Mythology of Ancient Britain
almost intact into the mediaeval Arthurian cycle. The wife of King Lot (Llûdd) is sister to Arthur; Lleu's counterpart, Gwalchmai,[1] appears as Sir Gawaine, certain descriptions of whom in Malory's Morte Darthur are hardly comprehensible except as a misunderstood fragment of a mythology in which he appeared as a 'solar hero'; Modrawt has scarcely changed at all, either in name or character, in becoming Sir Mordred; while the stately figure of Math, ruler of the children of Dôn, is paralleled by the majestic Merlin, who watches over, and even dares to rebuke, his protégé, Arthur.
We are upon uncertain ground, however, in attempting to discover in the Arthurian cycle the other personages of the Mabinogian stories. Professor Rhys, in his Studies in the Arthurian Legend (1891), has devoted great ingenuity and learning to this task, but his identifications of Pwyll, of Rhiannon, of Prydéri, of Arawn, of Gwyn, and of Amaethon with characters in the inediaeval romances, whatever may happen to them in the future, cannot at present be considered as otherwise than hazardous. The transformations of Brân seem less open to doubt.
- ↑ In Welsh legend, Gwalchmai (the 'Hawk of May') has a brother, Gwalchaved (the Hawk of Summer'), whose name is the original of 'Galahad.'
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