Editing Gwern (section)

===Background===
[[Matholwch]], King of Ireland, sails across the [[Irish Sea]] to ask the British High King, [[Bran the Blessed|Brân]], for the hand of his sister [[Branwen]] in marriage. Bendigeidfran agrees to this, but during a feast to celebrate the betrothal, Efnisien, a half-brother of Branwen and Bendigeidfran, arrives and asks what was going on. When told, he is furious that Branwen has been given in marriage without his permission, and retaliates by mutilating Matholwch's horses. Matholwch is deeply angered until Bendigeidfran gives him a magic [[cauldron]] which restores the dead to life.

[[File:Harlech Statue The Two Kings.jpg|right|thumb|''The Two Kings'' (sculptor Ivor Robert-Jones, 1984) near Harlech Castle, Wales. Bendigeidfran carries the body of his nephew Gwern, following the latter's death at [[Efnysien|Efnysien's]] hands.]]

Once in Ireland, Branwen is treated cruelly by her husband, Matholwch, and is forced to work in the kitchen. She tames a [[starling]] and sends it across the [[Irish Sea]] with a message to her brother Bendigeidfran, who sails from Wales to Ireland to rescue her with his brother, [[Manawydan]] and a host raised from the one hundred and fifty four [[cantref]]s of Britain. The Irish offer to make peace by building a house big enough to entertain Bendigeidfrân but hang a hundred bags inside, supposedly containing flour but actually containing armed warriors. Efnisien, suspecting treachery, reconnoitres the hall and kills the warriors by crushing their skulls.