The story of Culhwch and his Olwen. This was a beautiful story, for the most part. The premise reminded me much of my own life. The young, beautiful Olwen and I had much in common. Fair beauties that where the cause of such calamity and malice. My husband was killed by a King who held such a passion for me which could never cease or nor be satisfied until we were together. This parallels with a young woman with beauty which drove men to risk their lives on many quests for only a chance at having her hand. In this comparison, this story replenishes me with memory. However, the days of my youth have long passed me and I am much reluctant of unbridled butchery so that aspect of the story itself may have been too much. Speaking from my new heart behind the cloistered walls, I see this as, rather than the love story it was destined to be, more of an amoral quest of self satisfaction. Instead of the premise being a man searching for his love, it became a heavy depiction of gore and masculine pride. I feel like there was no real love between any other the characters. The intentions of the quest were more for honor and glory than for the love of Olwen, though I no doubt praise the ultimate success of their lives together. Nevertheless I will close in a positive manner, and so express how remarkably proud I am to have such an honorable son. Though our distance has been great, every time his name glorified, I take pride. Not only is my son Arthur so praised as a warrior, but his bloodline is so exalted that even the young Culhwch was more admirable just for his relation. How honored I am.
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The story of Culhwch and Olwen may also be compared to the chronicle of my life as well; a love story interwoven with magic and deceit. Olwen and I were both promised to marry men we did not know and experienced terrible difficulty in simplifying our happy endings. Olwen, in the end, does ultimately find happiness, but I, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. Tristan and I were cursed with a mystifying adoration for one another, from a magic potion that we both "accidentally" drank from a grail. This potion left us infatuated with one another, constantly causing us to put our own lives in danger, and ultimately leading to our demise. I compare my own story to that of Olwen and Culhwch, but only in the sense that it mirrors a potential story that could have been, had circumstances been different for Tristan and myself.
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