Volume 3 Number 3 Article 11

1976

Finder of the Welsh Gods

Dainis Bisenieks

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Recommended Citation Bisenieks, Dainis (1976) "Finder of the Welsh Gods," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 3 : No. 3 , Article 11. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol3/iss3/11

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Abstract Discusses the fantasies of Kenneth Morris based on .

Additional Keywords Fantasy literature—Welsh influences; Morris, enneth.K Book of the Three Dragons; Morris, Kenneth. The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed; Morris, Kenneth. The Secret Mountain; Edith Crowe; Annette Harper

This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol3/iss3/11 Finder BY of the Dainis Bisenieks W e l sh G o d s

A FORGOTTEN FANTASIST in d e e d i s K enneth M o rris , a u th o r o f ation, and so is the godlike or heroic man. This accords per­ two long prose works and a book of stories. L ittle can fectly with M orris's theory and practice. So, King of be recorded of him except his publications--he appears is described in these words: "Yet a dignity akin to that on the scene in England in 1909, when he wrote an intro­ of the Immortal Kindred was upon him, and it was to be seen that duction to Mrs. Annie Besant and the Moral Code b y J o s e p h H. kings would obey when he commanded." But Auden goes on to say Fussell, a polemical pamphlet sponsored by Katherine Tingley. that "The Incarnation...puts an end to all claims of the imagina­ A few years later he studied at the Theosophical community at tion to be the faculty which decides what is truly sacred and Point Loma, California, founded by Mrs. Tingley, where in 1914 what is profane." (The D yer's Hand: "C hristianity and Art") h is book The Fates of the Princes o f Dyfed was issued under the God's work on Earth is no longer done by men whose heroic quali­ imprint of the Aryan Theosophical Press. (Its emblem, in those ties are manifest to the imagination. A Christian w ill in any dear dead innocent days, included both a Shield of David and a event disbelieve M orris's claims to have learned from the theo- Swastika.) It is based on the First Branch of the Mabinogi and sophists the "inward laws...at the heart of all true religion; the name that appears on it is Cenydd Morus--a Welsh form of which proclaim... that that which is now human should be made more his name. The stories in The Secret Mountain (London, 1926) than human, divine." He will not heed the "trumpet call to the are partly on Welsh themes, and his last published book, B ook Divine in each of us ...the Dragon War shout of the ages." But the o f the Three Dragons (New York, 1930), continues a branch of imagination remains a natural human faculty; Tolkien in both the other long tale. This last had a wider public as a Junior p a r t s o f Tree and Leaf reconciled the grasshopper and the ant— Literary Guild selection and got some good reviews, but that is so one could speak of the heartening power of art (including the last we hear of Mr, Morris. Lin Carter reprinted a part of heroic fantasy) which enables man to bear responsibility with the last book, Ursula Le Guin spoke well of it, I checked some grace. One may listen to that trumpet call but not march off standard reference works, and so it was my fate to recognize to i t . the "Morus" book on a bookstore shelf. It is the work of a believer who is fortunately a good storyteller. One may be shy of theosophy and its vocabulary— THE COUNCIL OF THE IMMORTALS s e t s th e e v e n ts o f t h i s t a l e I don't like making utterances about the soul of man--but I in motion; by their doing Prince of Dyfed pursues agree as well as an unbeliever may with his ideas on the uses ___a stag to the shore of a lake where he meets Arawn, King of myth and story, set forth in an interesting preface. Morris of Annwn in the Underworld. Their compact to change places un­ claims the right to rework his sources, as did generations of til Pwyll shall kill is as told in the First Branch, and bards before the tales were written down: there is nothing so is the coming of Rhianon the daughter of Hefeydd. But the sacrosanct about these versions. Scholars agree that their magical hill of Gorsedd Arberth, which in the original is simply characters were once gods, and Morris has restored godhead to there, is here manifested to mortal eyes only after Pwyll's them, so that the tales may work on us as he believes they return. The marvels in M orris's tale are all charged with sig­ should. "The deepest truths of religion and philosophy had nificance. The Hill of the Immortals is for the testing of men. their first recording for the instruction of the peoples, not in Rhianon, who appears to Pwyll after he takes his seat on the the form of treatise, essay or disquisition, but as epics, sagas, h ill, promises him an immortal destiny if he will but follow her and stories." And these "did not seek to tell you things ABOUT counsel. The third time he might disobey, loss and sorrow and the soul...but to present in great pictures that soul itself...." long wanderings would be for him: and so it proves. Morris believed the true function of Romance to be "to pro­ The first time he fails is at the wedding feast at Hefeydd's claim indestructible truth in terms of the imagination," and this court, when he promises to a noble stranger to grant any request; truth was of the upward journey of the soul, "the revelation of in response the Son of Clud claims Rhianon from him. The the divine to the personal principle in man." The Gods propose only instrument of breaking this fate is the Basket of Gwaeddfyd to test Pwyll Prince of Dyfed, seeking to make him one of them. Newynog; he has a year and a day to obtain it. In the original, The testing of Pwyll and of his son , known also as Gwri the basket, with advice on its use, was simply given by Rhianon; Gwallt Euryn, is the matter of this tale. here it becomes the object of a quest, with the well known pat­ As for the Gods, Morris relies on his intuition to extract tern of two failures and a success. Time is running short when their names and natures from the remnants of Welsh lore. He Pwyll and his men meet an old man by his desolate cottage and finds nothing numinous in names like Teutates and Tarannis, are asked to perform some services. Firewood first: the head of known from inscriptions in Roman Gaul. But "Plenydd, Alawn and Pwyll's Hundred offers to fetch some in the old man's basket from Gwron--the Light-bringer, the Lord of Harmonies, the Heartener the Forest of Celyddon. But no matter how much is put in, the of Heroes—they form so perfect a symbol of powers that lie la­ basket is not full; taking the wrong advice, he stamps down the tent in ourselves and in the universe, that if they were inven­ contents and is swallowed up. A second goes to gather rushes and ted by or [others], one would say the invention meets the same fate; finally Pwyll himself goes for the golden was rather a discovery: that they were Gods and Welsh Gods be­ apples of the Orchard of Celyddon and returns successfully. Re­ fore those men were born ...No m atter whether such names are fusing other gifts, he is given the basket and a full knowledge ancient, medieval, or comparatively modern; one would have been of its "peculiarities"—a part of M orris's idiom in this book. put to it to invent them oneself if one had not found them ready The language ought to be described: it can be seen as Cel­ to hand." A familiar idea: if God did not exist, one would tic in inspiration. The incidents are elaborated from the bald have to in v e n t Him! I n v e n t o r is "finder"... and unconvincing narrative of the —with dialogue, with The idea about names sounds fam iliar, too. I have often descriptions of scenes, of men and horses and their trappings. been annoyed at patently contrived names in fantasy stories: The language is magniloquent, sometimes flowery; at times super­ intuition seems to work so much better than invention. In latives are piled on superlatives in the Celtic fashion, and com­ Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books, a being can be known through paratives upon comparatives: "The smallest of them was huger of his true name, and she says she listened for and FOUND the names stature than the king's heir had been; the poorest in adornment in the tales and maps. Those scored with me nearly 100%, and shone more resplendently." This sort of overtopping w ill go the names and epithets given by Morris indeed suggest gods that through several stages in the time-honored manner. At serious were truly believed in. I doubt, though, whether the Druidic moments poetry appears, in praise usually of the Gods and the faith was ever as consistent as this. plan of the universe. But often, too, there is a sly irony in "In a polytheist society," wrote W.H. Auden, "the artists the words of the heroes as they refuse tempting offers or make are its theologians." The sacred is self-evident to the imagin­ light of their difficulties. 29 MYTHLORE 11

