There are numerous instances of transformation in the Mabignogi and the other tales, but I'll look at just a few significant episodes, some of which I alluded to in Part 1 about magic items.
in the tale of "Pwyll, prince of Dyfed," Pwyll encounters Arawn, king of Annwfn, the Otherworld, and offends him by letting his hunting dogs attack the stag that Arawn's hounds had taken down. In order to redress this wrong, Pwyll offers to make peace with him in any way possible, so Arawn has Pwyll take on his likeness and switch places with him. Arawn asks him to meet him in the same place in one year and deal his enemy, Hafgan, a single blow, which Hafgan will not survive. They switch places, and Pwyll carries this out, living as Arawn for a year and defeating Hafgan. When they switch back, Arawn's wife notices that he's different, since while Pwyll was in Arawn's place, he did not lay with her but just went to bed and rolled over since he wanted to remain loyal to Arawn. Pwyll and Arawn stay friends and bring their two realms closer together. I think that since Pwyll is from the "real world," he is able to hurt Hafgan as Arawn wanted and knew would happen. I think it's possible that the Prince and Pauper tales are based on this tale or are variations of it.
Bloudwedd, in the tale of "Math son of Mathonwy," is created by Math and Gwydion transforming flowers into a woman, but it seems that she is not entirely human, although she is given a human form. When she betrays Lleu Llaw Gyffes, he is killed and transforms into an eagle, perhaps indicating his warrior nature since he becomes a bird of prey. He is turned back into a human by Gwydion striking him with his magic staff, which I discussed in the previous post on magic items. Math punished Bloudwedd for her deception by being turned into an owl, which I discussed in the post on her. I find it interesting that this is the second instance of using animal transformation as punishment, but this time it's Gwydion enacting it and it's permanent.
Previously, Math used animal tranformation on Gwydion and Gilfaethwy for violating his servant maiden Goewin in Math's own bed while he was away. First he changed Gilfaethwy into a hind and Gwydion into a stag, and makes them stay together and says " 'mate in the same manner as the wild beasts in whose shape you are, and when they have offspring, so shall you. A year from today return here to me' "(Ford, 97). Next he makes the one who was a hind (Gilfaethwy) become a wild boar, and Gwydion become a wild sow, and again they have an offspring. Again, Math reverses their genders and makes them wolves and they have another offspring. This is quite the punishment, since it lasts three years, and involves the two brothers switching genders and having an incestuous relationship that results in an animal offspring each time. However, I think that this is to show that Math is the wizard in control, even though Gwydion demonstrates that he has magic abilities of his own in this tale.
In the tale "Manawydan son of Lyr," Manawydan sees mice stealing grain from his field three times, and on the third night catches a pregnant one since it's slower than the others, and decides to hang it. A scholar, a priest, and a bishop all ask for him not to hang the mouse, but Manawydan is determined. Finally the bishop reveals that he's actually Llywd, son of Cil Coed, and the pregnant mouse is his wife, whom he transformed into a mouse, along with all the other ladies of the court on the third night to steal Manawydan's grain in revenge for what happened to Gwawl in the tale of "Pwyll, prince of Dyfed" since Gwawl promised to not take revenge himself. The first two nights it was his war band transformed into mice that he sent, but the ladies asked to be able to do it. In order to get his wife back, Llywd agrees to release the enchantment on Rhiannon and Pryderi, never put an enchantment on the land of Dyfed, and never take revenge on Rhiannon, Pryderi, or himself. I think that it's interesting that Llywd is sneaky in his revenge by having animals steal from Manawydan for him. It's really a ridiculous situation that Manawydan wants to take his revenge on the mice by hanging one of them and that the scholar, priest, and bishop argue with him about it. Manawydan is treating the mouse like a human in this punishment, since he could easily kill it by just squishing it in his hand or stomping on it.
Gwion Bach and Cerridwen both use transformation in the tale of "Gwion Bach" when Cerridwen is chasing Gwion Bach, enraged that he stole the three magic drops of prophecy meant for her son Morfan. Cerridwen "saw himd fleeing swiftly in the form of a hare. She turned herself into a black greyhound and pursued him from one place to another. Finally, after a long persuit in various shapes, she pressed him so hard that he was forced to flee into a barn where there was a great pile of winnowed wheat. There he turned himself into one of the grains; what Cerridwen did then was to change herself into a tufted black hen, and the story says that in this form she swallowed Gwion into her belly"(Ford, 164). This is different from the other transformations that I've discussed so far in that they aren't changing each other or other things into something else, but rather initiating changing themselves into various forms. This also demonstrates the power of the three magic drops that Cerridwen brewed for Morfan, since it says that it is meant to give him the ability of prophecy and arts, but allows Gwion Bach to change his form at will. As I mentioned previously, this reminds me of the wizard's duel in Disney's Sword in the Stone, which may be based on this incident, since it is the male wizard Merlin, otherwise known as Taliesin, battling a powerful witch. However, as in the wizard duel, Gwion Bach wins by entering Cerridwen's body without dying.
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