Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/303

Rh is equivalent to that of the goddesses called Matronae (akin to the Matres), whose designation appears in that of the Marne. Mabon means "a youth," and Maponos "the great (or divine) youth," whence he must have been a youthful god. His immortality is suggested by the fact that he had been in prison so long that animals which had attained fabulous ages had no knowledge of him, and only a salmon, older than any of them, knew where his prison was. It carried Kei and Gwrhyr thither on its shoulders, and when Arthur attacked the stronghold, it supported Kei and Bedwyr, who made a breach in the wall and released the captive. Mabon rode a horse swifter than the waves, and he is called "the swift" in the Stanzas of the Graves. The chase of the boar could not take place without him, and he followed it into the Bristol Channel, where he took the razor from it. Reference is made to Mabon's imprisonment in a Triad; and he and Gweir, whose prison is mentioned in a Taliesin poem about Arthur and his men, with LJyr Lledyeith, were the three notable prisoners. Yet there was one still more notable—Arthur, who was three nights in prison in Caer Oeth and Anoeth, three nights in prison by Gwenn Pendragon, and three nights in an enchanted prison under Llech Echymeint; but Goreu, his cousin, delivered him.$11$

Other mythical or magic-wielding personages in Kulhwch are the following. Gwrhyr, who could speak with birds and animals, transformed himself into a bird in order to speak to the boar; and Menw also took that shape and sought to remove one of the boar's treasures, when it hurt him with its venom. He could also make Arthur and his men invisible, though they could see other men. Morvran, son of Tegid Voel, seemed a demon, covered with hair like a stag; none struck him at the battle of Camlan on account of his ugliness, just as none struck Sandde Bryd-angel because of his beauty. Sgilti Light-Foot could march on the ends of tree-branches, and so light was he that the grass never bent under him. Drem saw the