LLEU and the REAL GIRL

Worse than the cruelest “Fairy Lover”.

Worse than that (ok, I admit it,) imaginary girlfriend many of us had in the 7th grade,

Worse even, than the professor's relationship with Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel…

The piece of achingly lovely fluff that Math and Gwydion spun up as a mate for Lleu was made of that same deadly fabric that has laid-low a thousand mighty young princes:

beauty...  lacking substance.

BLODEUWEDD WAS NOT A NICE YOUNG LADY!

She was one of the foulest characters in the whole Mabinogion !

Just because she was awesomely beautiful and she

had been made out of nothing but flowers and magic,

IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT SHE WAS EVER A

WONDERFUL “GODDESS OF FLOWERS”.

And, IMO, whenever any of you 

are foolish enough to honor her as such, 

you risk the curse of the ancient Bards of Wales 

for buggering one of the most precious gifts they have left us. 

This Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion was a masterful piece of storytelling as well as being a truly a mythic construction bearing a timeless message. A cautionary tale; an instructional myth.

Good Gods, guys...

HAVE-YOU-NOT-READ-THE-STORY ?

The ONLY (only!) place in all of history she is ever mentioned is this very story, constructed with the obviously express intention to warn young men* of the dangers of their own inherent vulnerability to the power of beauty when devoid of character; a loveliness without compassion or care… La Belle Dame sans Merci, the monstrous, nay, lethal, danger of transcendent beauty without a soul.

I would go on, but I fear I have already have offended too many friends here, and, although I feel some things must be said,  such was not my intention.

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*    Mabinogi = “lads’ tales”  is as good a translation of the title as any you’ll find.

* * Lars and the Real Girl (2007) - a very sweet and entertaining film, definitely worth seeing.