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The son of Gwreang who was left by Ceridwen to stir her cauldron. Drops
from it landed on his finger which he sucked and at once understood everything
that had happened or was to happen. He fled to avoid Ceridwen, both pursuer
and pursued changing into different shapes. Gwion eventually changed himself
into a grain of wheat and she changed herself into a hen and swallowed him.
She became pregnant with him and bore him as Taliesin. All this may represent
an initiatory process, as C. Matthews suggests.
A certain similarity may be noted between Gwion and the Irish hero Finn
(Fionn) mac Cool, who sucked his thumb when some of the essence of the Salmon
of Knowledge was on it. The chewing of the thumb may recall a pagan practice
of divination. R. Graves considers that Gwion was a historical person who
discovered poetic mysteries and began to compose poetry, using the name
of the legendary Taliesin.
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