So Pw yll a r r i v e s a t th e w edding f e a s t o f Gwawl in th e As in the Mabinogion, Teyrnion Twrf Fliant, King of Gwent guise of a beggar with a basket--a nicely underplayed arrival Iscoed, finds an infant boy dropped by his stable as he watches as three times the enchantment of 's story-telling makes to prevent the magical disappearance of the latest foal of his the guests oblivious of the noise of his overthrowing of great mare. But again Morris has given the Gods a hand in the and piling up of their armor. Gwawl is duly trapped; Pwyll wins matter: they give the king the Three Drops of Wisdom from the his bride. But soon comes his second failure. Setting forth of . Three powers are given him: the Art of to watch on Gorsedd Arberth, he is distracted by a divine smith War in the Midst of Peace, the Art of Peace in the Midst of War, he meets on the way; refusing a spear and a shield, he is at and the Spell of the Wood, the Field and the Mountain: with last tempted to accept a sword--and so proves himself unworthy; their aid he overcomes the enchantments set against him and an enemy then comes to the land, and one of the three Birds of saves the foal. It will be the horse of the young hero, who is Rhianon, the Singers of Peace, is stolen. A year later, he is given the name of Gwri Gwallt Euryn. sent to watch on Gorsedd Arberth again, where visions of flee­ Two chapters now te ll of the testing of "The Nameless One ing countrymen and attacking armies tempt him to leave till at with the M isfortunes," who in thirteen years of wandering has last he cannot bear the dishonor of inaction. More sorrow, and known only sorrow, blame and failure. He meets a bard who names now two of the Birds are gone. Lastly, after the birth of his to him a quest for which he seems to be the right man: one with son Pryderi, he is tempted away by a vision of Rhianon reporting no pride in him. The wanderer pledges not to turn back and not the loss of his son; and thereafter the last bird and the child to leave the bard until the other shall leave him. Though he is vanish; Rhianon (as in the original) is accused of doing away sorely put upon, he keeps faith and comes at last to the Cauldron with her son. Pwyll himself is taken away by Ceridwen, whose of Regeneration, where his fate is made known to him and he who deceptions had tested him, and his memories pass from him. had been Pwyll receives a new name: Manawyddan, son of the The Immortals take counsel again: "Difficult it is, this Boundless. His companion is revealed as the son of Don, raising up of Immortals"--but Rhianon w ill not have her mission the Prince of Wisdom and Laughter. He embarks now on his quest, come to nothing: "You shall have two Gods from this labor of at the end of which he may return at last to Dyfed; but that is mine: Pwyll Pen Annwn and Pryderi fab Pwyll." Though great the subject of the next volume, Book o f the Three Dragons. sorrows await her, she accepts this fate. Having grown to manhood and learned from his foster father the Three Unusual Arts, Gwri undertakes a quest to learn his origins. He comes to the well at Llandybie and there is told what mission he may undertake: to recover the Birds of Rhianon, the Singers of Beauty and Peace. At a castle of sleeping giants he uses the Art of War in the Midst of Peace and frees one of the birds, Aden Lanach. The opposite art, used at a castle of quarreling giants, frees Aden Lonach. The quest of Aden Fwynach proves longer and more difficult. Fighting there is with the Guardian Clan of the King of Bargod, who are there for the testing of men--"Till that which was man is more than man." De­ ception must be overcome. At Caer Hedd, the Spell of the Three Places frees Aden Fwynach, and the men of the castle, like those of the other two, accept their part in the plan which the Immor­ tals have ordained for them. A last quest awaits Gwri: to go to the aid of Rhianon. And before he departs he learns the "peculiarities" of the fil­ let and the golden ring that were on him at his finding and which he has not ceased to wear. With the fillet he takes the burden of old age from an old man met on the road, who then reveals himself as Gwron, the Heartener of Heroes, and soars away in dragon-form. The ring restores the sight of another, again a god in disguise: Plenydd the Sight-Giver. Lastly, within sight of the city, comes a harper who greets him as Pryderi, and who is recognized as Alawn, the Lord of Harmonies. (These are the Three Dragons of the other book's title : the dragon was to Morris "the symbol of spiritual wisdom, spiritual courage, of mastery of the forces of the lower world.") With his counsel he goes forward to the palace where he w ill confront its usurpers. He restores youth and sight to his mother Rhianon, who had sat at the palace gate for twenty years. To the last of Pwyll's men at the palace he gives youth and strength; as a "craftsman bearing his craft" he gains grudging admission to the palace. But his craft is another Unusual Art: restoring thrones to their rightful owners. None can prevail against him; the sovereignty of Rhianon is restored, and with the singing of the Birds of Rhianon the story comes to an end.

