#the kelpie

[adventuresofalgy]

It had been a wild and stormy night, and Algy had had great difficulty clinging on to the tree in which he had chosen to sleep, waking frequently in the darkness as the wind howled and the branches thrashed all around him, and the sleet and snow turned to drenching rain which soaked his feathers.

And from time to time he had heard eerie, eldritch sounds from the direction of the lochan; strange sounds that he did not recognise but which caused his feathers to shiver and shake involuntarily… But he had hugged his magic pumpkin lantern as tightly as he could while perching on a trembling branch, and hoped for the best. And when the morning eventually arrived, Algy found that all was well, and the landscape had been transformed into a thing of beauty once again, for the Atlantic storm had brought a great change in the weather, with much milder air sweeping in from across the great ocean on strong winds, to blow the menacing clouds away and melt the snow.

Hopping down to the ground, Algy surveyed the lochan carefully, but he could see nothing out of the ordinary. Deciding that he must simply have been imagining things, as a fluffy bird is apt to do during a disturbed and sleepless night, he was about to set off on his journey once again when a raven happened to pass by. "I'd no' bide there if I was you," it croaked, as it flew overhead. "Do you no' ken there's a kelpie in yon lochan, you daft bird…"

A kelpie! A shiver shook Algy's feathers again. The lochan was lovely to look at in the morning light, but he recalled the fearful noises he had heard in the darkness and resolved to move on hurriedly, before the day faded into night yet again…

I’m feared o’ the road ayont the glen, I’m sweir to pass the place Whaur the water’s rinnin’, for a’ fowk ken There’s a kelpie sits at the fit o’ the den, And there’s them that’s seen his face. But whiles he watches an’ whiles he hides And whiles, gin na wind manes, Ye can hear him roarin’ frae whaur he bides An’ the soond o’ him splashin’ agin’ the sides O’ the rocks an’ the muckle stanes. When the mune gaes doon at the arn-tree’s back In a wee, wee weary licht, My bedclaes up to my lugs I tak, For I mind the swirl o’ the water black An’ the cry i’ the fearsome nicht.

Which translates from Scots into standard English roughly as follows:

I’m afraid of the road on the other side of the glen, I’m reluctant to pass the place Where the water’s running, for all folk know There’s a kelpie sits at the foot of the ravine And there’s those who have seen his face. Sometimes he watches and sometimes he hides And sometimes, if no wind moans, You can hear him roaring from the place where he dwells And the sound of him splashing against the sides Of the rocks and the great stones. When the moon goes down at the alder tree’s back In a wee, wee miserable light, My bedclothes up to my ears I take, For I remember the swirl of the black water And the cry in the terrifying night.

[Algy is thinking of the first three verses of the poem The Kelpie by the late 19th/early 20th century Scottish writer Violet Jacob.]

[stigmatam4rtyr]

The Kelpie (1913, oil on canvas) | Herbert James Draper

[oprimeiroafonso]

The Kelpie  (1913) - pintura de Herbert James Draper

[the-starry-traveller]

They're probably hiding in the room near the door, waiting for you to go check things out. Then, they'll escape once the door is open.

Kelpie Part 3

All of the rooms are bolted shut and empty and she's in room no. 1... I think she's still inside... Strangely, her room is placed closest to the teleporter.... Also I'm restyling my hair this time....I sense combat soon.. - Aurora

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((Link fixed, send asks if you like:) Sorry for terrible floor plan lol))

[camelidae]

You are strongly advised not to feed the ducks in this pond.

[dunmeshistash]

One of the things I really appreciate about Dungeon Meshi is how the text is so clearly full of love for animals. Like the true kind of love Laios feels for the monster where he wants to know everything about them, but most of all he respects them and loves them as animals.

One of the chapters I can't stop thinking about is the one about Anne the Kelpie. It's kind of impressive how well it illustrates the different kind of love people have for animals. And how someone that loves an animal isn't necessarily an animal lover. If that makes sense.

When Senshi calls out Anne what he says is "Don't worry Anne's Harmless" but she isn't, she's a wild animal.

Marcille immediately reacts positively about it thinking it's cute she accepts the treat Senshi has for her. And hers and Chilchuck's reaction to Senshi wanting to cross the river on her back is more surprise while Laios immediately realizes how bad of an idea it is.

But Laios is the animal monster lover so how come when he finally is faced with a "docile" monster he doesn't react positively like the others? Marcille even calls him a monster. That's because Laios loves monsters, and Senshi loves Anne.

I've seen this attitude around me several times, where people love a specific animal but what they love is their idea of that animal, they don't really know them because they don't love the animal part of them.

