Pwyll- Celtic HeroHero"Prince of Dyfed"

The Exchange with Arawn

While hunting in Glyn Cuch, Pwyll came upon a stag brought down by a pack of white, red-eared hounds. Not recognising them as Otherworldly, he drove them off and set his own dogs on the kill. The owner appeared: Arawn, king of Annwn. Pwyll had committed a grave discourtesy, and Arawn demanded satisfaction. The two struck a bargain: they would exchange forms for exactly one year. Pwyll, in Arawn's shape, would rule Annwn and sleep beside Arawn's queen; Arawn, in Pwyll's form, would govern Dyfed. At the year's end, Pwyll was to meet and slay Hafgan, an enemy king making war on Annwn, with a single blow, for a second strike would restore him.

Pwyll ruled Annwn wisely, and none suspected the exchange. Each night he shared a bed with Arawn's queen but never touched her, turning his face to the wall. At the appointed time he met Hafgan at a ford, struck once, and Hafgan fell mortally wounded. Hafgan begged for a finishing blow, but Pwyll refused. When the two kings resumed their proper forms, each found the other had ruled well. Arawn marvelled at Pwyll's chastity and honour, and the two swore eternal friendship. Pwyll received the title Pen Annwn, Head of Annwn, and Arawn later sent gifts of magical pigs to Dyfed.

The Wooing of Rhiannon

Pwyll sat upon Gorsedd Arberth, a magical mound where the sitter would either witness a wonder or suffer a blow. He saw a woman in gold on a pale horse riding past the mound. Day after day his riders pursued her, but though her horse seemed to walk slowly, none could overtake her. Finally Pwyll himself called out, asking her to stop. She did, chiding him: it would have been better for his horse if he had asked sooner.

The woman was Rhiannon, of Otherworld origin, fleeing a forced betrothal to Gwawl fab Clud. She had sought Pwyll specifically. Following her instructions, Pwyll attended the wedding feast Gwawl had arranged and tricked the unwanted suitor into a magical bag. With Gwawl humiliated and defeated, Pwyll married Rhiannon, and in time she bore him a son.

The Loss of Pryderi

On the night of the child's birth, the six women set to guard mother and infant fell asleep, and when they woke the baby was gone. Terrified of punishment, they killed a puppy, smeared its blood on the sleeping Rhiannon, and accused her of devouring her own child. Unable to prove her innocence, Rhiannon accepted a humiliating penance: to sit at the mounting block outside the court, telling her story to every visitor and offering to carry them on her back. The child had been snatched by a monstrous claw and appeared in the stable of Teyrnon Twrf Liant, who raised the boy as Gwri Wallt Euryn. When the child's resemblance to Pwyll grew unmistakable, Teyrnon returned him to Dyfed. Rhiannon was vindicated and named the boy Pryderi, "worry," for the care his loss had caused her.