Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Folktales

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales

Origin of the Noble Name of Trolle

Benjamin Thorpe gives this folk tale in his ‘Northern Mythology: Comprising the Principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and the Netherlands’ (1851) ‘On the wall of Voxtorp church in Småland there is a painting representing a knight named Herve Ulf, when one Christmas morning he received a drinking horn from a troll-wife with one hand, while with his

Folklore / Folktales / Welsh Folktales

Spirit of Llyn-Nad-y-Forwyn

The following folk tale of a haunting beside the River Colwyn in Beddgelert was taken from Elias Owen’s Welsh Folk-Lore (1896). ‘It is said that a young man was about to marry a young girl, and on the evening before the wedding they were rambling along the water’s side together, but the man was false, and loved another better than the woman whom he was about to wed.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Welsh Fairies / Welsh Folktales

Llyn y Forwyn

The following tale of Llyn y Forwyn (Damsel’s Pool) appeared in ‘Celtic Folklore Welsh And Manx’ (1901) by John Rhys and was in turn a translation of a Welsh language version featured in Elfed and Cadrawd’s ‘Cyfaill yr Aelwyd a’r Frythones’ (1892).

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Welsh Fairies / Welsh Folktales

Llyn Du’r Arddu

In ‘Celtic Folklore Welsh And Manx’ (1901) John Rhys describes the following tale he was told concerning a fairy bride in the summer of 1881. ‘An old woman, called Siân Dafydd, lived at Helfa Fawr, in the dingle called Cwm. Brwynog, along the left side of which you ascend as you go to the top of Snowdon, from the village of lower Llanberis, or Coed y Ddol, as it is there called.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Irish Fairies / Irish Folktales

Jamie Freel and the Young Lady

The following story from’ Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry’ by William Butler Yeats (1888) takes place in Fannet, which is now known as Fanad, a peninsular by Lough Swilly. Although the tale includes a trip across the length of Ireland, according to the story the hero states he is nearly home when approaching Tamney, so I have used this village for my map reference below.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

St Mary’s Loch

James Hogg (born 1770 – died 21 November 1835) ‘The Ettrick Shepherd’ wrote the following concerning a water cow that was said to have lived in the 5 km long St Mary’s Loch, which is the largest natural loch in the Borders.

Aquatic Monsters / Cryptozoology / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

Loch na Beiste

In his ‘Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree’ (1886), John H. Dixon gave the following account of a creature that was said to live in Loch na Beiste roughly 50 years early. ‘The existence of water-kelpies in Gairloch, if perhaps not universally credited in the present generation, was accepted as undoubted in the last.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

The Water Horse Bridle of Nether Lochaber

In Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs (1893), James Mackinlay quotes an anecdote by Rev Dr Stewart, ‘A drover, whose home was in Nether Lochaber, was returning from a market at Pitlochry by way of the Moor of Rannoch. Night came on; but, as the moon was bright, he continued his journey without difficulty. On reaching Lochanna Cuile, he sat down to refresh himself with bread, cheese, and milk.