Pwyll

Having finished Paul Murray's excellent SKIPPY DIES (more on that later) I am moving on to look at some of my other booty bought for my day at Hay: notably the two novellas based on stories from the Mabinogion. First, though, I wanted to look back at the source, and after a quick rifle through the Hodmandod bookshelves revealed three versions of the folktales.

An everyman edition translated by Gwyn and Thomas Jones



An illustrated ('Tales from...') edition by Gwyn Thomas and Kevin Crossley-Holland and Margaret Jones.



and, maybe most beautiful and intriguing of all 'Legend and Landscape of Wales The Mabinogi'.


Now, Russell Celyn Jones's THE NINTH WAVE is based on 'Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed', so I am going to investigate that story first, write a quick summary, and then, finally go on to Russell Celyn Jones's book.

I have read the tales before, but the part I remember the most was Ness - the most beautiful women in the world...which takes me back to particularly great part in SKIPPY DIES. There is talk about a Celtic goddesses of real love - the sort of love that is sustained over a lifetime. It is a common feature of all folk stories of every culture, apparently - they all contain a Helen or Ness. However, I shall concentrate first of Pwyll.