Olwen

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Olwen ([ 'olwen ] welsh "the white trail") is in the Celtic mythology of Wales , the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden . This has the geis that he must die on the day of his daughter's engagement.

The Welsh saga Mal y kavas Kulhwch Olwen ("How Kulhwch Olwen has won"), or Kulhwch ac Olwen ("Kulhwch and Olwen") for short , is recorded in the collective manuscript Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch ("The white book of Rhydderch"). The most important part of the “white book” are the Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi (“Four branches of Mabinogi)” .

mythology

On the advice of his father, the young hero Kulhwch wants to win over Cilydd with the help of King Arthur Olwen as his wife. With the help of five companions, including Mabon and Govannon , after a long search he finds the castle of Olwen's father Ysbaddaden. He wants to get advice from his brother, the giant shepherd Custenhin . But it is only when Custenhin's wife in Kulhwch recognizes her sister Goleuddydd's son that he is ready. At Kulhwch's request, he invites Olwen to visit him.

They sent for her and she came in a flaming red silk robe, a red and gold ring ( torques ) with precious pearls and rubies lay around the virgin's neck. Her hair was yellower than the gorse blossom, her skin whiter than the foam of the wave, the palms and fingertips were whiter than the tips of the fever clover in the middle of the gravel of a bubbling spring. […] Any eye was still lighter than hers, and the white swan's breast was no whiter than both of her breasts, her two cheeks were redder than the thimble. Whoever looked at her was filled with love for her. Four white clover plants used to sprout from their trail where they had gone, and that is why it was called Olwen 'White Trail'.

Kulhwch immediately confesses his love to her. But the girl makes it clear to him that her father will only agree to this under difficult conditions. For he must die after their marriage, that is his cynnedyf (obligation, taboo). But she advises Kulwch to go to her father and to answer each of his demands: "It is easy to meet this!"

Ysbadadden now demands forty almost unsolvable tasks. With Arthur's help, however, this succeeds and Ysbaddaden has to agree to his daughter's wedding. Kulhwch's companions shear his beard and hair, including his skin, cut off his ears and finally Goreu cut off his head. So the prophecy comes true and Ysbaddaden dies at Olwen's wedding.

And that night Kulhwch slept with Olwen, and as long as they lived she was his only wife. […] And so Kulhwch Olwen, the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden, won.

See also

literature

  • Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
  • Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, Lit-Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7563-6 .
  • Ingeborg Clarus : Celtic Myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 473.
  2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 53 f.
  3. ↑ Cf. the early medieval Irish school tradition of starting the answer to every test question with the stereotypical phrase “That's not difficult!” ( Latin non difficile , Old Irish ní anse ). In: Michael Richter: Ireland in the Middle Ages, Culture and History. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-406-40481-2 , p. 81.
  4. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , pp. 278 ff.
  5. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 2, p. 91 f.