PC486: Hyddwen

[Ocicat]

PodCastle 486: Hyddwen

by Heather Rose Jones
read by Pip Hoskins
hosted by Rachael K. Jones

A PodCastle Original!

Rated PG-13

Morvyth verch Rys na vynnei wr, o achaws y serch, a’r caryat a dodassei hi ar Elin, Arglwyddes Madrunion. A guedy daruot a dywedyssam ni uchot–anvon y gwylan yn llatai attei, a’r chwarae a’r got yn y wled, a gyrru’r Gwyddel i ymdeith yn waclaw–dyvod a wnaeth Morvyth hyt yn Llyswen. Ac yno y trulyssant teir blyned trwy digrivwch a llywenyd.

Morvyth, the daughter of Rys, had no desire for a husband because of the passion and the love she had for Elin, the Lady of Madrunion. And after what we spoke of above–sending the gull as love-messenger to her, and the trick with the sack at the wedding feast, and sending the Irishman away empty-handed–Morvyth came to live at Llyswen. And there they spent three years in happiness and joy.



Heather Rose Jones write stories at the intersection of history and fantasy, usually centering around women’s lives and relationships. In addition to short fiction, I’m writing an epic-length Regency-era Ruritanian historic fantasy. The Alpennia series is currently at three novels, the most recent being Mother of Souls. Outside of writing, I work as an industrial failure analyst in biotech pharmaceutical manufacturing, which is far more exciting than it may sound. And as an additional hobby, I blog about source materials for lesbian history at alpennia.com.



Twitch streamer by day and avid dancer and writer by night, Pip Hoskins is a lady with several strings to her bow and not enough sleep in her schedule! She streams and reviews gameplay every weekday through Twitch–you can find her at www.Twitch.tv/TinyPixxels.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[Father Beast]

It was said in one of these stories somewhere that Welsh is a language that looks like English and sounds like Arabic. Listening to the extended reading in welsh at the beginning of this episode, I think it sounds more like German.

Anyway, I was kind of hoping that this was a sequel to the previous incestuous sisters story from before, and it is! Furthermore, When the enemy combatant admits that he has felt love before, it is strongly implied that he has a similar incestuous relationship with his foster brother.

Anyway, This story held my attention during the three days of the contest, but I was struggling to pay attention before that. It was pretty good.

[spidervet]

Loved Hoywverch (though I had to look up how to spell it) and loved this story too.  What's not to love about mythical medieval Welsh lesbians? I did enjoy the clever way that Morvyth solved Hyddwen's challenge by completing the three tasks for the guy whose name I won't even bother to try and pronounce without having to actually fight. Would definitely enjoy more from this author and/or setting

[Ichneumon]

That guy is the reason insurance is so high for the rest of us! Hyddwen banned hunting in that forest because it was too dangerous but he went anyways (wouldn't that be trespassing?) and gets to demand the life of her child because his friend was hurt??!! I'm not saying this was an unbelievable element in the story, just frustrating. Good thing Morvyth only had to last 3 days unlike Scheherazade.

[Fenrix]

That guy is the reason insurance is so high for the rest of us! Hyddwen banned hunting in that forest because it was too dangerous but he went anyways (wouldn't that be trespassing?) and gets to demand the life of her child because his friend was hurt??!! I'm not saying this was an unbelievable element in the story, just frustrating. Good thing Morvyth only had to last 3 days unlike Scheherazade.

I thought it perfectly reasonable a price for royalty of faery. Felt completely in keeping with traditional stories of the fae.