Treasure 14 and 15

The Mantle of Tegau Eurfron and Eluned's Stone and Ring are treasures number 14 and 15; however, they do not appear on every list and when they do, Rhygenydd's crock and dish are made into one treasure and one of the other treasures are dropped so that the number stays at 13.  Neither one of these are traditional, but as they do appear, I thought that they should be recognized.  Sort of like recognizing Never Say Never Again as a Bond movie, when it really isn't.


Tegau Eurfron's Mantle belonged to Eurfron the Fair (that's what the Tegau part stands for).  She had a nickname - gold breasted (wow, all sorts of James Bond references this post).  She got bit by a snake on her breasts and they had to be removed, so she had gold ones built to replace them.  This story does not survive in the English versions, but there is a French romance that includes it.  This mantle is much like the other treasures: only a woman who has been chaste could wear this and have it fit.  Women of the more, er, experienced type, would find the mantle too short (which probably suited their purposes anyway).

Eluned's Stone and Ring is a little harder to find the answer to.  I found a Eluned who was a 5th century saint, but nothing connecting him to a ring.  One source stated that the wearer would become invisible, a bit already done in the treasures.  It appears that you could wear the ring normally, but when you hid the stone on the ring (with your hand or something) it would hide you.  Did I mention already done?  One different aspect is that it seemed to free Owain from being trapped or imprisoned, which may imply a bit of intangibility ot go along with that invisibility.  While many scholars credit the many rings mentioned in Norse sagas as being the source for Tolkien's magic ring, this certainly has to be part of it.  He would have been familiar with this story I'm sure.

And leaving you with this disturbing picture, I'm off to figure out the next long drawn out theme posts.  Maybe the stops of Odysseus, the Ten Labors (I know some of you thought it was 12) of Hercules, or Norse death.  I don't know.  Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't take another ten months to finally finish!

Invisibility Cloaks

Back to the 13 Treasures of Britain and....we present the 13th and second to last of the 13 treasures!  I know, counting is not my strong point, but trust me.

The Mantle of Arthur in Cornwall (Llen Arthyryng Nghernyw) is a cloak that when worn, whoever was under it could not be seen.  Sounds a lot like the cloak that Harry Potter has, right?  Well, a lot of people make a big connection to the Hallows in Harry Potter and the 13 Treasures.  With J. K. Rowling's other mythology allusions, it is quite possible that this connection is real and not just a coincidence.

The word "Llen" could be translated in a variety of ways.  At http://home.ix.netcom.com/~kiyoweap/myth/arms-weap/arthurs-mantle.htm, they give a fuller discussion, but to boil it down to a nutshell, instead of it meaning "mantle," it could mean "carpet," in which case anyone standing on the carpet disappears.  Seems a bit odd and rather useless to me, but then again, many of these treasures are a bit strange.  Other translations of the word llen could be sheet, curtain, or veil.  Of all of these, it seems that mantle would be the most logical for this particular treasure.

I would show you a picture of it, but getting a picture of an invisibility cloak is akin to drawing a polar bear in a snow storm.

It is not the only invisibility devise in mythology.  Caswallan is another Brit who had a cloak of invisibility.  He used it to attack Caradog who was steward for the king.  Caswallan did not wish to hurt Caradog, since they were kinsmen, but when what appeared to be a floating sword killed six men around him, Caradog died of grief.

Hades had a helmet of invisibility.  Perseus had a cap of invisibility.  There is a Russian folk tale that has a hat of invisibility, however, this one makes the wearer blind as well.  The Tarnhelm is a helmet in Norse mythology that makes its wearer invisible.  

While not exactly mythology, Plato made a story of an invisibility ring called the Ring of Gyges.  The story goes something like this: a shepherd worked for the king.  One day, while he was minding his own business, the ground cracks open.  This revealed an opening that contained a dead body with a ring.  The shepherd (named Gyges) took the ring and left.  Later he is sitting before the king waiting to tell him how the sheep are doing.  He finds that when he turns the ring on his finger, it makes him invisible.  He later seduces the queen and kills the king to take his place.  Sounds like Lord of the Rings to me.  My Precioussss.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out.  Can any of you think of an item that turns people invisibile in mythology?

