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Matholwch had been caught out by his own sly trick and had no choice but to continue with the peace talks. Gwern was crowned king and was popular with both sides, except for Efnisien, who jealously thrust the boy onto the fire, shattering the peace and provoking an outbreak of fighting.
In the morning, the dead Irish warriors were placed in the cauldron of regeneration and rose to fight again.
Seeing the bodies of his kinsmen scattered dead on the ground, in an act of remorse Efnisien threw himself down among the bodies of his enemies. As he was thrown into the cauldron, he stretched out his body, rupturing the cauldron and bursting his heart in the process.
Once the cauldron was broken, Bran’s men gained the advantage, until the giant king was struck by a poisoned spear and mortally wounded. His dying wish was that his kinsmen cut off his head and bury it under the Gwyn Fryn, the White Mound or Tower near London, whence it would guard the land from invasion.
When Branwen set foot back in Britain, her heart burst at the thought that she had been the cause of so much sorrow and destruction and she dropped dead.
In Ireland, there were only five survivors, said to be pregnant women who gave birth to the five provinces of Ireland.
Seven warriors remained on the Welsh side and they carried out Bran’s request, but it took them many years to reach their destination. Eventually arriving at Gwyn Fryn, they buried the head of the giant king facing the European mainland, where some say it remains as a protective spirit guarding the land of Britain from attack.
Some believe that the Tower of London was built over the head. Today a legend that is sometimes associated with Bran’s remains is that as long as there are ravens in the Tower of London, the kingdom of Britain will not fall.
Branwen
Daughter of the Welsh sea god Llyr, sister of Bran the Blessed and Manawydan. Branwen, the “white raven,” is featured in the ancient epic stories of the Mabinogion, where she is described as one of the most beautiful women in the Isle of Britain.
When the Irish king Matholwch took her as his bride but subsequently maltreated her, much fighting ensued between the Irish and the Britons, and Branwen died of heartbreak at the death and destruction that she believed she had caused.
Briggs, Katharine (1898–1980)
English folklore scholar Katharine Mary Briggs is best known for her numerous and comprehensive collections of fairy lore and folk tales of the British Isles. She was born in Hampstead, London, the daughter of Edward Briggs and Mary Cooper. The family originated from Yorkshire, where they had invested, with success, in coal mining. Her father was a watercolorist who particularly enjoyed painting Scottish scenery, and in 1911 the family moved to Perthshire.
Briggs’ interest in stories began at an early age, possibly catalyzed by her father’s fondness for storytelling. She also heard many traditional tales recounted while living in Scotland. In 1918 she moved to Oxford, where she studied English at Lady Margaret Hall. She obtained her PhD after the Second World War with a thesis on folklore (Folklore in Jacobean Literature). She wrote extensively on the topic of folklore and her works remain among the most esteemed sources on British folklore and fairy lore today. Her publications include The Personnel of Fairyland (1953), the Anatomy of Puck (1959), Folktales of England (1965), the four-volume Dictionary of British Folk Tales in the English Language (1970–1971), and her comprehensive A Dictionary of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies and Other Supernatural Creatures (1976).
Briggs served as president of the British Folklore Society for three years; an award was named in her honor after her death in 1980.
Brighid
SeeBrigit (#ulink_d90bdcec-c281-51ea-9f24-78f3d6b904de).
Brigit
(Or Brighid.) In Celtic mythology Brigit is a daughter of the Tuatha de Danann in Ireland, a pagan goddess of poetry and smithcraft, possessing the powers of divination and healing.
Legends of her birth say she was bathed in milk and would take only pure milk from a fairy cow with white skin and red ears as her sustenance. Her birth is celebrated on the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc in February when, in Scotland, the old woman of winter, Cailleach, drinks from the Well of Youth and metamorphoses into Bride, who, with her white wand, heralds the growth and regeneration of spring. By the hearthside a bridie doll of corn is left with offerings of bread and milk to ensure protection and abundance.
Brolga
In the Dreamtime Aboriginal myths of Australia, Brolga was a girl who was famous for her graceful dancing. A malicious sorcerer desired her as a wife, but he was rejected. As she danced alone one day she was engulfed by a whirling dust storm, which left behind no trace of her—the spurned magician had exacted his revenge and changed her into a beautiful silver-gray bird whose dance imitated the elegant movements of her arms. The Brolga bird dances to this day in northern Australia.