B00K OF THE THREE DRAGONS takes up the story of Manawyddan, who is not, as in the Third Branch of the M a b in o g i, a separate personage who m arries a widowed Rhianon, but Pwyll himself reborn. His testing by Gwydion and his rebirth in the Cauldron of Ceridwen are briefly told—there are some differ­ ences from the other version. The quest for which he is needed is the bringing of Bran the Blessed from the Isles of the Blessed to be the Crowned King at London. As a bodiless head he goes with the companions, who are those named in the Second Branch, adapted to M orris's purpose. No , no war in Ireland: only that final voyage on which, at Gwalas in Penfro, Heilyn opens the forbidden door. Unknown to the Companions, the Gods had set in the castle talismans to guard them: the breastplate of Plenydd, which is then stolen by Tathal Cheat-the-Light, and the harp of Alawn—stolen by Gwiawn Cat's-Eye the Sea-Thief. The two gods can now serve neither gods nor men until the treasures shall be r e c o v e r e d . Sadly the Companions bury the head of Bran and separate— and from this point the story is again the author's invention, worked up from names, hints in old books, and his re-creation of druidic philosophy. For names, the story of and is the richest source, with its tremendous list: Tathal is but one o f them . Manawyddan desires to return to Dyfed, but is guided to the Cave of the Trials, where the losses are made known to him. He 30 FINDER OF THE WELSH GODS is tempted with companionship among the Immortals and forgetting of the cares of the world, but perceives that there is a task for him and refuses. He wakes from his vision and soon the first task is made known to him. He follows Aden Lanach to the seashore, where a magical boat takes him to the Isle of Ewinwen Sea-Queen, who is ready to turn him to stone-as other heroes have been trans­ formed there. But he counters her enchantments with the magic of story-telling and song. Seeming treasures he refuses and claims only a leaden disk—which is of course the object he seeks. Quickly he defeats Ewinwen and Tathal; and Plenydd comes to him in dragon-form. The breastplate shall be his while he needs it on h is q u e s t. On another magical boat Manawyddan comes face to face with Gwiawn, but their battle of enchantments is a standoff. The gloves of Gwron are needed to catch and hold the thief, but they must be earned through arduous service to the God. So Manawyddan goes forth to learn three crafts—Subtle Shoemaking, Subtle Shieldmaking, and Subtle Swordmaking—seeking out the right masters and patiently doing them service. Lastly, on the way to present the sword to Gwron, he meets with a chieftain who tells him of a dragon that bars the way ahead. He cannot refuse the encounter, but is he adequately armed? Only the sword he is bearing proves good enough; and the chieftain gives him shoes and shield of the Subtle Making; these prove in the end to be his own work. Forward he goes and endures seven days of fighting with the dragon, who is indeed Gwron Gawr, Heartener of Heroes. At last Manawyddan has earned the Gloves. He is conveyed in another magic craft to the door of Uffern, the very underworld, which he forces, finding there enchanted armies, giants that were kings of old, and bards—all turned to stone. Gwiawn comes to oppose him, magic spell against spell. In his final pursuit of Gwiawn, Manawyddan throws out his trea­ sures, one by one, to slow him down and, with but one shoe and one glove, catches him at the last. He forces him to divest himself of his thievishness and then to play on the harp a spell of awakening to the warriors. Then he takes the harp himself to oppose the sorceries of the underworld, and at the end Alawn himself comes to wield it and do away with all the terrors of hell. So the story of Manawyddan's wandering ends.

