Eufydd fab Dôn is a minor figure in Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....

, the son of the mother goddess Dôn

Dôn

Dôn was a Welsh mother goddess. She does not play a direct part in the action of the Mabinogi, though many characters in that cycle are related to her. She is the mother of Arianrhod, Gwydion, Gilfaethwy, Gofannon, Eufydd, Elestron and Amaethon. Patrick K...

 and brother to the better-known figures of Gwydion

Gwydion

Gwydion fab Dôn is a magician, hero and trickster of Welsh mythology, appearing most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, which focuses largely on his relationship with his young nephew, Lleu Llaw Gyffes...

, Amaethon

Amaethon

In Welsh mythology, Amaethon was the god of agriculture, and the son of the goddess Dôn. His name means "labourer" or "ploughman", and he is cited as being responsible for the Cad Goddeu, or "Battle of Trees", between the lord of the otherworld, Arawn, and the Children of Dôn .-Sources:The...

, Gofannon and Arianrhod

Arianrhod

Arianrhod is a figure in Welsh mythology who plays her most important role in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. She is the daughter of Dôn and the sister of Gwydion and Gilfaethwy; the Welsh Triads give her father as Beli Mawr...

. He is generally believed to have derived from the Gaulish god Ogmios

Ogmios

Ogmios was the Celtic deity of eloquence. He looked like an older version of Heracles. He was also a binding god who would use his powers of persuasion to bind men onto himself and then lead them into the underworld....

 and is cognate to the Irish

Irish mythology

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...

 hero Oghma Grianainech

Ogma

Ogma is a character from Irish mythology and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gallic god Ogmios....

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Role in Welsh tradition

Eufydd appears in a number of Welsh texts, spelled variously as Euuyd, Eueyed, Euyd and Ieunydd. He appears twice in the Book of Taliesin

Book of Taliesin

The Book of Taliesin is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-six poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century. The manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales,...

; first in Prif Gyfarch Taliesin in which it is stated:

I have been with skilful men

With Matheu and Gofannon

With Eunydd and Elestron

In company with Achwyson,

For a year in Caer Gofannon.

and then again in Marwnat Aeddon:

When Aeddon come from the country of Gwydyen, the thickly covered Seon.

A pure poison came four nightly fine-night seasons.

The contemporaries fell, the woods were no shelter against the wind on the coast.

Math and Euuyd, skilful with the magic wand, freed the elements.

In the life of Gwydion and Amaethon, there was counsel.

The implication is that Eufydd was remembered in Welsh tradition as a skilled magician, intimately associated with his more illustrious brothers Gwydion and Gofannon, and with his uncle Math fab Mathonwy.

Eufydd also appears in the genealogical tract Bonedd yr Arwyr (The Descent of the Saints) in which he is listed among the children of Dôn.

Associations with Hefeydd Hen

It has been suggested that Eufydd can be identified with Hefeydd Hen

Hefeydd

In Welsh mythology, Hefeydd the Old was the father of Rhiannon.- Hen, according to legend, he was first king of Dyfed and tried to force her to marry against her will to Gwawl. She met Pwyll of Dyfed and fell in love, planning to marry in one year and one day at his court on his estate. In...

, the father of Rhiannon

Rhiannon

Rhiannon is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology, mother to the Demetian hero Pryderi and wife to Pwyll . She is probably a reflex of the Celtic Great Queen goddess Rigantona and may also be associated with the horse goddess Epona.She appears in both the first and third branches of the Mabinogi...

 who appears prominently in the first branch of the Mabinogi

Four Branches of the Mabinogi

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi are the best known tales from the collection of medieval Welsh prose known as the Mabinogion. The word "Mabinogi" originally designated only these four tales, which are really parts or "branches" of a single work, rather than the whole collection...

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