Brollachan
In Popular Tales of the West Highlands (1860–1962), J. F. Campbell describes the brollachan, from the Gaelic for a shapeless, deformed being, as having eyes and a mouth but no discernible shape and only the two words “myself” and “thyself” at his command.
The story tells of a lame young miller boy lying beside his fire in the mill when the brollachan enters and keeps him company. As the fire burns low, the boy throws on another peat and an ember jumps out onto the brollachan, who shrieks and howls loudly. His mother, a fuath (seeFuathan (#litres_trial_promo)), bursts into the room and demands to know who is responsible for burning him. The brollachan can only reply, “Myself and thyself,” with which she has to be content, while the crippled boy hides beneath a sack and prays for his own safety. The fuath, not satisfied, chases a lone woman to her home and, just as she enters the door, tears off her heel in revenge. The woman is left lame for the rest of her life.
Broonie
In Shetland the tale is told of the King of Trows. His name was Broonie and he was responsible for guarding the corn. Farmers were glad of his benevolent spells as he sped from farm to farm, but Broonie liked to be left alone and would scatter the corn stooks hither and thither if he was disturbed. As the nights became colder, the good folk decided to make him a gift of a cloak and hood, and placed them so he would find them. But Broonie scorned the kind gift and left the neighborhood forever.
Brother Mike
In a Suffolk tale, a tiny “frairy” (the local dialect word for fairy) is caught in a farmer’s barn and cries out the name of Brother Mike in despair while struggling to escape.
Brown Man of the Muirs
A dwarf dwelling near the Keeldar Stone on the lonely moors of Northumberland. He is dressed all in brown and of a squat and stocky appearance, with a head of wildly curling red hair and glowing eyes. He is a jealous guardian of wild creatures and fiercely defends his territory from huntsmen trespassing on his land.
Brownie
A household spirit in the folklore of Scotland and northern England, generally described as a shaggy-haired little man about 3 feet (1 meter) tall, sometimes dressed in shabby brown clothes and sometimes naked. Meg Mullach, or Hairy Meg, is an example of a female brownie, but in most accounts they are male.
Brownies attached themselves to a particular household or farm. They came out at night to complete tasks left unfinished by servants or farm laborers, tending to livestock, threshing grain, reaping crops, cleaning the house and barns, churning butter, and taking care of numerous other chores. In return, housewives left out treats, placing a bowl of cream, or a tidbit of freshly baked bread or cake where the brownie was likely to find it by chance. It was important not to offer a brownie direct payment for his services, as this invariably led to his departure. Some say this was because brownies were only bound to work until considered worthy of payment; others that the brownie was too much of a free spirit to accept the bondage of human clothes or wages. The Cauld Lad of Hilton is one of many examples of a brownie who ceased his services when he was given the gift of clothing. In Cornwall, a pisky sometimes performed a similar role to a brownie, helping with the threshing of the corn. But when the pisky threshers were given new clothes, they vanished, never to return. In one unusual case a Lincolnshire brownie was annually given a linen shirt. One year the farmer substituted a shirt of coarse hemp and the brownie took offense at the poor quality of the garment and left.
Criticizing a brownie’s work was another sure way to cause offense and turn him from an industrious helper into a troublesome, mischievous boggart. However, when treated with respect, a brownie was very loyal to the master or mistress of the household, chiding and scolding lazy servants and laborers, and even fetching the midwife when his mistress went into labor.
