#fairytypes

[chrisjalejo]

Do you want a Dusteon on your team? I know I would <3 

Support Project: EEVEE on my patreon :DDDD https://www.patreon.com/luxjhay

[pokemaniacal]

Morelull and Shiinotic

Today we come to the newest iteration of mushroom Pokémon: the tall, slim-stalked, luminous Morelull and Shiinotic.  Morelull and Shiinotic have an uphill battle to make themselves unique and interesting, as the fourth set mushroom Pokémon after Paras and Parasect (interesting by reason of soulless parasitism), Shroomish and Breloom (interesting by reason of kick-boxing dinosaurs), and Foonguss and Amoonguss (interesting by reason of… um… stealing Voltorb’s schtick in a way that somehow makes even less sense).  These latest versions… well, I mean, they give it a go.

To their credit, Game Freak are aware that they’ve put Morelull and Shiinotic in a difficult position, forced to live up to the legacy of multiple generations of other mushroom Pokémon, and have tried to turn the overlap between their designs into an in-universe rivalry.  Sun and Moon set up the new Pokémon as counterparts to Paras and Parasect in a day-night pairing, with Morelull being found in the wild only at night and Paras only during the day (a similar pairing exists between Araquanid and Ariados), and references in the Pokédex to territorial disputes between the two species that can leave great swathes of forest covered in spores.  We’re also told, interestingly, that Paras and Parasect are somehow weaker in the Alolan environment (the Pokédex doesn’t know why, exactly, but suggests both a lack of water and a lack of nutrients); their mushrooms grow poorly and their spores are less potent.  Perhaps we’re supposed to infer that Paras would outcompete Morelull in any other part of the world, but there’s something about the Alolan climate that they are poorly adapted to, making it impossible for them to completely overtake the native mushroom Pokémon.  On the other hand, Paras and Parasect’s stunted development in Alola could be Morelull’s doing.  We learn from the Sun and Moon website that Morelull, like Oddish, are known for behaving like normal stationary plants during the day and uprooting themselves at night to wander around on their root-feet, but unlike Oddish, Morelull are given a specific motive for this behaviour: if they stay in one place for too long, they drain the soil of nutrients and cause plants around them to wither and die (the Pokédex says that they attach to tree roots and drain them directly – it could be they do both, deriving different nutrients from each).  Since we know that Paras compete for territory with Morelull, it could be that Morelull systematically exhaust the plants whose roots are fed on by Paras and Parasect, keeping them from becoming successful.  That would also neatly explain why the two are rivals, even though they have different feeding behaviours and are active at different times of the day.

Morelull and Shiinotic’s most striking feature is the eerie, hypnotic glow of their spores.  Glowing mushrooms are a staple of dungeon-delving fantasy, but there are several species in the real world as well, all of which emit light through the action of a family of specialised enzymes called luciferases (a reference not to the Devil, but to the original meaning of his Latin name – “lightbringer”).  In European folklore the blue-green glow of these fungi is known as foxfire (probably from the French faux, false, rather than any reference to actual foxes) or fairy fire, and is part of the association between mushrooms and the fairy creatures of the world of magic.  Like fae beings, Shiinotic is known for leading mortals astray, and Alolan folklore holds that following her glowing lights at night, like the lights of the ethereal will’o’wisp, will lead you to become lost in the forest, never to return.  Similarly, so-called fairy rings – circular formations of mushrooms, especially the Scotch bonnet Marasmius oreades – are held to be traps set by fae creatures to curse or imprison unwary mortals who step inside their boundaries.  This is what provides the justification for Shiinotic’s Fairy-type powers, and I have to say, it’s refreshing to have more Fairy Pokémon whose nature is informed by the sinister side of fairy lore.  The other aspect of what makes Morelull and Shiinotic dangerous is simply what they are, because mushrooms and other fungi, unlike plants, cannot photosynthesise to acquire energy from the light of the sun, and therefore have to extract nutrients from dead and decaying things.  We’ve already seen that Morelull drain and exhaust the plants and soil around them, a little like real mushrooms, but Shiinotic takes it a step further and can supernaturally drain life force with her very touch – or, if necessary, transfer excess life force to another living Shiinotic.  It’s not clear how this is supposed to be different from the variety of draining abilities possessed by other Grass Pokémon – few of them make it an important point of their design, but most Grass-types can learn Leech Seed, Giga Drain or both.  It could have something to do with Game Freak’s desire to make the Fairy type the one that’s most closely associated with the Pokémon world’s concept of life force – whether for benign or sinister ends.  Of course, in spite of all this, tourists in Alola love to visit the enchantingly luminous forests where Morelull and Shiinotic live at night, because tourists are entitled morons.

