Ceridwen

In Guest's 1877 Mabinogion, Caridwen prepares a cauldron of insight for her son Avagddu. She fears his appearance will keep him from acceptance among noble people unless he gains some outstanding merit or knowledge. She gathers plants and keeps the brew going through the year. Three drops splash onto Gwion Bach's finger. He touches them to his mouth and suddenly knows what awaits him. Afraid of Caridwen's skill, he runs for home. The cauldron breaks, and the liquid left inside poisons horses when it flows into a stream. Caridwen finds the broken cauldron and strikes Morda, then learns that Gwion caused the loss and runs after him.

Gwion changes into a hare and Caridwen follows as a greyhound. She chases him under water; he escapes into the air as a bird, while she follows as a hawk. As she is about to seize him, Gwion falls into the heap of wheat on a barn floor and becomes a single kernel. Caridwen turns into a black hen, scratches through the heap, finds him and swallows him. Nine months later she gives birth to a beautiful child. She cannot bring herself to kill him. She wraps him in a leather bag and casts him into the sea on 29 April.