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"Not hard to tell," said they. "We will enchant the trees and the stones and the sods of the earth,
so that they shall become a host under arms against them, and shall rout them in flight with
horror and trembling."
And so the battle between the gods (Tuatha De Danann) and titans (Fomoraig) is waged in part by animating
the trees and stones. Here, we have another battle; but who is it between? In a later short text, also called
"The Battle of the Trees," the battle is between Arawn and Bran on the side of the underworld, and Amaethon
and Gwydion on this side. The battle here is over a white deer and a dog, both animals which appear in the
beginning of the Mabinogi as the animals of Arawn, wrongly pursued by Pwyll. In "The Battle of the Trees,"
Amaethon steals the animals from "Hell," which is ruled by Arawn. Amaethon is able to prevail when his
brother Gwydion guesses the name of one of the fighters, Bran, by the fact that he has alder sprigs on his
shield. Now, Bran's nephew (son of his sister Branwen) was named Gwern, meaning "alder," and it is the
sister's son who is often the heir or chief defender of the kingdom.
So what exactly is the Battle of the Trees? When one examines part of the outcome of the second battle of
Magh Turedh--namely that Lugh forces Bres to reveal the secrets of agriculture--and compares that them to
the meaning of Amaethon's name--"Divine Farmer"--we may be getting bits of a story varient of the gods vs.
titans (or Aesir vs. Vanir, etc.) myth.
1. I have been in a multitude of shapes:
2. bridge/Over three score Abers: an aber is the mouth of a river. As for someone being a bridge, this could
possibly refer to Bran the Blessed, who stretched himself as a bridge over the Liffy in the story of "Branwen
uerch Llyr". Or, it could just be one of the transformations.
3. Guledig of Prydain: a warlord, here over all Britain. Who does this refer to? Arthur is mentioned later in
the poem; could it be him?
4. occiput: eye socket.
5. Caer Vevenir: this location is obscure.
6. Gwydyon: the great magician of "Math vab Mathonwy". Father of Lleu, he is a bard and magician, and his
name means "wood knowledge".
7. Morawg and Morydd: these figures are obscure.
8. Gwarchan of Maelderw: this is actually a poem in the Book of Aneirin, attributed to Taliesin.
9. Not of mother or father...: This section seems to refer to the creation of Blodeuwedd, the woman of flowers
who was given to Lleu as a wife. She later betrays him.
10. Math: the king of Gwynedd and master magician who created Blodeuwedd for his nephew Lleu.
11. Eurwys, of Euron,
Of Euron, of Modron: Eurwys and Euron are obscure; Modron is the mother of Mabon, but also the wife of
Urien and mother of Owein. She is identifiable with the Gaulish goddess Matrona as well as with Rhiannon.
12. Dylan, son of the wave
13. Goronwy: the lover of Blodeuwedd and the murderer of Lleu; when Lleu is
14. Arthur
15. metalworkers: the word given is fferyll; some see this as the word Fferyllt, who is the classical poet Vergil,
whose book Cerridwen reads from when making her potion for awen.