Peredur fab Efrawg

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Peredur fab Efrawg [ pe'redir vaːb 'evraug ] ("Peredur, the son of Efrawg") is the title of one of the "three romances" ( Y Tair Rhamant ) of Welsh literature. The other two are Iarlles y Ffynnawn ("The mistress of the spring") and Gereint fab Erbin ("Gereint, the son of the heiress"). The work is recorded in some, partly fragmentary versions from the 14th century in the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch ("The White Book of Rhydderch") and in the Llyfr Coch Hergest ("The Red Book of Hergest").

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The legend tells the development of Peredur from an ignorant youth to a well-respected member of King Arthur's round table . The individual episodes of the plot show only a loose connection and are only connected to one another by the character of the hero.

After the death of his father, the mother and the boy withdraw to the forest, where he grows up simple-minded - he drives a pack of hinds into the stable, believing that they are goats. He finally escapes his mother when he meets knights for the first time.

"Tell me, friend, did you see a knight go by here today or yesterday?" Asked Owein . - "I don't know", he [Peredur] replied, "what a knight is." - "One like myself," said Owein.

At Arthurhof he is ridiculed by Kei as a fool with childish weapons. A pair of dwarves, whom Peredur also praises, are therefore mistreated by Kei. Therefore Peredur decides to become a knight in order to be able to get revenge on the scoffers, especially on Kei. His later companion Gwalchmei fab Gwyar (Gawain) greeted him warmly and provided him with weapons and armor. Peredur first learns stick fencing with the lame fisherman king, then in the next castle how to use the sword. He can split an iron column with one blow. In the third castle, he frees the mistress of uninvited suitors and wins her over. He sends every defeated enemy back to Arthurhof with a message.

“You shall receive grace,” said Peredur, “if you swear to go to Arthur's court and tell him that it was I who prostrated you in his service and in his honor. And say that I will not come to his court earlier than until I have met Tall One [Kei] who is there and avenged the mistreatment of the dwarf and the dwarf. "

In another castle, he fends off an attack by the "Witches of Gloucester" ( gwidonot Caer Loyw ). One of the witches gives him a horse and weapons as a thank you for saving her life and teaches him how to use them. Later, however, he comes back with other knights of the round table and kills all the witches.

Chrétien de Troyes worked on this subject in his verse novel Li Contes del Graal from the 12th century. Wolfram von Eschenbach described the same theme in his verse epic Parzival , written at the beginning of the 13th century. The question of the original sources and the mutual influence of these three works remains unanswered.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 1, p. 109 f.
  2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic stories from the emperor Arthur. Part 1, p. 118.
  3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 658 f, 703.