Myth and Magic at Hay Library

Before Christmas, Lyn Webster Wilde led a talk about the Welsh legend Math, son of Mathonwy at Hay Library. She told the tale of Lleu Llaw Gyffes, who was cursed by his mother so he would never have a name, never be armed and never have a human wife. We were told how Lleu's Uncle Gwydion tricked his mother into giving him a name, and arming him, and left the story just as Gwydion and Math were working out how to give Lleu a wife.
Tonight, the story continued, with the help of Rob Soldat, who told us of Blodeuedd, the woman made of flowers, and how she married Lleu, but fell in love with another man, and how they plotted together to kill Lleu.
Being a magical hero, Lleu could only be killed in a very specific way, which involved him standing with one foot on the edge of a bath and the other on the back of a goat, at a spot by a river in North Wales - and he could only be killed by a spear which had been forged on a year of Sundays, when everyone was in church.
In the discussion afterwards, Rob pointed out that, despite the murder plot, there were no villains in the story, and that all the Welsh legends were similarly psychologically sophisticated. The lover got his come-uppance in the end - the places were reversed, and Lleu (who did not die) got to throw the spear at him, and the woman of flowers became Flower-Face, the owl - and you can visit the site of the murder attempt even now, and see the stone that the lover had put up between himself and Lleu's spear throw. A stone with a hole through it where the spear passed straight through (so, you see, it must be true).
It was another very enjoyable evening, with discussions taking in solar heroes like Siegfried and Achilles, both of whom were also invulnerable apart from one small spot on their bodies (the Achilles' heel, and there was one bit of Siegfried which was not splashed with dragon's blood).

Next time, Arthurian Myth - and the Welsh Arthur is rather different from the wise and heroic king of Camelot.