famed beyond summer’s dawn,” is mentioned in a Taliesin poem, and she was later associated with the constellation Corona Borealis.[392] Possibly her real name was forgotten, and that of Arianrhod derived from a place-name, “Caer Arianrhod,” associated with her.  The interpretation which makes her a dawn goddess, mother of light, Lleu, and darkness, Dylan, is far from obvious.[393] Dylan, after his baptism, rushed into the sea, the nature of which became his.  No wave ever broke under him; he swam like a fish; and hence was called Dylan Eil Ton or “son of the wave.”  Govannon, his uncle, slew him, an incident interpreted as the defeat of darkness, which “hies away to lurk in the sea.”  Dylan, however, has no dark traits and is described as a blonde.  The waves lament his death, and, as they dash against the shore, seek to avenge it.  His grave is “where the wave makes a sullen sound,” but popular belief identifies him with the waves, and their noise as they press into the Conway is his dying groan.  Not only is he Eil Ton, “son of the wave,” but also Eil Mor, “son of the sea."[394] He is thus a local sea-god, and like Manannan identified with the waves, and yet separate from them, since they mourn his death.  The Mabinogi gives us the debris of myths explaining how an anthropomorphic sea-god was connected with the goddess Arianrhod and slain by a god Govannon.

Another Mabinogion group is that of Pwyll, prince of Dyved, his wife Rhiannon, and their son Pryderi.[395] Pwyll agrees with Arawn, king of Annwfn (Elysium), to reign over his kingdom for a year.  At the end of that time he slays Arawn’s rival Havgan.  Arawn sends him gifts, and Pwyll is now known as Pen or Head of Annwfn, a title showing that he was once a god, belonging to the gods’ land, later identified with the Christian Hades.  Pwyll now agrees with Rhiannon,[396] who appears mysteriously on a magic hillock, and whom he captures, to rid her of an unwelcome suitor Gwawl.  He imprisons him in a magical bag, and Rhiannon weds Pwyll.  The story thus resolves itself into the formula of the Fairy Bride, but it paves the way for the vengeance taken on Pryderi and Rhiannon by Gwawl’s friend Llwyt.  Rhiannon has a son who is stolen as soon as born.  She is accused of slaying him and is degraded, but Teyrnon recovers the child from its super-human robber and calls him Gwri.  As he grows up, Teyrnon notices his resemblance to Pwyll, and takes him to his court.  Rhiannon is reinstated, and because she cries that her anguish (pryderi) is gone, the boy is now called Pryderi.  Here, again, we have Maerchen incidents, which also appear in the Fionn saga.[397]