Mabinogi Monday #6 with Guto Dafis

Storytelling with Michael Harvey

Guto Dafis is a storyteller and musician . You can find out more about his music here and his storytelling here.

Guto talks about the reasons why he is a great fan of the 3rd Branch of the Mabinogi. Structure. The relation to the 1st and 2nd branches and the Mabinogi and the challenges of getting that information into a live telling of the story so that the audience understand the backstory without suffering from information overload.

Guto is fascinated by the character of Manawydan who, after being involved in a long a bloody war, now refuses to indulge in bloodshed. It is mysterious story with the disappearance of people, domestic animals and buildings how and the story tells how the surviving four people move from subsistence hunting and gathering to the use of domesticated animals and finally farming.

Our conversation ranged far and wide and including…

• Survival
• Family
• Relation to other branches of the Mabinogi
• How to contextualize the story without information overload

It is through his patience and endurance that the main character of the story, Manawydan, survives the various trials he goes through, even when the others urge him to use violence. Finally he catches a mouse stealing the wheat from his fields and decides to hang it. He is urged several times by various people not to do such an ignoble thing but by sticking to his guns he manages to undo the curse and settle a long standing fued.

A mural of Guto on the wall of a (now demolished) building in Cardiff