Summary of "Manawydan Son of Llyr"

Manawydan is talking to his buddy Pryderi about his sadness over the death of his brother, Bendigeidfran. Pryderi tells him to go get some land from his cousin in Wales, but Manawydan doesn't want to go where he will be reminded of his brother's death. Pryderi says that he is in possession of the seven cantrefs of Dyfed and that his mom, Rhiannon, lives there. Pryderi offers his mother and the cantrefs to Manawydan and he accepts. So they travel to Dyfed, and are greeted with a feast prepared by Rhiannon and Pryderi's wife, Cigfa. Rhiannon and Manawydan hook up, and then they all decide to pause the feast until Pryderi returns from tendering his homage to Caswallawn. The three hunt, and wander through the land and fight it very enjoyable. Soon enough, all four of them are the best of friends, and when Pryderi returns, they have a feast at Arberth. Lo, that night, the four, along with some other people, go over to Gorsedd Arberth, and are plagued with thunder, lightning, and mist so that they can't see each other. When the mist subsides, everything is gone. Nothing and no one is left in sight, not even houses or animals. So the four friends go back to the hall, still searching for any sign of life, but none is found. They spend the next two years hunting for sustenance and trying to find those that disappeared, but they are unsuccessful. Manawydan suggests that they move to Lloegyr and take up some craft, so they do. They become fancy saddle-makers, and are very good at what they do. Soon, all of the other saddlers get angry and decide to kill them. Instead of killing the other saddlers first and causing trouble though, Manawydan decides that they will go to another town. So they go to another city and make shields. They run into the same problem as in the other city though, and are again forced to leave. At the third city, Manawydan says that they will be shoemakers because they won't want to fight. The shoemakers did get mad though, and so the group left for Dyfed and hunted for a year. One day, Manawydan and Pryderi were out hunting and they came across a scary, shiny boar. The boar led Manawydan, Pryderi, and their hunting dogs to a caer, and proceeded to run inside, followed by the dogs. After a while of waiting for the dogs to come back out, Pryderi decides to go in and get them, against Manawydan's advice. inside the caer, Pryderi finds a fancy fountain and a golden, hanging bowl. He is so captivated by the bowl that he goes over and touches it. He is then stuck in that position and can't speak. Manawydan eventually goes back home, leaving Pryderi in the caer. Rhiannon asks where Pryderi is, and after learning, goes to the caer. She ends up touching the bowl herself and ending up in the same state as Pryderi. The caer then disappears in a sudden bout of mist and thunder. Cigfa then learns that no one is left but her and Manawydan and so she becomes depressed. Manawydan says he'll never leave her though, and so that makes her feel better. The two then travel to Lloegyr where Manawydan is again a shoemaker. The shoemakers hate him again, and they go back to Dyfed. In Dyfed, Manawydan hunts and starts to grow wheat. When it is harvesting time, Manawydan checks the crops at night to make sure they're ready for harvest, but then in the morning the ears of wheat were gone. This happened twice. On the third night, Manawydan kept watch over his crop. Around midnight, innumerous amounts of mice showed up and started taking the ears of wheat. Manawydan knew it was impossible for him to catch all the mice, so he just caught the fattest (pregnant) one. When he went back to Cigfa, she asked what he had in his glove. To which Manawydan said, "A thief,". Manawydan was dedicated to hanging the mouse, which Cigfa thought was crazy, but he went up to Arberth and made preparations anyway. As he is preparing to hang the mouse, a clerk shows up, the first person Manawydan has seen in seven years besides his three friends. The clerk tells Manawydan to let the mouse go, but Manawydan doesn't comply. The clerk even tries to buy it from him. The clerk leaves, but after him comes a priest. The priest has the same response, as does Manawydan. The same encounter happens with a bishop, but the bishop offers anything Manawydan wants in return for the mouse. Manawydan tells the bishop he wants the curse to be lifted off Dyfed and Rhiannon and Pryderi back. He also requests to know who the mouse is. It turns out to be the bishop's wife. The bishop then goes on to explain how it was he who enchanted the cantrefs to avenge Gwawl, for Pryderi's father had played "Badger in the Bag" on him ("In the Mabinogi the heroes play a grim game called ‘badger-in-the-bag’, derived from the way the fierce badger is subdued and captured. Pwyll captures Rhiannon's rival suitor, Gwawl, in a giant bag."). Llwyd, the bishop, explains how he turned his warriors into mice to destroy Manawydan's crops, for he was dwelling in the land. Then the ladies of the court and Llwyd's wife asked to be transformed into mice too, so they were. The bishop tells Manawydan he will grant his other requests if he lets his wife go. Manawydan also makes him promise that no enchantment will ever befall Dyfed again and vengeance will not be taken on he and his friends. Pryderi and Rhiannon, who have been enduring working for Llwyn, then come over the hill, and Manawydan sets the mouse free. Llwyn turns her wife back into a human with his wand , and returns Dyfed back to the way it was, with all of its inhabitants.