Pa gur

Poem 31 of the Black Book of Carmarthen, a mid-13th century manuscript, is known from its first line as Pa gur yv y porthaur? (What man is the gatekeeper?) or Pa gur, or alternatively as Ymddiddan Arthur a Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr (The dialogue of Arthur and Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr). It is a fragmentary, anonymous poem in Old Welsh, taking the form of a dialogue between King Arthur and the gatekeeper Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr, in which Arthur boasts of his own exploits and those of his companions, especially Cai the Fair.Pa gur is notable for being one of the earliest vernacular Arthurian works, and for alluding to several early adventures of Arthur which are now lost. Its precise age is not known and has been the subject of wide-ranging disagreement, but scholarly opinion now tends to favour a date of c. 1100.

Pa gur is in places a very difficult text, and translations of it vary widely. This summary is based on the version of Jon B. Coe and Simon Young (see below).

The poem begins with Arthur asking the porter's name. Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr duly identifies himself and returns the question, upon which Arthur names himself and says his party consists of Cai the Fair and "the best men in the world". Glewlwyd demands Arthur vouch for them, so Arthur names his men and praises their exploits: Mabon son of Modron, Uthr Pendragon's servant; Cyscaint son of Banon; Gwyn Goddyfrion; Manawydan son of Llŷr, who bore "pierced shields from Tryfrwyd"; Mabon son of Mellt; Anwas the Winged and Llwch the Windy-Handed, who have been defending Edinburgh; and finally Cai, who "would implore them, while he slew them, three at a time."

The subject now turns to Arthur himself, who is said to have fought against a witch in the hall of Afarnach, against a certain Pen Palach in the dwellings of Disethach, and against dog-heads at the mount of Edinburgh. Bedwyr Perfect-Sinew slew his enemies by the hundred, and he fought ferociously on the shores of Tryfrwyd. [It has been suggested that this passage about Arthur and Bedwyr is spoken not by Arthur but by Cai.]

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Wikipedia