The Island of the Mighty : The Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion

An exciting adaptation of the fourth branch of the Mabinogi. Walton made it a blast to read, and contextualized it for a slightly less misogynistic audience without bowdlerizing or making it feel inauthentic. I'm ordering the other three parts to read soon!

This has reawakened in me a great longing to reread The Chronicles of Prydain.

At the same time it's a very different thing in its own right, halfway between epic and novel, shaped by an embryonic partriarchy undermining the rights attending matrilineal customs. Our Heroes, through their heroic deeds, successively create rape; forced pregnancy; and the prison of marriage; overhanging all is the darkening fate of a bloody sunset.

The original title may seem uninspired, but is better than this one. Someone someday may think of one better than both.

Of the entire Four Branches that Evangeline Walton has re-told, this comes in second behind [Prince of Annwyn]. It is longer than the others in this series and deals with the machinations of Gwydion, Prince of Gwynedd, and his sister, Arianrhod, in the waning days of the reign of Math ap Mathonwy.

Many of the familiar bits of "The Mabinogion" are found here. They could almost be a series of fairy tales were it not for the continuum of characters. These stories include the attempt by Arianrhod to become the footholder to Math; how Gwydion took pigs from the hero Pryderi that had been a gift from the Realm of Annwn; and the son of Arianrhod, raised by Gwydion, called Lleu Llaw Gyffes and his raising.

Once again we have a group of deities show more who still succumb to the human passions of love and learning and revenge. And the human-ness of the characters, their scheming and their deceit, was still a turn-off for me. Yes, it does show that some attributes transcend the centuries, and it was written down so that the tales could be preserved, but I prefer a bit more compassion and wisdom when reading about the deeds of deities. show less

The last branch of the Mabinogon was the first redacted by Evangeline Walton. It was finished and published in 1934 and the text shows it. There's an element of the "Celtic Twilight", the revelling in the tragedy of the lost world. Thus it is to me, the least successful of the Walton redactions. But for completeness, it was read, and it's still a good time. This branch deals with the shrinking of the world of the Celtic demigods, and the advance of the world of men, with their pettiness.
Math Fab Mathonwy (Math, son of Mathonwy), is the King, but his family dissolves in a welter of adulteries, rapes, and murders. It's rather like the home life of David, king of Israel, and reminds us to keep our emotional lives as tidy as possible. I've show more read it twice, in 1975, and 2008. show less