Finally, I would like to share with you some of the bizarre trivia I inevitably stumble across in my day-to-day duties as an ostensibly sane Pokémon blogger.  During the course of what I generously like to call “research” for writing these things, I have adopted the practice of just periodically Googling “Hawai’i + x” (x being mongoose, or stag beetle, or woodpecker, or whatever the Pokémon I’m writing about seems to be based on), just in case something interesting pops up within the first page or so.  Aside from learning that there is apparently a thriving trade in psychedelic mushrooms on the Hawaiian islands (and, well – pretty glowing lights, altered states of mind, memory loss… Shiinotic knows something we don’t; that’s all I’m saying), the most striking thing I found on the first page of Google hits was a surprising number of articles about a rare Hawaiian mushroom whose scent is rumoured to cause spontaneous female orgasms.  Because, y’know, of course.  Before you get too excited and dash off to Hawai’i to start collecting these things, I’m going to let you down and spoil the story by saying that the whole idea is almost certainly pseudoscientific dreck, but this account of one woman’s quest to discover the truth about the elusive mushroom is a well-written and genuinely fascinating read, as well as a reassuring reminder that my own predilection for random obscure biological trivia is downright normal compared to the lengths some responsible adult humans will go to in search of weird mushroom facts.

If you feel like putting Shiinotic on your team, what you’ll be getting is fundamentally a sort of support-oriented tank with a nasty primary attack, potent self-healing capabilities, and strong disruptive techniques, but very poor speed and little flexibility.  Grass/Fairy leaves Shiinotic with a lot of weaknesses (including a double weakness to Poison) and a lot of resistances, with some important types in both categories, as well as immunity to Dragon attacks.  It also gets her access to Moonblast, which is one of the best moves in the game to have as your only attack, since nothing is immune to it and relatively little resists it.  You can also take a Grass attack for diversity, probably Giga Drain for the incidental healing, but there really aren’t that many Pokémon who take a lot more damage from Giga Drain than Moonblast (since almost everything that resists Fairy also resists Grass).  And that’s… well, that’s about it for Shiinotic’s offensive movepool.  Sludge Bomb is there if you really hate other Grass-types or Fairy-types.  Signal Beam is too weak to bother with most of the time, but will be your best option against a small selection of dual-type Steel Pokémon.  The meat of Shiinotic’s movepool is in her support options, and to begin with, we have to talk about her signature move, since it’s one of her stronger selling points.

Shiinotic’s signature move is Strength Sap.  Strength Sap is a draining move, but unlike, say, Giga Drain, it doesn’t drain HP – it drains attack, healing the user for an amount equal to the target’s attack stat, while reducing the target’s attack stat.  The disadvantage to Strength Sap, of course, is that it does no damage.  Its healing will also become less effective every time you use it, because the target’s attack has already been lowered (although, if they’re doing less damage to you as a result, you may not care).  The advantage is that, at least on the first use of the move, you’re likely to heal for substantially more than you would from Giga Drain – probably more than half of your own health – and the healing will not be affected by resistance to Grass attacks.  Unless an attack can outright one-shot Shiinotic, the healing she gets from Strength Sap will scale with the power of anything attacking her physically, allowing her to mitigate an awful lot of damage while simultaneously weakening the aggressor, potentially forcing them to either change tack or switch out.  If you try to string it out too long, you’ll run into problems because Strength Sap will stop healing you once the target’s attack bottoms out at -6 levels, and you’ll eventually suffer a critical hit (which will ignore the attack reductions).  However, it should at least give you plenty of time to cause havoc with your other moves, like Spore.  Spore itself is as fantastic as ever – as with the other mushroom Pokémon, a 100% accurate sleep-inducing move is so powerful that there’s really no good reason to use Shiinotic without it.  In fact, having Spore is almost, but not quite, a good reason to use Dream Eater.

