I love legends and old stories passed down from generation to generation and recently I ran across this story from Celtic lore about Pwyll and Rhiannon. I thought I would share it with you but it is rather long so I'm going to break it up into three parts. And now...the first part....
Pwyll Prince of Dyfed, was Lord of the seven Cantrevs of Dyfed; and once upon a time Pwyll was at Narberth, his chief palace, where a feast had been prepared for him, and with him was great host of men. After the first meal, Pwyll arose to walk, and went to the top of a mound that was above the palace, and was called Gorseth Arberth. There was a legend about this mound, that whoever sat upon it, would not leave without either receiving wounds or else seeing a wonder. Pwyll wasn't worried about the wounds, as he had a great host with him, who were there for the feast, but he really wanted to see wonders, so he went and sat apon the hill.
And when he went and sat there, he saw a Lady, on a pure white horse of large size, wearing a garment of shining gold, coming along the path that led to the mound; The horse was moving at a slow pace and coming toward the mound. Pwyll asked his men if anyone knew who the Lady was, and know one knew, so he sent one of them to meet her. As the man went to meet her, she passed him by and he turned to follow her The faster he pursued her, the farther she was away from him...and he realized that he would never catch up with her. So Pwyll sent him to the palace for his horse. He took the horse, and followed her, but to no avail, the faster he went, the further she was from him. Pwyll felt that there was some kind of illusion or trickery, so they decided to go back to the palace. Next day, they went back to the mound, and saw the same Lady, on the Same horse. Pwyll sent a youth on horse back to pursue her. But to know avail, he couldn't catch up with her.
The next day, he went to the mound again, and saw the Lady...this time Pwyll took to horseback himself , and he couldn't catch up with her. So he cried out to her to stop and speak with him. As soon as he did this, she stopped, and said he should've called out before. Pwyll asked her what she was doing and where was she going. She said that she had her own errand and that she was glad to see him.
Tomorrow I will post the second installment.
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