The Stealing of the Swine (Illustrated)

The Stealing of the Swine (Illustrated)

Math the son of Mathonwy was lord over Gwynedd,

and Pryderi son of Pwyll was lord over twenty-one cantrefs in the south, namely the seven cantrefs of Dyfed, and the seven of Morgannwg, and the four of Ceredigion, and the three of Ystrad Tywi.

At that time Math son of Mathonwy could not live unless his feet were in the lap of a virgin, except when the turmoil of war prevented him. The maiden who was with him was Goewin daughter of Pebin from Dol Pebin in Arvon, and she was the fairest maiden of her generation known at the time. Math found peace at Caer Dathyl in Arfon. He was unable to circuit the land, but Gilfaethwy son of Don, and Gwydion son of Don, his nephews, sons of his sisters, together with the retinue would circuit the land on his behalf. The maiden was always with Math. But Gilfaethwy son of Don set his heart on the maiden, and loved her to the extent that he did not know what to do about it. and behold his colour and face and form were wasting away because of his love for her, so that it was not easy to recognise him. One day Gwydion, his brother looked at him closely.

'Lad, he said, 'what has happened to you?'

'Why,' said the other, “what is wrong with me?'

'I can see that you are losing your looks and colour, and what has happened to you?' said Gwydion.

'Lord brother,' said Gilfaethwy, 'there is no point my telling anyone what has happened.'

“Why is that, my friend?' he said.

'You know of Math son of Mathonwy's special attribute', said Gilfaethwy. 'Whatever whispering goes on between people- no matter how quiet-once the wind catches hold of it then Math will know about it.'

'That's true,' said Gwydion; 'say no more. I know your thoughts; you love Goewin.'

When Gilfaethwy realized that his brother knew what was on his mind, he heaved the heaviest sigh in the world.

“Friend , stop your sighing,' said Gwydion; ' you will not get anywhere like that. The only thing to do is for me to arrange that Gwynedd and Powys and Deheubarth, gather for war, so that you can get the maiden; and cheer up, because I will arrange it for you.'

'Lord,' said Gwydion, 'I hear that some kind of creatures that have never been in this island before have arrived in the South.'

'What are they called?' said Math.

'Hobeu, lord.'

'What sort of animals are they?'

'Small animals whose flesh is better than beef. They are small, their name varies. They are called moch now.

'Who owns them?'

'Pryderi son of Pwyll-they were sent him from Annwfn, by Arawn, king of Annwfn.' (And to this day that name survives in the term for a side of pork, half a hob.)

'Well,' said Math, 'how can we get them from him?'

'I will go with eleven men disguised as poets, lord, to ask for the swine.'

'He could refuse you,' said Math.

“My plan is not a bad one, lord,' he said. 'I will not return without the swine.' 'Very well,' said Math, 'Then go on your way'.

Gwydion and Gilvaethwy, together with ten men, travelled to Ceredigion, to the place now called Rhuddlan Teivi; Pryderi had a court there.

 They entered disguised as poets. They were made welcome. Gwydion was seated next to Pryderi that night.

'Well,' said Pryderi, 'we would like to have a story from some of the young men over there.'

'Our custom, Lord,' said Gwydion, 'is that on the first night we come to a great man, the chief poet performs. I would be happy to tell a story.'

Gwydion was the best story teller in the world. And that night he entertained the court with amusing anecdotes and stories, until he was admired by everyone in the court, and Pryderi enjoyed conversing with him.

When that was over, 'Lord,' said Gwydion, 'can anyone deliver my request to you better than I myself?'

'No indeed,' said Pryderi, 'yours is a very good tongue.'

'Then this is my request, lord: to ask you for the animals that were sent to you from Annwfn.'

'Well,' he replied, 'that would be the easiest thing in the world, were there not an agreement between me and my people concerning them; namely, that I should not part with them until they had bred twice their number in the land.'

'Lord,' said Gwydion, 'I can free you from those words. This is how: do not give me the pigs tonight, but do not refuse me either. Tomorrow I will show you something you can exchange for them.'

That night Gwydion and his companions went to their lodging to confer.