See alsoAiken Drum (#ulink_bb670fdb-a92b-5113-a94a-f673043087b9), Bodachan Sabhaill (#ulink_53ea8c96-2194-51c9-91e5-45a35de1f338), Boggart (#ulink_320b1c9f-7197-548e-8e59-065f73aa4635), Bongas (#ulink_e34132e4-a562-5f8d-aa86-6126034b144c), Brownie-Clod (#ulink_535d46c8-364a-5b69-9884-47a590f47f0f), Bwbachod (#ulink_778e6d4a-0dbf-53d4-8032-26290b361770), Bwca (#ulink_05f354cd-7c6c-58c5-b375-b678076badbb), Tom Cockle (#ulink_12c13668-225f-5c10-b794-f01e8377d0eb), Dobbs (#litres_trial_promo), Dobie (#litres_trial_promo), Fenodoree (#litres_trial_promo), Gruagach (#litres_trial_promo), Haltija (#litres_trial_promo), Hob (#litres_trial_promo), Hobgoblin (#litres_trial_promo), Kaboutermannekin (#litres_trial_promo), Killmoulis (#litres_trial_promo), Kobold (#litres_trial_promo), Kodinhaltia (#litres_trial_promo), Korrigan (#litres_trial_promo), Niagriusar (#litres_trial_promo), Nisse (#litres_trial_promo), Phouka (#litres_trial_promo), Portunes (#litres_trial_promo), Puddlefoot (#litres_trial_promo), Redcaps (#litres_trial_promo), Silkies (#litres_trial_promo), Urisk (#litres_trial_promo), Wag-at-the-Wa’ (#litres_trial_promo).
Brownie-Clod
A brownie of the Scottish Highlands with a frolicsome temperament, always playing tricks and with a tendency to throw grass clods at passing strangers, hence his name. A simple being, he was tricked into taking on the task of threshing as much corn as two men for the whole winter by the promise of a cape and hood. The tricksters eventually relented when they saw how hard he worked and gave him the clothes, whereupon Brownie-Clod stopped work in a flash and made off with his gift.
Bucca
A Cornish spirit inhabiting the shoreline between high and low tide, to whom fishermen left offerings of fish in order to ensure a good catch in their nets.
The Cornish tales of William Bottrell in Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (2 vols, 1870–1973) name two buccas, Bucca-dhu (Black Spirit) and Bucca-gwidden (White Spirit) and Bucca-boo as a corruption of the former, meaning “Old Nick, or one of his near relations.”
Buggane
The Buggane is described in Manx Fairy Tales by S. Morrison (1911) as “a great big ugly beast” with a “thick gruff voice of a giant” who is so mad with rage at a woman baking after sunset that he captures her and carries her at great speed toward a waterfall. Just as she fears her end is nigh, she remembers the knife she carries, cuts the strings of her apron, and tumbles to the ground, while the Buggane’s headlong flight pitches him into the roaring waterfall instead.
Bugul-Noz
Described as “a colossal spirit called Teus or Bugelnoz, who appears clothed in white between midnight and two in the morning” in Legends and Romances of Brittany by Lewis Spence (1917), the Bugelnoz’s task is “to rescue victims from the devil, and should he spread his mouth over them they are secure from the Father of Evil.” However, later depictions of this Breton “Night Shepherd” portray him as so exceedingly ugly that he hides away in deep forests, a lonely and unhappy spirit.
Bullbeggar
In The Discoverie of Witchcraft by R. Scot, first published in 1584, bulbeggars are described as “terrifying goblins.” Elsewhere in old texts the bullbeggar is depicted as a cautionary bugbear, an ugly or deformed man useful as a threat with which to control misbehaving children.
See alsoNursery Bogies (#litres_trial_promo).
Bunyip
A malevolent water spirit in Aboriginal mythology, taking many forms and haunting waterholes and rivers, and feared because of its huge size and predatory nature. A description in The Geelong Advertiser newspaper of 1845 says:
The bunyip, then, is represented as uniting the characteristics of a bird and an alligator. It has a head resembling an emu, with a long bill … Its body and legs partake of the nature of the alligator. The hind legs are remarkably thick and strong, and the fore legs are much longer, but still of great strength.
Ancient fossilized bones found by anthropologists and shown to Aborigine elders in the nineteenth century were instantly identified by them as bunyip bones, and drawings and cave paintings exist depicting the many fantastical embodiments of the bunyip.
Bushyasta
A daeva (demon) in Zoroastrian texts, a spirit of indolence and lethargy, who attempts to thwart the good energy of mortals by exhorting them to sleep away their lives.
