The Mabinogion

By: Sioned Davies - Translator

Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart

Then they took the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers of the meadowsweet, and from those they conjured up the fairest and most beautiful maiden that anyone had ever seen.

Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history - these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as The Mabinogion.

They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse and hunting a magical boar. Dragons, witches, and giants live alongside kings and heroes, and quests of honor, revenge, and love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence.

Sioned Davies's lively translation re-creates the storytelling world of medieval Wales and reinvests the tales with the power of performance.

©2007 Sioned Davies (P)2018 Tantor

Decent content, poor performance

Easily one of the worst readings I’ve heard - flat, monotonous, utterly devoid of drama or feeling. It’s especially unfortunate, as the translator stresses at length the degree to which she rendered the Mabinogion to retain its oral character. I would strongly recommend sampling the other Audible version of this audiobook before making a purchase.

Good research item for fantasy writers.

Eleven Welsh myths and Arthurian romances comprise the Mabinogion. These are simple tales but have been springboards of ideas for fantasy writers for a century.
Modern translations of ancient myths and epics are clear & direct, no denying that. But they often lack love of verse and language, a touch of Tennyson or Coleridge.
A comparison may be that older translations are akin to the King James bible and newer ones to the NIV bible--or even the ERV.

A bit of a slog

Like many medieval stories, it moves slow and contains a lot of focus on manners and issues of honor. As a source for understanding the medieval mindset its ok (although I think le mort d'arthur is better). Interesting, but a bit of a slog to get through.

Fabulous

Fans of Icelandic saga, Arthurian legend, Homeric epic will love this audiobook. Even more than the printed book because it pronounces all the strange Welsh names of characters and places. There’s a strong echo of J.R.R. Tolkien in the stories. The Mabinogion is literally wonderful.

Entertaining translation, poor telling

I can only echo what others have said about the choice for the narrator.

Not a casual listen, but rather an academic endeav

In "The Mabinogion," the Welsh mythological tapestry is unfurled to reveal a world where the natural and the supernatural weave together, producing a fabric of tales that shimmer with enchantment. The audiobook promises a portal into a time where Gwydion's mastery of magic sees a maiden of flowers brought to life and where Math the magician's peculiar needs dictate courtly protocol.

Sioned Davies's translation is OK, but the stories may not that interesting to a modern reader.

As intriguing as these stories are, they may present a challenge to the modern listener. The narrative structure and cultural nuances of "The Mabinogion" are deeply rooted in medieval Welsh society. Its style can come across as archaic and its plot mechanisms repetitive. Phrases like "I swear by/to God" punctuate the tales frequently, emphasizing the solemnity of the characters' vows and the weight of their words.

For those unaccustomed to the narrative cadence of yesteryear, "The Mabinogion" might indeed seem tedious. The stories operate on a principle akin to an adventure game, where one quest leads to another in a seemingly endless cascade of tasks. To some, this might stretch patience thin and lead to a listening experience that feels more like a marathon than a sprint.

In sum, this audiobook is a double-edged sword. It's a vibrant resurrection of stories that form the bedrock of Welsh literary heritage, but it also bears the marks of its age. This is not a casual listen, but rather an academic endeavor, requiring patience and an interest in the past. If one can tune in to its peculiar frequency, "The Mabinogion" is a treasure trove of mythic lore that still resonates with the power of its original oral recitations.

Didn't Really Sing For Me

Well, it's been a lot of years since I read the Mab cover to cover, but I've dipped into it countless times to find a myth or adventure. I looked forward to revisiting it in its entirety in this format.
Didn't work for me. I'm sure the translation is excellent, they're so highly regarded. But I've had Robert Fagles and Seamus Heaney, and now I'm all agog for faithful reproductions of the storylines but jazzed up to create excitement in modern audiences.
This really dragged.
Bu—it's still the Mabinogion, and done well. It's just that the archaic form doesn't blow my skirts up.
Edit Revie

Very old Welsh folklore

The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven Welsh tales that comprise the canon of their mythology in manner equivalent to Greek or Roman myths. Most of them relate tales of knights doing knightly things like killing other knights or involve others dealing with magic. The tales are ‘Tolkienesque’ or rather Tolkien developed his style of mythmaking on these.

The stories themselves are repetitive and tend to get bogged down with the requirement that everyone mentioned must be labelled as either the ‘son of’ or ‘daughter of’ someone else. One tale is essentially an adventure game where recovery of something requires recovery of something else repeated several dozen times. In another tale, a knight wanders around defeating everyone he encounters. The vanquished all ask for mercy which he grants on the condition that they travel to the king to report their defeat. Knights seemed to have nothing better to do than fight and report back. Also, everywhere knights go, they always encounter the most beautiful women in the world who are generally thrown in a ‘booty’ for the winner.

The narration is okay with minimal character distinction. Pacing is plodding.

Repetitive

I don’t think I ever want to hear the phrase “to whom she/he loved best” or “I swear by/to God”. This became very painful to get through. I almost considered not finishing it, but I muddled through. I don’t believe these stories were interpreted/translated very well. If I could read Medieval Welsh I would read the original as opposed to this interpretation/translation. I love reading and listening to ancient texts but this was just so repetitive in phrasing and storylines that hurt to listen to after about an hour into it. I was so looking forward to this piece and I was sorely disappointed by it. The only saving grace was the narrator, James Cameron Stewart.

The names and read-along

To me, James Cameron Stewart’s reading was disappointingly flat. But the translation is a useful update to the older, more commonly available one by Charlotte Guest.

And those names! They’re hard to decipher in audio, at least for me. What I did was purchase the Kindle version of the book and use the read-along feature to read and listen at the same time. I got at least an idea of how the spelling and pronunciation of Welsh names go together.

The tales themselves are fantastic and fantastical. There are kings large enough to wade across the Irish Sea and wives created from flowers; enchanted castles and magician kings. Several tales echo the Arthurian tales of Chretien de Troyes.

I had avoided the Mabinogion for years because I thought the stories would be complex. The names are, but the stories aren’t. They’re not tightly plotted, but they have the energy of folktales.