#fairytaletuesday

#FairyTaleTuesday #Celtic: James Macgrigor encountered a Kelpie disguised as a stallion. Recognizing it, he stroke its nose with his claymore, severing its magical bridle bit. The Kelpie pleaded for its return, revealing its transformational powers and ability to reveal hidden beings: “If you look through the holes in the bit, you will see all manners of fairies and witches and devils.” Macgrigor lifted the bit to his eyes and peered through, and sure enough, the world he saw was bright with colour and full of beings invisible to the human eye. He was so enamoured by the contraption that he wanted to study it in more detail. He was also not deaf to the Kelpie’s claim that without the bit, he would die, and Macgrigor saw an opportunity to free the people of the surrounding area from the Kelpie’s reign of terror. Macgrigor, captivated by the bit’s power, decided to study it further, leaving the Kelpie in a vulnerable state. Despite the Kelpie’s pleas and threats, Macgrigor cleverly kept the bit, learning about the #Otherworld. „Rarely is a Kelpie the victim of a trick, but after that day, no one went missing on the banks of Loch Ness ever again, all thanks to the cunning of James Macgrigor.“ Source: https://folklorescotland.com/the-kelpie-of-loch-ness/

#FairyTaleTuesday #Celtic: In his poem “I and Pangur Ban“ the author is talking about his pet cat, Pangur Bán, bán meaning ‘white’ in Irish. Pangur means ‘fuller’, a tradesman involved in the production of woollen cloth, in which it is cleansed of oils, dirt and impurities, making it thicker. Perhaps this was a reference to the cat’s thick, white, clean fur. The author is comparing Pangur’s skill at hunting mice with his own industriousness as a wordsmith. It is quite clear from the poem that Pangur is his pet, and that there is fondness and companionship between them. Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/ https://twitter.com/BrentMerrill/status/1754138062756422079

#FairyTaleTuesday #Celtic: In Mallow there is a deep cave beneath Castlecor, where they say many treasures lie glittering, guarded by a white cat that was once a queen called Aeibhill, until she was enchanted by her sister. Once a year the cat can again become human for a week at midsummer, appearing as a beautiful maiden of twenty. She is regarded as the guardian spirit of the Dalcassian race, and Queen of the Fairies of North Munster. The King of Ireland, Brian Ború, is reported as saying on the evening of the Battle Clontarf that Aeibhill came to him the previous night and told him he should fall that day. Source: Midsummer Bonfire Night | Folk and Fairy Tales from the Emerald Isle