Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/311

fulfilled it; he was the best of walkers and the best of horsemen," says Kulhwch; and according to the Triads, he had a golden tongue and was one of the best knights of Arthur's court for guests and strangers.³⁶ He had a valuable steed Gringalet as Cúchulainn had two. His sword Escalibur (Latin Caliburnus), made in Avalon, was given him by Arthur, its first owner; and its Welsh name, Caledvwlch', seems identical with that of Cúchulainn's caladbolg, which was forged in the síd. One incident of Gawain's legend is his visit to an island castle where are many knights and maidens, who can never speak to each other, ruled by a mysterious lady allied with its magician chief, the captor of these knights and maidens; and he who goes there must remain always. Gawain reached it, guided by the lady, who met him at a fountain,³⁷ a visit which suggests those of Bran, Connla, and Cúchulainn to Elysium (not the region of the dead) at the invitation of a goddess connected with its lord. Gawain was given up as dead, and this legend persisted, though he returned to Arthur. Probably, like Connla, he remained in Elysium, so that mediaeval tradition regarded him as living in fairy-land. In a second incident the other-world momentarily appears. Guinevere was abducted by Meléagant (Melwas) to a castle on an island whence no traveller returned. It was approached by a swordbridge and an under-water bridge, Lancelot crossing by the former, Gawain choosing the latter; and although in Chrestien's Le Chevalier de la Charette Lancelot rescues Guinevere, evidence exists which points to Gawain as the real hero of the adventure.³⁸ A sword-bridge is otherwise unknown to Celtic myth; a realm reached by descending into water is known; and Gawain himself came to a palace under water, where he met with strange adventures.³⁹ Possibly Gawain, like his brother Mordred, was lover of Guinevere, a situation to which Lancelot succeeded when he was later evolved. The question also arises whether Gawain and Mordred were Arthur's sons by his sister, wife of King Loth, as Malory