“The more he spurred his horse forward, the further she was from him, though her pace remained the same.”
(Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed)
Rhiannon’s arrival on a horse which goes along at an even pace, but is always out of reach of anyone trying to catch up with her, is a striking feature of her presentation in the Mabinogi tale of her wooing of Pwyll. An interesting perspective on this is developed by Jessica Hemmings in a discussing of folklore analogues in these tales. She cites the common folklore motif of ‘Supernatural Lapse of Time in Fairyland ( No. F377 in the Motif Index) and suggests that the deceptive speed of Rhiannon’s horse is “part of the general phenomenon of temporal (and spatial) distortion which typically accompanies mortal intrusions into the Otherworld, especially in Celtic tradition.”
She refers to the many stories of people visiting the Otherworld or entering a fairy mound, and returning after what seems like just a few days to find that centuries have passed. She detects “an underlying kinship between the peculiar speed of Rhiannon’s horse and this distortion of elapsed time”. Also cited is the episode in the Mabinogi tale of Branwen where ‘The Birds of Rhiannon’ appear simultaneouly near and far, and the subsequent stilling of time on the island of Gwales.
It is through such folklore motifs that stories of the gods were carried through the generations to be made into written tales in the Middle Ages. Rhiannon rides through ancient, medieval and modern time, elusive but not entirely unattainable as Pwyll finds when he calls to her and she allows him to approach. An Otherworld presence, near as the light of a distant star illuminating our world with the radiance of her otherness.
Quotes from Jessica Hemmings are from ‘Reflections on Rhiannon and the Horse Episodes in “Pwyll”’. Western Folklore, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 19-40
Rigantona 