Lludd's defeat of the Coranians

Lludd’s defeat of the Coranians begins with a threat that ordinary secrecy and force cannot overcome. The Coranians can learn anything spoken on the Island of Britain if the wind carries it, however quietly it is said. Lludd therefore turns to his brother Llevelys for counsel, and their eventual solution depends on concealing both the purpose of their consultation and the means by which the Coranians will be defeated.

The Coranians and the crisis

The Coranians are presented as one of three unprecedented plagues afflicting the Island of Britain. Their exceptional knowledge comes from overhearing discourse carried by the wind. The account links that ability to their immunity from injury: the people of the island cannot readily act against a group that can discover what is being said about it. The Coranians’ power is thus not described as military strength but as an advantage in information and concealment.

The plague unsettles Lludd because he does not know how to free his land from its afflictions. He summons the nobles of his kingdom and asks their counsel; by their common decision, he seeks help from Llevelys, his brother and a wise adviser who rules in France. The appeal establishes the practical need for advice from beyond the reach of the Coranians’ listening. Lludd does not attempt to overcome their advantage by announcing a campaign at home; the answer must first be devised without exposing his purpose.

A secret meeting across the sea

Lludd prepares a fleet in secrecy and silence, so that the Coranians will not discover the reason for his journey. When Llevelys hears that his brother’s ships are approaching but does not know why, he sails out with a large fleet of his own. Lludd leaves the other ships at sea and approaches in a single vessel; Llevelys likewise meets him in one ship. Their embrace and brotherly welcome briefly make the meeting a scene of family reunion, but its central purpose is confidential consultation.

After Lludd explains his errand, Llevelys reveals that he knows the cause of the Coranians’ advantage. The brothers cannot simply speak together: they arrange to communicate in a way that the wind will not carry their words to the Coranians. A long horn of brass is made for their conversation, but it does not work as intended. Through it, each hears only harsh and hostile words from the other. Llevelys recognizes that a demon is obstructing their exchange, and has wine put into the horn to wash it. Once the demon is driven out, the brothers can speak freely. The episode makes even the instrument meant to secure their privacy vulnerable to interference, delaying the remedy until that obstruction is removed.

Llevelys’s remedy

Llevelys gives Lludd insects and distinguishes between two uses for them. Lludd is to keep some alive for breeding, so that a similar affliction can be answered if it arises again. The remainder are to be braised in water. The resulting charmed water, Llevelys assures him, will destroy the Coranians but will neither kill nor harm people of Lludd’s own race. The remedy is therefore both an immediate countermeasure and a provision against recurrence: Lludd is not merely given a way to end the present danger, but told to preserve the means of responding to another outbreak.

The method also determines how Lludd must act. He is to gather together people of his own race and the Coranians under the appearance of a conference intended to make peace. Only once both groups are assembled is he to cast the prepared water over them. The plan turns the Coranians’ knowledge of speech into a problem that secrecy can bypass: rather than discuss an attack where it might be overheard, Lludd will present the gathering as peaceful and carry out the remedy there.

Lludd carries out the plan

On returning to his land, Lludd summons the Britons and the Coranians together, following Llevelys’s instructions. He bruises the insects in water and casts it over the assembled people. The result is selective: the whole tribe of the Coranians is destroyed, while none of the Britons is harmed. The account presents this outcome as the successful completion of Llevelys’s counsel, not as a direct battle between the two peoples.

The defeat resolves the particular threat that began the episode, and the retained insects leave Lludd with a safeguard should a like affliction arise again. Its narrative logic rests on a sequence of controlled disclosures and concealed intentions: the cause is identified, the brothers overcome interference with their private conversation, and the remedy is deployed at a gathering whose stated purpose masks its actual one. Lludd’s success consequently depends on consultation and timing as much as on the charmed water itself.