Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/156

100 by the fact that no husbandmen can till or dress a certain field for Kulhwch, " so wild is it, save Amæthon, son of Don; he will not follow thee of his own free will, and thou canst not force him."$15$ He also brought animals from the gods' land—a roebuck, whelp, and lapwing belonging to Arawn— and this led to the battle of Godeu, in which, aided byGwydion, he fought Arawn. Gwydion changed trees and sedges into combatants, as he had transformed fungus into hounds and horses. On either side fought personages who could not be vanquished until their names were discovered, but Gwydion affected the course of the battle by finding the name of Arawn's mysterious helper. Bran—a mythic instance of the power of the hidden name, once it becomes known to another.$16$

Whether as a survival from myth or from later folk-belief, the stars are associated with some of these divinities. The constellation of Cassiopeia is called "Dôn's Court"; Arianrhod is connected with the constellation Corona Borealis; and the Milky Way Is termed "Gwydion's Castle," because he followed It in chasing Blodeuwedd across the sky—an obviously primitive myth.$17$

The Mabinogion of Branwen and of Manawyddan are connected and concern the families of Pwyll and Llyr.$18$ The Llyr group consists of his sons, Bran and Manawyddan; their sister, Branwen; and their half-brother, Nissyen and Evnissyen. As Bran sat on a rock at Harlech, vessels arrived bearing Matholwych, King of Ireland, as a suitor for Branwen. He was accepted, and a feast was made for him in tents, for no house could hold Bran. But Evnissyen the mischief-maker mutilated Matholwych's steeds, and the king Indignantly left, returning only when Bran gave him gifts. Including a cauldron which restored life to the dead, though they remained dumb. This cauldron was obtained from two mysterious beings who came out of a lake In Ireland, the man bearing the cauldron, and the woman about to give birth to an armed warrior; but they and their descendants were so