Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain

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Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham (2001). Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Wordsworth Editions Ltd. p.132. ISBN 1-84022-310-3. Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Stephen (2000). A dictionary of English folklore. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.79. ISBN 0-19-210019-X. LCCN 2001266642. Paynter, William H.; Semmens, Jason (2008). The Cornish Witch-finder: William Henry Paynter and the Witchery, Ghosts, Charms and Folklore of Cornwall. ISBN 0-902660-39-X. Beowulf is an anonymous Old English historical epic of 3182 lines which describes the adventures of its titular character, prince Beowulf of Geats. The story goes that Beowulf slays Grendel, a monster who has tormented the hall of Hrothgar King of the Danes for twelve years. Grendel's mother seeks to gain revenge and Beowulf slays her also, after which Beowulf becomes king of the Danes himself. After 50 years, Beowulf's people are tormented by a dragon and Beowulf dies while slaying her. [38] Original speculation was that Beowulf was a Scandinavian epic translated to English, theorised due to the story's Scandinavian settings. However, Beowulf was cemented as an Old English epic through the study that heroes of folklore are not ordinarily natives of the country they save. [39] There was a belief that those born at the chime hours could see ghosts. The time differed according to region, usually based around the times of monk's prayer which were sometimes marked by a chime. [28]

Forbes, Bruce David (2007). "First There Was Winter". Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. pp.1–14. ISBN 978-0-520-93372-9. a b c d e Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Steve (2003). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-172664-4. Briggs, K. M. "Possible Mythological Motifs in English Folktales". Folklore 83, no. 4 (1972): 265–71. Retrieved June 18, 2020. JSTOR 1259424.

6. The Beast of Bodmin Moor

Standing stones are man-made stone structures made to stand up. Some small standing stones can also be arranged in groups to form miniliths. [42] Similar to these geological artefacts are hill figures. These are figures drawn into the countryside by digging into the ground and sometimes filling it in with a mineral of a contrasting colour. Examples are the Cerne Abbas Giant, the Uffington White Horse, and the Long Man of Wilmington and are the focus for folktales and beliefs. [43] Monroe, Alexei (15 January 2019). "The Wild Hunt: Nationalistic Anarchism and Neofeudalism Unleashed". Third Text. 32: 620–628. doi: 10.1080/09528822.2018.1555302. S2CID 150174959– via Taylor & Francis Online.

Ogres are usually tall, strong, violent, greedy, and remarkably dull monsters and they originate from French culture. In folktales they are likely to be defeated by being outsmarted. [29] A Wyvern is a smaller relative of dragons with two legs rather than four. It also has smaller wings and cannot breathe fire. [22]After a person died, a poor person was hired to take on their sins by eating before or after the funeral over their body- a sin-eater. The sin-eater would hence ensure that the recently deceased would be taken to heaven. [52] Items [ edit ] We were haunted children of a haunted isle. The more esoteric wing of hippiedom, intent on finding an alternative to the wipe-clean modernism of the sixties, discovered that their great-grandparents had tried exactly the same thing. A dwarf is a human-shaped entity that dwells in mountains and in the earth, and is associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting. The term had only started to be used in the 19th century as a translation for the German, French, and Scandinavian words which describe dwarves. [28]