The Chessboard of Gwenddolau

I was playing a computer game one time and accidentally set both sides to computer, so then the computer just started playing itself.  Pretty boring.  That's why I'm scratching my head at this next treasure. 

Treasure number 12 is the Chessboard of Gwenddolau (Gwyddbwyll Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio).  It is made of gold and the men of silver and when you set the pieces up, they play by themselves.  Other than the magic involved in making this happen, it would be a pretty boring way to play chess.  I guess you could bet on the outcome or maybe you could take charge of one side and play against the computer, so to speak.  The picture to the left is from Concept Art.  They have some other visions of the treasures.

Gwenddolau was a historical person, or at least his dad was.  His dad's name was Ceidio and he died 573 AD.  Gwenddolau was one of Merlin's warriors (although one account has him on the opposite side of Merlin).  His group was so faithful that after Gwenddolau's death, they continued to fight for another 6 weeks.  He owned not only the chessboards, but two birds that he yoked with a special yoke of gold. 

There are other games like chess that the early Celts played and the Norse.  I found a website that has these games.  For the most part they play like they are all rooks.  The object for most is to surround the king or to get your king to a corner.  I suggest you try the Hnefetafl of the Norse.  Go here to play:
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~leif/games/Hnefetafl/

Of course, if your tastes run toward the more Greek mythology, you should check out the 11 Mythology Gifts for a really nice chess set with the Greek gods and goddesses.

A Two for One Deal!

Back to the Treasures of Britain - today we get a two for one deal.  The Crock and Dish of Rhygenydd the Cleric are treasures number 10 and 11.  Thankfully this has no stipulation of, "only a worthy man may eat of this dish."  Instead, it is just a plain treasure and doles out its gifts to one and all.  The just and the unjust (hope for me!).

If you find yourself in possession of these tresures, all you have to do is to wish for a particular food, say pepperoni pizza, and it would appear.  It is unclear whether or not you have to use these things together or if all you need is one.  It is also unclear if these things are dishwasher safe. 

This dish and/or crock has been suggested by some as being a possible origin for the Holy Grail.  It seems that the grail had similar abilities in the early story Perceval.  I also found one source that suggested that this dish had the ability to create medicine for healing.

Wheras some of these treasures have true life owners, I cannot find anything on this cleric except that he owned these things.  A bit disappointing.  This whole quest to detail out the thirteen treasures has been mildly disappointing since most books and web sites I find just list the treasures.  It is like reading some of my students' papers.  I see the same words over and over again.  There is some pretty heavy duty plagiarizing being done out there.

Another Obscure Myth Allusion Award!

The winner of our third Obscure Myth Allusion award (the first going to a news article to subtly drop the name Ratatosk and the second, which is currently under review by the Obscure Myth Allusion Oversight Committee for not truly being obscure went to Sisyphus) is Padarn Red-Coat.  The following site quickly drops in Padarn Red-Coat right there with Hermes and Aphrodite as mythical beings who have pretty cool clothes.  

The Red Suit Enthusiasm - Their slogan is, "Kicking butt and taking names since Moby Dick was a minnow," which tells you something about them right there.  Apparently they try to get a lot of people to exercise in this spandex red suit and attribute mythical powers to it.  Check it out.

What?  Did you say you don't know who Padarn Red-Coat is?  Shame on you.  Everyone knows this guy.  He has this red coat, you see.   Actually it is more of a tunic / early sweat shirt.  This is not just any red garment, mind you.  It is the ninth treasure of England!  That's right.  Otherwise known as Pais Badarn Beisrvdd (the coat of Padarn Red-Coat) can only be worn by a noble person.  If you are of such high birth, then it would fit you perfectly.  If you were just some punk, it would not fit at all.    

