Mabinogion

n. collection of Welsh magic stories and mythology, compilation of Welsh romances

The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. They draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and on early medieval historical traditions. And while some details may hark back to older Iron Age traditions, each of these tales is the product of a highly developed Welsh narrative tradition, both oral and written.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Mabinogion (Welsh) A plural form invented by Lady Charlotte Guest and applied to the Mabinogi and other medieval or earlier romances which she translated from Welsh to English. The Mabinogi proper has four branches: the stories of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed (Pwyll prince of Dyfed); Manawyddan fab Llyr (Manawyddan son of Llyr); Branwen ferch Llyr (Branwen daughter of Llyr); and Math fab Mathonwy. The tales as they come down to us were written down in South Wales some time before the Conquest -- in the last two centuries of Welsh independence -- and are marked by great beauty of style and literary finish. Matthew Arnold compares them to 'peasants' huts built of the stones of Ephesus": the substance of them comes from a profound antiquity which, with its wisdom, the latest tellers of them did not fully understand. As to that antiquity: when Bran the Blessed invaded Ireland, we are told, there was no sea between Wales and Ireland, but only two small rivers. These being unbridged, the question arose, how should the hosts of the Island of the Mighty cross them? A question Bran solved by laying down his body from bank to bank, saying: "He who is Chief, let him be the Bridge," a saying that contains a great part of the secret wisdom of the Druids.
to be continue "Mabinogion2 "