Aside from Strength Sap and Spore, Shiinotic has the usual gamut of support moves we expect from a Grass-type.  Leech Seed is good for gradual healing and will encourage your opponents to switch out.  Paralysis isn’t essential on Shiinotic, because Spore is usually better, but if you want it, she actually gets Thunder Wave, which is more accurate than the Stun Spore available to most Grass-types.  Shiinotic can learn other healing moves, most easily Moonlight, but unlike most support Pokémon she sort of doesn’t need them; most of the time, Strength Sap will be quite enough.  Ingrain is adorable and just bad.  If you want Shiinotic to do something to support the team, Light Screen is on her list, and complements Strength Sap by slowing down special attackers.  Finally, we should probably talk about Spotlight, since only four other Pokémon (Lanturn, Clefable, Spinda and Starmie) get it.  It works a little like Follow Me, but instead of forcing opponents to target the user, Spotlight draws attacks towards a partner.  This is inherently less useful, because Follow Me sacrifices your turn to buy time for your (presumably more frail) partner, while Spotlight sacrifices your turn to buy time for… yourself?  It’s potentially useful with a partner who does something when attacked, like Aegislash with King’s Shield, but that’s about it.  You can also use Spotlight to focus fire on an opponent, but it can’t redirect enemy attacks towards their own allies, only your own attacks… which you already choose targets for anyway.  I’m pretty sure you can’t even use Spotlight to override Follow Me, because it has a higher speed priority.  So… what’s the move even for?  Answer: Battle Royals.  In a free-for-all against three opponents, using Spotlight will force two of them to attack the third.  This isn’t game-winning, because the Battle Royal is scored according to how many Pokémon you, personally, knock out, but you can still manipulate your opponents in pretty powerful ways.

You might have noticed that Shiinotic’s ability choices haven’t come up yet, and that’s because they’re fairly grim.  Illuminate increases the frequency of random encounters, but has no-in battle effect, so we can write that off immediately.  Her hidden ability, Rain Dish, provides a little bit of extra healing every turn during rain.  I’m not sure why you would use Shiinotic on a rain team, when there are so many Water-type tanks who stand to gain so much more from weather control, but you could.  That leaves Effect Spore, which is one of those rubbishy little abilities that occasionally does something nice for you but is too unreliable to use meaningfully.  Every time Shiinotic is hit by an attack that makes direct bodily contact, there is a 30% chance that her attacker will be struck by paralysis, poison, or sleep – chosen at random.  Not all Pokémon will care about all three of those conditions, and they may actually interfere with Spore, one of Shiinotic’s strongest features, but that’s what we’ve got.

What I like best about Shiinotic from a mechanics perspective is probably that Strength Sap gives her a very unique style of fighting, revolving around her ability to slowly neutralise physical attackers while providing herself with ludicrous amounts of healing.  She’s severely held back, unfortunately, by painfully low speed, merely average defensive stats, and a small movepool even for a Grass-type, and sort of ends up comparing unfavourably to similar Grass-type support tanks… which makes it kind of a shame that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon allow you to breed Strength Sap onto Jumpluff and Vileplume, who would arguably make better use of it… like, come on, Game Freak, at least give her one full generation of being special.  Aesthetically there is arguably a bit of “just a mushroom” about her, but her eerie, kind of alien appearance feels to me like it knows what it’s trying to be much better than Amoonguss does, I like that she works with the folkloric associations and unusual properties of real mushrooms, and Morelull hits a nice sweet spot between cute and utterly bizarre.  It’s kind of a wash for me, but there is a lot to like here (even aside from my heavy pro-Grass-type bias).

