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The Kelpie by, 1913Kelpie, or water kelpie, is a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting the and pools of Scotland. It is a Celtic legend, and other cultures seem to have adopted it as well. It has usually been described as appearing as a black horse like creature, but is able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpie retains its hooves when appearing as a human, leading to its association with the Christian idea of as alluded to by in his 1786 poem '.Almost every sizeable body of water in Scotland has an associated kelpie story, but the most extensively reported is that of. Parallels to the general and the have been observed. More widely, the of Central America and the Australian have been seen as counterparts. The origin of the belief in malevolent water horses has been proposed as originating in once made to appease gods associated with water, but narratives about the kelpie also served a practical purpose in keeping children away from dangerous stretches of water, and warning young women to be wary of handsome strangers.Kelpies have been portrayed in their various forms in art and literature, including recently as two 30-metre (98 ft) high steel sculptures in, completed in October 2013.
A kelpie is a shape-changing aquatic spirit of Scottish legend. Its name may derive from the Scottish Gaelic words ‘cailpeach’ or ‘colpach’, meaning heifer or colt. Kelpies are said to haunt rivers and streams, usually in the shape of a horse.
The Kelpie by, 1895Kelpies have the ability to themselves into non-equine forms, and can take on the outward appearance of human figures, in which guise they may betray themselves by the presence of water weeds in their hair. Gregor described a kelpie adopting the guise of a wizened old man continually muttering to himself while sitting on a bridge stitching a pair of trousers. Believing it to be a kelpie, a passing local struck it on the head, causing it to revert to its equine form and scamper back to its lair in a nearby pond. Other accounts describe the kelpie when appearing in human form as a 'rough, shaggy man who leaps behind a solitary rider, gripping and crushing him', or as tearing apart and devouring humans.A folk tale from tells of a lonely kelpie that transforms itself into a handsome young man to woo a pretty young girl it was determined to take for its wife. But the girl recognises the young man as a kelpie and removes his silver necklace (his bridle) while he sleeps. The kelpie immediately reverts to its equine form, and the girl takes it home to her father's farm, where it is put to work for a year.
At the end of that time the girl rides the kelpie to consult a wise man, who tells her to return the silver necklace. The wise man then asks the kelpie, once again transformed into the handsome young man the girl had first met, whether if given the choice it would choose to be a kelpie or a mortal.
The kelpie in turn asks the girl whether, if he were a man, she would agree to be his wife. She confirms that she would, after which the kelpie chooses to become a mortal man, and the pair are married.Traditionally, kelpies in their human form are male.
One of the few stories describing the creature in female form is set at Conon House in. It tells of a 'tall woman dressed in green', with a 'withered, meagre countenance, ever distorted by a malignant scowl', who overpowered and drowned a man and a boy after she jumped out of a stream.The arrival of in Scotland in the 6th century resulted in some folk stories and beliefs being recorded by scribes, usually Christian monks, instead of being perpetuated. Some accounts state that the kelpie retains its hooves even in human form, leading to its association with the Christian notion of, just as with the god. Refers to such a Satanic association in his ' (1786).
When thowes dissolve the snawy hoordAn' float the jinglin icy boordThen, water-kelpies haunt the foordBy your directionAn' nighted trav'llers are allur'dTo their destruction.Capture and killing When a kelpie appeared in its equine persona without any, it could be captured using a halter stamped with the sign of a, and its strength could then be harnessed in tasks such as the transportation of heavy mill stones. One folk tale describes how the Laird of Morphie captured a kelpie and used it to carry stones to build his castle. Once the work was complete, the laird released the kelpie, which was evidently unhappy about its treatment. The curse it issued before leaving – 'Sair back and sair banes/ Drivin' the Laird o' Morphies's stanes,/ The Laird o' Morphie'll never thrive/ As lang's the kelpy is alive' – was popularly believed to have resulted in the extinction of the laird's family. Some kelpies were said to be equipped with a bridle and sometimes a saddle, and appeared invitingly ready to ride, but if mounted they would run off and drown their riders. If the kelpie was already wearing a bridle, might be achieved by removing it.
