Myths Of Great Britain.

[gordi]

Not So Much A Nice Beaver...


...Legend has it that in a small Welsh community, a unique scheme was hatched to get rid of a nasty-looking monster
that assisted in ruining crops and drowning livestock. This creature held the title 'Afanc' and lived in waters  inside
-now what is known as Snowdonia National Park of North-West Wales.

In Welsh, Afanc means 'Beaver' and although descriptions of the beast range from a crocodile, an ugly demon, Afanc's
standard brand is of what its name means, a giant Beaver...

Hi @BIAD,
The Afanc cropped up in a thread I participated in on the "other site" some years back!
Interestingly... the beast was likely originally associated with Global catastrophe rather than just local folklore.

From a post by ATS member beansidhe:

The afanc/kelpie then did not originally kill individual people who walked too near the water's edge - it wrought destruction on nations in the form of a flood. More hints at a comet/natural disaster in the early dark ages.

We reckoned that the ancient folk tales were used as a metaphors for the movement of the stars and other space-related objects. In this case, probably a comet from the constellation Scorpio/Scorpius. (*Since the Scorpion was unknown to western Europe, the Greek constellation of Scorpius actually became known as the Afanc or Beaver to the Ancient Celts!)
In Scottish Celtic mythology, the equivalent beastie was known as The Kelpie.

The warning about being drowned by the Afanc/Kelpie could have been a sort of coded message for those in the know to keep an eye out for the appearance or return of the cometary beast from the stars?

Great stuff!
G