The Welsh hero Lleu was cursed by his mother to never have a human wife, so the wizard Gwydion used flowers from the oak, broom, and meadowsweet to create a wife for Lleu called Blodeuwedd ("Flower-Faced"). However, Blodeuwedd fell in love with another man....
🎨 Jenny Dolfen
The Irish hero Cú Chulainn suffered from the ríastrad, a battle frenzy in which his body transformed, such as one eye getting sucked into his head while the other dangled down his cheek, his feet facing backwards, or the skin pulled back from his lips and cheeks.
🎨 Massimo Belardinelli
Image of the ríastrad (warp-spasm) from the British comic "Sláine" by Pat Mills (story) and Massimo Belardinelli (art). The comic was inspired by Cú Chulainn.
Though in Shakespeare, Cordelia dies before her father King Lear, in the original British legend she outlives him and becomes Britain's ruler. Cordelia is a warrior queen, leading armies. Sadly, she is overthrown by her two nephews, who resent being ruled by a woman.
The al-mi'raj from medieval Arabic literature resembles a yellow hare with a black horn. It's so fierce that most other animals flee from it. The inhabitants of an island in the Indian Ocean gave Alexander the Great an al-mi'raj to repay him for slaying a dragon.
In one Welsh legend, King Arthur discovered an altar floating in the ocean, and unsuccessfully tried to use it as a table. When Arthur realized the altar belonged to St. Carannog, he returned it in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a troublesome dragon.
Many of the prophecies of the British mystic Myrddin Wyllt (the inspiration for Merlin) are monologs told to his only friend - a wild piglet he fed and befriended while living in the wilderness. Geoffrey of Monmouth changed the piglet to a wolf when he wrote Myrddin's biography. #FairyTaleTuesday
In many stories, Domdaniel is a cavern at the bottom of the ocean where sorcerers and spirits meet. In T. H. White's "The Sword in the Stone," Merlin says his duel with Madam Mim will test if a magic degree from Domdaniel (Mim's alma mater) is superior to tutoring from Merlin's mentor Blaise. #FairyTaleTuesday
In Welsh legends, King Arthur had three shapeshifting wizard-warriors in his service: his chief counselor Menw, Eiddilig the Dwarf, and Tristan of Lyonesse. Only Tristan appears in the later Arthurian Romances, though as simply a knight with no magical powers.
🎨 Alan Lee #FairyTaleTuesday
The 13 Treasures of Britain from Welsh folklore include several food-related ones, such as the Hamper of Gwyddno Long-Shank (if food for 1 person is placed in it, it becomes food for 100 people) and the Cauldron of Dyrnwch the Giant (which will not cook food for a coward). #FolkloreSunday
"[My anger] grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree."
The Arthurian Romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is about how much someone will sacrifice for honour. Sir Gawain swore an oath to the Green Knight so that King Arthur wouldn't be called a coward, and then was willing to die rather than break his oath. #LegendaryWednesday#WyrdWednesday