A bridle taken from a kelpie was endowed with magical properties, and if brandished towards someone, was able to transform that person into a horse or pony.Just as with cinematic, a kelpie can be killed by being shot with a silver bullet, after which it is seen to consist of nothing more than 'turf and a soft mass like jelly-fish' according to an account published by Spence. When a blacksmith's family were being frightened by the repeated appearances of a water kelpie at their summer cottage, the blacksmith managed to render it into a 'heap of starch, or something like it' by penetrating the spirit's flanks with two sharp iron spears that had been heated in a fire. Loch Ness. Main article:Almost every sizeable Scottish body of water has a kelpie story associated with it, but the most widely reported is the kelpie of.
Several stories of mythical spirits and monsters are attached to the loch's vicinity, dating back to 6th-century reports of Saint defeating a monster on the banks of the. The early 19th-century kelpie that haunted the woods and shores of Loch Ness was tacked up with its own saddle and bridle. A fable attached to the notoriously nasty creature has the Highlander James MacGrigor taking it by surprise and cutting off its bridle, the source of its power and life, without which it would die within twenty-four hours. As the kelpie had the power of speech, it attempted unsuccessfully to bargain with MacGrigor for the return of its bridle. After following MacGrigor to his home, the kelpie asserted that MacGrigor would be unable to enter his house while in possession of the bridle, because of the presence of a cross above the entrance door. But MacGrigor outwitted the creature by tossing the bridle through a window, so the kelpie accepted its fate and left, cursing and swearing.
The myth is perpetuated with further tales of the bridle as it is passed down through the family. Referred to as 'Willox's Ball and Bridle', it had magical powers of healing; a spell was made by placing the items in water while chanting 'In the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Ghost'; the water could then be used as a cure.A popular and more recent explanation for the Loch Ness monster among believers is that it belongs to a line of long-surviving, but the kelpie myth still survives in children's books such as 's The Kelpie's Pearls (1966) and 's The Water Horse (1990).Origins Folklorist Gary R. Varner has suggested that the origin of the belief in water horses that preyed on and devoured humans may be a reflection of the human sacrifices once made to appease the gods of water. The association with horses may have its roots in performed in ancient. Stories of malevolent water spirits served the practical purpose of keeping children away from perilous areas of water, and of warning adolescent women to be wary of attractive young strangers. The stories were also used to enforce moral standards, as they implied that the creatures took retribution for bad behaviour carried out on Sundays.
The intervention of demons and spirits was possibly a way to rationalise the drowning of children and adults who had accidentally fallen into deep, fast flowing or turbulent water.Historian and Charles Milton Smith has hypothesised that the kelpie myth might originate with the that can form over the surface of Scottish lochs, giving the impression of a living form as they move across the water. Sir Walter Scott alludes to a similar explanation in his epic poem (1810), which contains the lines. Pictish beast featured in a line drawing of thedating from the 6th to 9th centuries featuring what has been dubbed the may be the earliest representations of a kelpie or kelpie-like creature.Victorian artist sketched the kelpie in 1895 as a melancholy dark-haired maiden balanced on a rock, a common depiction for artists of the period. Other depictions show kelpies as poolside maidens, as in 's 1913 oil on canvas.
Folklorist Nicola Bown has suggested that painters such as Millie Dow and Draper deliberately ignored earlier accounts of the kelpie and reinvented it by altering its sex and nature.Two 30-metre (98 ft) high steel sculptures in on the, named, borrow the name of the mythical creature to associate with the strength and endurance of the horse; designed by sculptor, they were built as monuments to Scotland's horse-powered industrial heritage. Construction was completed in October 2013 and the sculptures were opened for public access from April 2014. See also.References Wikimedia Commons has media related to.Citations., Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.), Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 4 May 2014., p. 72., A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700) (online ed.), retrieved 6 July 2014.
Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 30 May 2014. ^, p. 364.
^, pp. ix, xi, xv., p. 215. (4 March 1933), 'Mythical Beasts: in Scottish Folklore',. Briggs, Katharine, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, quoted in, pp. 177–178. ^ Scott, Walter (1884) 1810, Lippincott, p. 277 (Note V to st.
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89), River Demon, or River Horse. Is the Kelpy of the Lowlands. Anonymous (1887), Celtic Magazine, Mackenzie, XII, archived from on 28 February 2007. Black, George F. (1893), 'Scottish Charms and Amulets', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 27. (1881), Strahan, XL.
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