[aspendrawaw]

It's another mimikyu! I love how cute and creepy they are. #sketch #ipadart #procreateart #procreateartist #procreateapp #mimikyu #halloweeniscoming #pokemon #pokemonmimikyu #pokemonmimikyudrawing #mimikyupokemon #mimikyupokemonsun #mimikyupokemonmoon #mimikyupokemonsunandmoon #artofallisonwaldronwip #artofallisonwaldron #artistsofinstagram #wip #ghosttype #fairytype #ghosttypes #ghosttypepokemon #fairytypes #fairytypepokemon

[pokemaniacal]

Cutiefly and Ribombee

Today’s Pokémon are… not bees.  We think.

As their species designation – the Bee Fly Pokémon – attests, Cutiefly and Ribombee are based (in Ribombee’s case, somewhat loosely and with the addition of fairy-like traits) on bee flies.  Bee flies, as their remarkably inventive name suggests, are a family of insects within the fly order, Diptera, that pollinate flowers and look like bees, though they are usually smaller.  They are related to predatory robber flies, and despite their fuzzy appearance, most bee flies are parasites that will lay their eggs on the larvae of other insects, typically beetles or solitary bees, resulting in the slow and gruesome death of the larvae.  There are over 5000 species of bee fly around the world (because clearly the world needed that many), but the particular one referenced by Cutiefly is the adorable internet celebrity Anastoechus nitidulus, a rare species that lives only in southwest Japan, in the area around the city of Okayama.  As far as I can tell, this species is so rare, and bee flies in general are so poorly studied by entomologists, that it doesn’t even have an English name – I’ve seen them called “tiger bee flies,” which I think is an attempt to translate the Japanese name toratsuri-abu, but in English the name “tiger bee fly” ought to refer to a different species of bee fly, the larger, blacker and more sinister-looking Xenox tigrinus, which can be found throughout North America.  Thankfully, Cutiefly already represents a fully adult bee fly, so we don’t have to observe first hand the family’s parasitic tendencies; instead we see only the adults’ more palatable diet of nectar, which they harvest with their mosquito-like proboscises.  Cutiefly and Ribombee express this through their flavour text, through the Honey Gather ability they share with Combee, and through their in-game distribution in the areas in and around Alola’s Oricorio meadows.

Unlike real bee flies (as far as we know), Cutiefly and Ribombee have the ability to sense the “auras” of living things.  “Aura” here, we should notice, is not the same thing as the spiritual power that can be manipulated by Lucario and other Pokémon that learn the Aura Sphere attack (which Ribombee doesn’t get).  This more famous and consequential “Aura” (capital A) translates a Japanese phrase (nami shirube) meaning something like “wave-guiding power,” whereas the “aura” that Cutiefly can see is referred to in Japanese by a simple transliteration of the English word “aura” (ora), presumably in reference to the colourful energy fields that New Age psychics can see around people and other living things.  This latter phenomenon is perhaps best known for being bull$#!t, but we can’t hold that against Cutiefly; after all, we’re in an escapist fantasy world in which “life force” does seem to be a thing.  What all this means is that, instead of being able to destroy their enemies with destructive blasts of radiant energy, Cutiefly and Ribombee can see flowers sometimes.

Don’t worry; I’m sure it’s worth it.

