The First Branch of the Mabinogion

My reading of the First Branch of the Mabinogion. It is rather long, so I have split it in two and will (hopefully) upload the second part soon.

The ‘Mabinogion’ is a collective name for eleven medieval Welsh tales contained in two manuscripts, the White Book of Rhydderch and Red Book of Hergest, dated c.1382-1410. I am not a language expert - or even an amateur - but the general consensus is that the original meaning of the title was simply ‘tale’ or ‘story’.

Four of the eleven tales form a distinct group, known as the Four Branches. The link between them is tenuous, and only the character of Pryderi appears in all four. I grew up with these stories in West Wales, especially the tale of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed and his encounter with Arawn, King of the Underworld (Annwfn).

My Welsh pronunciation may be a little off, and I stumble a bit - still getting the hang of these audio readings - but I hope you enjoy.

The image is of Rhinannon, who appears in the First and Third Branches, by Alan Lee.

Note: this version is taken from The Mabinogion, Oxford World’s Classics, translated by Sioned Davies.