This is not an uncommon idea.  Many times, like in Macbeth, we show people who do not belong in their position by the fact that their clothes do not fit.  Heck, even the Disney movie The Santa Clause does this by showing Scott Calvin not fitting into the Santa Claus suit until he fully becomes his new persona.  Watch a few movies this weekend and I'm sure you'll run across another one.  This is an especially popular image when you have a story about a king or some other nobility that is not the rightful heir.  Of course, those readers here in America are experiencing ill fitting clothes right now, but that is less of being punkish and more of eating too much turkey for Thanksgiving.  Mmmmmm......

Now, interesting enough, Padarn Red-Coat is not the only Padarn walking around.  Apparently the name Padarn was all the rage back then.  Maybe if my wife and I have another kid, we'll name him Padarn (or Padarna if it is a little girl).  I'm sure my wife will approve.  Anyway, there is a St. Padarn.  St. Padarn had established a monastery and is an actual historical figure.  His history, however, runs into mythology as many of the early saints tend to do.  This saint, just like Padarn Red-Coat, has a run in with Arthur.  This run-in involves a tunic.  So you can see that the two stories must have a common origin.  In the saint's story, Arthur tried to steal his tunic.  Some of us may see this as uncharacteristically Arthur; however, Arthur stories have been written by many people who have portrayed him in many lights.

When Arthur tries to take the tunic, Padarn causes the earth to swallow Arthur up to his neck.  Arthur then sees the error of his ways and the awesomeness of God and begs forgiveness.  Padarn, being a saint and all, forgives Arthur and the earth spits him back out.

So have a happy Thanksgiving (even if you are in a part of the world that doesn't celebrate it) and remember to only wear clothes that fit so that no one will think you a churl.

The Whetstone of Death!

First of all, what a hectic week!  Not only am I running in different directions, but my laptop has decided it has no hard drive.  I know it has a hard drive.  It had a hard drive when I last shut it down.

Anyway, sorry for the delay between posts.  Let's get back to the 13 Treasures of Britain.  Treasure number 8 is a pretty neat one.  If you look back at the previous treasures you'll find that they are pretty much ordinary things.  They are something extraordinary that could pass as ordinary.  This is a pretty universal feeling.  How many of us at one time or another fancied that we have some very valuable collectible stored away in our attic.  We just didn't know the value of it yet.

This treasure is no different.  It is a whetstone (a rockish thing used to sharpen knives or swords).  It is officially called the Whetstone of Tudwal Tudglyd (or Hogalen Tudwal Tutklyd).  Here is the deal - if a brave man sharpens his sward with it, then later uses that sword to cut a man, that man will die.  If a cowardly man  sharpens his sword with it, then later uses it to cut a man, that man will not be hurt at all.  Once again we see the emphasis on bravery with the treasures.

Other than that, I couldn't find much more on Tudwal or his whetstone.  However, this is not the only place in mythology that whetstones are used.  In Norse mythology, we have Hrungnir, the giant who had a head of stone, a heart of stone, and a shield of stone.  For a weapon, he didn't use a whetstone to sharpen his sword, he used the whetstone as a weapon!  He just threw the darn thing at his opponents.  He threw it at Thor and it got stuck in Thor's forehead.

Thor goes to a sorceress named Groa and she starts chanting a magical chant (which is a bit redundant) and the whetstone starts to move.  Thor is so excited, he decides to tell her something to make her happy.  He found her husband, who she thought was dead, carried him across a river, and her husband is on his way home.  He said that he didn't completely wrap up the guy as they were crossing the river and one part of him froze off - his toe (get your mind out of the gutter!).  Thor threw his toe up in the sky where it became a star.

No body knows the exact star the old Norse looked at and said, "Hey, that looks like a toe!" but some scholars think it is Rigel, the bottom right bright blue star in Orion (see below):

See the really bright bottom right star?  That's the toe.  Orion is pretty easy to spot in the sky.  Orion's belt is the three stars in a row in the middle of the constellation.  You can see it now.  If you are in the northern hemisphere, go outside and look east, the constellation is rising (east is where the sun normally rises, if you are unsure which direction to look).  If you are a morning person, you can see it in the west before the sun rises.  For the southern hemisphere readers, I'm not so sure where Orion is, if it is even visible at this time of year.  If anyone knows and wants to leave a comment, you'll have my thanks.

