because of this story my spouse and I have begun calling any precarious, death-inducing contraption a “billygoat bathtub.” We invite you to begin using this expression. ...more

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Aug 03, 2009 Cynthia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

This is a group of 12 Welsh legends that feature King Arthur along with other kings. They are stories passed down orally and have mnemonic devices imbedded in them to aide in the telling so they sometimes sound odd to our modern ears. There is so much here that appears in current day literature. There are magical creatures and wells and rocks and carpets, shape shifting, giants, fierce warriors, fair maidens, unbelievably delicious food, and chesslike games, etc. everything that appears in ...more

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May 23, 2009 Mark Adderley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: medieval-literature

This is an excellent translation of the Mabinogion. Unlike Gantz, Davies uses familiar spellings of names, which I like; unlike Jones and Jones, she divides dialogue up into paragraphs--a conversation can be pretty confusing when it's printed as a single paragraph. Above all, though, Davies translates for oral performance--they're wonderful stories to read aloud. Occasionally, when the action is getting intense, Davies will switch to the present tense, as the Welsh originals do. It makes the ...more

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Feb 13, 2009 Eddie Watkins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: froggy princes

Recommended to Eddie by: John Cowper Powys

Shelves: myth

A wonderfully curious collection of old Welsh tales. Not exactly literature, not exactly folktales, not exactly mythology. Like folk tales and mythology it’s the expression of a collective mindset, yet it’s also the product of individual (now anonymous) authors elaborating upon or distilling long existent oral tales, more than likely preserved across centuries by highly skilled bards. The introduction refers to them as Wondertales, actually an official subset of Folktales. Sounds wonderful to A wonderfully curious collection of old Welsh tales. Not exactly literature, not exactly folktales, not exactly mythology. Like folk tales and mythology it’s the expression of a collective mindset, yet it’s also the product of individual (now anonymous) authors elaborating upon or distilling long existent oral tales, more than likely preserved across centuries by highly skilled bards. The introduction refers to them as Wondertales, actually an official subset of Folktales. Sounds wonderful to me.

This collection dates in manuscript from the 14th century, but speculation takes their origins back another 400 years or more. Suffice it to say that these are old stories, with beginnings shrouded in obscurity. They also happen to contain some of the very earliest elaborations of the Arthurian legends.

The style of storytelling is very different from our common present day style. While the language and sentence construction is fairly basic, the narrative threads themselves are very compressed, with less emphasis on the slow rise and fall of dramatic tensions and more simply abrupt happenings and endings. In this regard I found similarities between it and many of the Old Testament tales. It’s as if much more was left up to the reader (or listener), more room given for the play of the receivers’ imaginations, less pre-digested if you will. It took just a little while for me to get accustomed to this, and once I did I was gripped and transported to another time, another mindset; a mindset shrouded in obscurity but definitely still vibrantly alive; a mindset where journeys to and from the Otherworld, talking owls, and ferocious giants come as naturally as meat and drink and a maiden's pale thigh.

There is much debate and speculation about who “owns the rights” to the Arthurian legends. Much of what we know today about them, and HOW we know them, are due to Chretien de Troyes who was writing in the 12th century. From him we got the more courtly and refined Arthurian images expressed in a very literate way, orderly and well-constructed. But (according to many scholars) The Mabinogion predates his works and (according to me and many scholars) presents a set of stories much more robust and rustic, somewhat sketchy and rough-hewn, yet still somehow sophisticated, like a Wildman bedecked with emeralds, much more Grimm than H. C. Andersen.

...more

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Apr 28, 2019 Mark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The contents of this book are:
The Mabinogion “proper” (its four branches, Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan, and Math), The Dream of Macsen Wledig, Lludd and Llefelys, Culhwch and Olwen, The Dream of Rhonabwy, The Lady of the Fountain, Peredur, and Gereint, Son of Ervin.

I used this collection of Welsh tales to gain key insight into connections with the English language by comparing the names of characters and locations to their English counterparts.
Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed is the first tale collected ...more

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Jun 05, 2008 Nikki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: myth-legend-saga-etc, classics, arthurian, welsh-writing

(Sixth book/seventh text in the readathon.)

It's been a long time since I read this in its entirety, if I ever did. I picked it up since I seemed to be on a role with Arthurian stuff, and was surprised to find how many of the stories do have some Arthurian aspect. I was under the impression it was only one or two.

I like the Joneses translation, although the 'thou'ing gets a little irritating and hard to read at times -- perhaps mostly once it's 8am and you haven't slept that night.

Interesting ...more

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Jun 28, 2014 Emily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, folklore

The Mabinogion is a collection of ancient Welsh folk stories, and Lady Charlotte Guest did a brilliant job bringing them into English. She not only made them read like stories and not dry translations, but she added a ton of her own notes and research, like about places in Wales that were still connected with these traditional stories into the nineteenth century when she did her work. (I read this in hard copy, not on Kindle, but I couldn't find the edition I read.)