'My men,' said Gwydion, 'We will not get the swine by asking for them.'

'Well,' they said, 'What plan is there to get them?'

'I will make sure we get them .' said Gwydion. Then he drew on his skills, and began to demonstrate his magic, and he conjured up twelve stallions...

...and twelve hounds, each one black with a white breast, and twelve collars with twelve leashes on them, and anyone who saw them would think they were of gold; and twelve saddles on the horses , and where there should have been of iron there was gold, and the bridles were of the same workmanship.

Gwydion came to Pryderi with the steeds and the dogs.

'Good day to you, lord,' he said.

'May God prosper you,' said the Pryderi, 'and welcome.'

'Lord,' he said.

'Here is a way out from what you said last night concerning the swine, that you would not give them away or sell them. You can exchange them for something better. I will give you these twelve horses, fully equipped as they are with their saddles and bridles, and these twelve hounds that you see, with their collars and leashes, and the twelve golden shields you can see over there.' (He had conjured those up out of toadstools).

'Well,' he said, 'we will take advice.' They decided to give Gwydion the swine and take from him in return the horses and hounds and shields.

Then they took their leave, and set off with the swine.

'My brave men', said Gwydion, 'We must move quickly. The magic will only last until tomorrow'.

(First, they travelled through the district of Creuddyn.)

And that night they journeyed as far as the upper part of Ceredigiawn, to the place which, from that cause, is called Mochdrev still.

And the next day they took their course through Melenydd, and came that night to the town which is likewise for that reason called Mochdrev between Keri and Arwystli.

And thence they journeyed forward; and that night they came as far as that Commot in Powys, which also upon account thereof is called Mochnant, and there tarried they that night.

And they journeyed thence to the Cantrev of Rhos, and the place where they were that night is still called Mochdrev.

“My men,” said Gwydion, “we must push forward to the fastnesses of Gwynedd with these animals, for there is a gathering of hosts in pursuit of us.” So they journeyed on to the highest town of Arllechwedd, and there they made a sty for the swine, and therefore was the name of Creuwyryon given to that town.

And after they had made the sty for the swine, they proceeded to Math the son of Mathonwy, at Caer Dathyl. And when they came there, the country was rising. “What news is there here?” asked Gwydion. “Pryderi is assembling one-and-twenty Cantrevs to pursue after you,” answered they. “It is marvellous that you should have journeyed so slowly.” “Where are the animals whereof you went in quest?” said Math. “They have had a sty made for them in the other Cantrev below,” said Gwydion.

The Royal Family

The Royal Family

Don.........................Cassiepiea

Math...........................Cepheus

Aranrhod................Andromeda

Lleu Llaw Gyffes..........Perseus

In order to understand the birth of Llew Llaw Gyffes it is first necessary to demonstrate the astronomical mechanics pertaining to the story of Perseus' rescue of Andromeda. Ovid tells the story the best and while Manilius' somewhat racy treatment is also good on the astronomy, the episode is more neatly summarized by Apollodorus:

Arriving in Ethiopia, which was ruled by Cepheus, he (Perseus) found the king's daughter Andromeda exposed as prey to a sea monster; for Cassiepeia, the wife of Cepheus, had claimed to rival the Nereids in beauty, boasting that she surpassed them all. The Nereids were enraged by this, and Poseidon, who shared there anger, sent a sea-flood and a monster against the land. Now Ammon had prophesied deliverance from this calamity if Cepheus' daughter Andromeda were offered as prey to the monster, and compelled by the Ethiopians, Cepheus had done so and tied his daughter to a rock. As soon as Perseus saw her, he fell in love, and promised Cepheus that he would destroy the monster if he would give him the rescued girl as his wife. When oaths had been sworn to this effect, Perseus confronted the monster and killed it, and set Andromeda free.

This cast of characters, Cepheus the king, Cassiepeia the queen, Andromeda the princess and Perseus the hero comprise the constellation group known to astronomers as The Royal Family, a fifth member of this group is the southern constellation Cetus, The Sea Monster.ⁱ The episode is clearly astronomical in origin, that is, it was composed in order to describe the movements of these constellations.

