After the seven survivors of the war in Ireland had buried the head of Bran the Blessed, they each went to their own lands, save for Manawydan. He looked around him and sighed heavily, lamenting that he had no place to go after the death of his brother.
Pryderi, who had lingered behind, said to him, “Lord, don’t be so unhappy. Your cousin is High King of the Isle of the Mighty. Though he has done wrong to your brother, you have always been known as one of the Three Ungrasping Chieftains for you have never desired lands nor territory. He would deal kindly by you and you need fear nothing by his hand.”
“Though Caswallawn is my cousin, it saddens me to see him in the place of my brother Bran, and I would never be happy in his court.”
“Then come with me to my home. The seven cantrefs of Dyfed were left to me by my father Pwll, and my mother Rhiannon is there alone. If it pleases you both, I will bestow her upon you and you may have authority over Dyfed with her. Though they only be seven cantrefs, they are the fairest in all of Britain. If you have ever had any desire for lands, you may have the enjoyment of them. My wife, Cigfa, and I will treat you as a father that you and my mother may find peace and happiness.”
“God repay you your friendship, and though I have no desire for lands I will go with you to Dyfed and meet your mother.”
Then the friends journeyed together to Dyfed, and a feast was held on their arrival at Arberth. Rhiannon and Manawydan were enamored by one another, and they readily assented to Pryderi’s plans for them. They went to the same bed that night and on the morrow the company began traveling through Dyfed, feasting and hunting along the way. In that time great friendship grew between Pryderi, Manawydan, and their wives, and the four of them spent every hour together.
When Pryderi learned that Caswallawn was in Oxford, he regretfully left to tender his homage, but Manawydan remained behind. Pryderi was well-received at the court of the High King, and upon his return, he resumed his feasting with Manawydan. After the first meal the company went up to Gorsedd Arberth to look out across the land. When they sat, there was a peal of thunder and a heavy fog descended over all the land so that they could not see any buildings or people save themselves. When they made their way back to the court through the fog, they found that all the knights and servants had disappeared. Not a soul could be found, and even the livestock in the field had disappeared. Pryderi, Cigfa, Manawydan, and Rhiannon were all that remained in Dyfed; the entire country was desolate.
Though all the people were gone, the food from the feast remained and so they enjoyed it while it lasted. Then they started to travel through the land, searching for any of the people who had lived there. They subsisted on the meat they had hunted, the fish they had caught, and the wild swarms. In this way they passed a year pleasantly, though they found no one, and a second passed as well. Then they began to weary of their way of life and thought to enter Lloegyr to look for work.
Then they journeyed to Lloegyr and entered Hereford, where Manawydan took up saddle making and the others aided him. He made saddles after the kind that he had seen Llasar Llaes Gygnwyd make, and they were very fine and beautiful. Soon no one would buy saddles from anyone but Manawydan, and all the saddle makers were put out of business. The saddle makers were angry that they had lost their livelihoods and conspired to kill Manawydan and his company. When Pryderi heard of the conspiracy, he wanted to stay and fight off the craftsmen, but Manawydan didn’t wish to draw the attention of Caswallawn.
They left Hereford and went to another city, where Manawydan became a maker of shields with the help of his three companions. He made shields after the kind that he had seen in the court of Bran the Blessed, and they were of a finer quality and more beautiful than any other shields that could be bought. Again, all the shield makers were put out of business because no one would buy a shield save that it was made by Manawydan, and the craftsmen conspired to kill Manawydan and his companions. When Pryderi heard of the conspiracy, he again wanted to stay and fight, but Manawydan refused on the same grounds as before.
“Let us leave and go to another city, where we can become shoemakers, for no shoemaker will have the heart to fight us,” said Manawydan.
They listened to Manawydan and became shoemakers in another city. Manawydan used the finest materials for his shoes, even making buckles of gold, and this is how he came to be known as one of the Three Gold Shoemakers. The shoemakers in the town soon perceived that they were losing their profits and that Manawydan’s skill would put them out of business, so they plotted to kill him and his companions despite his hope that they were more soft-hearted than the other craftsmen he had met. Pryderi again wanted to remain and fight the aggressive craftsmen, but Manawydan said it would be better for them to return to Dyfed and seek a living in the desolate countryside once more.
Pryderi and the others followed Manawydan’s lead and they again came to his realms in Dyfed. There they gathered their dogs around them and began hunting and living off the land, as they had done before. They spent another year in desolate Dyfed, until one day while they were out hunting, their dogs stopped at a thicket and turned back in fear. Pryderi and Manawydan went forward manfully to see what had frightened their dogs. As they drew near the copse, a shining white boar leaped from its concealment and ran. Encouraged by the boar’s flight, the dogs gave chase and the men followed. When the dogs got close, the boar would stand at bay and would throw back the hounds until the men approached. Then it would flee a little further on. The men hounded the boar through the woods until they saw the lofty towers of a caer, and the boar was making straight for it. The dogs followed the boar into the caer, but the men lingered behind for they had never seen its high walls before, though they had traveled through Dyfed many years.
Finally Pryderi gathered his courage and announced that he would go into the caer to look for the dogs, though Manawydan counseled against it. When Pryderi went inside, he saw that it was a lovely and well-built stronghold, but there was no sign of either the dogs or the boar. While searching for the beasts, he saw a beautiful fountain, bubbling with clear water and rimmed with marble. On its edge sat a golden bowl, and there were chains of gold that led from the bowl into the sky and Pryderi could see no end to them. Pryderi was so enamored by the bowl and the fountain that he stepped forward to grasp it and take a drink, but the moment his hand touched the rim, it held fast. He was paralyzed from head to toe and could make no sound.
