Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Birds of Rhiannon
Sikes connects the birds with the Mabinogi of Branwen, where seven survivors follow their dying chief’s instruction to carry his head towards London. Their pause at Harlech becomes a long enchantment through song. The birds seem far across the sea yet sound as distinct as nearby singers. The quoted Mabinogi gives the repast seven years, a duration different from an eighty-year form Sikes mentions earlier.
Loading your archive…
In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes connects the birds with the Mabinogi of Branwen, where seven survivors follow their dying chief’s instruction to carry his head towards London. Their pause at Harlech becomes a long enchantment through song.
Further detail
TraditionalThe birds seem far across the sea yet sound as distinct as nearby singers. The quoted Mabinogi gives the repast seven years, a duration different from an eighty-year form Sikes mentions earlier.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the Mabinogi passage quoted in British Goblins. Sikes also mentions a different duration in a general legend; the two forms are distinguished, and a later Codex account can compare the complete Mabinogion edition.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
In the Mabinogi, the period the warriors listened is seven yearsOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 106
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0106
- Original scan leaf
- 107
- Recorded leaf number
- 107
- Current Reader position
- 105
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
as distinct as if they were close byOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 107
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0107
- Original scan leaf
- 108
- Recorded leaf number
- 108
- Current Reader position
- 106
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Shon ap Shenkin
A listener who returns from a bird’s song to discover that generations have passed.
Same subject and traditionCastell Coch’s Eagle Guardians
Two great eagles guarding an iron chest beneath the castle in a treasure legend.
Same subject and traditionCŵn Annwn
Otherworld hounds whose cries can foretell a funeral route.
Same subject and traditionElfin Milk-White Cow
An otherworldly cow whose abundance ends when people try to kill her.