He demands an interview with the king, but Glewlwyd Gavaelvawr, the porter who guards Arthur's gate on New Year's Day the day of the prince's arrival will not admit him within the precincts of the palace, where the king is engaged in revelry but he promises him suitable entertainment outside. "A lady shall smooth thy couch, and shall lull thee with songs; and early to-morrow morning, when the gate is open for the multitude that came hither today, for thee shall it be opened first, and thou mayest sit in the place that thou shalt choose in Arthur's hall." The young man, however, insists on admission and threatens, if his request is not granted, that he will set up three deadly shouts which will be heard throughout Great Britain and Ireland and which will render the women of the palace barren from that day on. The porter, then, informs Arthur of his arrival and lauds in extravagant terms his appearance, so that contrary to Kay's advice the king admits the stranger, who rides into the hall on horseback in true mediaeval style. The young prince then asks for a boon, accompanying his petition with threats. Just as in the French romances, Arthur pledges himself to make this don, before he has even learned what the stranger is going to demand, provided only that he does not ask for his ship, his mantle, his sword, Caledvwlch (i. e. Excalibur), his lance, his shield, his dagger and his wife. Kulhwch then demands the assistance of Arthur and his warriors in obtaining Olwen as his bride. He enumerates these warriors in a list six or seven pages long, which doubtless in the course of tradition underwent expansion from time to time, like the catalogue of the ships in The Iliad or the lists of peoples and princes in the Anglo-Saxon Widsith. The most familiar characters among them are Kay (Kai) and Bedivere. But it is a different Kay from the butt of the French romances, who is always the first to undertake every adventure announced at Arthur's court and is always ignominiously overthrown. Not only is he a valiant warrior here as throughout Welsh tradition, but, like everyone else in this fantastic tale, he has marvellous qualities: He had "this peculiarity that his breath lasted nine nights and nine days under water, and he could exist nine nights and nine days without sleep. A wound from Kay's sword

4

Hesperia, Ergänzungsreihe: 8.

no phiysician could heal. Very subtle was Kay. When it pleased him, he could render himself as tall as the highest tree in the forest. And he had another peculiarity

so great was the heat of his nature, that, when it rained hardest, whatever he carried remained dry for a handbreadth above and a handbreadth below his hand; and when his companions were coldest, it was to them as fuel with which to light their fires."

Arthur is bound by his promise and sends forth messengers to every land within his dominions to seek for Olwen. For a year the search is vain and Kulhwch begins to reproach the king with the failure. Arthur now goes forth in person to remove the dishonor of an unfulfilled promise and he is accompanied by the young prince and a band of his followers, including a guide who was "as good a guide in a land he had never seen as he was in his own." They come to a beautiful castle, which proves to be that of Olwen's father. Near it is a flock of sheep which seemed endless and which was guarded by a mastiff, whose fiery breath was as devastating as that of a dragon. They go to the herdsman's house, and the herdsman's daughter runs out with joy to meet them and tries to throw her arms about Kay's neck. The uncanny mastiff, however, had probably made Kay suspicious, so that he had provided himself with a billet, and when she endeavored to embrace him, he thrust forward the log instead. It was lucky that he did so, for she squeezed it so hard that it became a twisted coil. "Oh woman,' exclaimed Kay reproachfully, "if thou hadst squeezed me thus, none could ever again have set their affections on me."

By the assistance of this maiden they have an interview with Olwen, whose beauty is charmingly described, and Kulhwch obtains from her a promise of marriage, if he will fulfill the conditions which her father imposes. The father cannot see his future son-in-law until the latter has raised his eyebrows which have fallen over his eyes these eyebrows being usually supported by forks. On the fourth day the father, after the manner of the fairy tales, announces all sorts of extravagant conditions for the achievement of his daughter's hand. The lover is, of course, not deterred and insists that they will all prove easy. The crowning

་

condition, however, is stated as follows: "Throughout the world there is not a comb or scissors with which I can arrange my hair, on account of its rankness, except the comb and scissors that are between the two ears of Twrch Trwyth, the son of Prince Tared. He will not give them of his own free will, and thou wilt not be able to compel him. This Twrch Trwyth turns out to be a marvellous wild boar doubtless a parallel to the classical Mino-23 with one parent a man and the other a beast the same that we have heard of already in Nennius the Tortain of the Conte del Graal.24

taur

In the tale of Kulhwch and Olwen, as in Nennius, Arthur's dog, Caval or Cabal, also takes part in the chase of the boar. In order to catch Twrch Trwyth, still other extravagant conditions are stated. Suffice it to say, however, that in the end, by the help of Arthur and his hosts, the young prince overcomes all difficulties and wins the hand of his bride, although at the expense of her father's life, whose fate it was that he should die a violent death, as soon as all the above-mentioned conditions had been fulfilled.25

28

Cp. G. Paris, Romania, XXVIII, 217, note.

"J. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, II, 521 (Oxford, 1901), identifies Twrch Trwyth with "Ore treith" in Cormac's Irish Glossary. The latter means "King's Boar". The hunting of Twrch Trwyth is described so exactly in Kulhwch and Olwen that it is possible to trace its course (in essentials) on a modern map of Wales. Cp. Rhys, ibid., pp. 509 ff. On the local coloring of the Mabinogion and the local legends which they embody, see too, E. Anwyl, "The Four Branches of the Mabinogi", Zs. f. celt. Ph., I, 277 ff. (1897). His "Notes on Kulhwch and Olwen" in the Revue Celtique, XXXIV, 132 ff. (1913) are purely textual in character.

