1, 2, 3...

In reading the Mabinogi and the other tales, the number three appears so often that it can't be ignored.

The number three has long been significant. It stands for the beginning-middle-end, birth-life-death, mind-spirit-body, past-present-future, as well as a host of other ideas that involve completeness, and has long been considered sacred. It is evocative of the triangle, triquetra, and triskelion. It has long been used in literature, particularly religious texts, as well as in folkore. In Greek mythology, three Fates control the universe, and in Shakespeare's MacBeth, MacBeth encounters three witches.

In the tale of "Gwion Bach", Gwion Bach pushes Ceridwen's son Morfran out of the way to let the three drops of magic potion from Ceridwen's cauldron fall on him. The three drops of potion contained herbs from all of the earth, and bestowed the receiver with becoming "extraordinarily learned in various arts and full of the spirit of prophecy" (Ford, 163). As a result, Gwion Bach eventually becomes, Taliesin, who was later considered the greatest of bards.

In the tale of "Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed," the number three is especially prevalent. Pwyll sends someone on horseback after Rhiannon three times, and each time they fail. Pwyll only succeeds in catching up to her when he pursues her himself and asks her to stop. In the third year of her marriage to Pwyll, Rhiannon still has not had a child, and the men of the land were sad that Pwyll did not have an heir. I think that in this case, three years would be the expected "completion" of the marriage, which would mean that Rhiannon would be expected to have given birth to an heir. Also, when Terynon and his wife realize that their foster child is Pwyll's son, they know they'll get three things - Rhiannon's gratitude for being released from her punishment, Pwyll's thanks for fostering his son, and that they may be able to continue to be the boy's foster parents.

In the tale of "Branwen daughter of Llyr," the tale describes how she was one of three chief ancestress of the land, and the fairest of the three, perhaps to emphasize her importance to justify her brother's revenge on the Irish for mistreating her.

In the tale of "Manawydan son of Llyr," Manawydan and Pryderi travel together and decide to take up different trades at each place they stop, and they take up three trades - saddle making, shoe making, and shield making. To emphasize their skill, they are called one of three golden shoemakers. Later, when Manawydan is tending to his field he catches a pregnant mouse among those stealing grain and decides to hang the mouse. Before he can do so, three people offer to ransom the mouse - a scholar, a priest, and a bishop. Finally the bishop reveals that he is actually Llywd, son of Cil Coed, and the mouse is his pregnant wife.

In the tale of "Math, son of Mathonwy," Math's nephews - Gwydion and Gilfaethwy - rape his servant girl Goewin, and to punish them, Math transforms them into a mated pair of animals three times - a pair of deer, boars, then wolves - switching the gender back and forth each time. Each time, they have an offspring when they come back to Math. That's quite the punishment, but then again, you don't make a sorcerer mad. Also, since Lleu Llaw Gyffes was cursed by his mother that he would never be able to marry a human woman, Math made a woman for Lleu Llaw Gyffes out of three kinds of flowers - oak, broom, and meadow sweet. In this case, it may not have been enough to make her complete, since flowers fade and wither.