O is for Olwen. The name means “white tracks” because wherever she goes, white trefoils spring up behind her.
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| White clover. Creative Commons. |
Olwen is the amazingly beautiful daughter of an amazingly ugly giant, Yspaddaden. She appears in Culhwch And Olwen, which I have mentioned in my C post, as the love interest for the young prince Culhwch, whose stepmother has put a curse on him, that he will never have a wife unless it is Olwen. Upon hearing this curse, the boy immediately falls in love with a girl he has never met, a bit like Tamino and Pamina in The Magic Flute...
The lady must have decided on this girl because she knows how unlikely Culhwch is to win her. Her father has set about thirty-nine impossible tasks to win her hand in marriage, for the very good reason that he knows that when she marries he will die. For some reason, unlike in the fairy tales, he hasn’t locked her in a tower, so when Culhwch and his companions arrive near his castle she is able to come out and meet them.
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| Olwen and Culhwch. Public Domain. |
She turns out to have been worth the wait. There is a detailed description of Olwen on her approach, from her red-gold clothes to her skin, white as snow, soft as - well, you get the point. Personally, I’d be thinking anyone that white would be leprous, but when the story was written, in Europe, White was Wonderful.
Olwen is not dumb, either. Despite not being locked up in a tower and needing rescue, she doesn’t simply run off with Culhwch. She tells him that if he wants her, he has to speak to her father. Which, of course, means doing all the tasks he will be set.
Maybe this is why she hasn’t been locked away. She must be pretty fed up with the whole situation, but she is prepared to follow the rules.
The story of a maiden who has to be won via apparently impossible tasks, or seemingly impossible tasks given to a girl who wants to get back her lost husband, such as Cupid And Psyche or East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon, is not unusual. There is even one mentioned in Culhwch And Olwen, the story of Creiddylad and her two suitors, who have to fight for her every first day of May till the end of the world. The winner then gets the girl. Now, she must be really annoyed!
It does sound downright mythological, doesn’t it? And it has been suggested that Olwen might also have started as a solar goddess.
It’s entirely possible. She turns up in another story, as an otherworldly being who becomes the mother of the bard Taliesin. Taliesin has his own lot of wonder stories.
While Olwen isn’t in much modern fiction, Terry Pratchett’s heroine Tiffany Aching finds flowers sprouting wherever she walks, when she unintentionally takes the place of the Summer Lady in the novel Wintersmith. Terry Pratchett knew his folklore and made good use of it in his Discworld novels. Wintersmith especially uses quite a lot of folklore and myth, including going to the Underworld to bring back the real Summer Lady.
Is Olwen a Summer Lady? Whatever she is, Olwen is, I believe, more than just another princess needing to be won by the hero. Who, incidentally, doesn’t do many of those bride-winning tasks in this story, but leaves it to his Arthurian superhero companions!
What do you think?
13 comments:
I think I need to read Wintersmith...
The Multicolored Diary
Hi Zalka! You might get mor3 out of it if you read the first Tiffany Aching Book first. That’s Wee Free Men. I hat has its own folklore of interest.
I’d love to see Tiffany hit the small screen, though she would probably have to be made a little older, she’s nine in the first book. I know they managed with Harry Potter, but there was a lot more for the older characters to do than in Wee Free Men, where so much of it was Tiffany’s thoughts. On the other hand, the Feegles would be fun to show from close up.
I have read about the City Watch series, and seen photos, but I’m dubious about it. I’ll wait till somebody I respect has given it a rave review.
I do not think that I had heard of Olwen before. Her story is interesting. It is fascinating how there is variation to these stories, yes certain factors remain constant.
Glad you find her interesting, Brian! Yes, this is not an individual story, there are always going to be elements that are the same as others in any story based on folklore or mythology.
I'm glad to know about Olwen and how she lives on in modern fiction. And your leprous comment made me laugh :-)
Thanks, Jenny!
Wouldn't it be easier to just tell him that rather than set a long list of impossible tasks, lol.
I think the idea is to put him off, Anita. Otherwise the suitor might just say, “Your problem, mate! I’m marrying her, okay?” 😂
I didn't know of Olwen, although her stories echo other folktales. One of the Norse goddesses I champion, Skadi is the beautiful daughter of a giant. Her trials are more what she endures after she is married off. Anyway, I need to dive into an Olwen rabbit-hole - as long as it isn't a Monty Python cave.
The fact that this figure appears in Norse mythology does seem to suggest a mythological origin for Olwen, rather than folklore.
Off you go, then! Yes, do avoid the Rabbit of Caerbannog! It has a nasty temper.
Interesting that she wasn't locked in a tower.
An A-Z of Faerie: Occult
Hi Ronel! Yes, very interesting! It certainly saves an extra scene in which she has to be rescued from said tower!
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