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Aug 01, 2008 Jeffrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

How does a person even presume to review a book that has survived 700 years, containing stories that survived close to their current form without anyone writing them down for a further 300 years?

I originally picked up the book because Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain is based on Welsh myth, Mabinogion is _the_ collection of Welsh myth, and is even acknowledged by the author as one of his sources. Who would want to read some of the proto-stories that gave us the Black Cauldron, and ...more

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Mar 21, 2015 Suzannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, arthurian, classics

I've always been extremely fond of the Mabinogion, and it was delightful to reread these stories (in Gwyn Jones's translation). Manawydan the son of Llyr and The Lady of the Fountain are two favourites, and I love the distinctive Welshness of these stories.

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May 10, 2018 Terese rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Such a fun read (though the names were a challenge - ”Gwlwlwyd”!?) with some great stories. I thought the Four branches were the best part of it, the Arthurian adventures were ok (especially ”Owein/The countess of the fountain”) but they also show a shift in tone with knightly valor (and more solo adventures) and courtly love. As I find heroes like Peredur a real snore these stories were less interesting to me and harder to get through.

There are a lot of recurring themes and formulaic patterns ...more

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Oct 26, 2009 Fox rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Krissy

Shelves: fiction, 2015, reference, own, folklore

The Mabinogion is a collection of medieval Welsh tales that makes up a rich mythological tradition. The tales themselves are only tangentially related - only one character, Pryderi, appears in all four branches. Nevertheless the tales are fascinating, rich and varied in their interpretation. This translation, Sioned Davies, was recommended to me as a good starting point so I happily took it. I'll likely try out other translations as the year goes on.

Not being too thoroughly versed in Welsh ...more

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Oct 21, 2009 russell barnes rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: medieval-classics, wales

I'd heard of the Mabinogion, but just assumed it was just a Welsh version of Chaucer, and at 2 in a second hand bookshop it seemed a decent gamble.

Having read it, I now seem to have accidentally read three quarters of the key medieval texts about King Arthur. This isn't necessarily a terrible thing as all three have been quite enjoyable, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my new-found knowledge about corrupt folios, Red Books, White Books and the movement of the legends from Wales and ...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Basicallyrun rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asnc-y

I love the stripped-down style of the original tales (well. Apart from the, what, five pages of all the knights that were at Arthur's court that day in one of the tales. I imagine that sounded lovely and lyrical when it was being performed aloud, but in written form it does drag a little) and I think Jeffrey Gantz has done a brilliant job in capturing a slightly archaic, but still perfectly readable cadence here. I also like the way names are left untranslated in the text, but are usually ...more

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Oct 04, 2016 Christine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mythology-folklore-legends

I have read several versions of The Mabinogion, but would love to track down this edition. Illustrations by Alan Lee: what could be better? He names certain of his influences as Arthur Rackham, Edward Dulac, and the Pre-Raphaelites, on his 'author' page here.

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Nov 25, 2017 Lilaia Moreli rated it liked it · review of another edition

Fascinated with all things related to the Celtic tradition, I sought for any written sources associated with mythology and literature that would shed light on the wisdom and worldview of this culture. It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon the Mabinogion in an online research.

The Mabinogion are the earliest prose stories of the literature of Britain, namely Wales. The book is a collection comprised of twelve stories compiled in Middle Welsh during the 12th and 13th centuries from earlier oral ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Helen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: train-read, uk-ir, medieval

Not really a review, but I was asked for an opinion, so:

I'm nowhere near a qualified scholar of anything Welsh; therefore, I probably missed a lot of intricacies. On the top of that, I read the translation that is generally viewed as inferior. But needs (student's ever-empty pockets) must, so free ebook on smartphone during the commute it was.

Things I noticed:
-Invisibility and magic cauldrons play a great part, even in latter, Christian-influenced works. There are some elaborate illusions as Not really a review, but I was asked for an opinion, so:

I'm nowhere near a qualified scholar of anything Welsh; therefore, I probably missed a lot of intricacies. On the top of that, I read the translation that is generally viewed as inferior. But needs (student's ever-empty pockets) must, so free ebook on smartphone during the commute it was.

Things I noticed:
-Invisibility and magic cauldrons play a great part, even in latter, Christian-influenced works. There are some elaborate illusions as well.
-The order is baffling: we start with Arthuriana (three romances plus two of "native tales"), then jump to paganic Four Branches (and shift in the style is very apparent), then turn back to "native tales". Why wasn't the order chronological? Or if you wanted to put more appealing stories in the front, why not shift mythology to the end? It's not just nitpick, shift in style twice over feels quite awkward.
-First, there were sudden lists of The Silmarillion. Then I read some of actual sagas (great source of inspiration) and saw that I got off lightly back then. And then I read Culhwch and Olwen
-Lady Guest mentions possible influences of early medieval Welsh literature on latter medieval romances in the introduction, but I was more stunned by the influence on Fairy Tales. Above-mentioned Culhwch and Olwen alone contains a lot of motives, though there is more to be found in others. I even noticed potential influences to a few folktales from my own region; northernmost parts were inhibited by Celts during the period of their greatest expansion.
-Is it bestiality if they are both shape-shifted and possibly under compulsion to act like animals? Presuming compulsion, is it incest? Presuming one of two is temporarily shape-shifted into a female animal, is it homosexual? (Since it's likely they are aware - it wouldn't be a punishment otherwise.)
-Will no one think of the children? (No, seriously. A lot of people decry treatment of female characters in olden works, but here there is just as much if not more child abuse. And horse abuse, for that matter.)

