Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/306

192 Gwythur, March, and Arthur, the latter's being anoeth bid ("the object of a difficult search"); and Arthur's horse Cavall, not his dog Cavall or Caball (as in Nennius and Kulhwch, where Bedwyr held it in leash), is mentioned in another poem.

Arthur's expedition to Annwfn in Kulhwch, where Annwfn Is equivalent to hell, lying to the north, is paralleled by another in a Taliesin poem to which reference has already been made.$15$ Arthur and others went in his ship Prydwn (Prytwenn in Kulhwch, where it goes a long distance in the twinkling of an eye $16$) over seas to Caer Sidi for the "spoils of Annwfn," including the magic cauldron of Penn Annwfn, and apparently to release Gweir, who had been lured there through the messenger of Pwyll and Pryderi. While Annwfn was spoiled, Gweir "grievously sang, and thenceforth till doom he remains a bard"; but the expedition was fatal to many who went on it, for "thrice Prydwn's freight" voyaged to Caer Sidi, but only seven returned.$17$ This recalls Cúchulainn's similar journey to Scáth for its cauldron and cows;$18$ and there is also a parallel in Kulwch, where one of the treasures desired of the hero by Yspaddaden is the cauldron of Diwrnach the Irishman, who refused it when Arthur sent for it. Arthur then sailed for Ireland in his ship, and Bedwyr seized the cauldron, placing it on the shoulders of Arthur's cauldronbearer, who brought it away full of money.$19$ Another treasure which Kulhwch had to obtain, but of which there is no further mention, is the basket of Gwyddneu, from which the whole world might eat according to their desire, this basket resembling Dagda's cauldron.$20$

The Guinevere incident in Geoffrey is differently rendered in Welsh tradition. A Triad says that the blow given her by Gwenhwyfach (her sister in Kulhwch) caused the battle of Camlan,$21$ and another Triad speaks of Medraut's drawing her from her royal seat at Kelliwic and giving her a blow, while he is also said to have outraged her. Medraut at the same time consumed all the food and drink, but Arthur