Gwawl fab Clud- Celtic GodDeity

The Stolen Bride

In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, Gwawl arrives at the wedding feast of Pwyll and Rhiannon at the court of Hefeydd Hen. Before Pwyll can act, Gwawl secures from Hefeydd a promise of Rhiannon's hand, a pledge her father cannot break. Rhiannon, who had chosen Pwyll over her father's wishes, devises a plan to undo the arrangement. She instructs Pwyll to return in one year disguised as a beggar carrying a small bag. At the appointed feast where Gwawl expects to claim his bride, the disguised Pwyll asks only that his bag be filled with food. But the bag, enchanted by Rhiannon, can never be filled no matter how much is poured in. When Gwawl himself steps into the bag to press the food down, Pwyll draws it shut around him.

Badger in the Bag

With Gwawl trapped in the bag, Pwyll's men rush in and each strikes the bag in turn, asking "What is here?" and answering "A badger," establishing the game of Badger in the Bag (Broch yn y Cwd). The humiliation is complete: an Otherworld lord beaten and kicked at what was to be his own wedding feast. Gwawl is forced to renounce all claim to Rhiannon and to pledge that he will seek no revenge. He departs bruised and shamed, and Pwyll and Rhiannon are married. But the renunciation proves insufficient. In the Third Branch, Gwawl's kinsman Llwyd fab Cil Coed reveals that the enchantments plaguing Dyfed, the disappearance of its people and the barrenness of its lands, were his revenge for the indignity Gwawl suffered. The game of Badger in the Bag reverberates across generations, a humiliation that cannot be absorbed without consequence.