In the end, this just expanded TBR list instead of shortening it. ...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

First off, this is infinitely more entertaining after just having finished Tears to Tiara, on account of that Celtic mythology translates to anime *so well* that it is actually makes more sense in the context of the show than in literature. I mean, this is perfectly normal behavior for any self-respecting Celtic hero. Totally. Tame for a warp spasm!

Also, you can shout ARAAAWWWNNN every time he shows up. Because why not?

The Chretien/Mabinogion Arthuriana stories are so hilariously broship it's ...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Debra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

For those who are serious about understanding the roots of all storytelling, this is definitely a must-read. This book definitely helps you understand where the most common formulas for storylines come from, consisting of common uses such as the magic number of 3, fairies and the otherworld, and the connections to and from both parallel worlds. This is definitely one of the ultimate classics of European languages. This book is a great collection and documentation of the oral practices of ...more

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Feb 16, 2014 Katrin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cymru-wales-celtic

this book is a classic that I finally had to read. many stories or parts of them were already known to me. now I read the whole mabinogion. of course some parts are pretty much ridiculous from our point of view. but the stories are rich with mystery, history, magic, mythology and most of all love for wales. this is what made me read and enjoy it very much. many places are known to me. what a great collection, for me this ranges in the same league with other sagas I have read, like the edda, ...more

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Jun 10, 2011 GaryandRuth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: celtic-myth, mythology

Wonderful stories from Welsh mythology. Currently re-reading :)

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Jun 22, 2017 Jeff Johnston rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library

11 stories delivered to try and entrap the listener into living and breathing alongside kings and knights and their never ending quests and deeds (some heroic, others not so).

There were passages of magnificent rhythmic poetry describing the champions and their accoutre throughout the whole book "The boy went off on a steed with a gleaming grey head, four winters old, well jointed stride, shell-like hoofs, and a tubular gold bridle-bit in its mouth, with a precious gold saddle beneath him, and ...more

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Sep 29, 2018 Aurelin rated it liked it · review of another edition

You do not really "review" stories like this, you can only say if they click with you or not and show your appreciation.

I have read the stories in a collection of simplified Celtic legends and myths, so this is the first real translation of these stories that I've read, therefore I cannot really compare it to newer translations. I can just say that the translation matched my idea of how these types or stories, legends and myths are translated due to previous experiences with this genre.

I ...more

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Oct 29, 2018 Millie Yule rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I went to great lengths (5 trips to the library) to find this edition of the Mabinogion after the one I was borrowing was no longer available. That is not a feat I would do for just any book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Four Branches, The Dream of Rhonabwy, and Gereint Son of Erbin the most. I especially enjoyed reading them out loud as it’s easier to get the rhythm of reading the way. The introduction by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones was also very interesting. Highly recommend this edition ...more

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Nov 17, 2019 Elen-Hâf rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: shelf

To start with I am a Welsh woman born and raised. Some of these stories I have known since birth, but towards the end of this book I got so bored I started to skim the pages, and then going back to re-read the pages again.
Doesn't mean I didn't like them I just couldn't deal with reading the name of ever man that joined a company or was called to aid someone (there was 4 pages of names of men and women towards the end). I finished it, but I sadly lost interest in it toward the end.

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May 15, 2019 Daryl rated it liked it

I'm glad I read this, but I mostly didn't enjoy it very much. It was hard for me to retain specifics, in part because so many of the names were weird and in part because the stories' events often seem random, with cause/effect and time seeming sort of slippery. I did like some of the individual stories, and it was neat to read some of the Arthurian stories, but on the whole, I read these to get a flavor of some of the history of our literature more than for enjoyment.

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“Since thou wilt not remain here, chieftain, thou shalt receive the boon whatsoever thy tongue may name, as far as the wind dries, and the rain moistens, and the sun revolves, and the sea encircles, and the earth extends; save only my ship; and my mantle; and Caledvwlch, my sword; and Rhongomyant, my lance; and Wynebgwrthucher, my shield; and Carnwenhau, my dagger; and Gwenhwyvar, my wife” — 3 likes

“So they took the blossoms of the oak, and the blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and produced from them a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw. And they baptized her, and gave her the name of Blodeuwedd.” — 1 likes

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