Maelor Gawr is an early Celtic king and

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (also commonly known as ''Y Chwedlau'', meaning "The Legends") consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of t ...

, who lived in Castell Maelor,

Pen Dinas Pen Dinas () is a large hill in Penparcau, on the coast of Ceredigion, Wales, (just south of Aberystwyth) upon which an extensive Iron Age, Celtic hillfort is situated. The site can easily be reached on foot from Aberystwyth town centre and is a ...

also known as (Dinas Maelor) in

Penparcau Penparcau () is a village and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, situated to the south of Aberystwyth. The original village was a hamlet, but the building of extensive Art Deco style semi-detached social housing from the 1920s on transform ...

, a village near Aberystwyth before "the coming of

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...

to this

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

". The tale of Maelor and his three sons, Cornippyn, Crygyn and Bwba, is recorded in the late sixteenth century Welsh text "''Olion Cewri Cymru...''" ("''The Giants of Wales and their dwellings''") by Sion Dafydd Rhys (with the antiquarian spelling ''Maylor Gawr'').The Giants of Wales and their dwellings
/ref> It came to pass that Maelor was captured in the cwmwd of

Cyfeiliog Cyfeiliog () was a medieval commote in the cantref of Cynan of the Kingdom of Powys. Cynan also contained the commote of Mawddwy. Other sources refer to Cyfeiliog as a cantref in its own right, possibly as a result of Cynan being renamed for the ...

, about twelve miles from his own castle and was sentenced to death. His enemies allowed him his final request to blow on his horn three times before his death. The first time he blew, his hair and beard fell out, and on the second blast of his horn, so great was the strength and force of the sounding that all his finger and toe-nails fell off completely. On the third blast of his horn the intensity of the force of the sound caused the horn to be broken into small pieces. Cornippyn, who was hunting with his horse and his hound, heard the sound of his father's horn and lamented over his suffering. He made to rescue his father and in riding with such haste and swiftness, he tore the head of his hound off its body. He spurred his horse onwards, leaped in one great bound over the Ystwyth river and attacked his father's captors. In the ensuing battle, Cornippin was slain. The other sons, Crygyn and Bwba, lived in

Llanilar Llanilar () is a village and community in Ceredigion, Wales, about southeast of Aberystwyth. It is the eponym of the hundred of Ilar. The population at the 2011 census was 1,085. The community includes Rhos-y-garth. Name In Welsh placenames ...

and Llanbadarn Fawr respectively, and murdered any man who approached their stronghold. They were both killed themselves through cunning, by an unnamed warrior in the same night.

Myth, folklore and legend

Contemporary stories still relate to one of the more unusual residents of

village, the headless dog of King Maelor's son Cornippyn. The

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

tells of how a giant, going to his father's rescue, rode at such a rate that his dog could not keep up with him and its head came off in the leash. The dog now roams, mournfully crying and looking for its long-lost owner.Jones, T. Gwynn (1930) ''Welsh Folklore and Folk-Custom'' London: Methuen & Co Ltd.

References

{{reflist Welsh giants Welsh mythology Welsh folklore People from Penparcau