"The Circle of Ceridwen": Part the First Quiz

Answer: A goddess

Ceridwen is named for a Welsh goddess of rebirth and abundance. Throughout the book, Ceridwen experiences personal conflicts between her heathen and Christian faiths, seeing value in both and accepting the existence of many gods. She is a heathen in childhood, then is baptized into Christianity, but, while she considers herself Christian, continues to observe various heathen rituals.

She is surprised to discover that the Danes follow a very similar religion to her childhood one: her Woden is their Odin, her Thunor is their Thor, and so on.

Answer: Writing

She can read and write both Roman letters and runes, and can also make wax tablets. This scribing ability is very useful to her and others throughout the series, as many of the people she meets cannot read; even high-born daughters may be illiterate.

Answer: True

While living at the priory, Ceridwen goes into the woods and meets a Welsh woman, whom Ceridwen calls the Woman who Practices her Art, and continues visiting her for years. When Ceridwen flees the priory to make her own way in the world, the woman gives Ceridwen a coin and tells her she is Ceridwen's mother.

Her mother is a whore (and possibly a priestess), and Ceridwen does not know her name.

Answer: To procure peace between her father and the Danes.

Before the betrothal, she wished to marry another man, but he was not in a position to ask his parents if he could marry her. As much as this betrothal goes against her desires, she does not try to escape or bargain her way out of it. She has a duty towards her family to do her part in procuring peace, and Ceridwen helps her to not judge the man before they meet him. Neither the peace nor the marriage last long, but Yrling is very good to his bride.

Ælfwyn is Yrling's second wife, his first having died. The story of Yrling's brief first marriage is told in "Sidroc the Dane".

Answer: Thor's hammer

Ceridwen does not recognize the design when she first sees it. The other men of the hall wear the silver pendants as well, for strength in battle. The only time Yrling removes it is to place it around Ælfwyn's neck during their handfasting. Thor's hammer had many uses historically; one was to consecrate marriages and ensure fertility. According to Octavia Randolph, "Yrling" is pronounced "Yearling".

Answer: Toki

It is the first thing everyone notices about him. Ceridwen assumes that he got it in battle, but Sidroc says the truth is not as honorable as that: Toki cut his face in boyhood. We do not learn more than that in this book. "Sidroc the Dane", the seventh book published (23 years after the first book), reveals the full story.

Answer: Shield-maiden

He calls her his shield-maiden, one who decides who lives and dies on the battlefield (also called a Valkyrie in mythology, though not in this book). He often uses "white-armed" to describe Freyja, the goddess he begins Offering to after he meets Ceridwen, as he seeks the goddess's favor in his courtship. Freyja is the goddess of war, fertility, love, and death.

She chooses half of those slain in battle to come to her hall in the afterlife; Odin takes the remaining half.

Answer: Silver bracelet

He takes it from a man he killed and presents it to her after she tends his wound. This bracelet, a large silver circle with engraved designs around the edges, becomes an important prop and symbol throughout the series.

Answer: Ceridwen asks him not to.

Toki has already inappropriately touched her once, so this time, Sidroc is on his way to beating him to death before Ceridwen intervenes. She wants Sidroc to spare Toki, both because he is drunk and because she does not want a man to kill another man over her, and Sidroc complies, as shield-maidens decide who lives and dies.

Interestingly, none of the men, including Yrling, interfere. This is not the last time Ceridwen asks Sidroc not to kill someone.

Answer: She wants to teach the women to read.

She appeals to Yrling by telling him how lucrative each of these things would be for him. She wants sheep for fleece and linen to make clothes. The husbands of the village women live in the woods for fear they will be sold as slaves should the Danes discover them. Yrling honors each of her requests, and the forest men return safely. Ælfwyn cannot read in this book (she learns in later books) and does not express a desire to educate women thus.