View source for Morfran

{{Short description|Warrior in Welsh mythology}}
'''Morfran''' ([[Middle Welsh]]: ''Moruran'' "cormorant"; literally "sea crow", from ''môr'', "sea", and ''brân'', "crow", from [[Common Brittonic]] *''mori-brannos'', as in [[French language|French]] ''cormoran'' < L ''corvus marinus'')<ref name="Zimmer2006">{{cite journal|last1=Zimmer|first1=Stephan|title=Some Names and Epithets in "Culhwch ac Olwen"|journal=Studi Celtici|date=2004|volume=3|page=176|url=https://www.academia.edu/4135527|access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> is a figure in [[Welsh mythology]]. Usually portrayed as a warrior under [[King Arthur]], he is noted for the darkness of his skin and his hideousness. He appears in the narratives about the bard [[Taliesin]] and in the [[Welsh Triads]], where he is often contrasted with the angelically handsome [[Sanddef]].
==Appearances==
The character appears in the ''[[Taliesin|Tale of Taliesin]]'', where he is depicted as the son of [[Ceridwen]] and [[Tegid Foel]], and is given an extremely beautiful sister named [[Creirwy]]. In later versions of this tale his characteristic ugliness is transferred to a brother, '''Afagddu''' (Middle Welsh: ''Avagddu''; from ''y fagddu'', "utter darkness"), though [[Ifor Williams]] suggested this name arose as a nickname for the famously gruesome Morfran.{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=452}} In the story, Ceridwen tries to help her son make his way in the world by creating a potion whose first three drops would bestow the drinker with knowledge of the future. She gives Gwion Bach (the bard Taliesin) the job of stirring the brew; he splashes three drops on his fingers and licks them, whereupon he gains the knowledge intended for Morfran/Afagddu, who remains ugly and despised. The story has a parallel in the Irish tale ''[[The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn]]'', in which the young hero [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]] receives prophetic wisdom intended for his master [[Finn Eces]] by consuming the [[Salmon of Knowledge]].{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=453}}
Morfran eil Tegid (Morfran son of Tegid) appears in several of the [[Welsh Triads]]. In Triad 24 he is recognized as one of the "Three Slaughter-Blocks of the Island of Britain",{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=46–47}} while Triad 41 celebrates his horse Guelwgan Gohoewgein (Silver-White, Proud and Fair) as one of the "Three Lover's Horses of the Island of Britain".{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=109–110}} Other manuscripts attribute this horse to Drystan ([[Tristan]]) and [[Ceredig ap Gwallawg]]. In other triads he is associated with [[Sanddef]], whose beauty is as notable as Morfran's ugliness. In a triad preserved in the prose tale ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', Morfran and Sanddef are named as two of the three men who survived the [[Battle of Camlann]], in Morfran's case because his ugliness led everyone to believe he was "a devil helping, for there was hair on his face like the hair of a stag."<ref>Gantz, pp. 142–143.</ref> This triad was adapted in the 15th-century triad collection known as "The Twenty-four Knights of Arthur's Court"; the pair are two of the "Three Irresistible Knights", as their peculiarities made it "repugnant to anyone to refuse them anything."{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=268}}
Morfran is further mentioned in the 12th-century prose tale ''[[The Dream of Rhonabwy]]''.<ref>Gantz, p. 190.</ref> [[Rachel Bromwich]] notes that a 12th-century poem by [[Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr]] contains a reference to an otherwise forgotten early poet named Morfran, and suggests a connection with the Morfran of ''The Tale of Taliesin'' who was the intended recipient of the cauldron of poetic inspiration.{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=453}} Scholar Caitlin Green further suggests a connection with the character called "Osfran's Son", who is buried at Camlann according to the ''[[Englynion y Beddau]]'' (''Stanzas of the Graves'').<ref>Green, p. 76.</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
*{{cite book|last=Bromwich|first=Rachel|author-link=Rachel Bromwich|title=Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2euBwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-1-78316-146-1}}
*{{cite book|translator-last= Gantz|translator-first= Jeffrey|title= The Mabinogion|publisher= Penguin|location= New York|year= 1987|isbn= 0-14-044322-3|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/mabinogion0000gant}}
*{{cite book |last= Green|first= Thomas |title= Concepts of Arthur |publisher= Tempus|location= Stroud, Gloucestershire| year= 2007|isbn= 978-0-7524-4461-1}}
{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}
[[Category:Arthurian characters]]
[[Category:Welsh mythology]]