http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Mabinogion

—Math, Son of Mathonwy note And they took the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers of the meadowsweet, and from those they conjured up the fairest and most beautiful maiden anyone had ever seen. And they baptized her in the way that they did at that time and named her Blodeuedd ("flower-face"). "Ac yna y kymeryssant wy blodeu y deri, a blodeu y banadyl, a blodeu yr erwein, ac o'r rei hynny, asswynaw yr un uorwyn deccaf a thelediwaf a welas dyn eiroet. Ac y bedydyaw o'r bedyd a wneynt yna, a dodi Blodeued arnei."

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The Welsh collection of stories called the Mabinogion is one of the major surviving bodies of Welsh myths. The stories in their modern forms are derived from two medieval Welsh manuscripts, the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest, along with a collection of smaller texts, but those are simply the oldest written versions of stories that are based on older oral legends; some motifs and plots can be traced back to the early Iron Age (1st millennium BCE). They are the product of a highly developed narrative tradition, both written and oral.

The name is the plural of Mabinogi, somewhat archaic Welsh, but interestingly enough, the work should be called the "Mabinogi" since it consists of four branches of a single Mabinogi rather than multiple ones. A scribe made a mistake in the first branch, Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed, when he referred to it as the Mabinogion, which he later rectified in the other branches, but the name stuck. The best translation of "Mabinogi" appears to be "tales of childhood". Mab is the Welsh word for "son" (it's from the same root as the Gaelic mac), and the consonant-mutation "Vabinogi" occurs in "Llyma Vabinogi Iesu Grist", a medieval manuscript (Peniarth MS 14) describing the childhood of Jesus.

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The work is divided into four branches, five native tales, and three romances.

The Four Branches create an Arc that follows the mythological heroes of Welsh pre-Christian mythology. The branches are connected by the struggles of the children of Llŷr and the life of Pryderi. They are, in order:

Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, detailing the journey of Pwyll into the kingdom of Annwn, the Celtic Otherworld. After returning to his own kingdom, he meets and wins his wife, the enchanted Rhiannon, from her unwanted suitor Gwawl. Pryderi is born, an event that initially brings more suffering than joy to his parents when he disappears mysteriously. Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr, is about the marriage of Branwen, sister of the king Bendigeidfran (Brân the Blessed), to the king of Ireland in a failed attempt to bring peace. The wrathful temper of her brother Efnysien starts a chain of events that ultimately destroys both kingdoms. Only seven Welsh soldiers survive the war, including Pryderi. The events of this branch lead directly into the next. Manawyddan, Son of Llŷr, in which Branwen's brother Manawyddan marries the now-widowed Rhiannon. Together with Pryderi and his wife Cigfa, they struggle against a series of disasters and curses perpetrated by Llwyd ap Cil Coed, friend of Gwawl from the first branch. Math, Son of Mathonwy, is nominally about the magician-king of Gwynedd, but most of the action centers around his nephew Gwydion fab Dôn for some reason. Gwydion first engineers a war — the war in which Pryderi is slain by Gwydion — to lure Math away from his castle so that Gilfaethwy, Gwydion's brother, can sneak into Math's stronghold and rape his foot-holder maiden, Goewin. In punishment, Math transforms the brothers into a different animal every year, one male and one female, until they bear three offspring together.

Still up to mischief, Gwydion then suggests Goewin be replaced by his sister Arianrhod. Math puts her through a magical virginity test of stepping over a rod, causing her to promptly give birth. The child is largely shoved off-screen but Arianrhod also leaves a scrap of flesh that Gwydion keeps in a box and somehow becomes another boy.

The rest of the narrative deals with Gwydion raising said boy and basically outwitting (or out-magicing) his sister's curses to deny Lleu Llaw Gyffes his name, arms, and a wife. Then finally Lleu's misadventures with his wife and Lleu becoming king. Phew!

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Two of the native tales and the three romances are in the most part older versions of Arthurian Legend that differ slightly in the actual contents.