Cutiefly and Ribombee apparently use their supernatural sense mainly to locate flowers in bloom, because their auras shine particularly bright at that point in their life cycle.  This allows them to pillage the flowers’ sweet, sweet nectar.  They also sometimes cluster around certain people whose auras resemble those of flowers in bloom when they are emotional, presumably because those people are also frivolous attention-seeking decorations whose only real purpose in life is reproduction (listen, I’m a Grass-type specialist; I care about how flowers actually work; if you want someone to romanticise them, go talk to one of those hippy Fairy trainers).  According to the Ultra Moon Pokédex, Cutiefly can also read opponents’ intentions in their auras to predict their actions, not unlike Espeon’s ability to sense the subtle movements of an imminent attack by reading air currents, thus explaining how such a small and fluffy Pokémon hasn’t yet been squashed into extinction.  Given all that, it’s interesting that these Pokémon aren’t Psychic-types, especially since Bug/Psychic would be just as new a combination as Bug/Fairy, and even compared to other Bug Pokémon like Butterfree they can develop a fairly wide range of psychic powers.  The lines are further blurred by the fact that “classic” fairies have insectoid traits – what is that makes Butterfree, for instance, not a Fairy-type?  It could be that we should consider empathy-related abilities to be more a Fairy-type than a Psychic-type characteristic: consider here the addition of the Fairy type to the Ralts line, who formerly had the most overt focus on empathic powers of any Psychic-type, or the emotion-focused abilities of Fairy-types like Togekiss and Sylveon.  That doesn’t really tell us anything new about Ribombee, but I’m willing to jump on anything I can get to try and understand what the Fairy type’s identity is supposed to be.

All of this aura-sensing stuff is done in aid of gathering the nectar and pollen of flowers to create a variety of different types of pollen balls.  Adult bee flies, of course, feed on nectar, and in the process of gathering it they tend to pick up quite a bit of pollen in the same way as bees do.  They don’t really do anything with pollen, though; that’s where the bee-like side of Cutiefly and Ribombee becomes more important.  Adult honeybee workers mainly live off a portion of the nectar they collect for the hive, storing the rest of it as honey so they can eat during the winter.  Growing larvae, on the other hand, need more protein as they develop, and they get this from pollen, which worker bees mix with a little bit of nectar and their own saliva and pack into hard pellets to store.  The pollen then ferments into a highly nutritious substance called bee bread, which is an important part of the diet of larval bees.  As far as I know, honeybees have never been recorded launching explosive pollen balls at their enemies in an attempt to cause them misery and dismay, but they are mysterious creatures whose ways are manifold and enigmatic, so it’s possible we just haven’t observed that yet.  Like bee flies, Ribombee seems to be solitary, or at least the Pokédex makes no mention of complex social structures like those of honeybees, so they aren’t using their pollen balls to feed larvae.  However, we know that Ribombee hates rain – she shares honeybees’ ability to predict weather conditions from changes in air pressure, and only goes foraging when the skies are clear for several days in a row.  The ability to store food for her down time must therefore be quite important.  Finally, to continue Cutiefly and Ribombee’s theme of things that are essentially bull$#!t, Ribombee’s pollen balls are sold in Alola as a “super-food,” much like bee pollen is in the real world.  Real bee pollen is rich in protein and other nutrients, but like all “super-foods” its actual health benefits don’t even begin to live up to the marketing hype, and harvesting it in large quantities is extraordinarily wasteful because of its importance to the hive’s own life cycle.  Of course, Ribombee is literally magic, and can produce a wide variety of different pollen mixtures with distinct positive and negative effects, so it’s just possible that the Alolans aren’t credulous morons for thinking it cures cancer or whatever.  For more on what Ribombee’s pollen definitely can do for you, let’s talk about her Pollen Puff attack.