Buttery Spirits
The fattest fairies, found in inns and taverns where the landlord is deceiving his customers by using inferior meat and watered-down beer. The only food the insatiable buttery spirits devour is either stolen or dishonestly presented as fine fare; in this way the portly spirits inadvertently prevent the landlord from profiting from his duplicity.
Bwbach
SeeBwbachod (#ulink_778e6d4a-0dbf-53d4-8032-26290b361770).
Bwbachod
Also known as the bwca or bwbach, the bwbachod is a Welsh household spirit that belongs to the same family as the brownie.
The bwbachod rewards tidiness. To enlist the help of one, traditionally Welsh maids would sweep the kitchen, set a good fire last thing at night, leave the churn filled with cream on the whitened hearth, and leave a basin of fresh cream on the hob. In the morning, if she was in luck, she would find that the bwbachod had emptied the basin of cream and plied the churn-dasher so well that she had only to give a thump or two to bring out the butter in a great lump.
Bwbachod have a dislike of teetotallers and like to harass them. In British Goblins (1880), Wirt Sikes relates the story of a bwbachod who took an especial dislike to a preacher who was much fonder of his prayers than of good ale. Being in favor of people who sat around the hearth with a drink and a pipe, the bwbachod took to pestering the preacher, knocking the stool from beneath his elbows when he was praying, jangling the fire irons, or frightening him by grinning in at the window. He finally succeeded in frightening the preacher away by appearing as his double, which was considered to be an omen of death. The preacher mounted his horse the next day and rode away, looking back over his shoulder at the bwbachod, who was grinning from ear to ear.
Bwca
(Pronounced booka.) An industrious Welsh brownie, working at night on household tasks such as spinning, washing, and ironing in return for bread and milk. He is happy to work without being seen, or his name being known, but if he is spied on he will immediately depart, never to return.
See alsoBwbachod (#ulink_778e6d4a-0dbf-53d4-8032-26290b361770).
Cabyll Ushtey
A Manx water horse said to frequent the banks of lakes after dark. There is some debate as to whether it is as dangerous as its Scottish counterpart, the greedy each uisge, but it is believed to seize cattle and occasionally steal children.
A pale gray water colt was reportedly sighted at Ballure Green in the Isle of Man in 1859.
It is said Glen Meay, a small village on the west coast of the Isle of Man, is haunted by a man who rode a cabyll ushtey and was drowned at sea. His ghost is now said to roam the wooded glen beneath the waterfall.
Some say the cabyll ushtey is one guise of the shapeshifting glastyn.
See alsoAughisky (#ulink_d52d6b63-fbc2-5af5-88c2-9d515839aa53).
Caillagh ny Groamagh
Manx weather spirit. Caillagh ny groamagh means “old woman of gloominess.” On St. Bride’s Day, February 1st, the Manx Caillagh ny Groamagh appears as a giant bird carrying sticks in her beak. If it’s dry, she comes out to collect sticks to keep her warm through the summer. If it’s wet, she stays in and in it’s in her interest to make the summer warm and dry. Therefore, a dry St. Bride’s Day portends a wet summer to come, while a wet St. Bride’s Day is a sign of a fine summer ahead.
See alsoCailleach Bera (#ulink_bfdd697f-a4de-53a1-b2f4-81e456644bd4), Cailleach Bheur (#ulink_22724d19-7ae2-5c61-af5a-9781377155a1), Jimmy Squarefoot (#litres_trial_promo).
Cailleach Beara
SeeCailleach Bera. (#ulink_bfdd697f-a4de-53a1-b2f4-81e456644bd4)
Cailleach Bera
(Pronounced kill-ogh vayra.) (Also Cailleach Beara.) Irish hag, similar to the Cailleach Bheur of Scotland. She lived in the mountains and carried stones in her apron for building. When her apron string broke, the stones fell out, creating rocky peaks and crags.
The Hag’s Chair and the megalithic tomb Slieve na Calliagh are situated on top of Hag’s Mountain, Sliabh na Caillí, at Loughcrew in County Meath.
