Mabinogi
Irish and Welsh names are IMPOSSIBLE, so I am forced to take notes when I read mythology. I'm too used to Greek and Roman myths. I have just finished the four branches of the Mabinogi as translated by Patrick K. Ford. Let me know if I got confused somewhere.
Pwyll: lord of Dyfed (southwest Wales); became Head of Annwfn; sat on the magical mound of Arberth and saw the woman on a magic horse; married Rhiannon, father of Pryderi.
Arawn: king of Annwfn, exchanges places with Pwyll; not extremely possessive of his wife.
Hafgan: another king of Annwfn, whom Pwyll has to kick out for Arawn.
Annwfn: the Otherworld, or part of it. Red and white dogs appear, meaning Pwyll is crossing world boundaries.
Rhiannon: some type of horse-goddess; daughter of Hyfaidd Hen; proposes marriage to Pwyll but has to deal with her other suitor because Pwyll said something stupid; mother of Pryderi and accused of killing him after birth. Marries Manawydan after the death of Pwyll. Is captured by an enchanted basin.
Hyfaidd Hen: some guy with a court, father of Rhiannon.
Gwawl: son of Clud; other suitor of Rhiannon, who has a plan to trap him in a bag so that he would give her up.
Pryderi: born in Arberth to Pwyll and Rhiannon after some years of infertility; disappears after birth, so that his caregivers are afraid for their lives and so accuse Rhiannon of killing him; but in fact appeared in another county next to a magic mare; adopted by Terynon Twrf Liant and called Gwri Golden-hair; named Pryderi (anxious) when Rhiannon learns he is alive; marries Cigfa at the end of the first branch. Survives the fight with the Irish in the second branch. Killed by Gwydion because the latter is an ass.
Terynon Twrf: lord of Gwent Is Coed; owns a magical mare who gives birth to a foal every May eve, which then disappears; one night Terynon keeps vigil over the foal and fights off a claw which comes through the window; he keeps the foal but finds a little boy next to him; the boy grows and Teyrnon recognizes Pwyll's features and returns his son, only to continue fostering him.
Cigfa: daughter of Gwyn Gohoyw son of Gloyw Gwallt Lydan son of Casnar Wledig.
Llŷr: Irish Lir, originally a god of the sea. Seems that Rhiannon is also related to him but I can't find this in the branches.
Branwen: from the Llŷr family, daughter of him and Penarddun, sister of Bendigeidfran and Manawydan; half-sister to Nisien and Efnisien; marries Matholwch, king of Ireland; mother of Gwern; is abused and trains a bird to ask Bendigeidfran for help. She's a little sensitive.
Bendigeidfran: Bran the Blessed, so may be the Irish Bran; brother of Branwen; a giant guy who's too big for any ship and makes a good bridge. Takes an army to Ireland to save his sister from her maltreatment. His magic head is buried in London.
Manawydan: brother of Branwen; equivalent of Irish Manannan mac Lir; also has connections to the sea. Marries Rhiannon after the death of Pwyll. Threatens to hang a mouse.
Nisien: son of Penarddun and Euroswydd and so half-brother to Branwen and her brothers; a good guy.
Efnisien: full brother of Nisien and a dick; only learns of Branwen's marriage after the fact and mutilates Matholwch's horses in revenge, which causes the whole mess. He later throws Gwern into the fire. Then sacrifices himself in the magic cauldron so it breaks and can't be used by the Irish.
Matholwch: king of Ireland; visits the Llŷr family to propose but doesn't leave his ship until he knows he'll get married; is never quite the same after Efnisien acts like a butt; gets the magic cauldron that brings warriors back to life and that was owned by Llassar Llaes Gyfnewid; father of Gwern.
Gwern: son of Branwen and Matholwch. Not lucky.
Pryderi, Manawydan, Flifieu, Eil Taran, Taliesin, Ynawg, Gruddyeu son of Muriel, and Heilyn son of Gwyn Hen: only these escape the battle fought between the Irish and Welsh. Branwen escaped with them but died of a broken heart.
Assembly of the Noble Head: the eighty years that the seven survivors spent living it up in Gwales in Pembroke, until they wake up and finally go to London to bury the head of Bendigeidfran.
In Ireland, no one survived except five pregnant women who have five sons, who marry each other's mothers. The five districts of Ireland are named after them.
After the enchanted mist at Arberth (again the magic place) in the third branch, couples Rhiannon and Manawydan, and Pryderi and Cigfa, are all alone and support themselves in various ways in Dyfedd and then in England. Finally Pryderi and then Rhiannon are captured by touching a magic basin; Cigfa and Manawydan continue to support themselves until Manawydan, by becoming a farmer, makes a huge breakthrough in discovering the source of the magic.
