#scottish legends

[basementofthebizarre]

Unveiling Nessie: Delving into the Depths of Loch Ness

The Loch Ness Monster, often affectionately referred to as “Nessie,” has long captivated the imagination of people around the world. This enigmatic creature, reportedly dwelling in the depths of Scotland’s Loch Ness, has sparked numerous debates, investigations, and folklore tales throughout history. But where did this legendary creature originate, and how has its myth endured through the…

[nickachunicki]

Some Scottish folklore

[beyondmistland]

My first audio commission!

Composed and arranged by Sam Yung. Artwork by Dracona_Arts.

Feel free to leave a like or comment if you want but please do not repost! All rights reserved.

@warsofasoiaf @cynicalclassicist

To read the first draft of Scotland’s Heir for free, click here.

To buy the final draft of Scotland’s Heir and more, click here.

P.S. Reposting is NOT the same thing as reblogging!

[emletish-fish]

One thing I LOVED about Good Boy was the Scottish folklore and mythology and how you wove all that into the Miyagi-verse, and I wondered if you had a list of sources you used, and if so could you please link them because it was so fascinating and I'd love to read more about it myself!!

I am so sorry for the delay in answering this thoughtful question.

I don't get much time with my laptop now that I have created another small human, but lil guy is sleeping at the moment so I have a sec.

Another reason for the delay is that I have been googling, trying to find a good source to recommend for you because unfortunately the real answer to your question might not be much help. Sadly, I can find a lot of single stories, but these are normally for tourism purposes and are centred around locations that can be visited. As a result, you need to know the story you are looking for and the location it is set when google searching. I had no luck finding any kind of centralised database for you.

Most Scottish landmarks will have a legend attached to them, so there is A Lot.

I have scottish ancestry and most of the stories that worked their way into Good Boy are re-mashed versions of fairytales told to me by my great aunt when I was a kid. We are one of the thousands of offshoots from the scottish disapora. So I know her versions quite well.

(but she took a lot of liberties with her versions, as all good storytellers should.)

So in compensation, here is a scottish fairytale that nearly made it into Good Boy. I tried to hard to finagle it in, but it wouldn't quite fit. however, it is one of my favourites.

Here is the link to a backpacker site's version if you want to read an official one.

And here is how it was told to me:

The Tale of Sligachan Bridge -

Once upon a time, Sgathaich was the most famous warrior in all of Scotland. Her fame grew and spread across the world. This made Cú Chulainn jealous, and he believed that HE was meant to be the best warrior ever.

And, indeed, he was considered the best warrior in all of Ireland.

He sailed to Skye to challenge Sgathaich to a fight to the death. Sgathaich found his impudence and arrogance supremely irritating and agreed.

The fighting was fearsome and brutal. The two warriors clashed again and again and the sound of their battle echoed across the Cuillins.

Sgathaich's daughter, a renowed beauty who spent her days fending of suitors with a stick, became sick of the fighting and wanted it to end, so she ran down to the river - which was known to be a fairy place.

She sobbed and cried and begged the fairies to help her stop the fighting.

"I can give you what you wish for - the ability to stop any squabble." A fairy stepped out of the waters. "But it will cost you."

"What is the price?" Asked the daughter, because there is always a price with fairies.

"Your beauty. Dip your face in the water and it will wash away everything that makes you so lovely to look upon, and in return I will give you the gift of being able to bring peace anywhere.

Sgathaich's daughter considered this a fair trade and agreed.

She dipped her face in the water and then leapt to her feet.

She knew exactly what to do!

She ran back to the castle and started throwing herbs and spices and all sorts of lovely things into a pan. (My aunt always said bacon, but vegetarians and vegans please imagine whatever deliciousness you wish). The Daughter opened all the windows and a breeze wafted the smell into the mountains where two famous warriors were still doing battle.

Sgathaich and Cú Chulainn both realised how hungry they were and agreed to a truce while the had breakfast. They followed the scent back to Sgathaich's castle.

Cú Chulainn was so enraptured with the delicious smell that he sat right down and started gobbling up the bowl that Sgathaich's daughter put before him.

Because of the highland tradition of guests rights, now that Cú Chulainn had eaten in Sgathaich's home, he could do no harm to her whilst he was on her land.

The two warriors supped and talked, and realised their squabble was silly. They agreed to respect each other's skills as warriors, lay down their arms and would fight no more.

