Ceffyl dŵr
The ceffyl dŵr is a fierce water horse in Welsh mythology that often appears as a beautiful little horse to the weary or short-sighted traveler. When he climbs on the animal, exhausted, the stallion hovers in the air and throws him off at lightning speed, which usually damages the rider.
etymology
Ceffyl Dŵr literally translated from Welsh means water horse ( ceffyl - horse and dŵr - water). It is related to the other widespread water horses in Celtic mythology , cf. Scottish Gaelic each uisge , Irish Gaelic each uisce , anglicized Irish form aughisky , but not as vicious as this.
Description and behavior
The Ceffyl dŵr is generally described as a noble little horse that has no wings, but still has the ability to fly like the Greek Pégasos , who was sired as a “spring horse” by the sea god Poseidón (especially in the South Welsh imagination). The Ceffyl Dŵr has a grayish shimmering fur and is surrounded by mist; its tail is also made of water vapor. As a shapeshifter , it can also take other forms, e.g. B. as a squirrel or goat to scare people. If someone tries to jump on his back, it escapes into the air, where it dissolves as a mist, throwing its rider off. It is mostly seen under waterfalls or on the banks of mountain lakes where it grazes peacefully.
According to North Welsh ideas, the monster kills its victims from ambush by emerging from the water and strangling the unsuspecting people with its four legs. If it fails, the horse will cruelly trample its victims. Some people, realizing the animal's evil nature, tried to kill it. But no matter how many times it is slain, its body simply disappears, leaving behind a shapeless gelatinous mass . This more brutal idea is likely to go back to the Scottish each uisge , which has similarly cruel features.
Literary background
The South Welsh stories are more of a bright, friendly and playful animal that teases people or inflicts slight shapeshifting damage, while the North Welsh horse causes great suffering to people. It often has a dark appearance with wild, fiery eyes. It is reported that a man on the banks of the River Towy , which runs through Carmarthenshire , returned to his village on a horse with glowing eyes and fiery breath.
In North Wales, people claim that the ceffyl dŵr mixed with native horses, creating the short ponies or "merlyns". Other stories tell of the fact that the water horse haunts people at night as a goat, which injures people with its horns or jumps on the victims' shoulders as a frog or squirrel and causes bruises by hopping.
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard J. Bellinger: Lexicon of Mythology. Augsburg 1996, p. 377.
- ↑ Ceffyl Dwr ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at mythicalcreatureslist.com
- ^ Marie Trevelyan: Folk-Lore and Folk-Stories of Wales. Wakefield, Yorkshire, England 1906, recently published 1973 and 1999, pp. 63-65.