See alsoCaillagh ny Groamagh. (#ulink_663d73eb-346d-506e-ba29-43abf987fdee)
Cailleach Bheur
(Pronounced cal’yach vare.) Blue Hag, a weather spirit of the Scottish Highlands. The Blue Hag is the personification of winter. She is the daughter of Grianan, the winter sun. In the old Celtic calendar there were two suns. The “big sun” shines from Beltane (May Day) to Samhain (Halloween). The “little sun” shines from Samhain to Beltane. The Cailleach Bheur is reborn each Samhain, when she smites the earth with her staff to fight off spring. When Beltane comes, she throws her staff under a holly tree or gorse bush and turns into a stone.
She is the guardian spirit of deer, which she herds, milks, and protects from hunters. She is a friend to wild cattle, swine, and wolves, and sometimes assumes the shape of a wild boar. She is also a guardian of wells and streams.
One story concerning the creation of Loch Awe in Scotland, recounts how, tired after a long day herding her deer, Cailleach Bheur fell asleep while watching over a well. The well overflowed and water poured down the mountains and flooded the valley below, forming first a river and then the loch.
Cait Sith
(Pronounced cait shee.) Fairy cat of the Scottish Highlands. Believed by some to be a witch transformed into a cat rather than a fairy, the cait sith is described in J. G. Campbell’s Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (1900) as being black with a white spot on its breast, the size of a dog. When angry, it arches its back and bristles its fur.
After a death, Scottish Highlanders would keep watch over the body to prevent the cait sith from coming near it. They believed that the fairy cat could steal the soul from a corpse by jumping over it before the burial. Games, riddles, music, and wrestling took place at the watches, called Feill Fadalach (Late Wakes), which were designed to distract the cait sith and protect the soul of the recently deceased.
Campbell, John Francis (1821–1885)
Author of one of the most famous collections of Scottish folk tales, John Francis Campbell was born in Edinburgh, but brought up on the island of Islay (Inner Hebrides). The island had belonged to his family since the eighteenth century; he was also known as Campbell of Islay. His upbringing was unusual in that he was allowed to mix with the local children. This was rather unconventional at a time when social etiquette required everyone to keep to a strict code of conduct and “know their place.” He said of his education:
As soon as I was out of the hands of nursemaids I was handed over to the care of a piper. His name was the same as mine, John Campbell, and from him I learned a good many useful arts. I learned to be hardy and healthy and I learned Gaelic; I learned to swim and to take care of myself, and to talk to everybody who chose to talk to me. My kilted nurse and I were always walking about in foul weather or fair, and every man, woman, and child in the place had something to say to us. Thus I made early acquaintance with a blind fiddler who could recite stories. I worked with the carpenters; I played shinty with all the boys about the farm; and so I got to know a good deal about the ways of the Highlanders by growing up as a Highlander myself.
He was educated at Eton and at Edinburgh University, where he studied geology and photography. He later invented an instrument to record sunshine hours that is still in use today.
His interest in local folk tales was rekindled when one of his close friends returned from Stockholm, having met Jakob Grimm there. He was persuaded to collect tales from the Highlands and islands of Scotland and trained a team of Gaelic speakers who collected 800 stories. His Popular Tales of the West Highlands, Orally Collected (in four volumes) was published between 1860 and 1862.
Campbell, John Gregorson (1836–1891)
A collector of tales and traditions from the Scottish Highlands, J. G. Campbell pursued the same method of collection as J. F. Campbell, recording tales directly from Gaelic speakers, which were later translated into English.
Campbell was born in Argyllshire, Scotland, and was first educated at the local school in Appin, where the family moved when he was three years old. His further schooling was in Glasgow, where he later attended the Andersonian University. While at university his passion for traditional tales grew and he met many storytellers and committed their tales to memory.
Campbell continued his studies and read law, but his inclination was toward the Church and he was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow in 1858. He continued to be a keen collector of stories. These were eventually compiled in Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and were published posthumously in 1900 and 1902 respectively.
Canotila
Native American tree spirits, literally meaning “they live in a tree.” From the mythology of the Lakota of North and South Dakota.
Caoineag
(Pronounced konyack.) Meaning “weeper,” caoineag is one of the names of the Scottish banshee. Her wail, heard in the darkness at a waterfall, heralds catastrophe for the clan. She is heard, but never seen. Unlike the bean nighe, she can’t be approached to grant wishes.
