Culhwch and Olwen is a
Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with
Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the
Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, and a fragmented version in the
White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. Certain linguistic evidence indicates it took its present form by the 11th century, making it perhaps the earliest Arthurian tale and one of
Wales' earliest extant prose texts. The title is a later invention and does not occur in early manuscripts.