MANAWYDAN SON OF LLYR:
A TALE OF LOSS & RECOVERY ©by Athunere

The Mabinogion is a collection of Welsh tales some of which are preserved in the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest. Certain of the tales were written down about one hundred years before the 1300's when the White and Red books were written. It is believed that some of the stories are as old as the eleventh century, and were preserved orally well before they were recorded in written form.

I have chosen as the focus of this paper the tale of “Manawydan Son of Llyr”. As I read through the various stories of the Mabinogion it was this tale that captured my imagination. There are four branches to the Mabinogion. The story of Manawydan is in the third branch.

In this tale the young hero Pryderi befriends Manawydan [man-na-WITH-an] and invites him to his home to meet and marry his mother, Rhiannon. Manawydan has lost his lands, his family and, in fact, his place in the world. Pryderi’s friendship is the vehicle through which he again finds himself at home in the world. However, everything has a cost and sometimes that cost is unseen until it is upon us. Pryderi and Rhiannon are mysteriously taken captive into the Otherworld. Manawydan and Pryderi’s wife, Cigfa are left alone. The land that was fruitful and filled with people, towns, farms, and all manner of life is suddenly desolate.

The main thrust of the tale is the banishment of Rhiannon and Pryderi. But it is also a story of the banishment of Manawydan and Cigfa into a strange time and place where they must travel through foreign lands and make their living in a variety of new ways. They travel from town to town and engage in crafts and trades to make their living. At every town they excel at the trades in which they work and must move on before being harmed by the established craftsmen. Entering each town and quickly becoming the best in their field always leads to jealousy from the town’s folk and so the pair must always move on and start over.

They to move from town to town as their skills become the envy of the townsfolk who threaten their lives. In the end they make their way back to their own land of Dyfed, carrying supplies and seed to sow crops. So begin their efforts to cause their land to grow and bloom once again.

Each time Manawydan grows a crop ready for harvest something comes in the night and eats it up. At the third harvest he sets a trap and catches one of the mice that had been eating the crops. She is a fat mouse and is in fact the pregnant wife of Llwyd [LLOYD] son of Cil Coed. It was he who had placed an enchantment over the land of Dyfed and had captured Rhiannon and Pryderi. This is Llwyd's revenge against Pryderi for injuring his friend Gwawl son of Clud.

Once Manawydan captures Llwyd’s wife he knows he has the means to ask a favour of Llwyd before returning her to him. He is careful and patient in the forming of his request and here proves himself to be wise and thoughtful. He had lost all that was his and then linked himself to a family who owed a debt. Their debt became Manawydan's debt and he caught up in the events that flowed to this friends because of their past deeds.

After much humility, hard work and the guile all he had lost was restored to him. His recovery blessed his friends, restoring to them what they had lost. Manawydan phrased his request to Llywd in just the right way so all was returned to him and his friends with out further harm being done.

I love this tale for several reasons.

Firstly, the friendship Pryderi shows Manawydan is remarkable in its depth and totality. He offers him an equal share in all that he owns, he holds nothing back. He has an open heart towards his friend. I believe Pryderi knew Manawydan was a person he could not only trust, but who was worthy of being fully embraced.

Secondly, a man of high ranking such as Manawydan, though reduced to nothing, still maintains his dignity and excels at all the crafts and trades he needs to engage in to earn his living. Nothing defeats him, nothing stops him, he continues until he has found a way to restore his life. He is truly a non-ordinary man. So often in the world about us hearts fail in the face of far less trials. To me this is a truly heroic man because as long as he has breath he continues to be who he is, he continues to create ways to rise above his circumstances.

Another layer woven within this tale is revealing and curing or undoing the enchantment. One person's desire devastated a land, a people, and a great many animals. Although all was eventually restored, it is interesting Llwyd did not use his army in the physical sense to exact his revenge. He used magic. He used the unseen and wove his revenge behind the fabric of the physical realm, thereby greatly altering that realm. Only when the plot was uncovered, and one of its victims aware of the enchantment, that they were able to stop it and repair the harm that had been done.

Manawydan Son of Llyr speaks to us today regarding the power of insight and intention. To begin with Pryderi had the insight to know that Manawydan was worthy of a deep and lasting friendship. Manawydan had the insight to set his intention to do everything in his power to restore the land of Dyfed and to end the power of the spell that had separated him from his new family. Insight and intention are like knowledge and wisdom, when employed together they can undo great harm and create great good.


Manawydan, Manannan, God of the Sea
Manawydan speaks and in the light he weaves
his words to cure the sick of heart and soul.
Manannan cries and drives the horses of the white foam
towards the land of time and space upon the sea.
Manawydan walks the path you dare to tread
in faith and loyalty your soul was bred.

With you, in stillness or in clamour,
courage rides the crest of the wave.
With you, in quiet or rattled mind,
intention seeks a home and finds it sure.
With you, upon this path of treaded stones
he walks beside and brave of heart is borne.

So on you go, as you have set your feet
have wings and are above the rocky shores.
So now, it is a time to be as you are known
wisdom flows through knowledge gained.
So look, he comes to you, Manawydan Son of Llyr
insight and intention are forever clear!
Manawydan, Manannan, God of the Sea

Athunere is a walker between worlds, a shapeshifter and a dreamer of golden dreams. She is the founder of Wisdom Tree, a Faery Shaman and a seeker of all things that stir her heart. She was born on the Avalon of Newfoundland and presently dwells amid the Great Lakes in Ontario, Canada.

Find her at Wisdom Tree

Manawydan Son of Llyr: A Tale of Loss & Recovery copyright © 2007 by Athunere, all rights reserved. Used with permission. Top of Page

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