The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic. John Matthews

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СКАЧАТЬ agriculture required causeways with high embankments as ways of leading animals from field to field. Black dogs often make their appearance upon these ancient roads, near to burial mounds, such as Wambarrows in Somerset. Some of the black dogs are said to guide lost travellers along the way, although others can turn vicious, biting and mauling if attacked. It would appear that a black dog is generally a spectral or spirit animal that demarks the boundaries as a guardian and challenges travellers at certain points upon the road.

      Inexplicable car crashes that happen on empty roads are often believed to have been caused by the black dog. Celtic traditions about spectral hounds and other dogs abound. The most famous literary dog in this genre is the fearsome ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’, invented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the Sherlock Holmes’ story of that title. Interestingly, the term ‘to have the black dog’ is a colloquial expression for someone who is feeling depressed. (See Barguest, Black Shuck, Cu Sith, Cwn Annwn, Gytrash and Padfoot.)

      BLACK SHUCK

      Old Shuck or the Shuck Dog is a one-eyed dog, the size of a donkey, who haunts East Anglia in England. Sparks of green or red fire shower out from his eye. Black Shuck, whose name probably derives from the Saxon word scucca or demon, haunts the salt marshes of this lonely coastline, patrolling the lanes, river banks and dunes that lead to it. Travellers on the road describe feeling the beast’s icy breath and shaggy pelt as it comes alongside them. In Suffolk and Norfolk, Black Shuck’s companionship on the road augers sickness or death, especially for those who have the temerity to challenge it. The Essex Shuck, however, is more of a guardian of travellers, guiding them and protecting them if they are attacked upon the road. It is generally seen near the gallows or in cemeteries.

      BLACK TAMANOUS

      Among the peoples of the North Pacific coast of America, Black Tamanous was the cannibal spirit who was overlooked when the Great Transformer rid the Earth of all the gigantic primordial beings which were responsible for bringing evil. Black Tamanous continued to stalk the Earth, bringing terror as it sought to gobble up people. He was the leader of the Cannibal Society among the Kwakiutl tribe. They met every year during the winter season to observe the ceremonial eating of human flesh.

      BLATANT BEAST

      This creature was created by Sir Edmund Spenser (1552–99) in his long poem, The Faerie Queene. The Blatant Beast is clearly modelled upon the Questing Beast of Arthurian legend. It was the offspring of Cerberus and Chimaera, having assorted parts of both creatures, with hundreds of venomous tongues which gave terrific cry as it wandered in the woods. It was finally muzzled by Sir Calidore and dragged in chains to the land of fairy where it escaped, creating havoc.

      BLEDLOCHTANA

      When the Tuatha de Danaan were fighting against the Formorian people in the Irish legend of Cath Maige Tuired, the Bledlochtana were the monsters that cried out over the whole Earth on the fourth day of the battle; a sound that brought terror to all who heard it

      BLEMYAHS

      According to Pliny the Elder, the Blemyahs or Blemmyes were a race of humanoid beings who lived in Ethiopia. They had eyes and a mouth in their chests, but no heads at all. These extraordinary folk appeared again in the medieval Romance of Alexander in which they became golden giants whose lower limbs were so covered with profuse hair that they appeared like torsos arising from undergrowth! Sir John Mandeville said that Blemyahs still existed in the Libyan desert. The children’s writer William Mayne gave them a new lease of life in his Blemyah Tales.

      BLUE MEN OF THE MINCH

      The Blue Men of the Minch are a race of beings who inhabit the strait between Long Island and the Shiant Islands of the Western Highlands of Scotland. They are the causers of storms, rough seas and shipwrecks. They live in underwater caves where they churn the sea. If they swim out to a passing ship in order to wreck it, the only thing to do is keep up a rhyming conversation with them and attempt to have the last word, for only then will they let you alone. Many people believed them to be fallen angels.

      One tale speaks of how a Blue Man was captured, taken on board ship and wrapped round with ropes from head to foot by the sailors who believed him to be a strange kind of mortal. However, the ship had not proceeded very far when two more Blue Men approached the vessel, who said to each other, ‘Duncan will be one man,’ and the other replied, ‘Farquhar will be two.’ At this, the bound Blue Man burst his bonds as if they had been spider thread, jumped overboard and swam away, to the mystification of the crew.

      BMOLA

      Among the Western Abanaki peoples of north-east America, the Bmola was called the Wind Bird, a great bird whose coming heralded the freezing winds of the north.

      BOAR

      The wild boar is a most ferocious and dangerous animal, standing 4 ft at the shoulder, with curling tusks that can break legs and tear open entrails. Throughout the world, this wild pig has been granted a special place among animals of power. Common themes in myths associated with the boar include the pursuit of the end to tyranny, the test of great courage, the elimination of evil customs, the overthrow of old cycles and the gaining of valour.

      In Melanesia, the tusks of the boar are the proper adornments of chieftains and elders. They are seen as representing the crescent moon and the continuance of life after death. In Vedic and Hindu tradition, there are many boars. Ruda is the boar of the sky, while Varahi is one of the many forms that Vishnu takes when he saves the Earth from the chaotic waters; he also is the first one to plough the soil. Vajnavrahi is the goddess of the dawn in the form of a sow who is the source of all life.

      Among the Celts, the meat of the boar furnished ‘the hero’s portion’ – the joint of meat that could only be awarded to the most valorous. Many stories relate how quarrels arose from disputes over its apportioning.

      The trouble-making Irish satirist, Bricrui, calls the Ulster heroes to a feast at his house. At the distribution of the hero’s portion, three heroes rise up to claim it. The story relates how otherworldly challenges were placed upon the claimants in order that they might be eliminated one by one. Cu Chulainn is the clear winner, having submitted to a beheading game from which the other claimants slink away. Having beheaded a mysterious grey giant, Cu Chulainn learns he must surrender his own head in return. Before the axe falls upon the hero’s neck, the grey giant wielding it resumes his customary form as the clever chieftain, Cu Roi mac Daire and acclaims Cu Chulainn as the rightful winner of the now cold hero’s portion.

      King Arthur and his nephew, the Welsh hero Culhwch, seek the ravening boar, Twrch Trwyth because it carries talismans of great magical strength. With warriors from Arthur’s court and the assistance of otherworldly heroes, Culhwch pursues the huge creature across half of Britain in search of the magical comb and scissors that it carries in its hairy crest so that he might finally marry the giant’s daughter. In another tale, from the Irish Fionn cycle, the hero Diarmuid is killed by his foster brother who takes on the shape of a great boar.

      In general, the boar is associated with warfare, as its fierce and aggressive nature would suggest. Thus we find many boar-headed trumpets and boar-crested helms among the armour discovered in grave mounds СКАЧАТЬ