Fat mouse: one of the many thieves who steals the grain that Manawydan was about to harvest; because of its "pudginess," Manawydan is able to catch it. Though mice are easily killed, Manawydan decides to treat it like a thief and hang it. Several people (actually the same person in disguise) walk by and say that a mouse isn't worth his trouble, but he refuses to give it up. The fat mouse is actually the pregnant wife of Llwyd son of Cil Coed.
Llwyd son of Cil Coed: a friend of Gwawl, Rhiannon's former suitor, who decides to avenge Gwawl's treatment in the magic bag by enchanting Dyfedd, capturing Pryderi and Rhiannon, and stealing Manawydan's grain. He reverses all of this and leaves in exchange for his wife's freedom.
Math, son of Mathonwy: king of Gwynedd, brother of Dôn, uncle of Gwydion, Aranrhod, and Gilfaethwy; immortality apparently depends on resting his feet in the lap of a virgin, in this case Goewin.
Dôn: equivalent of Irish Danu, a mother goddess (Danube), sister of Math, mother of Gwydion, Gilfaethwy, and Aranrhod.
Goewin: daughter of Pebin, Math's footholder, raped by Gilfaethwy and then married to Math.
Bleiddwn, Hyddwn, and Hychdwn: sons of Gilfaethwy and Gwydion, were changed into human form and became champions in some lost story or other.
Gilfaethwy: rapes Goewin because he loves her, then gets punished by birthing/siring animal children with his brother.
Gwydion: tricks Pryderi into attacking Math and slays him, while his brother can have Goewin while Math is at battle; punished by being changed into a different animal a year and returning each time with the baby animal he birthed or sired with his brother (they changed genders each year); fosters his nephew Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Has strange ideas about women.
Aranrhod: or Arianrhod, a daughter of Dôn; candidate as Math's new footholder but apparently failed a virginity test during which she birthed two sons, Dylan and Lleu Llaw Gyffes.
Dylan: son of Aranrhod; apparently some wild kid who made for the sea ASAP.
Lleu Llaw Gyffes: son of Aranrhod, who didn't like him for some reason (proof of non-virginity?); cursed to be named and armed by none but his mother, who was tricked into doing both, and to not marry any woman of an existing race.
Blodeuedd: a woman created out of flowers, thus Lleu Llaw Gyffes was able to marry her; fell in love with Gronw; changed into an owl for adultery and/or planning to kill her husband.
Gronw: lord of Penllyn, was taken in by Blodeuedd after a hunt; they almost killed Lleu Llaw Gyffes, who later returned and took revenge; the stone he held between himself and the flying spear didn't help.
Arberth: a lot of magic happens here.
Pwyll: lord of Dyfed (southwest Wales); became Head of Annwfn; sat on the magical mound of Arberth and saw the woman on a magic horse; married Rhiannon, father of Pryderi.
Arawn: king of Annwfn, exchanges places with Pwyll; not extremely possessive of his wife.
Hafgan: another king of Annwfn, whom Pwyll has to kick out for Arawn.
Annwfn: the Otherworld, or part of it. Red and white dogs appear, meaning Pwyll is crossing world boundaries.
Rhiannon: some type of horse-goddess; daughter of Hyfaidd Hen; proposes marriage to Pwyll but has to deal with her other suitor because Pwyll said something stupid; mother of Pryderi and accused of killing him after birth. Marries Manawydan after the death of Pwyll. Is captured by an enchanted basin.
Hyfaidd Hen: some guy with a court, father of Rhiannon.
Gwawl: son of Clud; other suitor of Rhiannon, who has a plan to trap him in a bag so that he would give her up.
Pryderi: born in Arberth to Pwyll and Rhiannon after some years of infertility; disappears after birth, so that his caregivers are afraid for their lives and so accuse Rhiannon of killing him; but in fact appeared in another county next to a magic mare; adopted by Terynon Twrf Liant and called Gwri Golden-hair; named Pryderi (anxious) when Rhiannon learns he is alive; marries Cigfa at the end of the first branch. Survives the fight with the Irish in the second branch. Killed by Gwydion because the latter is an ass.
Terynon Twrf: lord of Gwent Is Coed; owns a magical mare who gives birth to a foal every May eve, which then disappears; one night Terynon keeps vigil over the foal and fights off a claw which comes through the window; he keeps the foal but finds a little boy next to him; the boy grows and Teyrnon recognizes Pwyll's features and returns his son, only to continue fostering him.
Cigfa: daughter of Gwyn Gohoyw son of Gloyw Gwallt Lydan son of Casnar Wledig.
Llŷr: Irish Lir, originally a god of the sea. Seems that Rhiannon is also related to him but I can't find this in the branches.
Branwen: from the Llŷr family, daughter of him and Penarddun, sister of Bendigeidfran and Manawydan; half-sister to Nisien and Efnisien; marries Matholwch, king of Ireland; mother of Gwern; is abused and trains a bird to ask Bendigeidfran for help. She's a little sensitive.
