In Welsh mythology, the ; "birds of Rhiannon", are supernatural creatures whose song can "wake the dead and lull the living to sleep".^[1] They belong to the euphemised horse goddess Rhiannon and were coveted by the giant Ysbaddaden Bencawr.

Role in Welsh tradition

In the early Arthurian tale, Culhwch and Olwen, the hero Culhwch ap Cilydd seeks the beautiful Olwen, daughter of the giant chief, Ysbaddaden Bencawr. The giant gives Culhwch and his companions a number of impossible tasks to be completed before parting with his daughter. One of these tasks is to retrieve the birds of Rhiannon, so as to entertain Ysbaddaden on the night before his death. The birds are retrieved, but the tale does not explain as to how. An earlier and fuller version of the tale may have elaborated on this.^[2]

They are also mentioned in the second branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Branwen ferch Ll r. Following a catyclasmic war against the Irish, the British king Bendigeidfran orders his seven surviving men to decapitate him, and to return his head to London. Before doing so, they feast at Harlech for seven years, and are regaled by the three birds of Rhiannon:

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