Nobody answered Gwyn however, and when he saw that everyone was asleep and couldn't be woken up because of the drink and food they had, he decided to escape. In his flight he took the princess with him, who was the only one awake. The legend is obviously symbolic and Gwyn stands out as an exemplary character who has been singled out from the entire people for salvation: "After a few hours Gwyn started to get nervous. It was getting quite dark, no-one had come to relieve him yet and a storm was brewing. The storm became much worse and a hole appeared in the wall. Gwyn rushed to the main tower and rang the bell as loudly as he could, but no help came."("Welsh Legend") the fact that he takes the princess with him enhances the meaningfulness of the flood and the resemblance with the story of Noah: not only is Gwyn the savior of the princess, but he becomes thus the only representative of his country and the beginner of a new race of people. The princess symbolizes thus the perpetuation of the race through Gwyn. Also, like in Noah's story, the people are punished for the sinfulness and their indolence that makes them eat and drink so much that they forget about their own safety.
Another remarkable Welsh legend is the Fate of the Children of Lir. Without bearing much similarity with the other two mythical stories, the legend is also very interesting for its main characters. It can easily be said that Aoife, the wife of Lir, plays the most important part in the story. After Lir loses two wives, he marries Aoife who is in charge of his four children from Lir's previous marriage with Aoife's elder sister. Seized with blind jealousy, Aoife decides to destroy the children, but not being able to murder them she puts a spell on them and they are transformed in swans....
The legend is thus very interesting as it emphasizes the importance of the swan as a mythological figure in Welsh literature. Aoife is thus obviously endowed with
supernatural, magical powers. She is not an entirely evil character, as she proved unable to actually murder the children: "Out with you, children of the king, your luck is taken away from you for ever; it is sorrowful the story will be to your friends; it is with flocks of
birds your cries will be heard for ever."("The Fate of the Children of Lir") Moreover, she repents for her deed afterwards and tries to soften the spell she had cast by making the children retain their sense and their speech: "But then repentance came on Aoife, and she said: 'Since there is no other help for me to give you now, you may keep your own speech; and you will be singing sweet
music of the Sidhe, that would put the men of the
earth to
sleep, and there will be no music in the world equal to it...'"(the Fate of the Children of Lir) in the end, she herself is transformed into a witch of the air as a punishment. Aoife thus embodies the
power of jealousy to engender evil. Moreover, her role is rounded up by the fact that her deed leads to the
respect the people thereafter had for the swans.
The mythical and legendary characters thus embody essential features and beliefs proper for a certain
culture.
Works Cited
The
Bible. King James Version.
The Fate of the Children of Lir. http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/micsun/IrishResources/childlir.htm
The Welsh Legend. www.interlink.org.nz/projects/myth/mythglan.html
