Jeffrey's Reviews > The Mabinogion

How does a person even presume to review a book that has survived 700 years, containing stories that survived close to their current form without anyone writing them down for a further 300 years?

I originally picked up the book because Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain is based on Welsh myth, Mabinogion is _the_ collection of Welsh myth, and is even acknowledged by the author as one of his sources. Who would want to read some of the proto-stories that gave us the Black Cauldron, and Arwan, and Fflewddur Fflam (how can you not love that name), and Taran.

So the question you lazy ones want answered is, "How much did he borrow?" so you don't have to read it yourself. Well, lets see here. Arwan is definitely a character in the Mabinogion (a Greek Hades equivalent with his own Persephone story (Rhiannon)). There is a story involving a cauldron that can bring people back to life (without the capability of speech) and even a vaguely similar destruction myth (living hero inside bursting the cauldron). There are stories about people from Llyr, there is a couple stories of wallets that can always contain more food. If you wanted a quick overview, it is clear that he took parts of the stories and crafted something new that in many cases would fit with the old.

I enjoyed it and will probably read it again some time. It got me wanting to read Le Morte D'Arthur (I have a copy somewhere) and to play Gwyddbwyll

Just to mention, I love love love this edition. It is pocket sized, hard bound with a bound in bookmark ribbon. The paper and font is very readable (as is the translation).