Gronw Pebr

In Welsh mythology, Gronw Pebr, lord of Penllyn, is a character in the fourth of the Four Branches of the "Mabinogion", the tale of Math fab Mathonwy.

Gronw becomes the lover of Blodeuwedd, the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Blodeuwedd had been created from flowers by Math and Lleu's uncle, Gwydion as a wife for Lleu after he had been placed under a tynged that he would have no wife of human birth.

Blodeuwedd and Gronw plot to kill Lleu. Lleu can only be killed if certain conditions are met, and Blodeuwedd tricks him into revealing what these conditions are. He can not be killed indoors or outdoors, on horseback or on foot. Consequently he can only be killed whilst he has one foot on a bathtub and one on a goat (the bathtub being placed on a river bank but under a roof) and by someone using a spear forged over a year and only when people are attending mass.

Under pretence of "Lord, will you show me how these conditions might be fulfilled..?", Blodeuwedd conveys him to precisely this situation, with Gronw lying in wait with the spear, which he has spent a year making. Gronw flings the spear at Lleu, who disappears in the form of an eagle. Gronw and Blodeuwedd now assume power, but on hearing the news of his nephew Gwydion sets out to find and cure him. He finds Lleu in the form of a wounded eagle perched in an oak tree and restores him to human form.

Together they overcome Gronw, and make him stand in the same position that Lleu occupied when Gronw flung the spear at him. Gronw is allowed to hold a stone as a shield, but Lleu throws the spear so hard that it penetrates the stone and kills Gronw. Gwydion curses Blodeuwedd, turning her into an owl.

References

* Ifans,Dafydd & Rhiannon, "Y Mabinogion" (Gomer 1980) ISBN 1 85902 260 X