After Math son of Mathonwy had made peace with the sons of Dôn, Gwydion and Gilfaethwy, he asked them where he might get a maiden for his stool. Gwydion suggested his sister Aranrhod, who was the niece of Math. The king assented to the match and ordered for Aranrhod to be brought to court.
When she arrived, Math asked her if she was indeed a maiden, and she answered, “I know not but that I am, Lord.”
But Math wished to put her claim to the test. He set his wand upon the ground and asked her to step over it. When she did, a fine child with golden hair fell to the ground. Aranrhod ran from the room in shame, dropping something as she fled. Gwydion seized what had fallen and wrapped it in silk without looking at what it was, and later placed it in a chest in his chamber.
Math was pleased with the golden-haired boy who was Aranrhod’s son, and named him Dylan. As soon as he was baptized, Dylan ran to the sea and he received the sea’s nature so that he swam as well as any fish. Thus he was called Dylan Eil Ton, that is, Sea son of Wave, and no wave ever broke beneath him. He later died from a blow given by his uncle Gofannon, which was one of the Three Unhappy Blows.
Gwydion later heard crying coming from the chest where he had hidden what Aranrhod dropped, and soon found that a baby was within. He raised the child as his own, and the child grew quickly in strength and stature. Then one day, Gwydion decided to visit his sister, Aranrhod, at her caer and the boy followed him. Aranrhod made Gwydion welcome and asked who was the fine boy who followed him.
“That is a son of yours,” he answered.
“Alas! What possessed you to put me to shame and then pursue my shame by keeping the child?”
“The greater shame is that I am raising such a fine boy instead of his mother.”
“What is your son’s name?”
“He has none, as yet.”
“Then I will swear on him a destiny, that he will not be named until he is named by me.”
“You are a wicked woman, and I swear that you will give him a name though it may vex you. You are only angry at him because you can no longer be called a maiden.” Then Gwydion left in anger with the boy and went to Caer Dathyl to spend the night.
In the morning, Gwydion arose and took his son down to the seashore, where he began making a ship by magic out of the sea-girdle and dulse. Then from the seaweed and dulse he made leather, and it looked to be leather of the finest quality. Then he fitted a sail to the ship and sailed with his son to Caer Aranrhod, and Gwydion put a guise on them both so that their true identities would not be known. There by the shore they began to stitch shoes out of the fine leather, and coloring them in gold. Thus was Gwydion called one of the Three Gold Shoemakers.
When Aranrhod heard that a shoemaker had come to her caer and of the quality of his craft, she sent for a pair of shoes for herself. Though given the correct dimensions, Gwydion made the shoes far larger than his sisters foot. When she found that the shoes did not fit, she sent again for another pair, but Gwydion made them far too small this time. Finally, Gwydion told her messenger that she would need to come down to the ship if she wanted the shoes to fit properly.
Arianrhod went down to the ship to be measured for the shoes and was watching the shoemaker and his son as they worked. While she watched, a wren alighted on the ship, whereupon the boy threw a stone at it and struck it in the leg.
She exclaimed at the throw and said, “With a deft hand has the fair one hit it!”
“Hah!” Gwydion laughed. “The boy has been given a name from your own lips. Lleu Llaw Gyffes, the Fair One with a Deft Hand, shall be his name forevermore.” Then Gwydion turned all his work back into seaweed and Aranrhod saw the trick that had been played.
“You will fare no better for it,” she said, “for the boy will never bear arms until I equip him with them.”
“These curses spring from your wickedness, but arms he shall have nevertheless.” Then Gwydion and Lleu Llaw Gyffes went to Dinas Dinlleu and there the boy was reared until he could ride every horse and was perfected in feature, growth, and stature. Gwydion saw then that his son was pining for arms, but could not bear them because of his mother’s curse.
On the next day, Gwydion took the lad and went to Caer Aranrhod, again under the guise of an enchanted form. He told the porter that they were bards from Morgannwg, and Aranrhod gave them welcome. That evening, he entertained all her hall with his wonderful storytelling and at length retired to his chamber. Early the next morning, Gwydion arose and worked a great spell so that it appeared a great fleet was sailing on Caer Aranrhod, and there was a great bustling and blaring of trumpets across the land as if an army was descending on them.
Soon the whole caer was in a panic and Aranrhod was knocking on their door and asking to be let in. When they opened the door, she told them of the great clamor and the ships, in numbers so great that she could not see the color of the deep. Gwydion advised that they draw everyone into the caer and make ready to defend it.
“Here you will find arms enough,” she said, and with her maidens brought weapons and armor to the men.
“Lady, you equip the lad, and have your maidens equip me so that we may be ready to meet the foe. I hear the noise of the men coming.”
Aranrhod did as she was bidden and soon told Gwydion that she had equipped the youth.
“The arming of the lad is complete?”
“Yes, I saw to it myself”
“Then help us out of this armor, for now we have no use for it.”
“But there is a great fleet just outside the caer!”
“There is no fleet there, lady. I mustered my enchantments to break the destiny concerning your son, and now he has received arms, no thanks to you.” Then Gwydion’s guise fell away and Aranrhod saw that she had been tricked again.
“You will fare no better for it,” she said, “for the boy will never marry a woman of the race that is now on this earth.”
“You are a wicked and spiteful woman, but a wife shall he have all the same.”
Then Gwydion and Lleu came to Math and made a complaint against Aranrhod and told him of how bitter and cruel she had been. Math was swayed by their tale and said to Gwydion, “Come, let us seek by our magic and enchantment to conjure a woman out of flowers for your son.” Then they took the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers of the meadowsweet, and from them they called forth the fairest and best endowed maiden that mortal ever saw, and they baptized her and named her Blodeuedd, which means Flowers.