Anyway, she gets so excited about the return of her husband, that she forgets the chant!  The whetstone is stuck in Thor's head to this day.  Now, don't you go around throwing whetstones to see if it would make a good weapon for you to use.  Anytime a whetstone is thrown, it makes the one in Thor's head move and that hurts him.  You wouldn't want to make him angry, now would you?

Hopefully, this nice long post makes up for leaving you with Destroyer of Ponies! for so long.  Sorry about that...

A Watched Pot Never Boils

One day, I'm at my mother-in-law's house and she asks me if I would take something to her storage shed.  Being the great guy that I am, I say, "Sure thing!"  WhenI get to the shed, she unlocks it and, lo and behold, there is a huge black cauldron right there in the doorway.  Before I thought, I said, "So THAT'S where you keep it!"

You know, I've always had my suspicions...

Anyway, the cauldron story is a lead in on the next Treasure of Britain.  The Cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant (Pair Dyrnwch Gawr) is a large cauldron that only works for the brave.  If you are a coward, you can heat the water up all you want, but the meat will never boil. However, if you were a brave man, it would boil almost immediately.

There is an Irish story that is similar and the two are most certainly connected.  In this story the owner is Diwrnach, who is sometimes described as a giant.  Just as the British treasure, the cauldron is picky about who cooks it.  Along comes this guy, Olwen, who has a quest to gather several treasures together, including this cauldron (much the same as the idea of gathering the 13 treasures together).   Arthur, ever the helpful friend to Olwen, had his man persuade Diwrnach to give it up willingly, but Diwrnach's steward refuses to let it go.  After trying again, Arthur just takes the thing, fills it with treasure he took from Ireland, and goes home.

Also, the Preiddeu Annwfn, a poem that may have been written by Taliesin, the cauldron is not only mentioned, but described as well.  The poem goes on to detail a trip by Arthur into Annwfn (I believe to be a section of the Otherworld).  While there, he finds the cauldron and here we learn that it is not some big black witches cauldron (such as you might find in my mother-in-law's storage shed), but it is finished in pearl.

R. S. Loomis suggests that this cauldron was an early Celtic idea that the holy grail evolved from.  Bernard Cornwell, in his series about Arthur, has the cauldron also with the ability to restore life (drawing from this connection Loomis makes).  As I have already stated, I think this is an excellent book series and provides a nice alternative view of Arthur.  

Whatever the case, this cauldron seems to me to be a strange treasure.  Maybe a cauldron that turns things to gold or a cauldron that feeds thousands or something.  Refusing to boil food for a coward...  well, it just doesn't seem, I don't know, all that treasurey* to me.

*I am an English teacher, so if I say "treasurey" is a word, then it is!

It Slices! It Dices!

The Knife of Llawfrodedd the Horseman 

This knife would serve 24 men - whatever the heck that means.  Does it create food enough for 24, or is the ultimate Ginzu knife and slices 24 slices at once.  Apparently there is some connection to Excalibur for this knife, but I cannot find out any more than that.  Maybe they are cutlery cousins or something like that.  The guy who drew the picture below (some chap named Vorp - poor fellow) calls it the Ornate Celtic Cheese Cutter. 

There was a contest on the Concept Art web site that challenged artists to design the 13 treasures of Britain.  You can see all the designs at:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=133553

I cannot find any more about the knife; however, there is more about this Llawfrodded guy.  The guy is a Welsh hero.  Not only did he own the knife, but he also had Cornillo, one of the Three Prominent Cows of the Island of Britain (say that three times fast).  He is mention in the role call of heroes in a few texts dealing with King Arthur.  Probably he is one of the Men of the North and lived in the sixth century. 

Next... the Spork of the Lady of the Lake

Treasure #5

The Halter of Clydno Eiddyn

This halter hung on Clydno's bed, hanging by a staple (nail). When he went to bed, he would just wish for a certain type of horse and viola, it would be there for him in the morning. Outside of this, I am having a hard time finding stuff about this halter. I'm not sure if you could get a particular horse (I wish for Joe's horse) or if you could wish for a type of horse (I wish for an appaloosa). There seems to be no pictures of this thing and nothing else to describe it.

Since I have nothing on this horse halter, why not spend some time with this mythical horse that has nothing to do with the treasures of Britain.

The tikbalang - a demon horse from Philippine folklore. It hangs out in the mountains. It looks very weird - the joints are disproportionate to the rest of the body. When he squats down, his knees come above his head.

They love to lure travellers off the path and getting them lost in the woods. Of course, you can easily avoid all their hassle by merely wearing your shirt inside out. That or ask permission softly to pass by their woods, but the wearing the shirt inside out is so in these days. Just to put my money where my mouth is, I wore my shirt inside out today and ta-dah! No tikbalang attacks!

A tikbalang has a spiky mane. If you can obtain one of these tufts, then you can use it as a talisman to tame one and keep it as a servant. However, you need to leap upon the tikbalang from behind and then hold on until it gets tired of trying to knock you off balance.

Where do these guys come from? Aborted fetuses. That's right. If you're pro-life, here's another reason why you shouldn't have abortions. If you are pro-choice, then watch out. You might want to start wearing your shirt inside out...

We talked awhile back about the devil beating his wife (rain while the sun is shining). It appears that there is another saying about this weather phenomenon - "a tikbalang is getting married."

Outatime

We have always been interested in fast travel. Treasure four of the 13 Treasures of Britian is no different.

The Chariot of Morgan the Wealthy (Kar Morgan Mwynfawr) - quite simply, wherever you wanted to go, you just thought about it and *poof* you appeared (or at least would be there quickly)

Even today, we are obsessed with going faster, saving time, getting their quicker. I read teh book Around the World in 80 Days not too long ago and was amused at 80 days being a speed record. The record for a boat to circumnavigate the globe is 60 days. Steve Fossett did it by himself in a plane in just 67 hours. By who cares about them? This is a mythology blog. What about the mythological travel savers?

My favorite for the sheer image of it is the flying carpet of Arabian mythology fame. One Thousand and One Nights was my first encounter with one, but they were in stories long before that. In that book, Prince Housain found an old beat up carpet that was really a flying one. I guess all that wear and tear from flying really can make a carpet look pretty bad.

King Solomon, who has a lot to do with Arabian lore, also had a flying carpet that was sixty miles long and sixty miles wide. Seems to be one heck of a vacuuming ordeal.

The Norse had Slephnir, an eight-legged, super-fast horse that was the unfortunate result of Loki shape changing into a female horse around a horny stallion.

You have Pegasus in Greek mythology that allows Bellerophon to get where he wants to quickly. Unfortunately, Bellerophon began to believe that it was he who was all that and a bag of chips, and when he forced Pegasus to go to Mt. Olympus, Pegasus bumped him off. This earns Pegasus a spot in the stars for being smart and Bellerophon a spot in crippled shame for the rest of his miserable life.

Mandjet is a boat that allows Ra to travel the world each day carrying the sun and looking for dead souls to take to the underworld. Not exactly the best example of fast travel, but it does circle the world in a day.

Magical transportation is not all fun and games, mind you. Just take the time to read this news story (just click the headline):

Man Gets 5 Years for Magical Transportation


I know there are some that I have left out. Leave a comment if you can think of more fast modes of travel.

Unfortunately for me, I have none of these items. I have to rely one my truck to get from point A to point B. Hope you get where you are going fast, on time, and safe this summer.

The Horn of What??????

O.K, this next treasure of Britain just sounds weird -

The Horn of Bran Galed, the Niggard (Korn Bran Galed o'r Gogledd) - First of all, the Horn of Bran just sounds like some fiber diet plan from the Celtic age.  Next, well, the word niggard has not had too much of an enjoyable time in modern day, considering what it sounds like.  In fact, a teacher in North Carolina got in trouble several years back for teaching it.  For those of you who are unaware, the word niggard means stingy.  It has no connection to the modern day racial slang.  It is Old English in origin.  