Pollen Puff is Ribombee’s signature move, a respectable Bug-type special attack that bombards a target with explosive pollen balls.  In singles, whether to take this over Bug Buzz is kind of a matter of taste.  Pollen Puff has 15 PP where Bug Buzz only has 10, but… eh, how often do you actually run out of PP on moves with more than 5, especially if you can afford PP Up?  Bug Buzz is probably marginally better because of its 10% chance to reduce a target’s special defence.  In doubles, though, Pollen Puff has a cool little dual-use utility function – if you target an ally with it, Pollen Puff will restore 50% of their health.  Ribombee basically gets to know Heal Pulse without actually giving up a move slot for it, which is pretty nifty.  That should already clue us in that Ribombee is meant to be a supporter.  She’s deathly fragile against both physical and special attacks, but is actually the second-fastest Fairy-type in the game after Tapu Koko, and possessed of a very impressive support movepool.  Want to slow or disable the enemy team?  She’s got Stun Spore, and picks up Trick and Sticky Web (the speed-lowering field hazard) in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, from a new move tutor and as a new egg move, respectively.  Maybe protecting and healing your own team is more your style?  Ribombee can learn Reflect, Light Screen and Aromatherapy.  Prefer to play cheerleader with Baton Pass?  Ribombee learns Quiver Dance, and the only other Pokémon with both are Venomoth and Masquerain, who have slightly better defences but are much slower and have weaker type combinations.  Want to do something really weird and super dumb?  Well, Ribombee’s got you covered there too, for what it’s worth, because she’s got Skill Swap, Magic Room, Wonder Room, Helping Hand, After You and Ally Switch.  There’s even Speed Swap, an interesting new move from Sun and Moon that Ribombee can get as an egg move from Alolan Raichu, one of only two Pokémon that learn it naturally (the other is Pheromosa).  Like Diamond and Pearl’s Guard Swap and Power Swap, it’s a fairly self-explanatory move: the user swaps the relevant stats with the target.  Obviously this is a terrible thing for Ribombee to do in singles, where she’ll be faster than most of her opponents, but it could create some interesting combos in doubles by allowing her to bestow her excellent speed on a slow but powerful ally.

When Ribombee tries to do any fighting for herself, the picture gets somewhat less rosy.  As we’ve already seen she gets Quiver Dance, and she has a respectable special attack score, so there might be an argument there for just taking three attacks – probably Bug Buzz, Moonblast and Psychic – and going to town.  Fairy is such a good type that a boosted Moonblast is scary coming from just about anything; the trouble is that Ribombee has no special attacks worth using against Fire or Steel Pokémon, barring Hidden Power, so as Quiver Dancers go, she’s fairly easy to stop.  Also, although Quiver Dance bolsters special defence, her physical defences will still have the consistency of fruit yoghurt.  I don’t want to undersell Quiver Dance, because that move alone can work wonders for an otherwise mediocre Pokémon, but eventually you’re going to have to ask yourself why you aren’t using Volcarona, or even Venomoth, who has many shortcomings but outshines Ribombee on offence because the Tinted Lens ability makes his attacks almost impossible to resist.  Ribombee can heal herself with Roost, but her defences are so flimsy that this is unlikely ever to be the best use of her time; better to use her speed with Baton Pass or U-Turn to just keep her from taking damage as much as possible in the first place.  Despite a large and interesting support movepool, Ribombee has relatively few good options to add spice to a straightforward offence gameplan.  Support is what she’s good at, and she has a large enough range of tricks that she won’t necessarily be predictable if she sticks to the utility side of things.

You might have noticed that I haven’t mentioned Ribombee’s abilities yet, and that’s because they’re frankly not very important to her playstyle, or particularly inspiring.  The Shield Dust ability negates the side effects of damaging moves, things like the burn chance of Fire attacks or the special defence penalty caused by Psychic (moves that don’t cause damage, like Will’o’Wisp, work normally).  This is fine, but you don’t really need fancy debuffs to knock out Ribombee; plain old damage will do that.  If you can be bothered chasing down a Cutiefly with their hidden ability, Sweet Veil, immunity to sleep is nice, especially in multiple battles where it will be shared with partners, and if nothing else it’s pleasingly thematic.  The only other alternative is Honey Gather, which does nothing in battle, and… honestly it basically does nothing out of battle either; honey is only useful in Sinnoh (where it’s the only way to attract certain Pokémon like Cherubi and Munchlax) and Kalos (where it can trigger wild horde battles – but even then, Sweet Scent does the same thing and has unlimited uses).  The ability is basically in the game to make absolutely sure that everyone knows how worthless Combee is – which I think is something we can all get behind.

