The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
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An early king of Northgalis who fell fighting against the Christians as described in the ESTOIRE.
# 156
The sword of King Ban.
# 156
A river-goddess whose cult was centred upon the temple at Carrawburgh, Northumberland. A relief depicts the triple goddess, each aspect holding up a jar of water in one hand and pouring out water with the other. Local springs were held in reverence as natural foci of divine energy.
# 264 - 454
# 454: So central to the economy of Britain and Ireland was the cow in early times that it was considered a unit of currency. In Ireland, for instance, a slave-woman was worth three cows. Lords were called 'bo-aire' or cow-lord. Until the last two hundred years, drovers' roads were the main routes across country and , anciently, the two halves of the Celtic year were determined by the movement of cattle: Beltaine marking their coming into summer pasture and Samhain being the time when winter-slaughter of cattle was undertaken, to lay down stocks of meat against the long cold time and to conserve the strength of the herd. The cow was considered to be under the special protection of Saint Brigit, who was invoked to keep the beasts in good health and to promote their milk-yield and fertility. The bleached hide of cows made the vellum upon which the very stories in this present book were originally recorded by clerics. The cow is also under the protection of Saint Colomba who would, however, not allow any on Iona because 'where a cow is, there a woman is also, and where a woman is, trouble follows.'
# 161: The cow appears frequently in Celtic mythology as a provider of nourishment for entire communities, like the magic cows of Manannan, one speckled, one dun, with twisted horns, who were always in milk. The chthonic cow is depicted as red with white ears, and there are otherworld cows which emerge from under the waters of a lake and numerous cows connected with otherworld beings, with magic and supernatural powers. The WELSH TRIADS refer to sacred otherworld cows and to the Three Prominent Cows of the Island of Britain.
# 161 - 225 - 454
# 156: A king of Northgalis, one of those who rebelled against Arthur at the outset of his reign. # 454: King of Norgalles (North Wales) in Arthur's time, he was one of the rebel kings whom Arthur defeated at the beginning of his reign. As the grandson of King Ryons, it is perhaps not surprising that he is an unpleasant character.
# 156 - 454
(crav' roo'a) See: RED BRANCH.
# 562: King Scoriath's harper; sings Moriath's lovelay before Maon; discovers Maon's secret deformity.
# 454: He was harper to Labraid Longseach. He gained his harp due to a peculiarity of his master's, for Labraid had horse-ears. This blemish was kept secret from everyone lest Labraid be deposed, but his barber knew and he was sworn to secrecy. However, he could not restrain himself from telling a tree. This was cut down and made into a harp for Craiftine but when it was played, it revealed the truth about the King. Craiftine also harped the parents of Moriath to sleep so that Labraid could love her. Cormac Cond Longes slept with Craiftine's wife, to revenge which, Craiftine was a party to Comac's death, again by lulling him asleep.
# 208 - 454 - 562
A rock in Wales which featured in a story told by Iolo Morgannwg. Iolo Morgannwg was the bardic name of Edward Williams (1747-1826). He collected a great deal of early Welsh lore but, as a bard, felt he could augment it. Consequently he is not regarded as a reliable source. In Iolo's story a Welshman, led by a magician, found Arthur and warriors sleeping in a cave there, guarding treasure. A similar tale, narrated by J. Rhys, has a Monmouthshire farmer as its protagonist. For tales of a similar nature set in England, see ALDERLEY EDGE, and THOMPSON. A cave called O'gor Dinas near to Llandebie was also thought to house the sleeping Arthur.
# 156 - 554
These were often the penalty for annoying the fairies. Scolding and ill-temper were specially punished in this way. See also: BLIGHTS AND ILLNESSES ATTRIBUTED TO FAIRIES.
