Lleu Llaw Gyffes- Celtic GodDeity
Also known as: Llew Llaw Gyffes
Description
His mother cursed him three times — no name, no arms, no wife — and his uncle Gwydion circumvented each through trickery. But the flower-woman made to be his wife betrayed him, and Lleu flew screaming into the sky as an eagle, rotting in an oak tree until Gwydion called him down verse by verse.
Mythology & Lore
Birth and the Three Curses
Lleu's origin was scandalous. When Math fab Mathonwy tested Arianrhod's virginity by having her step over his magic wand, she dropped two infants. The first, Dylan, made for the sea immediately and became a sea creature. The second was caught and hidden by Gwydion, Arianrhod's brother. Humiliated, Arianrhod refused to acknowledge the child and laid three curses upon him: he would have no name unless she gave it, no arms unless she armed him, and no wife of any mortal race.
Gwydion circumvented each curse through trickery. Disguised as a shoemaker, he brought the boy to Arianrhod's castle. When the child struck a wren with a stone, Arianrhod exclaimed that the bright one had a skillful hand, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, naming him unwittingly. Later, Gwydion conjured the illusion of invading ships, and in the confusion Arianrhod armed Lleu herself before realising the deception. For the third curse, Math and Gwydion conjured a woman from the blossoms of oak, broom, and meadowsweet: Blodeuwedd, who had never been born of any race and so could marry Lleu without breaking the prohibition.
The Betrayal
Lleu received lands to rule and seemed blessed, but Blodeuwedd was not bound by gratitude. When Gronw Pebr, lord of Penllyn, came to her hall while Lleu was away, she fell in love with him and together they plotted Lleu's death. Blodeuwedd extracted from Lleu the paradoxical conditions under which he could be killed: neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on horseback nor on foot, by a spear forged only during Sunday mass over the course of a year. She prepared a bath on a riverbank covered by a thatched frame with a goat beside it, and asked Lleu to demonstrate the position, one foot on the bath's edge, one on the goat's back. He trusted her completely. Gronw rose from hiding and cast the spear.
The Eagle and the Vengeance
Lleu did not die but transformed into an eagle with a terrible scream and flew away. For a year he was lost. Gwydion searched until he followed a sow that fed beneath a certain oak tree. Looking up, he saw an eagle perched high in the branches, rotting flesh falling from it to feed the pig below. Through three verses of transformation magic, Gwydion called the eagle down branch by branch. When Lleu was low enough, Gwydion touched him with his wand and restored him to human form, though so wasted that a year of healing followed before he could stand.
Once recovered, Lleu sought justice. He met Gronw at the same riverbank and offered him the same terms, to stand in the impossible position while Lleu cast a spear. Gronw begged to place a stone between himself and the blow. Lleu agreed, but his cast pierced the stone and Gronw together. The perforated stone was said to stand on the banks of the Cynfael river for generations. Blodeuwedd fled but Gwydion caught her and transformed her into an owl, condemned to hunt by night and shunned by all other birds.