The sea monster approaches.............Perseus cofronts it, slays it.............and saves Andromeda

Perseus rescues Andromeda from Cetus

Welsh tradition, (even if our knowledge of this tradition comes to us from a comparatively late date) insists that the constellation of Cassiepiea was known in Wales as Don, the shadowy mother figure in Math. We also know from comparative mythology that Perseus and Llew are cognate figures and that it is likely, for the reasons I have given above, that in celtic Gaul and Ireland the constellation of Perseus was known as Lugus and Lugh Lamfhada respectively. I have also shown that although Aranrhod ferch Don was associated in Wales with the constellation Corona Borealis, this only refers to the sea-girt fortress or Caer of Aranrhod, and a close inspection of her tradition in Wales reveals a remarkably detailed resemblance to that of Andromeda, daughter of Cassiepiea, our Don, mother of Aranrhod. I also demonstrated that Math vab Mathonwy shares all his key characteristics with the constellation Cepheus. His very name Bearborn son of Little Bear, his ownership of a wand, his kingship of the North, the fact that he has his feet in the 'lap' of a virgin, his inability to do a 'circuit' of his realm, his occupation of the dragon throne and finally his residence at Caer Dathyl which stems from a word meaning 'to turn, in the north'; all of these statements are true for both Math and the constellation of Cepheus. Each of these identifications was arrived independently, i.e. without reference to each other, and so it was surprising to find that the principal characters in the Lleu episodes from Math vab Mathonwy are all identifiable with the constellations which represent the principal characters in the Perseus/Andromeda episode from the Greek version of 'The King and his Prophesied Death'. I say a little surprising because although we might expect the characters in Math to correspond with the characters from the Perseus myth, simply because they belong to the same tale type, the author of Math seems more concerned with describing the associated astronomy. But this is not stargazing and telling stories round the campfire, rather it is a sophisticated response to the figures who represent star formations on the classical stereographic projections or planispheric constellational charts. It turns out then, that these are not isolated identifications, on the contrary, they form a coherent group of celestial figures known as 'The Royal Family' who are intimately linked to the international popular tale 'The King and is Prophesied Death', a tale which underlies 'Math vab Mathonwy'.

Cassiepeia or Don: 'The lady in the town with breasts'.

Andromeda or Aranrhod: The Fettered Lady.

Cepheus or Math vab Mathonwy: (Bear born son of the Little Bear), King of the North

Perseus the Hero or Llew Llaw Gyffes

iPegasus is also sometimes included in this group.

Aranrhod and Andromeda

Aranrhod and Andromeda.

All this begs a question. Is there any evidence to show that Aranrhod was ever associated with Andromeda in Welsh traditions? It can be shown that the respective traditions of Aranrhod and Andromeda are remarkably similar. Both are associated with constellations, both are princesses, both are beautiful 'virgins', both have 'snow white arms', both are associated with a rock or rocks at the edge of, or in, the Ocean. Both are central to legends of oceanic inundations. Both are associated with chains or fetters, Andromeda is famous as The Chained Lady and the Taliesin persona refers to the 'fetter of Arianrod':

My beloved is below,
In the fetter of Arianrod
It is certain you know not
How to understand the song I utter,

In the Etymologies. Isidore of Seville informs us that: “...There a rock is displayed which still retains traces of the fetters of Andromeda.”. Likewise, in reference to a variant of the Fourth Branch, Lewys Mon penned: "My plaint concerning a maid is greater than (that of) Math hen son of Mathonwy. The arm of a chaste white-armed wise maiden was every night his pillow, Arianrhod white as snow; that man might not live without her.". AchilIes Tatius, in the second century, writing of a painting by Evanthes of 'Perseus and Andromeda', described Andromeda thus : 'Her white arms were extended, and lashed to the rock; but their whiteness partook of a livid hue, and her fingers were like those of a corpse'. Andromeda is chained to a rock by her parents and Arianrhod too suffers the same indignity of imprisonment in very similar circumstances as those described of Andromeda:

"Over her, Luminary of the countryside, is a keeper as strong as the wall, an angry husband, a veritable churl of low degree, who is skilled in watching a woman; and again, there is her father with his eyes (upon her) and her mother, and this is all the worse for me. The lissom lady dare not jump onto the cliff, these people will not let her."