The main draw of Cutiefly and Ribombee is their relationship to a particularly rare Japanese insect that has become surprisingly iconic in recent years, mostly for its obvious cuteness, which is probably a big part of why they’re Fairy-types (the most important attributes of most Fairy Pokémon being “cute” and “pink”).  The result is appealing but a little bland – pollinating isn’t unusual enough a trait for Bug Pokémon to be particularly interesting, the similarity between flying insects and traditional Western fairies is a bit of an obvious direction to take for this type combination, and even weather sensitivity has sort of been done before with Masquerain (albeit in a way that seems at odds with his in-game characteristics).  On the other hand, it’s a bit of exposure for an unusual insect that’s endangered and not yet very well studied by scientists.  A wide range of support powers, combined with the possibility of going on the offensive with Quiver Dance, makes Ribombee interesting to use, though it’s a shame that her ability choices are so dull.  Her fragility makes it difficult to claim that she can be top tier, and like many seventh generation Pokémon she’s much stronger and more flexible in doubles than in singles, but I don’t think there’s anything clearly wrong with her, and there are a couple of things she does arguably better than any other Pokémon.  All said and done, I have to call this one at least passable.

[blairstales]

4 Scottish Dragons | Scottish Folklore

People may argue on what is or is not allowed to be called a dragon today (for example, people tend to classify the kind with only two legs instead of four as a wyvern and no legs as a wyrm), but I am not going to be using modern specifics for this post. The stories these creatures are from call them “dragons,” so that is what I will call them as well.

1. The Dragon of Loch Corrie

In loch Corriemohr, there was said to be a flying serpent so dangerous, that no one could go near the waters.

One day, a father decided to ignore the warnings, and brought his son with him to the loch to do some fishing. Not long after, they were attacked by the territorial serpent.

The father told his son to run, and stayed behind to fight the dragon. He was victorious, and discovered a whole child in the dragons belly.

“The last arrow had an iron head and two barbs, and was of the kind which men call saidth baiseh, or the death arrow, which they do not part with till the last struggle. Just as the serpent reached him, and opened her jaws to seize his feet, he shot at her open jaws with the two barbed dart. It fastened there, and could not be pulled out. So, after a struggle, the terrible beast died, and the man got home to tell the tale. “The Folk-lore Journal, Volume 6; Volume 21: The Folk-Lore Of Sutherlandshire (Pg232) “THE DRAGON OF LOCH CORRIEMOHR” by Miss Dempster

By todays standards on what counts as a dragon, this would be an Amphithere

2. Linton Worm

The Linton Worm was said to live in Linton Hill, where it fed on livestock after killing them with it’s poisonous breath.

It became such a problem, that a reward was offered for it’s death. It was the Laird of Lariston who saw it done after applying peat that had been dipped in hot sulphur and pitch to his lance.

“According to the tale in 1174 the Laird of Lariston, a man described as having “reckless bravery,” answered the call.“ “Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore” by Theresa Bane (2016)

In todays standards, this would be called a “wyrm,” but it Scotland, it may have been related to the Beithir.

3. The Beinn a’ Bheithir Dragons

The mountain Beinn a’ Bheithir, got it’s name from a Beithir, which once took shelter in the hollow of Corrie Liath. The creature was violent to everyone, and no one could figure out how to deal with it.

“From the lip of the corrie she overlooked the path round the foot of the mountain, and, if the unsuspecting traveller attempted to pass by her, she would leap down and tear him to pieces.” “Folk tales and fairy lore in Gaelic and English” by James MacDougall

I mentioned her in a previous post(though told slightly more south, in Islay), where she was lured into a trap and killed by cannon fire, but that was not the end of the story because that dragon was a mother.

Her daughter grew and had her own young which were hidden in a corn stack at the base of the mountain. This was much to the surprise of the farmer, who lit the stack aflame when he spotted them.

Hearing the screams of her young, their mother returned, but too late. Anguished, she thrashed at a rock until it killed her.

“The rock is still known as the Dragon Rock, and on it Ben Vehir House now stands.” “Folk tales and fairy lore in Gaelic and English” by James MacDougall

4. Loch Merkland Dragons

Two dragons were once said to live at Loch Merkland, though only one had wings and they lived separately. The lake acted as a boreder, and one lived on one side of the loch, and one on the other.

“They were in girth about twice that of a man , and the flying one roared so as to be heard a mile off.” The Folk-lore Journal, Volume 6; Volume 21: The Folk-Lore Of Sutherlandshire (Pg232)  by Miss Dempster

In order to make travel safe in that area again, both were said to be killed.

