lso account for the differences, and must explain why, if the
_Mabinogion_ is due to Irish Goidels, there should have been few or no
borrowings in Welsh literature from the popular Cuchulainn and Ossianic
sagas,[333] and why, at a time when Brythonic elements were uppermost,
such care should have been taken to preserve Goidelic myths. If the
tales emanated from native Welsh Goidels, the explanation might be that
they, the kindred of the Irish Goidels, must have had a certain
community with them in divine names and myths, while others of their
gods, more local in character, would differ in name. Or if they are
Brythonic, the likenesses might be accounted for by an early community
in myth and cult among the common ancestors of Brythons and
Goidels.[334] But as the date of the composition of the _Mabinogion_ is
comparatively late, at a time when Brythons had overrun these Goidelic
districts, more probably the tales contain a mingling of Goidelic (Irish
or Welsh) and Brythonic divinities, though some of these may be
survivals of the common Celtic heritage.[335] Celtic divinities were
mainly of a local, tribal character. Hence some would be local Goidelic
divinities, others, classed with these, local Brythonic divinities. This
would explain the absence of divinities and heroes of other local
Brythonic groups, e.g. Arthur, from the _Mabinogion_. But with the
growing importance of these, they attracted to their legend the folk of
the _Mabinogion_ and other tales. These are associated with Arthur in
_Kulhwych_, and the Don group mingles with that of Taliesin in the
_Taliesin_ poems.[336] Hence Welsh literature, as far as concerns the
old religion, may be regarded as including both local Goidelic and
Brythonic divinities, of whom the more purely Brythonic are Arthur,
Gwynn, Taliesin, etc.[337] They are regarded as kings and queens, or as
fairies, or they have magical powers. They are mortal and die, and the
place of their burial is pointed out, or existing tumuli are associated
with them, All this is parallel to the history of the Tuatha De Danann,
and shows how the same process of degradation had been at work in Wales
as in Ireland.

The story of the Llyr group is told in the _Mabinogion_ of Branwen and
of Manawyddan. They are associated with the Pwyll group, and apparently
opposed to that of Don. Branwen is married to Matholwych, king of
Ireland, but is ill-treated by him on account of the insults of the
mischievous Evnissyen,