The Fettered Lady

These lines from Kadeir Kerrituen in the 'Book of Taliesin' supply further detail:

I saw desperate fighting in Nant Ffrancon
Early on Sunday morning between raptors and Gwydion.

On Thursday, for sure, they went to Anglesey
to look for a crafty one, and for enchanters.

Arianrhod, famed for her appearance surpassing the radiance of fair weather, her terrifying was the greatest shame (to come) from the region of the Britons;
a raging river rushes around her court,,
A river with its savage wrath beating against the land:
destructive its snare as it goes round the world
(Bede's books don't tell lies).

In [Manilius, Astronomica 1st century A.D., Book 5, p.344-351] the story of Andromeda is described thus:

"There follows the constellation of Andromeda, whose golden light appears in the rightward sky when the Fishes have risen to twelve degrees. Once on a time the sin of cruel parents [Cepheus and Cassiopeia] caused her to be given up for sacrifice, when a hostile sea in all its strength burst upon every shore, the land was shipwrecked in the flood, and what had been a king's domain was now an ocean. From those ills but one price of redemption was proposed, surrender of Andromeda to the raging main for a monster [Cetus, the sea-monster] to devour her tender limbs.

..."Then as soon as the procession reaches the shore of the tumultuous sea, her soft arms are stretched out on the hard rocks; they bound her feet to crags and cast chains upon her; and there to die on her virgin cross the maiden hung. Even in the hour of sacrifice she yet preserves a modest mien: her very sufferings become her, for, gently inclining her snow-white neck, she seemed in full possession of her liberty. The folds of her robe slipped from her shoulders and fell from her arms, and her streaming locks covered her body.

..."You, princess, halcyons in circling flight lamented and with plaintive song bewailed your fate, shading you by linking their spans of wing. To look at you the ocean checked its waves and ceased to break, as was its wont, upon the cliffs, whilst the Nereids raised their countenance above the surface of the sea and, weeping for your plight, moistened the very waves. Even the breeze, refreshing with gentle breath your pinioned limbs, resounded tearfully about the cliff-tops.

There is here a close correspondence with the traditions surrounding Aranrhod, in particular the phrase 'Andromeda, whose golden light appears in the rightward sky' where one is strongly reminded of "Arianrhod of famous beauty, surpassing the hue of sunshine." from (the poem mentioned above) Ceridwen's Chair in B.T., but also themes such as the weeping of the waves and the wind resounding tearfully 'about the cliff-tops', but now we are reminded of Dylan Eil Ton, Aranrhods aquatic son. Compare also the phrase, “and again, there is her father with his eyes (upon her) and her mother, and this is all the worse for me. The lissom lady dare not jump onto the cliff, these people will not let her." with “Once on a time the sin of cruel parents [Cepheus and Cassiopeia] caused her to be given up for sacrifice, when a hostile sea in all its strength burst upon every shore” and, “ a raging river rushes around her court, A river with its savage wrath beating against the land” with, “destructive its snare as it goes round the world the land was shipwrecked in the flood, and what had been a king's domain was now an ocean”. 

Caer Aranrhod is not the only tradition relating to land lost to the sea in these parts, Aranrhod's son Dylan 'as soon, as he was baptized he made for the sea. And there, as soon as he came to the sea, he took the nature of the sea' (Translation by Will Parker) surely relates to the huge glacial erratic on the shore, a mile and a half to the south of Caer Aranrhod, known as Maen Dylan, which appears to be eternally about to dive in to the the ocean, ( I suspect that Maen Dylan may have been brought from somewhere nearby and deliberately placed at this precise point). Then about a mile and a half to the north of Caer Aranrhod is the Iron-age hill fort known as Dinas Dinlle, The City of Lleu's Fort (Dylan's twin) which is actually still crumbling into the sea. The legends of the loss of Cantref Gwaelod and of Llys Helig to the sea are also part of a broader pattern of ancient memories of the permanent inundation of an earlier, extended Welsh coastline.

