MABINOGION.
BY JOSEF BAUDIŠ.
It has long been recognised that the Mabinogion is a storehouse of old motives, but very little has been done in the way of tracing these particular motives to the methods adopted by the Welsh story-tellers in their arrangement of them. This paper is intended as a contribution to this inquiry.
PLAN OF THE INQUIRY.
Part I.: The First Branch of the Mabinogion.
A. Pwyll and Arawn: Three motives: (a) Exchange of external appearance.—Norse parallels.—Explanation of the belief.—(b) Chaste cohabitation.— Parallels in Norse and the Twin Brothers Tale.—(c) Killing of Havgan.
B. The Other World: Pwyll's journey belongs to the Other World expeditions. Irish parallels.—Mr. M‘Culloch's theory about the Celtic Elysium.— Are we to presuppose two different ideas: that of Elysium and that of the Land of the Dead? Irish síde and ancestral cult. Síde denotes Irish supernatural beings. Túatha Dé Danann belonged originally only to the side of the Connaught cycle. Abodes of side convey both ideas: that of Elysium and that of the Country of the Dead. In Welsh we find these two different aspects of the Other World, and similarly in other folklore. We confine ourselves to the Other World. The double aspect of the Other World is to be explained through the development of primitive belief. Connection of the insular Celtic belief with the Gaulish religion. The
