The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
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# 160 p 187
# 160 p 190 ff
# 160 p 191
C'sar and the Gauls themselves tried to fit the Celtic deities or the Gallic religion into the Roman mythology. It mustn't be overlooked that the popular and bardic conception of Danaan was probably at all times something different from each other.
# 562
The daughter of Morgan, king of the land of wonders and of Coinchend. Fairy mistress of Art son of Conn of the Hundred Victories. She could not be won by any man because of a prophecy that when she married, her mother would die. She was kept secluded and guarded by monsters, hags and hostile terrain - all of which Art surmounted in order to win her.
# 166 - 188 - 454
(In Welsh: Dyfed) A kingdom in south Wales. Geoffrey of Monmouth states that it was ruled in Arthur's time by Stater. Ordinary history knows nothing of this ruler and tells us of a king named Agricola who ruled there in about AD 500, and of another ruler, Vortipor, who was an old man in AD 540. Before Agricola's time an Irish dynasty, the Ui Liath in, ruled there.
# 156 - 243 - 484
Visit to Britain of Demetrius; mentions island where 'Kronos' was imprisoned in sleep while Briareus kept watch over him.
# 562
According to Heywood, Merlin's maternal grandfather. The name seems to be a corruption of the place name Demetia from where Merlin's mother came.
# 156
# 454: The childhood name which Fionn took when he was tutored by Finneces.
# 562: When Demna grew up to be a lad, he was called 'Finn', or the Fair One, on account of the whiteness of his skin and his golden hair, and by this name he was always known thereafter. He had a partly Danaan ancestry. His mother, Murna of the White Neck, was grand-daughter of Nuada of the Silver Hand, who had wedded that Ethlinn, daughter of Balor the Fomorian, who bore the Sun-god Lugh to Kian. Cumhal, son of Trenmor was Finns father, and was slain by the Clan Morna.
# 454 - 562 - 583
In classical mythology, the being who was thought to have resolved primeval chaos into order. According to Conrad Celtis (1459-1508), Renaissance historian, he was the father of a nation in the Arctic northlands, the Germans. In Erasmo de Valvasone's LA CACCIA, Arthur entered the cave of Demogorgon on his route through a mountain to Morgan's palace.
# 156 - 238
In Anderson's Royal Genealogies, kings of Denmark in the 'Arthurian period', were Harald IV (AD 481-527) and Eschyllus (AD 527-43). Geoffrey says that Aschil, King of Denmark, supported Arthur in his last battle, but the MORTE ARTHURE says Mordred made the Danes his allies. Geoffrey Gaimar (a twelfth-century Welsh writer) says in Arthurian times, it was ruled by King Gunter.
# 156
A princess of Munster, Deoca, (the 'woman of the South'). See: CHILDREN OF LIR.
# 562
Deosil means Sunwise circles, the oldest ritual of all, and its representing the motion of the sun at an Otherworld threshold. At the proper time and under the proper circumstances, it is a very potent ritual to open the 'gate.'
# 383 p 84
# 454: Derfel Cadarn (the Strong). Very little is known about him, except that his legend calls him a warrior who distinguished himself at the Battle of Camlan. He was the founder and patron of Llanderfel in Gwynedd, where a wooden statue of him on a horse, holding a staff, was shown. During the Reformation this image was burned at Smithfield along with Katherine of Aragon's confessor, Friar John Forest, because there was a prophecy saying that the image would one day set a forest on fire. Derfel is remembered on 5 April.
# 156: A saint, founder of Llanderfel in Gwynedd. In Welsh tradition it was said he had taken part in, and survived, the Battle of Camlann.
# 156 - 216 - 454
Dermot MacKerval (Diarmuid mac Cearbhaill) was High King in Ireland about 600 AD. He arrest and tries Hugh Guairy, who was hidden in a church by his brother the bishop, for murder. Immediately the ecclesiastics of Ireland made common cause against the lay ruler who had dared to execute justice on a criminal under clerical protection. They assembled at Tara, and laid their solemn malediction upon him and the seat of his government.