# 100
# 161: Celtic mythology has both solar and underworld symbolism for the crane. It is associated with the solar deities, especially in their healing aspect; it is also depicted with weapons and battle objects. It is a supernatural creature and appears riding on the bags of human-headed horses and in connection with magic cauldrons. On an ancient altar in France three cranes are depicted standing on the back of a bull. But the crane is also a form of Pwyll, King of the Underworld, and as such a herald of death. A completely contrary symbolism obtains in Gallic lore where the crane is a bad omen, depicting meanness, parsimony and evil women. It is an attribute of the Gaulish Mercury and Mars, and as such is connected with war and death. # 454: The crane is no longer native to Britain, but there is a strong Celtic tradition that cranes are people transmogrified into bird-shape, possibly for a penance. Saint Columba turned a queen and his handmaid into cranes as a punishment. One of the wonders of Ireland was supposed to be a crane which lived on the island of InisKea, Co. Mayo; it has been there since the beginning of the world and will live there until the day of judgement. The imperturbable patience of the crane was associated with the Cailleach, and was a secret, magical bird. Its skin went to make Manannan's Cranebag.
# 161 - 225 - 454 - 563
This receptacle for the ancient Hallows of Ireland was owned by Manannan mac Lir. It was formed from the skin of Aoife, Manannan's son's mistress, who had been changed into a crane because of her jealous behaviour. In it were kept Manannan's house, shirt, knife, the belt and smith's hook of Goibniu, the shears of the King of Alba, the helmet of the King of Lochlann, the belt of fish-skin, and the bones of Asal's pig which the son of Tuirenn had been sent to fetch by Lugh. The treasures were only visible at high-tide, at the ebbtide they would vanish. The bag was passed from Manannan to Lugh, then to Cumhal and finally to Fionn. The contents of the crane's bag correspond to the Hallows of Annwn and to the treasures guarded by Twrch Trwyth.
# 267 - 454
# 562: The artificer of the Danaans. # 454: He helped forge the weapons for the Tuatha de Danaan. He was a worker in bronze. He assisted Diancecht in making Nuadu's silver hand and arm.
# 166 - 454 - 562
# 156: A maiden over whom Gwyn, son of Nudd, and his followers fought the followers of Gwythr, the son of Greidawl, at each May Kalends (or May Day) and were fated to do so until Doomsday. The episode is taken from Celtic mythology and the protagonists were probably originally divine figures.
# 562: Daughter of Lludd; combat for possession of her every May-day, between Gwythur ap Greidawl and Gwyn ap Nudd.
# 454: She eloped with Gwythyr ap Greidawl, but was abducted by Gwynn ap Nudd before he could sleep with her. Arthur judged that neither man should have her and that each should fight for her every May Day until Judgement Day: whoever won on that occasion would be the winner. This ancient motif recalls the mystery drama of the Winter and Summer combat for the hand of the Flower Maiden, or Spring. This theme is also preserved within the story of Tristan, Isolt and King Mark. And suggestion has been made (# 346) that Creiddyledd is the original of Shakespeare's CORDELIA.
# 104 - 156 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 454 - 562
She was a woman warrior within the Fianna, having fled from where her father had begotten three sons upon her.
# 454
Daughter of Cerridwen and Tegid Foel. The Triads cite her as one of the three fair maidens of Britain.
# 272 - 439 - 454
(creh) A territory or a boundary.
# 166
(creh' coo'â lan) The District of Cuala, in what is now co. Wicklow, near Dublin.
# 166
The Welsh for a changeling; quoted in BENDITH Y MAMAU.
# 100
Rescued by his nephew, Finn.
# 562
(crif'han) Griffin, son of Fidach. High King of Ireland, cousin of Corc and also his foster-father, brother of Mongfind. After Crimthann's wife complained, unjustly, of Corc's attentions to her, he sent his cousin to the King of the Picts with ogham inscriptions on his shield which only the Pictish King could read - they indicated that the bearer should be slain. However, Crimthann soon died and Corc returned home to the kingship. See also: CORC.
# 166 - 454
(crif'han ne'a na'ir) Son of Lugaid of the Red Stripes; King of Ireland; killed in an attempt to slay CuChulain.
# 166
These are fairy cattle which give three times the amount of milk of an ordinary beast.
# 454
(1798-1854) The first field-collector of folk-tales in Ireland, and indeed the first in the British Isles if we except Walter Scott. The first volume of FAIRY LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS OF THE SOUTH OF IRELAND appeared in 1823 when Crofton Crooker was working in London as clerk to the Admiralty. It was an immediate and immense success; Jacob Grimm translated it into German and Scott wrote a lengthy and eugolistic letter which Croker printed in the second volume of 1828. Croker met Sir Walter Scott, corresponded with Grimm, and indeed with most of the leading folklorists of his time, and maintained a high reputation as an authority on fairy-lore which has long outlasted his life.
