Lady Charlotte Guest

The Mabinogion

Lady Charlotte Guest

First told orally by unknown generations of Welsh storytellers, «The Mabinogion» was subsequently written down in the 13th century in the form of a collection of prose tales. These stories draw on pre-Christian Celtic myth, folklore, and Welsh history and tradition to tell a magical set of stories that reach back to the Iron Age and Arthurian romance. These eleven tales are set in both the land of Wales and a dim otherworld, with a wide cast of vibrant characters who bring their dreamlike world to life. From two brothers who scheme to kidnap a virgin to a chieftain who roams foreign lands when his own is spellbound, «The Mabinogion» is full of magicians and shape-shifters, witches and giants, dragons and knights, all of whom interact in a country struggling to preserve its independence. With tales of Arthurian quests of honor and stories of revenge and love, «The Mabinogion» is a fantastical collection of myth, legend, and romance that has fascinated and entertained readers since medieval times.