Yn y bennod hon trafodwn gainc gyntaf ‘Pedair Cainc y Mabinogi’, Chwedl Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed.

Er bod Pwyll ‘yn arglwydd ar saith cantref Dyfed’, fel y dywed brawddeg gyntaf y chwedl , nid oes ganddo lawer o ddoethineb. Yn wir, mae’n bosibl ei gweld hi fel stori am sut mae Pwyll yn dysgu bod yn bwyllog. Mae’n ymddwyn mewn modd byrbwyll nifer o weithiau ac mae’n rhaid i gymeriadau eraill – Arawn, brenin Annwfn a Rhiannon, gwraig Pwyll – ei helpu. Mae Rhiannon ymysg cymeriadau mwyaf cofiadwy’r traddodiad llenyddol Cymraeg, yn fenyw ddoeth sy’n siarad yn ffraeth ac yn rhoi’i gŵr amhwyllog yn ei le pan fo angen. O gofio cyd-destun hanesyddol uniongyrchol y gwaith llenyddol hwn, sef Cymru ‘Oes y Tywysogion’, mae’n bosibl darllen y chwedl hon fel ‘drych i dywysogion’, fel testun sy’n cynnig gwersi i ddarpar arweinwyr.

In this episode we discuss the first of ‘The Four Branches of the Mabinogi’, the Tale of Pwyll, Lord of Dyfed.

Although Pwyll is ‘lord of the seven cantrefs (‘hundreds’ or ‘provinces’) of Dyfed, as the tale’s first sentence says, he doesn’t possess much wisdom. Indeed, while Pwyll is this character’s name, pwyll is also a common noun in Welsh, meaning ‘sense’, ‘intelligence’ or ‘wisdom’. It’s possible to read this tale as a story about how Pwyll comes to embody his name, how he learns to become a wise and good ruler. We see him acting in some very unwise ways, and other characters – Arawn, king of Annwfn and Rhiannon, Pwyll’s wife – need to help him. Rhiannon is among the most memorable characters of the Welsh literary tradition, a wise woman who speaks wittily and puts her unwise husband in his place when need be. Remembering this literary work’s direct historical context, Wales of the ‘Age of the Princes’, it is possible to read this tale as ‘a mirror for princes’, a text which offers lessons to future leaders.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones

Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin

Cerddoriaeth: Might Have Done gan The Molenes

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Darllen pellach:

- Dafydd Ifans a Rhiannon Ifans, Y Mabinogion[:] Diweddariad (Llandysul: Gwasg Gomer, 1980)

- Catherine McKenna, ‘The Theme of sovereignty in Pwyll’, Bwletin y Bwrdd Gwybodau Celtaidd 29 (1980), 35-52.

Further Reading:

- Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones (translators), The Mabinogion (revised edition, London, 1993)

- Patrick K. Ford, The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (new edition, 2008)