Bendigeidfran: Bran the Blessed, so may be the Irish Bran; brother of Branwen; a giant guy who's too big for any ship and makes a good bridge. Takes an army to Ireland to save his sister from her maltreatment. His magic head is buried in London.
Manawydan: brother of Branwen; equivalent of Irish Manannan mac Lir; also has connections to the sea. Marries Rhiannon after the death of Pwyll. Threatens to hang a mouse.
Nisien: son of Penarddun and Euroswydd and so half-brother to Branwen and her brothers; a good guy.
Efnisien: full brother of Nisien and a dick; only learns of Branwen's marriage after the fact and mutilates Matholwch's horses in revenge, which causes the whole mess. He later throws Gwern into the fire. Then sacrifices himself in the magic cauldron so it breaks and can't be used by the Irish.
Matholwch: king of Ireland; visits the Llŷr family to propose but doesn't leave his ship until he knows he'll get married; is never quite the same after Efnisien acts like a butt; gets the magic cauldron that brings warriors back to life and that was owned by Llassar Llaes Gyfnewid; father of Gwern.
Gwern: son of Branwen and Matholwch. Not lucky.
Pryderi, Manawydan, Flifieu, Eil Taran, Taliesin, Ynawg, Gruddyeu son of Muriel, and Heilyn son of Gwyn Hen: only these escape the battle fought between the Irish and Welsh. Branwen escaped with them but died of a broken heart.
Assembly of the Noble Head: the eighty years that the seven survivors spent living it up in Gwales in Pembroke, until they wake up and finally go to London to bury the head of Bendigeidfran.
In Ireland, no one survived except five pregnant women who have five sons, who marry each other's mothers. The five districts of Ireland are named after them.
After the enchanted mist at Arberth (again the magic place) in the third branch, couples Rhiannon and Manawydan, and Pryderi and Cigfa, are all alone and support themselves in various ways in Dyfedd and then in England. Finally Pryderi and then Rhiannon are captured by touching a magic basin; Cigfa and Manawydan continue to support themselves until Manawydan, by becoming a farmer, makes a huge breakthrough in discovering the source of the magic.
Fat mouse: one of the many thieves who steals the grain that Manawydan was about to harvest; because of its "pudginess," Manawydan is able to catch it. Though mice are easily killed, Manawydan decides to treat it like a thief and hang it. Several people (actually the same person in disguise) walk by and say that a mouse isn't worth his trouble, but he refuses to give it up. The fat mouse is actually the pregnant wife of Llwyd son of Cil Coed.
Llwyd son of Cil Coed: a friend of Gwawl, Rhiannon's former suitor, who decides to avenge Gwawl's treatment in the magic bag by enchanting Dyfedd, capturing Pryderi and Rhiannon, and stealing Manawydan's grain. He reverses all of this and leaves in exchange for his wife's freedom.
Math, son of Mathonwy: king of Gwynedd, brother of Dôn, uncle of Gwydion, Aranrhod, and Gilfaethwy; immortality apparently depends on resting his feet in the lap of a virgin, in this case Goewin.
Dôn: equivalent of Irish Danu, a mother goddess (Danube), sister of Math, mother of Gwydion, Gilfaethwy, and Aranrhod.
Goewin: daughter of Pebin, Math's footholder, raped by Gilfaethwy and then married to Math.
Bleiddwn, Hyddwn, and Hychdwn: sons of Gilfaethwy and Gwydion, were changed into human form and became champions in some lost story or other.
Gilfaethwy: rapes Goewin because he loves her, then gets punished by birthing/siring animal children with his brother.
Gwydion: tricks Pryderi into attacking Math and slays him, while his brother can have Goewin while Math is at battle; punished by being changed into a different animal a year and returning each time with the baby animal he birthed or sired with his brother (they changed genders each year); fosters his nephew Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Has strange ideas about women.
Aranrhod: or Arianrhod, a daughter of Dôn; candidate as Math's new footholder but apparently failed a virginity test during which she birthed two sons, Dylan and Lleu Llaw Gyffes.
Dylan: son of Aranrhod; apparently some wild kid who made for the sea ASAP.
Lleu Llaw Gyffes: son of Aranrhod, who didn't like him for some reason (proof of non-virginity?); cursed to be named and armed by none but his mother, who was tricked into doing both, and to not marry any woman of an existing race.
Blodeuedd: a woman created out of flowers, thus Lleu Llaw Gyffes was able to marry her; fell in love with Gronw; changed into an owl for adultery and/or planning to kill her husband.
Gronw: lord of Penllyn, was taken in by Blodeuedd after a hunt; they almost killed Lleu Llaw Gyffes, who later returned and took revenge; the stone he held between himself and the flying spear didn't help.
Arberth: a lot of magic happens here.