Manawydan waited for Pryderi for the remainder of the day until he was certain he would gain no news of either his friend or the dogs. Then he went back to the court and told Rhiannon and Cigfa what had happened. Rhiannon chastised him for not going in after Pryderi, and she stormed off to the caer that he had described. She soon saw the fountain and Pryderi there, but upon seizing the bowl he held, she too was rendered still as stone. When Rhiannon did not return, Cigfa and Manawydan felt great sorrow and thought to leave Dyfed once more. They journeyed to a town where he again practiced shoemaking until the craftsmen became murderous once more. Then he took the money that he had earned and bought a bushel of wheat for seed, and they returned to Arberth in Dyfed. Manawydan ploughed three crofts and sowed the wheat. Those fields were fruitful and bore the finest wheat in all the world.
Manawydan looked at his first croft and said to himself, “I will harvest this field tomorrow.” In the morning, he went out and saw that his field was desolate; every head of grain had been cut from the stalk so that there was not one seed left on the ground. Then he looked to his second field and said, “I will harvest this field tomorrow.” On the morrow, he saw that again each head of grain had been stolen from the stalks and he had only one croft remaining.
“Shame on me if I don’t keep watch tonight,” he said to himself and so he hid and waited to see who was stealing his grain and living the stalks bare. As night fell, Manawydan saw the mightiest host of mice in the world and their number was without measure. For every stalk of wheat, there was a mouse to climb it and cut away the grain. Manawydan ran out into the field to drive off the mice if he could, but they had stolen his grain in an instant and had begun to carry it off. They were all too swift for him to catch, save one mouse that was heavy and slow. This one he seized in anger and he swore that he would see justice done upon the thief. He dropped the mouse into his glove, securing the end with string so that it could not escape.
When Manawydan told Cigfa what had happened, she lamented the loss of their beautiful wheat.
“Our grain is gone, but I have caught one of the thieves and will see that it hangs,” Manawydan said, holding up his glove as he did so.
“What kind of thief could you catch in a glove?”
“It is one of the mice that I captured from the field.”
“Surely it is beneath a lord like you to hang a mouse.”
“If I could catch all the mice that stole from me, I would hang them all.”
“Have your way then, Lord.”
Manawydan went out the next morning to Gorsedd Arberth and placed two forks into the ground for a gallows. A clerk came up as he was building his gallows.
“Hail lord, and good morning to you.”
“Where are you coming from, friend, for I have not seen another person in these lands outside my own party for many years?”
“I am just coming from song-making in Lloegyr and am passing through to my own country. What, may I ask, are you doing?”
“Hanging a thief that I have caught, as justice demands.”
“It is beneath a lord of your status to hang a mouse. To save you that embarrassment I will give you a pound to redeem it. Then let the creature go!”
“I will not let the thief go, nor will I sell it,” Manawydan replied.
Then the clerk relented and went on his way. As Manawydan was fitting a crossbeam to the forks, a priest came up the road and hailed him. The priest asked what he was doing, and was as shocked as the clerk that a man of such station should be so employed.
“I will give you three pounds to save your reputation and redeem the mouse. Just let the poor thing go!”
“I will not let the thief go, nor will I sell it,” Manawydan replied.
Then the priest relented and went on his way. As Manawydan was tying a string for the noose, a bishop came up the hill and was aghast that a man of such high station should be hanging a mouse.
“Release the mouse to save your reputation and I shall give you seven pounds for it.”
“Truly, that is not enough.”
“Then I will give you twenty-four pounds in ready coin to set the creature free!”
“I would not let this thief go for twice that sum.”
“Then I will give you every horse on this plain, and the seven loads of baggage behind me, each with its horse.”
“I will not accept that price.”
“Then name your price!”
“I will release it if you set Pryderi and Rhiannon free, if you remove the charms and enchantments from Dyfed so that no charm or enchantment shall ever fall on it again, and let me know who the mouse is.”
“You shall have all that, and gladly. I am Llwyd son of Cil Coed, and the mouse is my wife, heavy with child. I sought the destruction of Pryderi and Dyfed for the slight his father Pwll paid to my friend, Gwawl son of Clud, when he beat him in a bag. I first transformed all my fighting men into mice to steal your wheat, and they carried away your grain the first two nights. On the third night, my wife and her handmaids pleaded to be transformed as well, and it is only because she was with child that you were able to catch her. Now release her to me!”
“No! First you must provide Pryderi and Rhiannon, and swear that you will take no vengeance on any of us.”
“All this I swear and will provide. Look, they are coming up the trail.”
Then Manawydan saw his wife and friend coming up the hill toward him and he released the mouse to Llwyd the enchanter. Thereupon Llwyd struck the mouse with his wand and she was transformed into a woman of exceeding beauty.
“Look upon your land, and see that everything has been set right,” said the enchanter.
Manawydan looked around and saw that the mists had risen, and every person and animal was in its rightful place. Then he asked the sorcerer, “In what way have Pryderi and Rhiannon been kept?”
“Pryderi had the gate-hammers of my court around his neck, and Rhiannon had the collars of the donkeys, after they were sweaty from hauling hay, around her shoulders.”
Thus this is called the Mabinogi of the Collars and here ends this branch of the Mabinogion.