The Mabinogi'The Mabinogi' is the Welsh national epic, a collection of prose tales of war and enchantment, adventure and romance, which have long fascinated readers all over the world. Matthew Francis's retelling of the first four stories (the Four Branches of the Mabinogi) is the first to situate it in poetry, and captures the magic and strangeness of this medieval Celtic world: a baby is kidnapped by a monstrous claw, a giant wades across the Irish Sea to do

and acknowledging and accepting the darkness when it comes

which will plunge a kingdom into turmoil

' But geese

Their agents are not the usual spies

he shares his wisdom on life

Aged eleven

the suicide of the poet Sylvia Plath and the false conviction of Amanda Knox

for useless objects left behind by loved ones

But this time they reveal how they are modifying their favourite bad girl habits and mischievous mindsets now they are more 'madam' than 'mademoiselle'

is a rare sight for most people

Their friends think they're crazy

probably the greatest knight of the Middle Ages