So peace returned to Skye because of a very very very good breakfast.

And the daughter?

She was no longer beautiful, but she was the best cook in all of Skye and knew the secret to calming any squabble - a hearty breakfast and good conversation.

She found that she was fending off even more suitors that before after the gentleman tried her shortbread.

Her incredibly beauty is still floating along the waters under the Sligachan Bridge, (For truthfully, the fairy had no need of it. She just needed a price to be paid). They say that if you dip your face in the waters, you may emerge a little better looking that you were before.

So now, if you go to skye and go past the sligurachan bridge, you will see people dunking their face in the water.

The End

[the-evil-clergyman]

King Arthur's Tomb, from William Morris' The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems by Jessie M. King (1904)

[politicalprocrastinator]

steven moffatt will never step off the neck of the british government even on christmas like the scottish legend that he is

[bestiarium]

Am Fear Liath Mór, or the Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui [Scottish cryptid]

The high passes of Ben MacDhui – the second largest mountain in Scotland – are haunted by tales of a mysterious creature that supposedly stalks hikers. Usually it is described as an impossibly tall, grey spectre, thereby earning it the name ‘Am Fear Liath Mór’, meaning ‘the big grey man’.

The story starts in 1891 with professor Norman Collie of the Royal Geographic Society, who happened to be a passionate hiker as well. The professor had just climbed the cairn on the summit of Ben MacDhui when he heard something that vaguely sounded like footsteps. I should mention that this area is notoriously misty, so you can imagine how easy it is for a lone hiker to get anxious when hearing strange noises.

The footsteps continued, but they were oddly spaced: for every ‘step’ the professor heard, he himself took three or four. It was as if this mysterious spectre was taking giant leaps or had huge legs. Eventually the professor was overtaken by panic and fled. Much later, in 1925, he recounted his tale and shared it with the newspapers, who were eager to publish and often exaggerate the story of a supposed monster or cryptid living in the Scottish mountains. At the time, the mystery creature was dubbed ‘the Ben MacDhui Ghost’ in the media.

Afterwards, multiple people came forward with claims about the mountain ghost, some of which were believable (hearing unidentified sounds) and some were more fantastic (Richard Frere and Peter Densham claimed to have had a conversation with an invisible, psychic creature).

Richard Frere would later claim that while he was hiking on the top of the Ben MacDhui, he had an unshakeable feeling that someone else was there with him, and he would hear a strange high-pitched noise that seemed to come from the soil beneath his feet.

Frere also gave a physical description of a creature he claimed to have seen (but it is difficult to verify whether this is the oldest actual ‘sighting’ of the supposed ghost): a large, brown creature was seen swaggering down the mountainside. It stood about 20 feet (6m) tall, was covered with short brown fur and had a disproportionally large head supported by a thick, muscular neck. It had broad shoulders but walked upright and did not resemble an ape.

Interestingly, only a single sighting happened on a nearby mountain, rather than on the Ben MacDhui itself: in the 1920’s, Tom Crowley, the president of the local Moray Mountaineering Club, claimed to have seen an apparition while descending from Braeriach to the Glen Eanaich. It was a very tall, misty grey figure with a humanoid shape, albeit with long legs that ended in strange talons (described as resembling fingers more than toes) and a head with pointy ears.

Dr. A. M. Kellas, himself a famed mountaineer, also claimed that a giant grey humanoid creature haunted the mountain. Among the many supposed sightings, I am uncertain which one is actually the oldest description of the ‘Grey Man’ as a tall, grey spectre, but it is certainly the most popular one. The grey apparition had cemented itself as a local cryptid and urban legend and many more supposed sightings followed.

Though it is often claimed that the creature is connected to ancient Scottish or Celtic mythology, this is most likely false. Gray Affleck, the author of ‘The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui’, attempted to research this link but could not find a single connection with actual Highland mythology.

In 1958, the June edition of ‘Scots Magazine’ told the story of Alexander Tewnion’s 1943 expedition to the mountain. While he was descending the mountain, a giant grey shape suddenly loomed over him. Having none of this bullshit, Mr. Tewnion immediately pulled out his revolver and fired three bullets at the thing. The mysterious apparition seemed not to notice, however, and kept walking towards him, upon which Tewnion fled.

