h, though found in a fourteenth century MS., was composed much
earlier, and contains elements from a remote past. Besides this, the
_Triads_, probably of twelfth-century origin, the _Taliesin_, and other
poems, though obscure and artificial, the work of many a "confused bard
drivelling" (to cite the words of one of them), preserve echoes of the
old mythology.[328] Some of the gods may lurk behind the personages of
Geoffrey of Monmouth's _Historia Britonum_ and of the Arthurian cycle,
though here great caution is required. The divinities have become heroes
and heroines, kings and princesses, and if some of the episodes are
based on ancient myths, they are treated in a romantic spirit. Other
episodes are mere _Maerchen_ formulae. Like the wreckage of some rich
galleon, the _debris_ of the old mythology has been used to construct a
new fabric, and the old divinities have even less of the god-like traits
of the personages of the Irish texts.

Some of the personages bear similar names to the Irish divinities, and
in some cases there is a certain similarity of incidents to those of the
Irish tales.[329] Are, then, the gods dimly revealed in Welsh literature
as much Goidelic as Brythonic? Analysing the incidents of the
_Mabinogion_, Professor Anwyl has shown that they have an entirely local
character, and are mainly associated with the districts of Dyfed and
Gwent, of Anglesey, and of Gwynedd, of which Pryderi, Branwen, and
Gwydion are respectively the heroic characters.[330] These are the
districts where a strong Goidelic element prevailed, whether these
Goidels were the original inhabitants of Britain, driven there by
Brythons,[331] or tribes who had settled there from Ireland,[332] or
perhaps a mixture of both. In any case they had been conquered by
Brythons and had become Brythonic in speech from the fifth century
onwards. On account of this Goidelic element, it has been claimed that
the personages of the _Mabinogion_ are purely Goidelic. But examination
proves that only a few are directly parallel in name with Irish
divinities, and while here there are fundamental likenesses, the
_incidents_ with Irish parallels may be due to mere superficial
borrowings, to that interchange of _Maerchen_ and mythical _donnees_
which has everywhere occurred. Many incidents have no Irish parallels,
and most of the characters are entirely different in name from Irish
divinities. Hence any theory which would account for the likenesses,
must a