The Hanging of a Mouse

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi were set down on the page in the early thirteenth century. They are stories that had been told and sung by Welsh bards for centuries before they were written down.

One of the central concerns of the Mabinogi is the uneasy relationship between this world and Annwn, the Otherworld.

In this performance, drawing from the first and third branches, Hugh Lupton unravels a tale of violence, love, enchantment and revenge beginning with a badger in a bag and ending with a gallows for a mouse.

Hugh Lupton has been a professional storyteller since1981. He tells stories from all over the world, but his particular passion is for the hidden layers of the British landscape and the stories and ballads that give voice to them. He is also a lyricist and a novelist and has published many collections of traditional tales. His novel ‘The Assembly of the Severed Head’ explores the moment the Mabinogion moved from being part of a fluid oral culture to becoming a written text.