Sources: Barrie, A., 2005, Sutton Companion to the Folklore, Myths and Customs of Britain, The History Press, 480 pp. Gray, A., 2013, The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui, Birlinn, 183 pp. (reviewed edition, first edition published in 1970) (image source 1 : Attila Nagy on Artstation) (image source 2: ManthosLappas on Deviantart, ©Fear Liath)

[thefugitivesaint]

John Duncan (1866-1945), ''Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth & Legend'' by Donald A. Mackenzie, 1917 Source

[lionofchaeronea]

Piety: The Knights of the Round Table about to Depart in Quest of the Holy Grail, William Dyce, 1849

[briefbestiary]

The towering Am Fear Liath Mòr. A walking terror atop Ben Macdhui, the big grey man, while sometimes compared to the likes of Sasquatch or Yeti, is an enigmatic spirit.

[fourthcupofrice]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Linked Universe - Fandom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Sky & Wild (Linked Universe), Four & Sky (Linked Universe), Four & Sky & Wind (Linked Universe), Sky & Wind (Linked Universe), Legend & Sky (Linked Universe), Legend & Wind (Linked Universe), Link & Tetra (Legend of Zelda), Tetra (Legend of Zelda) & Wind (Linked Universe) Characters: Wind (Linked Universe), Sky (Linked Universe), Legend (Linked Universe), Four (Linked Universe), Tetra (Legend of Zelda), Tetra's Crew (Legend of Zelda), Time (Linked Universe), Warriors (Linked Universe), Twilight (Linked Universe), Wild (Linked Universe) Additional Tags: I tagged the guys with speaking roles, sorry Rulie, Wind (Linked Universe)-centric, Sky (Linked Universe)-centric, Chain meets Wind, meeting Wind, Wind Waker Gameplay Mentions, Master Sword (Legend of Zelda), Tetra is a Pirate, and that's why i gave her a flintlock, Scottish Wind, just cause, Minor Angst, just a lil, Not Beta Read

  Summary:

Wind meets the gang fic. :) I wrote my first lu fic! I wanted to get back into the rhythm of writing for zelda again, and figured this would be a fun way to do it! 

[momokat]

Inktober 2024 Day 13 "Horizon"

"How ya doing, dearies?"

[nickachunicki]

Scottish folklore, mythology and legends

My Scottish folklore, mythology and legends page on WordPress

[viktuurishipper96]

Douglas as princess Zelda

In honor of The Legend of Zelda 38th anniversary and the release of The Legend of Zelda: Echos of Wisdom, I decided to do Douglas but he’s cosplaying as princess Zelda in smash Ultimate design. He has navi by his side as he smiles with the background of the triforce. Hope you’ll like it.

here’s the ref I’ve used here

[the-evil-clergyman]

Illustrations from Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur by William Russell Flint (1911)

[scotianostra]

December 29th 1914 saw the birth of a Scottish legend, Tom Weir

Tom was born in Springburn, Glasgow the son of a locomotive engineer fitter, he belonged to the first generation of working-class outdoor men and began his career tramping the hills near the city whenever he could escape from the grocers shop where he worked.

The adventurer, is credited as introducing thousands of people to Scotland’s great outdoors through his tales of climbing, walking, nature conservation and campaigning. Tom is also fondly remembered for his long-running STV series, Weir’s Way, and his Scots Magazine column, which he wrote for 50 years.

Tom Weir was a writer, broadcaster, hill-walker, rock-climber, historian, naturalist and explorer. He was a popular sight traipsing across the Scottish countryside in his red bobble hat and Fair Isle jumpers since the 1930s.

There's probably not a single glen or mountain that he hadn't visited. Tom didn't just climb in Scotland, in 1950 he was a member of the first post-war Himalayan expedition and in 1952 was one of the first mountaineers to explore the hitherto closed ranges of Nepal, east of Katmandu.

His travels took him to the High Artic of East Greenland, the peaks of Northern Norway, the High Atlas of Morocco and the troubled frontier of the Iran, Syrian and Turkish Mountain lands known as Kurdistan.

He was the best of Scots and represented all that is good in our Nation. He spread enlightenment and joy wherever he went and will live on in our memories.

To this day the legend lives on with his statue at Balmaha on the shores of Loch Lomond, who hasn't visited and not had their photo taken beside it? Well me and ma wee Sis have, as seen in the pic.

Tom Weir passed away at the grand age of 91, on July 6th 2006, he was buried at in Kilmaronock Parish Church, near Drymen. He was buried in the same plot as the ashes of his big sister the actress Molly Weir.