to his companions."[442] This almost
exactly resembles Cuchulainn's aspect in his battle-fury. In a curious
poem Gwenhyvar (Guinevere) extols his prowess as a warrior above that of
Arthur, and in _Kulhwych_ and elsewhere there is enmity between the
two.[443] This may point to Kei's having been a god of tribes hostile to
those of whom Arthur was hero.

Mabon, one of Arthur's heroes in _Kulhwych_ and the _Dream of Rhonabwy_,
whose name, from _mab_ (_map_), means "a youth," may be one with the god
Maponos equated with Apollo in Britain and Gaul, perhaps as a god of
healing springs.[444] His mother's name, Modron, is a local form of
_Matrona_, a river-goddess and probably one of the mother-goddesses as
her name implies. In the _Triads_ Mabon is one of the three eminent
prisoners of Prydein. To obtain his help in hunting the magic boar his
prison must be found, and this is done by animals, in accordance with a
_Maerchen_ formula, while the words spoken by them show the immense
duration of his imprisonment--perhaps a hint of his immortality.[445]
But he was also said to have died and been buried at Nantlle,[446]
which, like Gloucester, the place of his prison, may have been a site of
his widely extended cult.[447]

* * * * *

Taken as a whole the various gods and heroes of the Brythons, so far as
they are known to us, just as they resemble the Irish divinities in
having been later regarded as mortals, magicians, and fairies, so they
resemble them in their functions, dimly as these are perceived. They are
associated with Elysium, they are lords of fertility and growth, of the
sea, of the arts of culture and of war. The prominent position of
certain goddesses may point to what has already been discovered of them
in Gaul and Ireland--their pre-eminence and independence. But, like the
divinities of Gaul and Ireland, those of Wales were mainly local in
character, and only in a few cases attained a wider popularity and cult.

Certain British gods mentioned on inscriptions may be identified with
some of those just considered--Nodons with Nudd or Lludd, Belenos with
Belinus or Beli, Maponos with Mabon, Taranos (in continental
inscriptions only), with a Taran mentioned in _Kulhwych_.[448] Others
are referred to in classical writings--Andrasta, a goddess of victory,
to whom Boudicca prayed;[449] Sul, a goddess of hot springs, equated
with Minerva at Bath.[450] Inscriptions also mention Epona, the
hors