# 562
(Dermot O'Dyna or Diarmuid) Follower of Finn mac Cumhal, lover of Grania, bred up with Angus at palace on Boyne; the typical lover of Irish legend; slain by wild Boar of Ben Bulben; friend of Finn's; described as a Gaelic Adonis; Donn, his father; His mother, who was unfaithful to Donn, bore another child to Roc, the steward of Angus. Donn, one day, when the steward's child ran between his knees to escape from some hounds that were fighting on the floor of the hall, gave him a squeeze with his two knees that killed him on the spot, and he then flung the body among the hounds on the floor. When the steward found his son dead, and discovered (with Finn's aid) the cause of it, he brought a Druid rod and smote the body with it, whereupon, in place of the dead child, there arose a huge boar, without ears or tail; and to it he spake: 'I charge you to bring Dermot O'Dyna to his death'; and the boar rushed out from the hall and roamed in the forests of Ben Bulben in Co. Sligo till the time when his destiny should be fulfilled.
But Dermot grew up into a splendid youth, beloved by all his comrades of the Fianna. He was called Dermot on the Love Spot, and here is a resume of how he got this appellation. 'With three comrades, he was out hunting and late at night they sought a resting-place. They soon found a hut, in which were an old man, a young girl, a wether sheep, and a cat. Here they asked for hospitality, and it was granted to them. But, as usual in these tales, it was a house of mystery. When they sat down to dinner the wether got up and mounted on the table. One after another the Fianna strove to throw it off, but it shook them down on the floor. At last Goll succeeded in flinging it off the table, but him too it vanquished in the end, and put them all under its feet. Then the old man bade the cat lead the wether back and fasten it up, and it did so easily. The four champions, overcome with shame, were for leaving the house at once; but the old man explained that they had suffered no discredit - the wether they had been fighting with was the World, and the cat was the power that would destroy the world itself, namely, Death. - At night the four heroes went to rest in a large chamber, and the young maid came to sleep in the same room; and it is said that her beauty made a light on the walls of the room like a candle. One after another the Fianna went over to her couch, but she repelled them all. 'I belonged to you once,' she said to each, 'and I never will again'. Last of all Dermot went. 'O Dermot', she said, 'you also, I belonged to once, and I never can again, for I am Youth; but come here and I will put a mark on you so that no woman can ever see you without loving you'. Then she touched his forehead, and left the Love Spot there; and that drew the love of women to him as long as he lived
# 334 - 562
The derricks of Devon are described by E. M. Wright in RUSTIC SPEECH AND FOLK-LORE as 'dwarfish fairies, of somewhat evil nature', but they may have a better reputation in Hampshire. In 1962 a visitor from Hampshire suggested to Ruth Tongue that a little green-dressed, good humoured fairy who directed a stranger lost on the Berkshire downs might be a derrick. The Devonshire derricks would be more likely to lead travellers astray.
# 100 - 752
Aoife's cruelty to her step-children at Derryvar'agh Lake, where she in CHILDREN OF LIR enchanted them into swans for three times three hundred years.
# 562
(dâr vôr'gli) Daughter of Ruad, king of the Isles; rescued from the Fomorians by CuChulain; married Lugaid of the Red Stripes.
# 166
Foster-father of Conary Môr.
# 562
The seal occurs in Celtic and Gaelic lore and fairy tale as an ancestor; the wolf founded an Irish tribe and the 'Son of a Bear' occurs frequently in Irish and Welsh names.
# 161
A King of Northumberland.
# 156
Until the nineteenth century many country folk actually believed that the Devil lived in the mountains of Mid Wales. He was sometimes known as Andreas or Y Fall and was always described as black or very dark, appearing sometimes in the shape of a man with horns and cloven hooves or even taking animal form. Often he was said to resemble a hegoat and in witch-lore he appeared as a very black male goat with fiery eyes. In some old stories of Wales he took the form of a raven, a black dog, a black cock, a horse or a black pig. In fact it was believed that he could assume any form but that of a white sheep. However, he could easily appear as a black sheep or lamb. Sometimes he appeared in the shape of a fish or as a ball of fire or a huge stone rolling downhill, or as a mysterious and terrifying presence without form. - To prevent the Prince of Darkness from entering their homes, people used to whitewash their doorsteps. This habit still continues in some parts of Wales although the original reason may have been long forgotten. At one time, whenever the Devil's name was mentioned in church, people would spit for several seconds in contempt. There are many strange superstitions connected with the Devil in Welsh folklore.