It becomes a "this one is special because I love them" that can quickly become an issue for the animal as much as it is for the person. It's something unfortunate I see time and time again irl.

Anne wasn't wicked, Anne wasn't mean, Anne didn't trick him. Anne was a wild animal and Senshi loved her as Anne but not as a kelpie.

She acted on instinct, maybe she did love Senshi in the way kelpies can love, but animals are still animals and must be respected and treated as such. Climbing on top of Anne's back was the equivalent of putting your arm inside a alligator's mouth, the mouth is gonna close because that's what they're designed to do.

The real life equivalent I see the most of "I love this animal but I don't love the animal part of them" is with dogs. If you insist on loving an animal without acknowledging they ARE an animal they might hurt you, you might hurt them, it will only end in grief.

The best way you can love an animal is by understanding they're an animal.

That is all to say I don't mean that the love Senshi felt for Anne wasn't real or that it's all his fault. He couldn't have known with the information he had and unfortunately it came down to the worst outcome.

I just love dungeon meshi dearly.

[kelpcakie]

As someone who sees cyber trucks (at least 3 different ones, distinguished by color and grime) fairly frequently, I'm really curious how often other people see them

[birdsofrhiannon]

The Kelpie Pond by Jaimie Whitbread 

[riley-coyotl]

Kelpie was just strolling along in the yard with me the other day without a care in the world when she saw this dandelion puff and suddenly stopped short like "WHOA, what the fuck is that??"

Not much fazes her like this so I don't know what it was about the dandelion puff that alarmed my normally confident puppy but she puzzled it out and it was very cute! xD

[wolvesandcomputers]

Pool Kelpie

@gallusrostromegalus was talking about variations on the water hazard horse myth and mentioned the idea of a "Pool Kelpie" I just had to draw it.

[theveryworstthing]

The 3rd Headless Haunting: Selkie and Kelpie

She'd have been way less angry if he'd done more than the bare minimum to get away with it.

He was always a good storyteller, maybe one of the best. But she had no idea how, after tossing her beheaded corpse off the cliff by the sea and forcing her horse to follow, he had stumbled into town covered in blood with strands of her hair still wrapped around his fists and got people believing that she was a selkie who'd taken her skin in a fit of jealousy and left poor ol' him alone and broken hearted (and able to marry that poor stupid girl he's been in a badly hidden affair with).

Maybe people just didn't like her? A secret lifelong resentment is the only way she could explain how readily they believed that shifty, silver tongued, sack of cow shit. Fakest crying she'd ever seen. No snot. Unbelievable.

They didn't believe any of the other fae bullshit that's been happening around here for generations but selkies? Well of coooooourse those are real. This time. They weren't when her poor granddad was telling stories about how his mother took saltwater baths sometimes and searched the farm like a woman possessed in between chores any time his father was gone for more than a day. They weren't when poor little Mary said the "seal man" made sure that they had a nice fish dinner every night when her father got too deep in the bottle to feed his children. But now, OOOOOOH now, everyone's big on selkies! Selkies everywhere! rich local history, proud seaside folktales, respect for blah blah blah.

Lying bastard couldn't have possibly known that her blood in the water would call to those who shared it.

Time to ride into town and try out her new teeth.

[lylahammar]

the ol art block fall back, speculative monster horse biology 😌

gonna do more for this concept, but I've been thinkin about kelpies today :3

[oliviarampaige]

“Näcken”

Day 10 - Black Lagoon

The water sings and calls.

[sanctus-ingenium]

A certain fisherman [...] went to the same place again to fish, and he put a row of hooks on his heels in case he met the Púca again; he attached them like a horseman's spurs. When evening drew near, he made a halter of the fishing-line for the Púca. The Púca met him the second time. He himself caught the Púca, put the fishing-line over his head like a halter, and started to ride him. He drove him wherever he wanted to go, and he kept putting his heels with the hooks like spurs to the Púca's sides, so that the Púca was shedding blood from the pricks of the hooks.

Excerpt from "The Púca: A Multi-Functional Irish Supernatural Entity" by Deasún Breatnach

buy a print of this piece here :>

[joandelahaye]

Thrills, Chills, and Kills Await! 📚🎬🌊 Explosions, Get Free Books, Retribution Extract, and a Creepy Kelpie Video!

Hello, my Freaky Darlings! Greetings from a confused and chilly arse-end of Africa. Well, well, well, it seems like my friends across the oceans were worried about little ol’ me! Rest assured, my adventurous self was far away from the chaos that rocked the centre of Johannesburg due to the gas explosion. Bree Street? Nah, that’s not my scene. I’m happily residing in a completely different city…

[the-evil-clergyman]

The Kelpie by Herbert James Draper (1913)