25 As regards the relations of the French romances to Welsh literature it is desirable to note that F. Lot has cited some names in the French romances as of specifically Welsh origin: Thus, in Romania, XXIV, 322, he points out that Lis in the name Chateau de Lis (first continuation to Chrétien's Perceval and elsewhere) is really Welsh Llys castle, and ibid., p. 326, he explains the personal name Gorvain Cadrut (in Meraugis and other romances) as a combination of Welsh Gurvan and Cadrod (Cadrawd). For Welsh din, dinas (fortified place), in the names Dinas, Dinan (Béroul's Tristan) cp. Lot, Romania, XXIV, 337, but cp., also, the glossary to Bédier's edition of Béroul under Lidan. So, too, with reference to Dinas

=

We have taken now a hasty survey of mediaeval Welsh literature, as far as it bears on our subject, and we have only to add that the literature of the Bretons of which, as was said above, nothing has come down to us from this period did not probably differ from it in essentials. Especially in the matter that most concerns us, the form of epic narrative, there is no reason to doubt that with the Bretons as with the other branches of the Celtic race this was the prose tale and not narrative in verse, as was the case with the Germanic tribes or the Greeks and the Italian races. So, for instance, the Irish epic consists of the famous prose sagas concerning Conchobar, Cuchullin, and the rest; and the only branch of the Germanic race which shows, by way of exception, a highly developed prose epic is that which at a comparatively early period underwent Irish influence namely, the Norsemen.26 It will be necessary in the following to remember this peculiarity of the Celtic literatures.27

1. The Lays.

We have seen, then, what is the form of the narrative literature of the Celtic races, as it is actually preserved. Let us turn now to the consideration of a more or less hypothetical genre of this literature, about which Arthurian controversy has waged most bitterly, since it has been regarded as most closely connected with the origin of the Arthurian romances. I refer to the Celtic lais. The difficulty is that we have French lais from the twelfth century down, like those of Marie de France lais that are often said to be based on lais bretons but we have no such pieces in extant Celtic literature, and leaving aside diron (Dinatiron) of the Roman de Troie (son of Priam), as against Lot, Romania, XXX, 195 (1901), G. Baist, Romanische Forschungen, XXIX, 319f. (1910), sees here the influence of Dinas, supposed name of the penitent thief, who was crucified with Christ. But this is not probable. Cp. Andreas Heusler, "Die Anfänge der isländischen Saga" in the Abhandlungen of the Berlin Academy, Philos. -Historische Klasse, Jahrgang 1913, no. 9. He concludes that the Norse prose saga-form was derived from the Irish, although we cannot point to specific borrowings.

26

87 Zimmer, reviewing G. Paris's treatise on the Arthurian romances in verse (Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. 30) in the Göttingische G. A. for Oct. 1, 1890, was the first scholar to lay stress on this in Arthurian discussion.

for the moment the word, Breton, the very meaning of the word, lai, is the subject of debate.28 Suffice it here to say that the most probable etymology so far suggested 29 identifies it with the Irish loid or laid which seems to mean "song" and so, no doubt, lai meant "song."

Before discussing, however, this question of the lais, it will be well to indicate briefly the character at least of the French poems so designated by giving an outline of one of them. We may remark, in passing, that they are all in octosyllabic couplets, but vary greatly in length. I will select for the purpose the first in the collection of Marie de France, and one of the longest, namely, Guigemar, a poem of 886 lines. Whatever theory we may hold as to the origin of the story, it is evident that in Marie's version it has been adapted to the conditions of twelfth century feudal society:

Guigemar 30 is the son of the lord of Liun (Leon) in Brittany and he serves his apprenticeship in knighthood at the court of Hoilas (Hoel), king of that country. After he is dubbed knight, he takes part in a military expedition in Flanders, and distinguishes himself in the highest degree. He has one fault, however: he is wholly insensible to love. After a time he goes home to his parents and whilst there engages in the chase. On one occasion, being separated from his companions, he sees a beautiful white doe which he shoots at. The arrow wounds the animal mortally,

28

The history of the discussion of the word is given in Karl Warnke's second edition of the Lais of Marie de France, p. vi. Proposed by H. d'Arbois de Jubainville. Cp. Romania, VIII, 422 ff. (1879).

29

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30 The text stands first in Warnke's edition. The fullest discussion of the name is H. Zimmer's Zs. f. frz. Spr. u. Litt., XIII', 7ff. (1891). Zimmer identifies it correctly, no doubt with the Breton, Guilhomar. On the other hand, though granting that the tale is Breton, J. Loth maintains, Annales de Bretagne, XI, 479 (1895-6), that the name, Guigemar, can just as well be Cornish. It occurs, indeed, as Wihumar in Domesday Book.

Variant forms of this name, viz. Guigamor (Guiagamar), Guiomar (Guionmar), appear elsewhere in Arthurian texts. On this subject, cp., besides Zimmer, op. cit., E. Freymond, in the same journal, XVII1, pp. 17 ff. (1895), and W. Hertz, Spielmannsbuch, p. 382.