The dragonfly is supposed to be the Devil's messenger; the caterpillar is the Devil's cat; the iris is the Devil's posy; the wild clematis is the Devil's yarn or thread; the lycopodium (clubmoss) is the Devil's claw; the euphorbia (spurge) is the Devil's milk; the palmatum is his hand; the Scabiosa Succisa is his bile and the wild orchid his basket. - If it rains while the sun is shining they say that the Devil is beating his wife. But if thunder is heard while the moon is shining he is beating his mother. - Sometimes the Devil would assume the form of a blacksmith busy at the anvil or stoking the fire. He has been described as the maker of horseshoes, bolts, bars and ploughshares. He was supposed to frequent moorlands, marshes, lonely mountainsides, crossroads, forges, narrow passes and ravines. Nightmares, bad dreams and delirium due to fever or drink were said to be the Devil's means by which he sought to get possession of people's souls. At one time people would not bury their dead on the north side of a churchyard because they believed that area belonged to the Devil and he claimed all places that lay due north. It was also thought that on Judgement Day all buildings would fall to the north and then the Devil could take his share.
There are various lonely places in Wales where he was supposed to keep his apprentices. Often they numbered nine, seven or five. The conditions of their employment were that when they learned their trade, the last to finish and go away had to be caught by the Devil before he had a chance to escape. A story is told of three apprentices who were about to leave. One was ordered to remain and he pointed to his shadow and said, 'There is the last of all!' The Devil had to be satisfied with the shadow and the apprentice became a man 'without a shadow' for the rest of his life. We may also hear that the Devil was once shut up in a tower in Mid Wales. He was given permission to get out at the top, but only by mounting one step a day. There were 365 steps so the ascent took him a whole year. There are legendary claims of people who managed to outwit Satan or even on some occasions cause him actual 'bodily harm'. In Glamorgan, St Quinton is said to have lamed the Devil on the hillside above Llanblethian and put him in misery for three days. The marks called the Devil's Right Knee Cap and Left Foot are to be seen on the slope concerned to this day. A Cardiganshire story describes Satan as a good-looking stranger appearing at a village inn where he offered to play a round of cards. But when the name of Christ was mentioned the Devil vanished up the chimney like 'a ball of fire'. It was a North Wales blacksmith who is claimed to have enticed the Devil one day into his forge and there hammered his right foot upon the anvil after which he was 'lamed for ever'. Similarly, in Powys and Glamorgan, there are stories of village blacksmiths who threw a noose of iron over the Devil's head, which he was unable to break. He was then dragged to the anvil and his leg hammered until he was lame. The Devil used to appear frequently in the village of Llanfor in Clwydd in the form of a pig and sometimes as a gentle man in a threecornered hat. Two local wizards were successful in capturing him and he turned into a cock. They threw him into Llyn y Geulan Goch, a deep pool in the River Dee, and he was told to stay there until he had counted every grain of sand on the bottom. At Llanarth Church in Dyfed the Devil once tried to steal a bell. However, he was noisy and awoke the vicar who frightened him away with a bell, book and candle. The Evil One climbed to the top of the tower and jumped and you can still see a mark on a stone in the graveyard where he landed. Throughout Britain and particularly in Wales there are many strange natural features of the landscape that are associated through legend with the Devil. At Bosherton Mere, Gower, can be seen the Devil's Blowhole. This is a small aperture which funnels out into a cavern. The sea, driven in by the wind, is ejected through the upper hole in jets of foam and spray 40-50 feet high. The Devil's kitchen at the head of Cwm Idwal is so called because at times during storms there are weird noises and steaming, dripping fogs in the cleft. It was seriously believed at one time that the Devil lived in a cave somewhere in the depths of Wales. One old story claims that he used to live in a cave on Pen y Cefn Mountain in North Wales. One day he was exorcized by the local people who held a service at the cave entrance. During the service he fell into a deep murky pool and it is said that he has been black ever since!
# 49
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