The Mound of Mourning is the setting for a contest over a serpent and the stone expected to become available when it dies. There, Peredur confronts the people guarding the creature, defeats it without their assistance, and leaves the stone with Etlym Gleddyv Coch. The episode makes the place both a guarded encampment and a stage on which Peredur establishes his authority through combat, payment, and a final act of generosity.

Approach and Setting

The day after Peredur helped Etlym Gleddyv Coch marry the woman he loved, the two set out for the Mound of Mourning. From a distance they saw the mound and the tents around it. The account does not describe the mound’s landscape in detail; its defining visible feature is the encampment gathered there, whose occupants have a shared purpose and a claim tied to the serpent.

Peredur sent Etlym ahead to demand that the people come and do homage. They challenged the demand as arrogant, noting that it was directed at kings, earls, and barons, and threatened the messenger. Peredur then offered them a choice between acknowledging him and fighting. Their refusal turns the approach to the mound into an immediate test of rank and authority.

The Encampment and the Serpent

The people at the tents explained that they were guarding the serpent until it died. They intended to fight among themselves for the stone afterward, with the victor taking it. Their presence therefore links the place to both a dangerous creature and an anticipated prize: the guards are not gathered simply to oppose Peredur, but to preserve their opportunity to compete for the stone.

The encounter unfolds over three days. Peredur overthrew the owners of a hundred tents on the first day and a hundred more on the second. On the third day, the remaining hundred took counsel and submitted. The sequence shows the scale of the gathering while marking a change in its response: resistance gives way to homage after Peredur has defeated two-thirds of the encampment’s claimants.

The Serpent, the Stone, and the Mound’s Significance

After learning why the guards had assembled, Peredur refused their offer to accompany him against the serpent. He insisted on facing it alone, reasoning that if the creature were slain with their help, he would gain no more fame than one of them. He went to the serpent and killed it, then returned to the encampment. The resolution belongs to his individual feat rather than to a collective assault.

Peredur did not simply take the prize or leave the guards uncompensated. He asked them to reckon their expenses and paid each person the amount claimed; in return, he required them to acknowledge themselves as his vassals. He then gave the stone to Etlym and told him to return to the woman he loved. The mound thus becomes the point where a prospective fight over the stone is settled by Peredur’s victory, compensation, and distribution of the reward. Peredur rides onward, while Etlym leaves with the stone and the reunion the gift makes possible.