[Celtic] Rhiannon (her name is either "Maid of Annwn" or a variant of Rigatona, "Great Queen"), a version of the horse-goddess Epona and of sovereignity. She was mistress of the Singing Birds. She appeared to Pwyll, lord of Dyfed, as a beautiful woman in dazzling gold on a white horse. Pwyll sent his fastest horsmen after her, but could not catch her. On the third day, he spoke and she told him she wanted to marry instead of her espoused husband Gwawl. Pywll was to meet her in a year and a day. He won her at the court of her father, Hefeydd the Old, by her aid. She bore Pwyll a son, who vanished. Her women killed a puppy and smeared its blood on her, to avoid blame at the child's loss. As punishment, Rhiannon spent seven years telling her story to all comers and bearing them, like a horse, to the court. The child, meanwhile, turned up at the court of Teyrnon, whose mares foaled on May eve and lost the foals mysteriously. When Teirnon kept watch, he saved a foal from a mysterious beast and...
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