More info about "Three Celtic Tales"
Three Celtic Tales
a Mushroom eBooks sampler
Copyright © 1999, Moyra Caldecott
Moyra Caldecott has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work.
First published in United Kingdom in 1999 by Bladud Books.
This Edition published in 2002 by Mushroom eBooks,
an imprint of Mushroom Publishing,
Bath, BA1 4EB, United Kingdom
www.mushroom-ebooks.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This is a sampler of Three Celtic Tales by Moyra Caldecott. If you enjoy reading these sample chapters and would like to read the rest, you can buy the complete Mushroom eBook edition from the usual bookshops online, or find more details at www.mushroom-ebooks.com.
Introduction
When the Celtic tribes migrated from central Europe into the British Isles about 700BC they brought with them their rich oral tradition of ancient myths and legends. In the long dark winters, when cattle herding and warfare were difficult, bards told these tales around innumerable hearth fires. Centuries later, they were written down by Christian monks in monastic scriptoriums. In the telling and retelling, changes were often made to suit the individual storyteller, but the essence of the story survived and blazes through to us even today.
The best-known collection of Welsh tales from these early days is commonly known as The Mabinogion. Some fragments of these stories were known from the White Book of Rhydderch, c.1325, but the earliest comprehensive collection was in the Red Book of Hergest, c.1400. Both these versions quote from earlier versions since lost. The Four Branches of the Mabinogion were not translated into English until Lady Charlotte Guest did so in 1849. I find her translation most valuable for its comprehensive and informative section of notes at the back.
Two of the stories in this book are based on texts in Lady Charlotte Guest’s translation of The Mabinogion published by J M Dent & Co., UK and E P Dutton, New York, 1906. These are “Taliesin and Avagddu” (pp.263-285, and notes on pp.424-432), and “Bran, Branwen and Evnissyen” (pp.33-48 and Notes pp.291-297).
“Bran, Branwen and Evnissyen” is the traditional story of the children of Llyr, and how Bran, in death, became a prophet. I have suggested a motive for Evnissyen’s destructiveness, and given my own interpretation of the three mysterious doors, as anyone encountering the tale must.
The traditional story of “Taliesin and Avagddu” tells of the transformation of a village lad into the famous bard Taliesin, but says nothing of the fate of Avagddu, the ill-favoured son of Caridwen who was denied the magic potion intended for him. My curiosity as to what happened to Avagddu after he was denied this magic brew inspired me to add suggestions from my own imagination about his fate.
It is well known that the Celts granted a particular importance to the head. Warriors proudly displayed the heads of their honoured enemies as they rode into battle – not only to show that they had conquered that person but that they now had his “power”. Sculpted oracle heads are frequently found by archaeologists in Celtic lands. The story of the magical being in human form who challenges the hero to cut off his head and then submit his own to the axe a year later appears many times in Celtic myth and has a deep esoteric meaning. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is perhaps the best known.
“The Twins of the Tylwyth Teg” is based on the story of the Mydfai herdboy mentioned several times in Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx by John Rhys (volumes 1 and 2, published by Wildwood House, London 1980 (pp.4-15); first published by Oxford University Press, 1901). In this story we are only given the life of the one twin, Olwen, and are told only what happened to her when she entered the world of mortal man above the surface of the lake. But whatever happened to the second twin? And what went on beneath the lake? In this retelling of the traditional tale, these questions are given an answer. The story of Haelwyn, the rejected twin, is a new addition of my own based on clues in the original story.
That's the end of the sampler. We hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to find out what happens next, you can buy the complete Mushroom eBook edition from the usual online bookshops or through www.mushroom-ebooks.com.
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Moyra Caldecott was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1927, and moved to London in 1951. She married Oliver Caldecott and raised three children. She has degrees in English and Philosophy and an M.A. in English Literature.
Moyra Caldecott has earned a reputation as a novelist who writes as vividly about the adventures and experiences to be encountered in the inner realms of the human consciousness as she does about those in the outer physical world. To Moyra, reality is multidimensional.
Titles marked with an asterisk are available or forthcoming from Mushroom eBooks. Please visit www.mushroom-ebooks.com for more information.
FICTION
Guardians of the Tall Stones:
The Tall Stones*
The Temple of the Sun*
Shadow on the Stones*
The Silver Vortex*
Weapons of the Wolfhound*
The Eye of Callanish*
The Lily and the Bull*
The Tower and the Emerald*
Etheldreda*
Child of the Dark Star*
Hatshepsut: Daughter of Amun*
Akhenaten: Son of the Sun*
Tutankhamun and the Daughter of Ra*
The Ghost of Akhenaten*
The Winged Man*
The Waters of Sul*
The Green Lady and the King of Shadows*
NON-FICTION/MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Crystal Legends*
Three Celtic Tales*
Women in Celtic Myth
Myths of the Sacred Tree
Mythical Journeys: Legendary Quests
CHILDREN’S STORIES
Adventures by Leaflight
More info about "Three Celtic Tales"