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Morfran
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==Appearances== The character appears in the ''[[Taliesin|Tale of Taliesin]]'', where he is depicted as the son of [[Ceridwen]] and [[Tegid Foel]], and is given an extremely beautiful sister named [[Creirwy]]. In later versions of this tale his characteristic ugliness is transferred to a brother, '''Afagddu''' (Middle Welsh: ''Avagddu''; from ''y fagddu'', "utter darkness"), though [[Ifor Williams]] suggested this name arose as a nickname for the famously gruesome Morfran.{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=452}} In the story, Ceridwen tries to help her son make his way in the world by creating a potion whose first three drops would bestow the drinker with knowledge of the future. She gives Gwion Bach (the bard Taliesin) the job of stirring the brew; he splashes three drops on his fingers and licks them, whereupon he gains the knowledge intended for Morfran/Afagddu, who remains ugly and despised. The story has a parallel in the Irish tale ''[[The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn]]'', in which the young hero [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]] receives prophetic wisdom intended for his master [[Finn Eces]] by consuming the [[Salmon of Knowledge]].{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=453}} Morfran eil Tegid (Morfran son of Tegid) appears in several of the [[Welsh Triads]]. In Triad 24 he is recognized as one of the "Three Slaughter-Blocks of the Island of Britain",{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=46β47}} while Triad 41 celebrates his horse Guelwgan Gohoewgein (Silver-White, Proud and Fair) as one of the "Three Lover's Horses of the Island of Britain".{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=109β110}} Other manuscripts attribute this horse to Drystan ([[Tristan]]) and [[Ceredig ap Gwallawg]]. In other triads he is associated with [[Sanddef]], whose beauty is as notable as Morfran's ugliness. In a triad preserved in the prose tale ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', Morfran and Sanddef are named as two of the three men who survived the [[Battle of Camlann]], in Morfran's case because his ugliness led everyone to believe he was "a devil helping, for there was hair on his face like the hair of a stag."<ref>Gantz, pp. 142β143.</ref> This triad was adapted in the 15th-century triad collection known as "The Twenty-four Knights of Arthur's Court"; the pair are two of the "Three Irresistible Knights", as their peculiarities made it "repugnant to anyone to refuse them anything."{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=268}} Morfran is further mentioned in the 12th-century prose tale ''[[The Dream of Rhonabwy]]''.<ref>Gantz, p. 190.</ref> [[Rachel Bromwich]] notes that a 12th-century poem by [[Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr]] contains a reference to an otherwise forgotten early poet named Morfran, and suggests a connection with the Morfran of ''The Tale of Taliesin'' who was the intended recipient of the cauldron of poetic inspiration.{{sfn|Bromwich|2014|p=453}} Scholar Caitlin Green further suggests a connection with the character called "Osfran's Son", who is buried at Camlann according to the ''[[Englynion y Beddau]]'' (''Stanzas of the Graves'').<ref>Green, p. 76.</ref>
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