Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/91

 negative part of the formula: the situation in which he could be slain was invented either by his wife Blodeuwedd or by Gronw Pebyr. [The reason why Llew says the positive part of the formula as well may be confusion with the Separate Soul, where the giant himself says how he can be slain.]

The fabrication of the magical spear may reflect some traces of an old belief in the childhood of mankind that every new and better weapon was a magical one; metal weapons were of course regarded with great awe, and their fabrication was naturally considered as a magical performance; a trace of this creed is found in the belief that blacksmiths are cunning people who can perform magical things, so we find in St. Patrick's prayer, vv. 48, 54:

In modern Japan the fabrication of a sword is a religious performance.

The other main difference from the Aided Conroí is the fact that Llew was not yet killed: he was only transformed into an eagle (R.B. 766, VV.B. 197 ab: Ac ar gwenwyn wayw y vwrw ay vedru yn y ystlys yny neita y paladyr o honaw a thrigyaw y penn yndaw. Ac yna bwrw ehetvan o honaw ynteu yn rith eryr a dodi garymleis anhygar. Ac ny chahat y welet hynny allau). There are two possibilities: either Gronw has made some mistake or Llew was really killed. Now Mabinogion does not mention any mistake, and so we should expect that Llew was really killed; if we find that he was transformed, this agrees with primitive ideas