Omg I finished! I thought when I got it I would just read stories from it between other books i was reading, but that didn't work out like that. I was also somewhat intimidated by the language and format of these very old stories, but once I got started in earnest I fell into the rhythm of them.

I got this as the beginning of a long list of books related to Arthurian legend, the Mabinogion having some of the earliest Welsh stories related to King Arthur. I wish I had worked harder to find an annotated edition because I had to look stuff up a lot. A lot of the names are early Welsh versions of familiar Arthurian names, and a lot of times it was difficult to understand the overall point of a story that is so long and seemingly meandering. Many are repetitive and there are many that use the power of the number three, I noticed.

The beginning stories are all early Welsh stories unrelated to king Arthur but still interesting. I was particularly interested in learning about Rhiannon. The last four or so stories are King Arthur adjacent, as he isn't really the point of any of them, he just is there and it's his knights that make up the story. Peredur seemed the nicest to women and sought out vengeance because of the ill treatment of two dwarves. Violence is a big trend in these stories, with most knights being considered strong and important by their ability to murder people.

Anyway, I'm proud of myself for finally getting through the Mabinogion and I'm looking forward to the rest of my Arthurian legend list!