Pryderi and Manawyddan’s alliance

Pryderi and Manawyddan’s alliance turns a moment of grief and political displacement into a bond of kinship, hospitality, and shared adventure. It begins after the burial of Bendigeid Fran’s head, when Pryderi sees that Manawyddan has nowhere to settle and offers him both a place in Dyved and a marriage with Rhiannon. Their bond develops into a shared household and life of mutual companionship, then is tested when a sudden enchantment empties the land and Pryderi enters a mysterious castle despite Manawyddan’s warning.

An Offer of Refuge

After the seven men bury Bendigeid Fran’s head at the White Mount in London, Manawyddan grieves over the changed order of the world. His brother is gone, and another man holds the kingship; although that ruler is his cousin, Manawyddan says he cannot be happy dwelling where Bendigeid Fran once held place. He also describes himself as without a resting place and as a disinherited prince. His distress is therefore both personal and material: he has lost his brother and lacks a secure home of his own.

Pryderi answers this need with a specific offer rather than a general expression of sympathy. Seven cantrefs in Dyved remain his, and he proposes that Manawyddan enjoy them with Rhiannon, who lives there. He also offers Rhiannon as a wife, while assuring Manawyddan that he may take further possessions if he later wants them. The gesture gives Manawyddan a place within Pryderi’s lands without making him a claimant against Pryderi’s inheritance. Manawyddan accepts the friendship and agrees to travel with Pryderi to see Rhiannon and the lands being offered.

Marriage and a Shared Household

At Narberth, Rhiannon and Kicva have prepared a feast for their arrival. Manawyddan and Rhiannon talk during the gathering, and he becomes warmly disposed towards her; when Pryderi explains that he had offered her in marriage, Rhiannon willingly accepts. The marriage takes place before the feast is over. Pryderi’s offer thus draws Manawyddan into a new family relationship as well as providing him with a home, while Rhiannon’s assent makes the arrangement mutual rather than simply a transfer between men.

The alliance soon takes the form of a close four-person household: Pryderi, Manawyddan, Rhiannon, and Kicva. They travel around Dyved together, hunting and enjoying the country, which the narrative presents as exceptionally pleasant, with good hunting grounds and an abundance of honey and fish. Their intimacy is described through the constancy of their company: they are unwilling to be separated by night or day. Pryderi’s hospitality has become an enduring social bond, and Manawyddan is no longer the solitary prince who stood among the graves with no place to rest.

Pryderi’s political obligations continue alongside that private fellowship. He intends to offer homage to Caswallawn, but Rhiannon advises him that Caswallawn is in Kent and that he can wait until the ruler is nearer. Pryderi agrees to finish the feast before setting out. He later goes to Caswallawn at Oxford and is honorably received and praised for presenting his homage. The episode places the alliance within the duties of landholding and rule: Pryderi’s welcome to Manawyddan does not displace his own obligations, and Manawyddan’s place in Dyved rests on friendship rather than a claim to Pryderi’s inheritance.

Companionship in an Empty Dyved

After Pryderi returns, he and Manawyddan again feast and take their ease. At a gathering at the Gorsedd Arberth, a thunderclap is followed by a thick mist. When it clears, the familiar world has vanished: there are no people, cattle, houses, smoke, or fires, and the court stands deserted. Their retinue has disappeared, leaving only the four companions. The sudden reduction of a lively shared household to a group of four sharply tests the fellowship established in the earlier scenes.

The companions search the hall, castle, sleeping quarters, mead-cellar, and kitchen, finding no one and nothing to explain the disappearance. They remain together and make use of the land and its surviving resources. At first they feast, hunt, and enjoy themselves; after their provisions are gone, they live on the game they catch and honey from wild swarms. The account says that the first and second years pass pleasantly before they grow weary. In this altered Dyved, the alliance is no longer sustained by feasts, retinues, or the ordinary comforts of a court. It is sustained by the four companions’ continued presence with one another and their practical adaptation to scarcity.

The Castle and a Test of Counsel

After a return to Narberth and a period of hunting, a white boar draws Pryderi and Manawyddan towards a newly appeared castle. Their dogs follow the animal inside, then vanish from hearing. Pryderi proposes entering to learn what has happened to them, but Manawyddan warns him against going into a castle that was not there before and attributes its appearance to the spell over the land. Pryderi knows the risk but cannot bring himself to abandon the dogs, and he enters despite his companion’s counsel.

Inside, Pryderi finds no people, animals, or dogs. In the centre of the empty castle stands a fountain surrounded by marble, with a golden bowl resting on a marble slab and chains hanging down from above. The unusual object becomes the focus of Pryderi’s attention: when he takes hold of the bowl, his hands stick to it and his feet to the slab, leaving him unable to speak. Manawyddan waits until late in the day, then returns to report the adventure to Rhiannon. Her response is to go after Pryderi herself, and she too is caught when she takes hold of the bowl with him.

This episode gives the alliance a more perilous shape. Manawyddan’s warning shows his caution and his concern for Pryderi, while Pryderi’s choice shows how loyalty to the dogs can outweigh advice that would keep him safe. The bond does not prevent disagreement or danger; it places both companions within the same crisis. The available episode ends with Pryderi and Rhiannon held by the castle’s enchantment, leaving Manawyddan to face the consequences of their disappearance. In that unresolved moment, the original offer of refuge has widened into a shared exposure to the magic afflicting Dyved.