Aranrhod and her equidistant sons, Lleu and Dylan.

The pale beige line is the present beach.  But perhaps it is only the most recent coastline? Looking further east, ten or more, (highly pixelated darker blue) physical features can be discerned are these indications of even earlier coastlines  In fact, the visible evidence, from these Google maps alone suggests multiple episodes of catastrophic coastal erosion due to major storm events and to rising sea levels.

The coast overlain with an aerial photo showing the circular formation of Caer Aranrhod and her equidistant twins Lleu and Dylan.

Recent research has indicated that this area of the Welsh coast is particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion. This from a recent paper: Welsh Coastal Storms, December 2013 & January 2014 – an assessment of environmental change. Editors: Catherine Duigan, Nicola Rimington, Mike Howe

'We have significant evidence of the impact of historical storm events in Wales, with numerous examples cited by Davies & Jones (2014). These include reports of wrecks of the Great storm of 1859, which scattered wrecks along the whole of the Welsh coast, and a quote from Giraldus Cambrensis on the winter of 1171-2:

“The wind blew with such unprecedented violence that the shores of South Wales were completely denuded of sand….the seashore took on the appearance of a forest grove, cut down at the time of the flood….The tempest raged so fiercely that conger eels and many other fish were driven up on the high rocks…”

Looking back over the longer term, the last 2000 years or so, we know from work by Bristow (2009, 2011) at Morfa Dinlle in north Wales that there is evidence of storm events. Bristow identified the presence of around 20 low-angle erosion surfaces, tentatively interpreted to have been formed during storm events. From dating information and the number of erosion surfaces, the evidence suggests that the storm erosion events which formed these may have occurred on a 100 year time scale'.
https://naturalresources.wales/.../welsh-coastal-storms-december-2013-and-january-2

The graves of Dylan and Lleu are recorded in 'The Stanzas of the Graves'. Lleu's grave is 'under cover of the sea'.

Britain around 7000 BC.

Britain around 3000 BC. 
Note the shrinking coastline along the Llŷn and Anglesey.

These are clips from an animation which you can find on YouTube @ Sea Level Rise: 13,000 bp to 5,000 bp in the British Mesolithic - TemporalMapping.org. A short description reads: ''Sea level is calibrated to Global Sea Level estimates with data points at 1000 year intervals. This model does not yet account for isostacy, or glaciation'.

However, this amply illustrates how this part of North Wales was witness to radical changes to the coast throughout the mesolithic and the neolithic - changes which would, no doubt, have been of great interest to the local inhabitants. It is noteworthy that certainly two of the sites resulted from the retreating ice sheet some 13,000 to 10,000 years ago; Dinas Dinlle was built on 'an isolated mound of glacial drift 'known as a drumlin, Maen Dylan is a glacial erratic, I'm less sure of how Caer Arianrhod was formed, information is hard to find, but I wouldn't be surprised if this striking feature was also linked to rising sea levels and the retreating ice sheet. These three remarkable, stand-out features were all part of this otherwise low-lying post glacial landscape. Could they have been chosen as the repository of the tale of Aranrhod and her twin sons Dylan and Lleu in order to alert future generations to the relentless onslaught by the sea on the land?

A map illustrating predicted future land loss due to rising sea levels caused by global warming. Note the west coast of Anglesey and Morfa Dinlle on the north coast of Gwynedd.

Some recent Headlines:

Entire Welsh village to be evacuated before it’s lost to the sea

Residents of a ‘sinking’ town are hoping for £100million in compensation after authorities said they should be evacuated. A report said Fairbourne, a village in the north Welsh county of Gwynedd, would see sea levels rise by one metre over the next century, eventually becoming lost to the sea.

Ashitha NageshThursday 11 Feb 2016 11:04 am. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

Erosion and rising seas threaten Wales's most beautiful beaches

Historic sites at risk from storms and tidal surges
National Trust report calls for action to tackle crisis

The Guardian. Steven Morris. 13.02.2007

The story continues....

There's a very good informative general introduction on the wider implications of changing sea levels - past, present and future - for Britain's coasts available on Youtube: Time Team Special 26 (2007) Britain's Drowned World.