Modron

Modron was the Welsh goddess of fertility or the mother goddess. Modron was the daughter of the god Avallach. Modron was the mother of Mabon, according to the tale of Culhwch and Olwen.

There was in Rhyd y Gyfarthfa or the "Ford of Barking", a place where hounds come to bark, and people were frightened to go there to investigate why. One day, Urien Rheged came to this ford and found a woman washing clothing. Urien found this washing woman very attractive, and she was very pleased that he had come there, breaking some sort of curse or spell that was placed upon her. Apparently, she was fated to wash in this ford until she had a son by a Christian. It was at this point that the sounds of barking stopped, when he slept with her. She told Urien that she was a daughter of the king of Annwfn.

Modron was not only the mother of Owain (Yvain); she also had a daughter named Morvudd. The Welsh Triads, often mentioned Owain being her son. Morvudd's name was also mentioned in the tale of Culwch and Olwen.

The fairy queen and sister of King Arthur, Morgan le Fay, was most likely derived from Modron, because they both had the same husband and the same son (Owain).

Modron's appearance of washing clothes at the ford was a form of banshee, known as the Washer at the Ford. In Scottish Gaelic folklore, they were known as bean nighte, where they were said to wash the bloodstained clothes of the ones who were about to die. There was no sign of Modron doing this. In the Irish myth, Morrigan also washed clothes in the river on the night she slept with Dagda. Modron was sometimes identified with Morrigan as well as with Morgan le Fay.