Twrch Trwyth’s comb, razor, and shears

Twrch Trwyth’s comb, razor, and shears are ordinary grooming tools made extraordinary by their place in Yspaddaden Penkawr’s demands: they are the only implements that can manage his unruly hair, and they lie between the ears of a formidable transformed boar. Their pursuit converts a practical requirement into a perilous, extended hunt. The tools are recovered unevenly—the razor and shears at the River Severn, the comb only later in Cornwall—while the boar escapes into the sea and his ultimate fate remains unknown.

The Demand and Its Purpose

Yspaddaden Penkawr presents the comb and scissors as indispensable because, owing to the rankness of his hair, no other comb or scissors in the world can arrange it. He says these particular tools are between the ears of Twrch Trwyth, the son of Prince Tared, and that the boar will neither give them freely nor be compelled to do so. The requirement therefore has two linked parts: the tools must be found, and their possessor must be overcome. Culhwch answers that obtaining them will be easy, though Yspaddaden expects the challenge to seem impossible.

The demand is strikingly practical beside the danger attached to it. These are not described as weapons or as objects with powers of their own; their value lies in their use for grooming Yspaddaden’s hair. Yet they are located on an animal whose capture demands an extraordinary pursuit. The mismatch between mundane purpose and hazardous acquisition gives the implements their place in the quest: a small, precise task becomes one of the conditions that makes the hunt necessary.

The Boar and the Search

The tools are identified as precious objects carried between Twrch Trwyth’s ears. Before the main confrontation, Arthur sends Menw to learn whether they are still there, since attacking the boar would be useless if they were not. Twrch Trwyth has already laid waste to a third of Ireland during Arthur’s campaigns. Menw takes the form of a bird and tries to snatch one of the objects from the boar’s lair, but brings away only a bristle. Twrch Trwyth shakes himself, and some of his venom falls on Menw, who is never well afterward. The reconnaissance confirms the danger while failing to secure any of the requested tools.

The later attempt to speak with the boar makes the condition of their recovery explicit. Gwrhyr Gwalstawt Ieithoedd approaches in bird form and asks that someone speak with Arthur. Grugyn Gwrych Ereint refuses on behalf of the seven young pigs, explaining that their transformation is suffering enough and that they will not speak with Arthur. When Gwrhyr says Arthur seeks the comb, razor, and scissors, Grugyn answers that Arthur will not get them unless he first takes Twrch Trwyth’s life. The objects are thus not merely hidden treasure: within the story’s terms, their capture is bound to the defeat of their keeper.

The Razor and Shears at the River Severn

After the chase brings the boar to the River Severn, Arthur and his companions seize him by the feet and plunge him into the water. In the struggle, Mabon son of Modron rides up and snatches the razor; Kyledyr Wyllt approaches from the other side and takes the scissors, corresponding to the shears named among Yspaddaden’s demands. Their success is partial. Before anyone can obtain the comb, Twrch Trwyth regains the shore and escapes, beyond the reach of the men, horses, and dogs.

The recovery of the two implements is attended by danger to the pursuers as well as by the boar’s escape. The account emphasizes the difficulty of trying to save two men from drowning after the seizure. Arthur’s servant Kacmwri is dragged down by the weight of two millstones, while Osla Kyllellvawr’s water-filled sheath pulls him under as he runs after the boar. The razor and shears are won, but their capture does not end the pursuit; the comb remains with Twrch Trwyth, and the struggle at the river exacts a serious cost.

The Comb and the End of the Pursuit

Arthur and his host overtake Twrch Trwyth again in Cornwall. The narrative says that the difficulty of obtaining the comb surpasses what they have faced before, but that, through one difficulty after another, they eventually secure it. The account does not specify who takes the comb or describe the exact act of removing it. It does establish that this final implement is obtained only after the earlier recovery of the razor and shears has failed to stop the boar.

Once the comb is secured, Twrch Trwyth is hunted out of Cornwall and driven into the deep sea. No one afterward knows where he goes. The ending separates the fate of the animal from the fate of the objects: the boar disappears, but the last outstanding implement has been recovered, completing the specific task Yspaddaden set. The sequence gives the three tools different narrative fates—two taken in the river struggle, one secured only at the end of the chase—and makes their retrieval a measure of how far the pursuit has progressed. The evidence presents them as the goal of the hunt, not as objects whose later use or delivery is described.