There is no more famous pirate in East Asia than the woman known in the West as Ching Shih, her true historical name being Zheng Yi Sao, Pirate Queen of the South China Seas. Likely a prostitute who married a well-known pirate, she soon proved a capable commander and soon organized a confederacy of pirates, helping one another against the Qing government and other foes. Taking over for her husband, she proved an even more capable pirate and many flocked to her, women especially, for her egalitarian attitude and redistribution of wealth from the aristocratic Qing Chinese government. Even aided by Portuguese ships, the Chinese could not capture her and could not stop her fleet. At her height, she sailed a fleet of 400 ships with 40 to 60 thousand sailors. When the end came and she surrendered, Zheng Yi Sao could not be killed by the Chinese due to her power and influence, and instead a retirement was negotiated, one that was quite favorable to her and allowed her an easy life: for a pirate career spanning 10 years from 1801 to 1810, that's quite something. She retied to Guangdong, running an infamous gambling house and dying at the comfortable and respectable age of 66 in 1844: hail the Pirate Queen of China! #FairytaleTuesday
„Probably because fine weather was so important during harvest time, the #Cailleach was seen as a weather spirit, sometimes called the old gloomy woman or envisioned as a crane with sticks in her beak which forecast storms.“
Source: P. Monaghan `Encyclopedia of #Celtic#Mythology and #folklore
RT @GodysseyPodcast
The Cailleach is the embodiment of winter itself, an old woman and witch who flies like a storm over Ireland and Scotland and wields a powerful hammer that can break trees during a cold snap. A trickster and almost certainly a goddess, she can bless too. #FairyTaleTuesday
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: High King Art mac Cuinn had a one night stand with Achtan, daughter of a Druid/Smith named Olc Acha. One night, however, as Achtan slept, exhausted from her day’s travelling, her infant, #Cormac mac Airt, was stolen by a she-wolf and raised alongside her cubs.
Source: Ali Isaac https://twitter.com/DaraSands/status/1325749794388709376
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree (Craobh-Oir agus Craobh-Airgid): a Gaelic tale from Scotland. A king had a wife, Silver-Tree, and a daughter, Gold-Tree. One day they walked by a pond, and Silver-Tree asked a trout if she were the most beautiful queen in the world. #FairyTaleTuesday
The leannán sídhe Is a fairy from Irish folklore. The name means “The Fairy Lover” She is an etheric beauty that takes a lover and will eventually drain their life force and sanity in exchange for creative Inspiration. So they live a short life but an inspired one.
#Fergus Mac Roich was obliged to fight to the death against his own foster son #CúChulainn so that Queen #Medb's army could invade #Ulster. To save face and the life of a hero, they agreed that this time the younger CúChulainn would give way, but next time Fergus would. And so it came to pass. #nonviolence
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: The Abbey Lubber haunted the wine cellar of any British abbey where lazy monks were overfond of drink. The best known was a spectral horse who dressed in a monkish robe and lived in a monastery under the name of Friar Rush. The wealthy and dissolute prior attempted to chastise the alleged friar for behavior more alcoholic than was welcome in that liberal establishment, but the Abbey Lubber assumed his real form and vanished, leaving the monks both frightened and chastened.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore https://twitter.com/artmonogatari/status/1561341989488058372?t=kNiiBcEjFC9H1RoeLD3waQ&s=09
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: According to ‘The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’ the poet dreamed the future king would arrive in #Tara naked and surrounded by birds. Young #Conaire Mór was out hunting birds, when the leader of the flock suddenly threw off his feathers and revealed himself as the King of Birds, and Conaire’s true father. He advised Conaire of the details of the new prophecy, whereupon the young man immediately removed his clothes and set off for Tara accompanied by the Bird King and his flock. Thus the prophecy was fulfilled.
Source: Ali Isaac „The Aisling | Not so Sweet Dreams in Irish Mythology“
#FairyTaleTuesday In Mary E. Braddon's 'My Wife's Promise' (1868), an explorer on a rescue mission in the arctic sees the ghost of his wife. Before leaving home, she made a promise to him which he thought was impossible to keep, and is heartbroken to find she kept her word.
Though werewolves are usually ravening monsters in European fairy tales, werebears are more sympathetic. They are often people cursed with bear-form who wander the wilderness sad and alone until someone can break the curse and give them back their humanity.
🎨 Anton Lomaev #FairyTaleTuesday#OfDarkandMacabre
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: High King Art mac Cuinn had a one night stand with Achtan, daughter of a druid/smith named Olc Acha. One night, however, as Achtan slept, exhausted from her day’s travelling, her infant, #Cormac mac Airt, was stolen by a she-wolf and raised alongside her cubs.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack https://twitter.com/DaraSands/status/1325749794388709376
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: „Once, the cat was much admired for its independence, stealth and hunting prowess. In medieval times, this love of cats, particularly black cats, was considered a sign of witchcraft, and the cats were burned alive, along with the women who owned them, or were thought to own them.“
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#FairyTaleTuesday: For our #Celtic ancestors, „winter was harsh and bleak, a time of hardship, and a struggle for survival. The return of summer’s warmth and plenty was not, for them, guaranteed...
The Winter Solstice was the turning point upon which their fortunes hinged. Light triumphed over darkness as the days lengthened and the nights grew shorter. The sun was growing stronger in the sky. It was a sign, a promise of better times to come. And that was something worth celebrating.“
Credit @aliisaac_
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RT @nikhewitt
Grianstad an gheimhridh sona daoibh 😉
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: The Dagda had an enchanted harp, in which the music was spell-bound, and he alone could call it forth. When he played, summer would break in bud and blossom all over the land; or winter with its snows and frosts would come; or sleep or laughter or tears would fall on all who heard the music.
Source: Heroes of the Dawn by Violet Russel
In his medieval collection of Norse myths, Snorri Sturluson mentions "dark elves," but it's unclear if he means dwarves or a totally different subterranean creature. As no earlier Norse source mentions dark elves, some people think Sturluson invented the term.
🎨 Lorenz Frølich #FairyTaleTuesday#folklore#mythology#Norse#Viking#elf#dwarf
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: „A buggane was a huge ogre-like creature native to the Isle of Man. A shapeshifter, the buggane is generally described as a malevolent being that can appear as a large black calf or human with ears or hooves of a horse. Its natural form is described as "covered with a mane of coarse, black hair; it had eyes like torches, and glittering sharp tusks". Another tale describes it as a huge man with bull's horns, glowing eyes and large teeth. As magical creatures, bugganes were unable to cross water or stand on hallowed ground.“
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggane
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RT @Katinesss
The Buggane, in #Manx folklore, is the ultimate baddie: a supernatural ogre-like creature, with long black hair, cloven hooves, claws, tusks, and a blood-red mouth that decapitates its prey. Sometimes the fairies would hire a Buggane to punish a human who displeased them. 3/
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: One night, a group of merfolk shed their seal skins to play on the shore. A Shetlander found a skin and a beautiful mermaid lamenting its loss. He refused to return it, offering marriage instead. They lived together for years and had children. One day, a child found the hidden skin. The mermaid bid her children goodbye, returned to the sea, and left the human world forever. She confessed to her second husband, who stood miserably on the shore: “I always loved my first husband best.”
Source: The Mermaid Wife - Folklore Scotland