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Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys
Welsh
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1975
6 people want to read
About the author
Brynley F. Roberts
18 books2 followersBrynley F. Roberts (3 February 1931 – 17 August 2023), known as Bryn Roberts, was a Welsh scholar and critic, who wrote significantly on the Welsh language and Celtic history.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 12, 2024
[read for my translation course]
March 29, 2008
Wow, this site even has books written in Middle Welsh! This is one of the stories in the Mabinogion I just finished, and it was really tough to translate, but worth it. It's about a king of Britain (Lludd) who has to deal with three other-worldly oppressions that come to the island. It's nice and short, but a good tale.
November 29, 2022
Not the most memorable of the stories collected in the Mabinogion, but still with its own interest. It's short, and sounds more like a folk tale than the others, risking absurdity and managing to avoid it by the slightest of margins.
The brothers of the title become respectively the King of Britain and the King of France. The island of Britain is suffering from three plagues/afflictions. The solutions are unheroic, with the possible exception of the third, which does require armed combat though no one is killed.
The second affliction is caused by the screaming of two dragons locked in annual combat. The solution is not to kill them, but wait till they are exhausted and fall to earth as small pigs, trap them in a container of the best mead, wait til they've drunk it and fallen asleep, and then carry them to the mountains and hide them. It's a long way from Beowulf and perhaps more attractive.
The usual Dias format; introduction, text, notes and glossary. An appendix contains a version of the tale found in the chronicles of Ellis Gruffudd.
I am too grateful to anyone who edits these books for English speakers to quibble, but although the preface says 'it is hoped [it] may make a convenient introduction to Middle Welsh' the notes seem aimed at someone with an advanced knowledge of grammar and Middle Welsh and seem less helpful than other DIAS editions.
The brothers of the title become respectively the King of Britain and the King of France. The island of Britain is suffering from three plagues/afflictions. The solutions are unheroic, with the possible exception of the third, which does require armed combat though no one is killed.
The second affliction is caused by the screaming of two dragons locked in annual combat. The solution is not to kill them, but wait till they are exhausted and fall to earth as small pigs, trap them in a container of the best mead, wait til they've drunk it and fallen asleep, and then carry them to the mountains and hide them. It's a long way from Beowulf and perhaps more attractive.
The usual Dias format; introduction, text, notes and glossary. An appendix contains a version of the tale found in the chronicles of Ellis Gruffudd.
I am too grateful to anyone who edits these books for English speakers to quibble, but although the preface says 'it is hoped [it] may make a convenient introduction to Middle Welsh' the notes seem aimed at someone with an advanced knowledge of grammar and Middle Welsh and seem less helpful than other DIAS editions.
April 10, 2021
"Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys" (or, The Story of Lludd and Llevelys)
Another tale of heroism, and conquering three plagues by stealth. **
Another tale of heroism, and conquering three plagues by stealth. **
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews