In the early stories of Merlin, he would often laugh when his powers of prophecy revealed ironic situations, such as a man expressing love for his "son" without realizing the boy isn't his, or a woman buying a dress even though she'll drown before she wears it.
Myrddin Wyllt was a 6th-century prophet who inspired the Merlin legend. After being traumatized by war, Myrddin fled into a Scottish forest and became a hermit. He supposedly wrote down his intense visions, which are collectively known as "The Prophecies of Merlin."
🎨 Alan Lee
In Welsh folklore, the youth Culhwch requests that his uncle, King Arthur, help him find the maiden Olwen but first cut Culhwch's hair. A man's first adult haircut was an important rite of passage among the ancient Welsh, often performed by a respected male relative.
🎨 Alfred Frederick
Welsh folk saying: "Guinevere, daughter of Ogrfan the Giant / Bad when little, worse when great."
Was her father simply a tall man and Guinevere got worse-tempered as she got older, or did King Arthur's wife have giant blood and grew in size when angry?
When Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, chopped the head off the Green Knight at New Year's as part of a "game," the Green Knight picked up his head and told Gawain to meet him next New Year's to get his own head chopped off. Many scholars have debated this symbolism.
"Though thou get this, there is yet that which thou wilt not get. It is not possible to hunt the boar Trwyth without Gwyn, the son of Nudd, whom God has placed over all the devils in Annwn, lest they should destroy the present race."
In one Welsh legend, King Arthur discovered an altar floating in the ocean, and unsuccessfully tried to use it as a table. When Arthur realized the altar belonged to St. Carannog, he returned it in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a troublesome dragon.
In British legend, when Merlin saw a comet that resembled a dragon in the sky, he knew it meant his king, Ambrosius, had died, and Ambrosius' brother Uther was now king. In honor of this comet, Merlin dubbed the new king Uther Pendragon (Uther "Dragon's Head").
Many of the prophecies of the British mystic Myrddin Wyllt (the inspiration for Merlin) are monologs told to his only friend - a wild piglet he fed and befriended while living in the wilderness. Geoffrey of Monmouth changed the piglet to a wolf when he wrote Myrddin's biography. #FairyTaleTuesday
In Welsh legends, King Arthur had three shapeshifting wizard-warriors in his service: his chief counselor Menw, Eiddilig the Dwarf, and Tristan of Lyonesse. Only Tristan appears in the later Arthurian Romances, though as simply a knight with no magical powers.
🎨 Alan Lee #FairyTaleTuesday
The Arthurian Romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is about how much someone will sacrifice for honour. Sir Gawain swore an oath to the Green Knight so that King Arthur wouldn't be called a coward, and then was willing to die rather than break his oath. #LegendaryWednesday#WyrdWednesday
Though later romances had King Arthur raised by Sir Ector, a couple of early Welsh sources instead had the future high king being raised by the fairies in Avalon. They tutored Arthur, trained him in combat, and forged for him the magic sword Caledfwlch. #FolkloreSunday#BookChatWeekly
In the Welsh Arthurian stories, King Arthur's two best friends -- Bedwyr and Cai -- are inseparable. They always adventure together, for Bedwyr "would never shrink from a mission which Cai was going on." The bond sometimes has almost romantic overtones. #WyrdWednesday#LegendaryWednesday
King Arthur owned the hound Cavall in Welsh myth. His name is similar to a Latin word for "horse," indicating great size, strength, and speed. While hunting the giant boar Trwyth, Cavall left a permanent footprint on a stone cairn, which is impossible to remove. #FairyTaleTuesday
In the Welsh Arthurian legend of Peredur (Sir Percival), he falls in love with Angharad Golden-Hand, and swears he will never speak to another Christian until he has proven his love. Ironically, Peredur is the most devotedly Christian of all King Arthur's Welsh knights.
🎨 Newell Convers Wyeth #TempleThursday
In Welsh myth, King Arthur leads an army to Caer Sidi (Castle Revolving), an Otherworldly castle made of glass and constantly rotating. He battles Caer Sidi's fairy guards to steal a magic cauldron and save a prisoner. Only seven of his warriors return alive.
🎨 Simone Bianchi #LegendaryWednesday
I am Menw, one of King Arthur's three wizard-warriors. Merlin taught me my Art, and commanded me to obey and protect the king. But which of those commands takes priority? Should I disobey the king when his order would endanger him? When do I follow my own will?
🎨 Aubrey Beardsley #FairyTaleFlash
When Sir Lancelot rescued Queen Guinevere from the otherwordly land of Gorre (Land of No Return), he faced many trials of the body and soul. Lancelot had to cross a bridge that was a huge razor-sharp sword to prove his courage to go on no matter how much it cut him. #FairyTaleTuesday
The most powerful monster in Welsh legend was Trwyth, an evil man cursed by God to become a gigantic boar. King Arthur's greatest warriors attacked Trwyth to acquire the golden comb, scissors, and razor entwined in his fur, and the boar slaughtered many of them. #FairyTaleTuesday
The first record of Merlin is Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain." Geoffrey based Merlin on the Welsh prophet Myrddin from 100 years after King Arthur, but had him perform magic previously attributed to Arthur's father Uther and uncle Ambrosius. #FairyTaleTuesday
Some say that the wizard Merlin (for no clear reason) created a magic bed that drove insane anyone who lay on it. Possibly this legend came from confusion about an enchanted bed at Carbonek, the Grail Castle, which gave prophetic visions to anyone who slept there. #FolkloreSunday
In Welsh sources such as "Culhwch & Olwen," many of King Arthur's warriors have weird superpowers with no explanation. Some can grow in size, leap over trees, drink a river dry, talk to animals, or glow red-hot. They're less like knights and more like the Avengers.
🎨 Margaret Jones #FairyTaleTuesday
"For what, Merlin? For your ambition? For the great prophet and magician of whom men speak with bated breath and give more worship than they would a king or his high priest? And who is it pays this debt to God for carrying out your plans?"
Mary Stewart, "The Crystal Cave"
🎨 Aubrey Beardsley #BookWormSat
"Those who said mass first [on Christmas morn] went outside the church... [and saw] a great four square stone of color like unto marble, and in the stone there stuck a sword pointwise as firmly as if it grew out of the stone."