THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES: An A-Z of Fairies, Pixies, and other Fantastical Creatures. Lucy Cooper
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fossilized bones found by anthropologists and shown to Aborigine elders in the nineteenth century were instantly identified by them as bunyip bones, and drawings and cave paintings exist depicting the many fantastical embodiments of the bunyip.
Bushyasta
A daeva (demon) in Zoroastrian texts, a spirit of indolence and lethargy, who attempts to thwart the good energy of mortals by exhorting them to sleep away their lives.
Buttery Spirits
The fattest fairies, found in inns and taverns where the landlord is deceiving his customers by using inferior meat and watered-down beer. The only food the insatiable buttery spirits devour is either stolen or dishonestly presented as fine fare; in this way the portly spirits inadvertently prevent the landlord from profiting from his duplicity.
Bwbach
See Bwbachod.
Bwbachod
Also known as the bwca or bwbach, the bwbachod is a Welsh household spirit that belongs to the same family as the brownie.
The bwbachod rewards tidiness. To enlist the help of one, traditionally Welsh maids would sweep the kitchen, set a good fire last thing at night, leave the churn filled with cream on the whitened hearth, and leave a basin of fresh cream on the hob. In the morning, if she was in luck, she would find that the bwbachod had emptied the basin of cream and plied the churn-dasher so well that she had only to give a thump or two to bring out the butter in a great lump.
Bwbachod have a dislike of teetotallers and like to harass them. In British Goblins (1880), Wirt Sikes relates the story of a bwbachod who took an especial dislike to a preacher who was much fonder of his prayers than of good ale. Being in favor of people who sat around the hearth with a drink and a pipe, the bwbachod took to pestering the preacher, knocking the stool from beneath his elbows when he was praying, jangling the fire irons, or frightening him by grinning in at the window. He finally succeeded in frightening the preacher away by appearing as his double, which was considered to be an omen of death. The preacher mounted his horse the next day and rode away, looking back over his shoulder at the bwbachod, who was grinning from ear to ear.
Bwca
(Pronounced booka.) An industrious Welsh brownie, working at night on household tasks such as spinning, washing, and ironing in return for bread and milk. He is happy to work without being seen, or his name being known, but if he is spied on he will immediately depart, never to return.
See also Bwbachod.
Cabyll Ushtey
A Manx water horse said to frequent the banks of lakes after dark. There is some debate as to whether it is as dangerous as its Scottish counterpart, the greedy each uisge, but it is believed to seize cattle and occasionally steal children.
A pale gray water colt was reportedly sighted at Ballure Green in the Isle of Man in 1859.
It is said Glen Meay, a small village on the west coast of the Isle of Man, is haunted by a man who rode a cabyll ushtey and was drowned at sea. His ghost is now said to roam the wooded glen beneath the waterfall.
Some say the cabyll ushtey is one guise of the shapeshifting glastyn.
See also Aughisky.
Caillagh ny Groamagh
Manx weather spirit. Caillagh ny groamagh means “old woman of gloominess.” On St. Bride’s Day, February 1st, the Manx Caillagh ny Groamagh appears as a giant bird carrying sticks in her beak. If it’s dry, she comes out to collect sticks to keep her warm through the summer. If it’s wet, she stays in and in it’s in her interest to make the summer warm and dry. Therefore, a dry St. Bride’s Day portends a wet summer to come, while a wet St. Bride’s Day is a sign of a fine summer ahead.
See also Cailleach Bera, Cailleach Bheur, Jimmy Squarefoot.
Cailleach Beara
See Cailleach Bera.
Cailleach Bera
(Pronounced kill-ogh vayra.) (Also Cailleach Beara.) Irish hag, similar to the Cailleach Bheur of Scotland. She lived in the mountains and carried stones in her apron for building. When her apron string broke, the stones fell out, creating rocky peaks and crags.
The Hag’s Chair and the megalithic tomb Slieve na Calliagh are situated on top of Hag’s Mountain, Sliabh na Caillí, at Loughcrew in County Meath.
See also Caillagh ny Groamagh.
Cailleach Bheur
(Pronounced cal’yach vare.) Blue Hag, a weather spirit of the Scottish Highlands. The Blue Hag is the personification of winter. She is the daughter of Grianan, the winter sun. In the old Celtic calendar there were two suns. The “big sun” shines from Beltane (May Day) to Samhain (Halloween). The “little sun” shines from Samhain to Beltane. The Cailleach Bheur is reborn each Samhain, when she smites the earth with her staff to fight off spring. When Beltane comes, she throws her staff under a holly tree or gorse bush and turns into a stone.
She is the guardian spirit of deer, which she herds, milks, and protects from hunters. She is a friend to wild cattle, swine, and wolves, and sometimes assumes the shape of a wild boar. She is also a guardian of wells and streams.
One story concerning the creation of Loch Awe in Scotland, recounts how, tired after a long day herding her deer, Cailleach Bheur fell asleep while watching over a well. The well overflowed and water poured down the mountains and flooded the valley below, forming first a river and then the loch.
Cait Sith
(Pronounced cait shee.) Fairy cat of the Scottish Highlands. Believed by some to be a witch transformed into a cat rather than a fairy, the cait sith is described in J. G. Campbell’s Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (1900) as being black with a white spot on its breast, the size of a dog. When angry, it arches its back and bristles its fur.
After a death, Scottish Highlanders would keep watch over the body to prevent the cait sith from coming near it. They believed that the fairy cat could steal the soul from a corpse