Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/307

Rh by doing likewise at Medraut's court and leaving neither man nor beast alive. Medraut resembled Hir Erwn and Hir Atrym in Kulhwch, who wherever they went ate all provided for them and left the land bare;$22$ although another view of him is found in a Triad which speaks of the blow given him by Arthur as "an evil blow" and of himself as gentle, kindly, and fair. Guinevere seems to have had an ill character in Welsh tradition, a spiteful couplet speaking of her as "bad when young, worse later." $23$ Her name means "white phantom or fée," from gwen ("white") and hwyvar, a word cognate with Irish siabur, siahhra ("phantom," "fairy"), the corresponding Irish name being Finnabair;$24$ and this seems to point to her divine aspect, just as Etain was called bé find'' ("white woman") by Midir. A Triad speaks of three Guineveres, all wives of Arthur, with different fathers; but Celtic myth loved triple forms, and the different Guineveres, Llyrs, Manawyddans, etc., may have been local forms of the same divinity.

The departure of the wounded Arthur to Avalon, though mentioned by Geoffrey, does not occur in native Welsh story; yet in other sources which refer to it there is probably to be found a Brythonic tradition on the subject. In the Vita Merlini attributed to Geoffrey, Avalon appears as Insula Pomorum, or "Isle of Apples," where the labour of cultivating the soil is unnecessary, so abundant is nature. Grapes and corn grow plentifully, and nine sisters, of whom Morgen is chief, and who can take the form of birds, bear rule there. These nine recall the nine maidens whose breath boiled the cauldron of Annwfn, and the bird sisters perhaps recur in the Perceval story where Perceval, attacked by black birds, kills one which turns to a beautiful woman whom the others bear away to Avalon.$25$ In another description the island lacks no good thing and is unvisited by enemies. Peace, concord, and eternal spring and flowers are there; its people are youthful; there is no old age, disease, or grief; all is happiness, and all things are in common. A regia virgo rules it, more