Welcome
marmieone - glad you found us - this book just happens to be on the web - many that are at least 50 years old can be found if no where else with Gutenburg - in fact
mamieone there are several editions of this book available on the web - this one not only had notes but it was an attractive reproduction - however the notes were the most important - newer books we try to wait till they are in the library and available used - Yep we are a frugal bunch - always have been...
Also another change - we used to have a series of questions for the pages we were reading that week but with just a few of us we will eke the information alluded to in these chapters and add any supporting information - so come along and add to our journey - its been awhile since we read stories going back into the medieval.
Frybabe looks like you found two good links - have not explored them yet - just got in here and I will explore both this afternoon - I'm still reading the chapter that for me is slow going.
Pat yes, with a few of us reading
Mabinogion we can set our own pace - I feel sure once we get into it or maybe it is me, that reading the stories will be easier... this one I feel like I need a play card to remember who is who... In fact I may do just that.
OK important to me - has everyone found a way to make their font size work - please, if not, we need to figure that out -
Ok the
Porter had me - I'm thinking how today there is a porter dressed in livery at the door of a nice hotel, who sees to your luggage but then there is also the school porter or hall porter who are cleaning and maintenance personal then there are porters who carry loads of supplies for those climbing the highest peaks of the world - so I looked further and learned this tidbit.
“
Porter means two different jobs in the Middle Ages.
The
first and simplest is—a common, unskilled laborer who loads and unloads things, and often carries them over distances.
The
second meaning comes from Latin port, which means “door.” This porter was an very important person, for he decided who was allowed into a lord’s hall. He stood guard there, not as a soldier, but as an interviewer who questioned the identity of anyone that he did not know who wished to enter. If the person’s business was unimportant he was refused, and if the timing was wrong, he was refused."
Another gave as an example, "from
Culhwch and Olwen where the porter doesn’t allow Culhwch into the hall, where the meal has already begun. Culhwch then threatens to curse everyone in the hall, so the porter goes and reports to the king what has transpired. Arthur replies:
“Man, if you came in here walking, you better go out of here running and invite that fellow in!”
Culhwch turns out to be Arthur’s cousin, requesting a ritual haircut (indicating basically initiation into manhood) and asking the king to help him acquire Olwen as his wife by fulfilling a large series of magical tasks that culminate with seizing a comb and scissors from the gigantic, supernatural Troit Boar."
