A woman named Arianrhod had
two sons, one whom was named Lleu Llaw Gyffes. She had a dislike for Lleu and put three curses on him: that he would not
receive a name unless it was given by her, he would not receive his
armour unless from her, and the last curse was that he would never be
allowed to marry a mortal woman.
When he grew to manhood, Lleu called upon his two uncles, who were the
wizards, Gwydion and Math, to help him find a wife.
With the chant "Take the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers
of the meadowsweet, from those they conjured up the fairest and most
beautiful maiden anyone had ever seen.They
created a wife for Lleu Llaw Gyffes out of flowers and baptized her, naming her Blodeuwedd, meaning
'flower face'. Blodeuwedd was beautiful and
innocent; immediately Lleu fell in love with her and the two were
married.
After she had become Lleu's bride, and they had feasted, Math said, “I will give the young man the
best Cantrev to hold.The
Cantrev of Dinodig.” The place was a
palace in a spot called Mur y Castell,the old name for Tomen-y-Mur near Traswfynydd
There Lleu and Blodeuwedd reigned, and were beloved by
all.
Not long after the marriage, Lleu left Blodeuwedd alone in their castle at Tomen y Mur as he needed to visit his uncles on business. She became bored and lonely, Then one day a hunting party approached the castle, led by Gronw Pebyr, the lord of nearby Penllyn. He told
Blodeuwedd that his party was looking for somewhere to stay and
Blodeuwedd invited them to stay in the castle. She became infatuated with Gronw Pebyr and the two began an
affair. They decided to kill Lleu, so she and Gronw could be together. However, Lleu couldn’t be killed in any
normal way,
not during the
day or night, neither riding nor walking, not
clothed and not naked, nor by any weapon lawfully made.
When Gronw and his hunting party left and Lleu returned,
Blodeuwedd pretended to be worried about his safety and asked him what method could be used to kill him, He revealed that he could only be killed at dusk, wrapped in a net with one foot
on a cauldron and one on a goat and with a spear forged for a year
during the hours when everyone was at mass. Blodeuwedd
went to Gronw Pe
byr with the information and they arranged his death. Gronw Pebyr
began working on a spear immediately.
Exactly one year later, Blodeuwedd convinced him to demonstrate
how impossible it would be for him to be in the position where he could be killed, by chance, and when he did so, her lover Goronwy leapt out and struck with the spear he had been forging for one year during the sacred times of mass. Because Lleu had one
foot on the side of a metal cauldron and the other on the back of a goat,
Gronw’s plan was successful. But what Lleu had not told Blodeuwedd was
that he could not lose his life. Instead, as soon as the spear hit him, Lleu
turned into an eagle and flew away into the forest.
After hearing the news, the wizard Gwydion set out to find Lleu. He found him in a tree in the
forest nearby, living off the meat of a wild boar lying at the footof the
tree. Because of his magic powers, Gwydion was able to turn Lleu back
into a man.
Lleu set out to find Gronw Pebyr and Blodeuwedd. Lleu killed
Gronw Pebyr, but Blodeuwedd had run to the forest. Gwydion managed to corner her and as punishment for what
she had done, he turned her into a tawny owl, telling her that every
other bird would fear her and thus she would have to live the rest of
her life in solitude.