# 100 - 165
# 562: (crom croo'ach) Gold idol (equivalent, the Bloody Crescent) referred to in 'Book of Leinster;' worship introduced by King Tiernmas.
# 454: The gold and silver image to which the Irish offered their first fruits and first-born in pagan times. It stood on the plain of Mag Slecht in Ulster. It bent down to Saint Patrick and was overcome, sinking back into the earth.
# 454 - 562
See: DOLMENS.
Greek Cronos ate his children by Rhea - all except Zeus who escaped this fate and caused Cronos to regurgitate his siblings. He then punished his father by chaining him whilst asleep and imprisoning him on the island of Ogygia. Cronos is the ruler of the Golden Age - a period of everlasting joy. This legend has been amalgamated with those concerning British traditions of the Blessed Islands of the West, wherein the Golden Age and the earthly paradise combine to make a place of otherworldly peace. Cronos' legend runs as an undercurrent through the career of Bran who rules over a similar otherworldly realm.
# 25 - 258 - 439 - 454
This earless, tailless creature who, despite his dogginess, was fully able to converse in human speech, was one of the heroes of the Irish romance EACHTRA AN MHADRA MHAOIL. He was an enchanted prince named Alexander, son of the King of India. His step-mother, Libearn, had turned him and his brothers into dogs to ensure that her son, the Knight of the Lantern, would obtain a handsome inheritance. When this knight humiliated Arthur and his court, the Crop-eared Dog and Gawain went to track him down. When their quarry had at lenght been captured, he changed Alexander back to his own shape. Alexander eventually became ruler of India.
# 156
From the earliest days of Christianity the cross was believed to be a most potent protective symbol against fairies and all evil spirits. It is even possible that cross-roads had a pre-Christian significance, as sacred to the god of limits and a place of sacrifice. The cross in all its forms was protective - the 'saining' or crossing of one's own body or that of another, a cross scratched on the ground or formed by four roads meeting, a cross of wood, stone or metal set up by roadside, a cross worn as a trinket round the neck, all these were believed to give substantial protection against devils, ghosts or fairies. Sometimes this protection was reinforced by carrying a cross of a particular material - of rowan wood, for instance, for this wood was a protection of itself - or for trinkets crosses of coral or amber, both of some potency.
# 100 - 661
# 701: 'Crow' really means a family of closely related carrion-eating birds including the rook, raven, and carrion crow. One of the Goddess's archaic forms, the crone Coronis, was a 'crow' who was transformed into the virgin mother of the physician-god Asclepius; but other, similar forms appeared in myths as harbingers of the hero's death. The Goddess Badb transformed herself into a crow, Badb Catha, to confront the Celtic hero CuChulain and thereby announce his doom. # 161: The white crow appears in Celtic lore as Branwen, sister of Bran. Crows can be a form adopted by fairies, usually with ill intent, and are therefore dreaded.
# 454: Like the raven, crow is primaily associated with battle and death. The Irish for 'crow' is 'badh', a name given to one of the battle-goddesses associated with the Morrighan. The crow exemplifies the function of assimilation and reintegration within the mythic structure.
# 161 - 389 - 454 - 701
(croo'â han) Rath Cruachan. Royal seat of Ailill and Medb, now Rathcroghan between Belanagare and Elphin in co. Roscommon.
# 166
Pagan king of Britain who threw Joseph of Arimathea and his followers into prison, where they were sustained by the power of the Grail. The captives were ultimately released by Mordrains and Seraphe, who had converted to Christianity and become followers of the Grail.
# 454
# 166: (crun'hoo) Son of Agnoman;
# 562: Macha comes to dwell with Crundchu.
# 454: The husband of Macha who foolishly boasted his wife's prowess and speed in the hearing of the king. She expired after having beaten the king's race-horse, cursing Ulster with her last breath.
# 166 - 367 - 454 - 562
Daughter of Sir Prinsamour in the romance of 'Sir Eglamour of Artoys'. Her complex story includes a series of escapes and misunderstandings in which she first loses her lover Eglamour, then her son, who is stolen by a griffin. Later she accidently marries her own offspring, only to discover her mistake in time to find Eglamour and marry him!
# 454
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