Then Lleu and Blodeuedd were married and Math gave Lleu the cantref of Dinoding. Lleu set his court at Mur Castell and ruled fairly so that everyone was content.
One day, while Lleu was visiting Math at his court, a group of hunters were passing by Mur Castell and were chasing a stag into the night. Once they had slain the stag, it was very late and they inquired of Blodeuedd if she might extend them hospitality for the night, and Gronw Bebyr, Lord of Penllyn was their chieftain. Blodeuedd gladly extended the hospitality of the court, but the moment she and Gronw met they fell in love and were full of desire for one another. They slept together that night and then sought how they might stay together.
“You must stay with Lleu until you can learn from him how his death will come about, and ask him under the pretense of loving care for him,” he said. Then Gronw left her and Lleu returned that evening.
That night Lleu and Blodeuedd spent in song and carousal, and that night they went to sleep together, but then Blodeuedd would not respond to anything that Lleu said.
“What’s troubling you, my love?” he asked. “I can tell you aren’t well.”
“I’m troubled by the thought that you might die before me and leave me alone.”
“Don’t be troubled about that, for it isn’t easy to slay me.”
“Tell me how difficult it would be, to ease my mind.”
“One must spend a year making the spear with which to slay me, and work on nothing else. I cannot be slain inside a house, nor outside. Neither may I be slain on horse or on foot. One would need to make a bath for me on a river bank with a vaulted frame over the tub that was well thatched. Then I would have to place one foot on the back of a goat beside the tub, and another foot on the edge of the tub. Whoever would smite me with a spear a year in the making while I was thus positioned would kill me.”
“Thank God that might be easily avoided, and thank you for telling me to ease my mind.”
No sooner had Blodeuedd learned Lleu’s secret than she told it to Gronw so that he could regain making the spear immediately. Once the spear was ready, he sent word to Blodeuedd so that she might bring about the appropriate conditions to kill Lleu.
“Husband,” said she, “I have been thinking about what you told me about the bath tub and the goat, and I don’t understand how that would work.Would you show me if I set the bath for you.”
“Certainly,” he replied.
Then she built the bath by the river Cynfael and bade Gronw to conceal himself behind the mountain Bryn Cyfergyr which was nearby. Lleu then showed Blodeuedd how he might be slain, by placing one foot upon the edge of the tub and one foot on the back of a goat. Then Gronw jumped up from behind the hill and cast the poisoned spear at Lleu and smote him on the side. Then Lleu changed into the form of an eagle, gave a horrible screech, and flew away so that he was seen no more.
Gronw and Blodeuedd set out for court that moment and slept together. Then Gronw subdued Dinoding to his will, so that he ruled over it and Pynlln. When Math and Gwydion heard of these tidings they were sore with grief and Gwydion set off in search of his nephew.
He searched all across the country until at last he came to rest in the house of a swineherd. That swineherd had a sow who would run off once let out of the pen so that no one could find it. Gwydion asked to be shown, and the swineherd assented. The sow took off at a run once the gate was opened and Gwydion followed it up the Nantlleu valley. There the sow stopped and fed under a tree. Gwydion drew closer and saw that the pig was eating maggots and rotten flesh. He looked up and saw Lleu in the form of an eagle, atop the highest branch of the oak. Then Gwydion sang an englyn to draw him near.
Grows an oak between two lakes.
Darkly shadowed sky and glen
If I speak not falsely,
From Lleu’s Flowers this doth come.
Then the eagle let himself down until he was in the middle branches of the tree. Gwydion sang on.
Grows an oak on upland plain,
Nor rain wets it, nor heat melts;
Nine score hardships hath he suffered
In its top, Lleu Llaw Gyffes.
Then the eagle let himself down until he was on the lowest branch of the tree. Gwydion sang on.
Grows an oak upon a steep,
The sanctuary of a fair lord;
If I speak not falsely,
Lleu will come into my lap.
The eagle then alighted on Gwydions knee, where upon the enchanter struck him with a wand, so that Lleu was again in his own likeness, though he was pale and thin. Gwydion took Lleu to Caer Dathyl, where he was nursed back to health by mane fine physicians and at the end of a year he was whole once more. Then Lleu told Math that he must have redress for the crime done against him and Math agreed.
Math mustered all of Gwynedd and they went to war with Gronw and his men. Blodeuedd and her handmaidens fled from the court as the armies clashed, but Gwydion pursued them. He drove them into a lake so that the handmaidens drowned, but Blodeuedd he would not kill. Instead, he cursed her to go in the form of a bird, to never show her face in the light of day through fear of all birds, and there would be an enmity between her and all other birds so that they would mob and molest her wherever she may be found, but that she would retain her name forever. Still to this day the owl is called Blodeuedd and all other birds hate the owl because of the curse of Gwydion.
When Gronw was finally cornered, he sued for peace from the armies of Gwynedd, but Lleu would only accept it one one condition: that Gronw would stand where Lleu had stood when he was struck with the spear and that Gronw would take one blow from him. Gronw agreed to the terms, but sought someone among his war band to take the blow on his behalf. All his warriors refused, and are thus counted one of the Three Disloyal War-bands. With no other options, Gronw had to take the blow.
When they were in place, Gronw quailed and asked if Lleu might do him a favor. “Since it was through the wiles of a woman that I mistreated you, lord, let me set a rock between you and me.” Lleu did not refuse him the stone, and it was placed between them. Then Lleu cast his spear through the stone and through Gronw so that was slain in an instant. The stone remains on the bank of the river, and a hole is in it still. Then Lleu subdued the lands of Gronw and later became king of Gwynedd after Math. Thus ends this, the last branch of the Mabinogi.