The native tales are:

The Dream of Macsen Wledig Lludd and Llefelys Culhwch and Olwen, perhaps the oldest Arthurian tale surviving. The Dream of Rhonabwy, a late work in which the main character dreams of King Arthur's time. It may have been written as deliberate fiction. The Tale of Taliesin

Taliesin figures in some Arthurian stories as King Arthur's bard, but his tale is thought not to be part of the original Mabinogion.

The romances are:

Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain Peredur, son of Efrawg, part of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Geraint and Enid

Apart from "The Tale of Taliesin", these three were the last parts of the Mabinogion to be composed, probably around the same time as most of the other medieval Arthurian stories, but draw on older roots.

The Mabinogion provides examples of:

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Multiple works

All There in the Manual: The Mabinogion is just one part of a much larger collection of epic prose and poetry spanning several centuries of Welsh culture. Events that seem out of nowhere, like the Giant Claw, are explained in other tales, many of which are sadly lost.

Demoted to Extra: Half of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed revolves around Pryderi's birth, abduction and reunion with his parents and Manawyddan, Son of Llŷr is about his return to Dyfed, but he only gets one mention in Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr and is promptly killed at the beginning of Math, Son of Mathonwy.

Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed

Bag of Holding: Rhiannon gives a small bag to Pwyll in order to trick her unwanted suitor, Gwawl. It holds an entire feast's worth of food and, when he puts both feet into it, a grown man, with enough space to tie the bag closed over his head. It actually mentions that even if all the food and drink of seven cantrefs note roughly translated, cantref means province or district were put into the bag, it would still not be full. One feast, no matter how grand, could not even come close to filling it. Color Motif: White, like the Cŵn Annwn ("hounds of Annwn"), had supernatural associations in early Celtic culture. The name of Arawn's enemy, Hafgan, means "summer white". Royals Who Actually Do Something: Pwyll defeats Arawn's enemy Hafgan and cements an alliance between Annwn and Dyfed.

Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr

"Math, Son of Mathonwy"

Artificial Human: Blodeuedd is born when Gwydion and Math club together to find a wife for Lleu, crafting her from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and oak.

Born from Plants: The perfect woman Blodeuwedd is created from the flowers and growing things of the earth: her hair is effectively made of flowers. Later, for her sins and heartlessness, she is turned into the first owl and fated to haunt the night — the flowers that became human hair now mutate into feathers.

Cool and Unusual Punishment: Gwydion and Gilfaethwy are transformed into a different pair of breeding animals each year for three years as punishment.

Fate Worse than Death: Blodeuwedd is forced to live for all eternity as an owl.

Gender Bender: Biologically male, Gwydion and Gilfaethwy alternate being female throughout their punishment for the rape of Goewin. Karmic Transformation: As punishment for the rape of Goewin, King Math transforms the brothers Gilfaethwy and Gwydion in different animals each year, one a male and one a female, until they have borne three offspring together. Later on, Blodeuwedd is transformed into an owl as punishment for plotting with her lover, Gronw Pebr to kill her husband.

Magic Knight: Gwydion defeats Pryderi in one on one combat, and he once animated an entire forest of trees to serve as an army against Arawn.

Nigh-Invulnerability: Lleu can be killed, but only under extremely specific circumstances. He has to be struck while he has one foot on the back of a billy-goat and one on the edge of a roofed bath that sits on a riverbank. In his own words: "I cannot be killed indoors, nor our of doors; I cannot be killed on horseback, nor on foot." The spear it would take to kill him needs to be forged over a year of Sundays.

Parental Substitute: Gwydion raises Lleu into adulthood after his mother makes it clear that she's ashamed of his birth.

Villain Protagonist: In the first act, the protagonist Gwydion engineers a war with the south (which leads to the deaths of hundreds of warriors, including King Pryderi of Dyfed) only to get Math out of the palace just so Gwydion's brother can rape Math's footholder, Goewin.

Was Once a Man: Prior to being turned into an owl, Blodeuwedd was an Artificial Human.

Your Cheating Heart: Blodeuwedd had an affair with Gronw Pebr and the two of them plotted to kill Lleu Llaw Gyffes.

Culhwch and Olwen