The Serpent at the Mound of Mourning turns a contest over a guarded marvel into a demonstration of Peredur’s authority. Faced with three hundred tent owners who expect to fight among themselves for the stone after the serpent dies, he first compels their submission and then kills the serpent alone. The outcome is not merely possession of the prize: Peredur pays the assembled men for their expenses, makes them his vassals, and gives the stone to his companion Etlym Gleddyv Coch.

The Challenge at the Mound

The day after reaching the court of the Countess, Peredur set out for the Mound of Mourning. Etlym, now the Countess’s bridegroom, chose to accompany him. When they came within sight of the mound and its tents, Peredur sent Etlym ahead to demand that the gathered men do homage to him. Etlym identified Peredur as his lord, but the men rejected the demand: they were kings, earls, and barons, and considered the request arrogant. They would rather fight than submit.

Peredur gave them a choice between homage and battle. Their refusal transformed the approach to the mound into a contest for political as well as martial authority: before facing the serpent, Peredur had to establish that the armed company would recognize his standing. The challenge was large in scale, with the owners of three hundred tents arrayed against him.

Three Days of Submission

Peredur met the challenge over three successive days. On the first day he overthrew the owners of a hundred tents; on the second, another hundred. Faced with the prospect of continuing the fight, the remaining hundred took counsel on the third day and chose to do homage. The movement from open resistance to submission is measured in hundreds, making the change in allegiance the immediate consequence of Peredur’s repeated victories.

Only after they had yielded did Peredur ask why so many people had gathered there. They explained that they were guarding the serpent until it died. They expected that, once it was dead, they would fight one another for the stone, which would belong to whoever emerged victorious. Thus the conflict among the tent owners had been anticipated even before the creature’s death; Peredur’s victory over them settled that rivalry before it could begin.

Peredur and the Serpent

The guards offered to go with Peredur to encounter the serpent, but he refused. He reasoned that if the creature were slain with their help, he would gain no more fame from the deed than any one of them. His decision makes the slaying a solitary feat, distinct from the collective submission he has already secured. He went to the serpent’s place, killed it, and returned to the assembled men.

The account gives no further description of the serpent or of the manner of its death. Its importance in the episode lies in the contest it organizes: the men have gathered to watch for its death and then contest the stone, while Peredur breaks that expected sequence by defeating the guards, killing the creature himself, and controlling what happens to the prize.

The Stone and the Aftermath

After returning, Peredur asked the guards to reckon what they had spent while waiting at the mound and promised to repay them in full. He paid each according to the amount claimed. In return, he required only that they acknowledge themselves as his vassals. The settlement gives the episode a second resolution beyond victory in combat: Peredur converts defeated opponents into subjects and answers their material claims with payment rather than taking the stone without regard for their costs.

Peredur then told Etlym to return to the woman he loved and said that he would reward him for having served as his attendant. He gave Etlym the stone. Etlym accepted the gift with a wish that Heaven repay and prosper Peredur, then returned to the Countess. The stone therefore passes not to the strongest of the waiting guards, as their intended contest had stipulated, but from Peredur to the companion who had carried his demand of homage. The episode closes with Peredur moving onward and Etlym returning to his beloved, separating the two companions after the shared venture.