Talk:The Foundling and Other Tales from Prydain

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[edit] Chronology

Out of curiosity, I'm wondering if anyone knows the chronological order of the stories in The Foundling. At a guess I'd say it runs like this:

1. "The Smith, the Weaver, and the Harper" -- I think this must be the earliest story, for reasons laid out below.
2. "The Sword" -- The High King tells us that Dyrnwyn was forged for Rhydderch Hael, Rhitta's grandfather. I'd say it was probably made before Arawn stole the secrets of Prydain, but by the time Rhitta got his hands on it anything could've happened. I get the impression that anyone clever enough to create a sword that could slay Arawn would've been too wise to be deceived like Iscovan was, so Govannion the Lame probably predates Iscovan. For this reason I think "The Sword" is the second earliest story.
3. "The Foundling" -- Enter Dallben. The sword the three witches offer him sounds like the pre-curse Dyrnwyn, but that seems unlikely. Although it's not impossible, there's no evidence that Dyrnwyn was lost and regained by Rhydderch or his sons before Rhitta got hold of it. I'm placing this story after "The Smith" and "The Sword."
4. "The Stone" -- This story almost seems to pick up where "The Foundling" left off, at least if the old man in the beginning is Dallben.
5. "The Rascal Crow" -- Crows don't generally live for more than a few years, but I expect Kadwyr and Kaw are exceptions. Medwyn's talk of the gwythaint's apparently recent enslavement leads me to believe this one comes before Coll's story. I doubt it predates Dallben, though.
6. "Coll and His White Pig" -- This story and "The True Enchanter" probably occur fairly close to each other, but since this is before Coll met Dallben I'm assuming it's the older of the two.
7. "The True Enchanter"
8. "The Truthful Harp" -- It seems appropriate that this be the most recent story. We know Fflewddur is older than Taran and Eilonwy, but I don't think it's an enormous gap. Taran and Eilonwy had almost certainly not been born yet in any of the other stories, but there's a good chance they're small children during the events of this one.

These are just my theories. If anyone ever looks at this page I definitely welcome discussion!--Jiangyingzi 09:36, 29 August 2007 (UTC)