Llwyd fab Cil Coed- Celtic SpiritSpirit

The Wasteland of Dyfed

The Third Branch of the Mabinogi tells how Llwyd fab Cil Coed laid an enchantment upon the land of Dyfed so thorough that it erased all signs of habitation. His motive was vengeance: years earlier, during the wedding feast of Pwyll and Rhiannon told in the First Branch, the suitor Gwawl fab Clud had been tricked and humiliated. Gwawl was lured into a bag and beaten by Pwyll's men in a game they called "Badger in the Bag." Llwyd, as Gwawl's friend and kinsman, bided his time and struck back at those who had wronged him.

His spell fell upon Dyfed like an invisible plague. After a clap of thunder and a fall of mist, every person, animal, and dwelling vanished from the land, leaving only Manawydan, his wife Rhiannon, their son Pryderi, and Pryderi's wife Cigfa. The four wandered the empty countryside, surviving on hunting and eventually leaving Dyfed entirely to seek their living in England as craftsmen. But Manawydan was driven back to Dyfed each time, and there Llwyd's enchantment continued to work against them. Pryderi and Rhiannon were themselves ensnared, lured by a golden bowl in an enchanted fort and frozen in place, then vanished entirely.

Manawydan's Counter-Stroke

Manawydan, now alone with only the frightened Cigfa, turned to farming. He planted three fields of wheat, but before each harvest, the crop was destroyed overnight by what appeared to be mice. On the third night, Manawydan kept watch and caught a single mouse, slower than the rest because she was pregnant.

He announced that he would hang the mouse as a thief. As he constructed the tiny gallows on the mound of Arberth, three strangers appeared in succession, each offering greater ransoms for the mouse's life. The last was Llwyd himself, disguised as a bishop, for the mouse was his own wife, transformed along with his entire warband into the mice that had ravaged the wheat.

Forced to negotiate, Llwyd agreed to Manawydan's terms: lift the enchantment from Dyfed entirely, release Pryderi and Rhiannon, and swear never to take revenge again. The mist lifted, the people and animals of Dyfed returned, and the wasteland was restored. Llwyd's elaborate vengeance, sustained across years and achieved through layers of transformation magic, was undone by one man's patience and a pregnant mouse caught in a wheat field.