The teacher mentioned earlier had to promise to never teach the word again because it was so close to the racial slur.  She also had to attend sensitivity training, write a letter of apology to the parents of her students, and have a letter of reprimand put in her personnel file.  The school counselors were brought into the classroom to help the students deal with a traumatic event.  There are only three other times I have ever heard the word used.  It was used by a politician several years ago (I forget for which U.S. state) who said that we should not be niggardly with our tax cuts.  He was not elected.  It is also used in Macbeth and in Beowulf.

Back to the treasure.  Whatever drink you wish for, it is in there.  You want ale?  Got it.  You want wine?  Got it.  Heck, it even has Tab, which is pretty hard to get nowadays.

Hercules even had the horn for a little while.  According to some authors, Hercules took the horn from the head of a centaur.  The wife of the centaur soaked a shirt in her husband's blood and gave it Hercules.  When he put it on, he was burned to death (more like acid burn, not fire).  I've heard this story before, but it was always Hercule's wife who gave him the shirt, being under the impression that the blood would keep him faithful to her while he was away in battle.

Either way, the message is clear - centaur blood = bad     Warn your kids!

And now that I have successfully warned you of the dangers of such, I'll see you later!

Treasure # 2

Apparently, a young man by the name of Culhwch, fell in love.  He fell in love with the daughter of a giant named Ysbaddadan, who was not interested in his daughter marring such a cocky young man (that and the fact that if she gets married, he will die).  Young love, however, is not easily deterred and Culhwch accepts a challenge to collect 39 things.  All these things are virtually impossible to find and, when found, belong to people who are not willing to give them up ro unable to get rid of them.  That does not stop our young hero, and off he goes in search of the treasures.  One of the treasures is also the second treasure of Britain.  

The Hamper of Gwyddno Long-Shank, or otherwise known as Mwys Gwyddno Garanir.  It is said that if you put food for one man in it, you'll open it up and find food for a hundred men.  

It seems this Long-Shanks fellow was lord of a place in Wales named Catref y Gwaelod, but don't break out your handy dandy map to find it just yet.  The whole place was flooded and is wiped from the face of the earth to join the sea forever.

Culhwch eventually got all the items, but not without help.  King Arthur and his knights joined the hunt and helped him out.  When Culhwch gets back to him, you might would think that Ysbaddadan tried to back out of the deal, but, with somewhat refreshing originality, the giant puts Culhwch down for not finding all the items himself.  As soon as he does, another warrior who evidently was just sitting around waiting for this opportunity, leaps up and decapitates the giant in one blow!

Now I'm hungry!

Update Wikipedia

A lot of fuss is made in some high schools over the validity of Wikipedia as a source. Personally, I think Wikipedia is a great source to use as a starting point, as long as you then backup what new information you may find there. I read a study that said that by far the majority of information found on Wikipedia was accurate, just incomplete. That can be said about most books. What book can have complete information on Greek Mythology, for example.

That said, I found a Wikipedia entry that begs to be updated (it even asks the viewer to help complete the entry). It is a list of mythical objects - swords, jewelry, relics, clothing, etc. It is not a bad list - it even has Clarent on there (you know, the sword of peace that some legends say was the sword that Arthur pulled from the stone). While I don't think this is a good project for students, it is a good project for teachers and lovers of mythology. View the list of stuff at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mythical_objects. You'll find that many things are listed, but far from everything or even most things. While we teach and find things as we read, we should add them to the list. For that matter, it wouldn't be bad to expand the listing for objects already on the page. Let's add some sources to this. If nothing else, it is just a neat list to view.

The list is very similar to http://www.book-of-thoth.com/thebook/index.php/List_of_mythical_objects, so somebody is plagiarizing someone out there (all too common today - makes an English teacher weep).

Currently I would rate this a 2.5 lightning bolts out of 5. Could be better. We can make it better. I would love to have your reply if you can find anything that was left off the list.