NOTHING LIKE THESE STORIES has been w ritten in th is cen­ tury. E.R.Eddison's work might stand comparison, though the sources of his style are different: he too dealt in heroic action and divine purpose. But the exploits of his Demons are by comparison on a human scale, and his gods in Zimiamvia do not need men as allies in fulfilling their purpose. We do not find the systematic testing of the Hero, nor the hyper­ bole, characteristic of folk tale. To enjoy Morris we must accept that and the convention that a Hero can never be anything but heroic. Action, not character, is the center of interest. Some part of the First Branch has been told by Evangeline W alton in The Song o f . Prince o f Annwn now adds Pwyll's struggle in Annwn and the wedding feast, his deception and counter deception. Point-for-point comparison is impossible, so differently have the two built on their common foundation. In Miss Walton's blending of passion, w ill and fate, the first two seem to be paramount. Here it is difficult to see Pwyll/Mana- wyddan and Gwri/Pryderi as characters individualized by their passion and w ill. Kingly pride rules Pwyll, but when he succeeds at Celyddon and fails at Gorsedd Arberth, the temptations are sim p ly g i v e n as resistible or irresistible, as the pattern of the story requires. The work of Morris, with its divine "machin­ ery," is nearer to epic and farther from tragedy. It has a soaring optimism, while Miss Walton's is brooding and full of portents, most of all in Prince o f Annum, where some passages match the worst of Lovecraft.

Forest Gods" tells of a gentle conversion. "Sion ap Siencyn": IT WOULD NOT BE HARD to t e l l t h a t th e s t o r i e s o f T h e S e c r e t a husbandman hears the Birds of Rhianon and centuries pass. M o u n ta in are from the same hand—especially when the same myth The fisherman Wang Tao-Chen converses with the Sages in "Red- appears in several. Men in their successive ensoulments are Peach-Blossom Inlet" and becomes the wisest of m inisters. In travelers on the road toward victory, with the Gods, against the "The Rose and the Cup" a widowed Central Asian queen finds a forces of Chaos on the borders of Space. "The Last Adventures of miraculous ransom to offer a conqueror. "The Apples of Knowledge" Don Quixote" shows the transfiguration of one great soul in such give wisdom—and sorrow—to two contending kings of ancient times. a battle. Varlon Fflamlas in the title story finds his quest The style carries all these stories—as is true of Dunsany taking him back to Babylon where he was a slave and so to cap­ —and it is a more vigorous style, free of irony. Morris did not tivity and death—giving the Gods a victory. "The Divina t r i f l e with his fancies; he did not invent gods for a joke; the Commedia of Evan Leyshon" is the soul-journey of a dying man. Dunsanian letdown is absent here. An inspiriting w riter, as our "Daffodil," a princess of Heaven, sacrifices herself for the sake analytical fictionists are not. I do not believe with them that of the corrupt Spirit of the Earth. ours is a petty age, with Prufrock as its symbol. Interesting In the last two there is a bit too much inveighing. But how fantasy can assert the contrary without ever saying anything I greatly liked "The King and the Three Ascetics," in which the about the shape of this or any other historical time. The Age three are not sure if Atidhanvan Sanaka, bearing the two and of Heroes has never died. thirty marks of perfect birth and the birthmarks of the * * * Chakravartin, truly knows That Brahman. "The Saint and the An earlier version o f this paper was read at Mythcon V. 31