Gwion Bach: a Cymric Hero of the Ystoria Taliesin (Little Weaver)

Synonyms:
Cym: Little Weaver

Gwion Bach is a character in in the mediaeval Ystoria Taliesyn (the tale of Taliesyn) and tells of how the bard came to be.

Morfrân was the least favoured of all men and to compensate for his looks his mother, Cerridwen, who was versed in all three of the magical arts: mage-arts, witchcraft and sorcery, decided to create a special brew in her Cauldron of Inspiraton so that her son would gain clear sight, poetic majesty and knowledge of the future.

Such a powerful brew required careful tending as the potion had to seep for a year and a day. As a result Cerridwen appointed the blind man, Morda, to tend the fire whilst Gwion Bach was set to stir the brew. After a year and a day of tedious stirring and Gwion approached exhausion, Cerridwen placed Morfrân next to the cauldron in readiness and prepared herself for sleep. Annoyed that Morfrân was in his shadow Gwion shoved him out of the way and as he did so three drops of the brew accidentally flew from the cauldron and fell on Gwion’s finger, scalding him. Instinctively he placed his finger in his mouth to suck at the burn and immediately he gained the knowledge of all things and the potion remaining in the cauldron was converted to poison. With seething toxin within, the cauldron immediately burst and Afagddu had to remain ill-favoured.

Hearing the cauldron burst Cerridwen awoke as if from a trance. Touched by the potion's power Gwion immediately saw the dangers that would befall him and he immediately feld to his own lands where he tried to hide himself against Cerridwen's wiles. Cerridwen now came across the scene of the shattered cauldron. With some difficulty she managed to persuade Morfrân to tell herwhat had happened. Flying into a rage she chased after Gwion He quickly used the powers gained from the brew and changed himself into a hare and hopped off as quickly as his legs would carry him. Cerridwen took the form of a greyhound and followed in swift pursuit. But just as She was about to catch him, he changed into a fish and slipped into a river. Cerridwen quickly became an otter and continued after Gwion. About to be caught again, he once more changed his form, this time into a bird and flew off into the sky, only discovering the Cerridwen was close behind, having taken the shape of a hawk. Fearing for his life, Gwion noticed a pile of wheat on the land below and changing himself into the tiniest of grains, dropped into the pile. Cerridwen's sharp eyes saw what he had done and taking the form of a black crested hen, She pecked at the grain until She found and ate the seed that had been Gwion. But the tiny seed took root within her womb and began to grow. For nine months, Cerridwen proclaimed that on the day that Gwion would be reborn She would destroy him, but when that day arrived She relented. She placed him in a leather sack and threw him into the raging waters of the river, this just two days before the first of May. Three days later and the bag containing the child becomes caught in the weir of Elffin who rescues him, christens him Taliesyn and raises him as his own son.

Gwion's name can be interpreted as ultimately deriving from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root *weg-yo- (to weave; which yields the Cornish gwia and the Cymric gwëu. Alng with his epithet bach this makes Gwion the 'Little Weaver'. The thing being woven here is undoubtedly verse and being in effect the mythological progenitor of Taliesin this is a fitting epithet.

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