[blairstales]

Waulking Songs and the Loireag | Scottish Folklore

A waulking song is a traditional song that was sung for a group to keep in sync while rhythmically beating newly-woven fabric on a surface. This motion shrinks the fibers of the fabric, which makes it better at repelling water.

“There would often be 24 of them at one table, singing songs for four to five hours at a time, during which 300-400 yards of cloth would be waulked.” Audio Recording Transcript: “WAULKING THE CLOTH, ” Track ID: 65191, Date: 1961. Source: tobarandualchais.co.uk

This could be done sitting around a table and moving the fabric with your hands, but in some places the fabric was waulked using feet.

As they sing, they both beat and move the fabric a clockwise direction.

Related to this practice is a water fairy called Loireag(lorryack). She was a rather mischievous fairy that is often described as having an obsession with tradition.

“The ‘loireag’ presided over the warping, weaving, waulking, and washing of the web, and if the women omitted any of the traditional usages and ceremonies of these occasions she resented their neglect in various ways.” Carmina Gadelica, Volume 2, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900]

Not only did she make sure things were done in the right order, but she also disliked people singing out of tune, and hated hearing the same waulking song twice.

” If a song were sung twice at the waulking, the ‘loireag’ would come and render the web as thin as before, and all the work of the women of no avail. They had to begin anew and waulk the web over again, taking special care not to repeat the offence. “ Carmina Gadelica, Volume 2, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900]

The loireag had such a great love of milk that people would leave out offerings of it for her. If this was forgotten, she would take matters into her own hands by enchanting the milking animals to be as still as a statue while she drank her fill.

In one story where this occurred, a girl in Benmore discovered a loireag sucking a cow. The girl tried to drive the fairy away, but nothing worked so she went to fetch her father. It turns out her father was a Carle. Carle can be a derogatory term for a commoner man, but it can also be an alternative name for the "Bodach," which they may be intending in this case.

“The little Carle leapt out at the door in sparks of red fire, swearing at the impudent ‘loireag,’ and at the cow. He threw a boulder at the ‘loireag,’ wishing to kill her, but struck the cow instead and nearly killed her!” Carmina Gadelica, Volume 2, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900]

He then grabbed the very point of one of the cows horns in the name of “Columba the kindly,” who was “the best leech of man and beast in Alban in his day.” With those words, the cow broke from the enchantment and leapt away. At the same time, the loireag took off running while singing back insults.

“Little carle of Corrie-foot, Little carle of the short coat, Little carle of the foot of the Pass Much I praise your aim.” Highland Mythology by Watson, E. C. (1908)

WAULKINGS SONG EXAMPLES:

(link) In this waulking song a man mourns the fact that another is courting his beloved while he sails the seven seas.

(link) This is a short fragment from a waulking song with a love theme.

(link) The composer describes going through the strath and seeing a herd of hinds. A man was driving them down the hill. He had a bow and arrow and a gun.

(link) This is a waulking song of the type found at the start of a waulking. The chorus refers directly to waulking the tweed, which is unusual in waulking songs.

(link) In this waulking song a sailor tells of his feelings, as the girl he loves is unfaithful. He expresses the hope that his beloved will not take the tailor, the shoemaker, the shepherd or the herdsman.

(link) In this waulking song, the composer lists by their occupation the men who are unsuitable, and then gives details of the one she would accept.

(link) In this waulking song, a woman longs for the man she loves, but his family disapprove of the relationship.

[blairstales]

Spunkies

Fairy lights in Scotland went by many names depending on the area. Some examples are: spunkies, will-o-the-wisp, pinkets, ignis faluus, and more. The word “spunkie” is thought to come from the word “Sponk.”

“SPUNK , SPUNKE , SPONK , s . 1. A spark fire , or small portion of ignited matter , S.”“ A very small fire is called a spunk of fire” An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. Vol. 2 by Jamieson, J. (1841)

People still argue on where they come from; some describing them as the souls of some sort of dead, some say they are more fairy than ghost, while others simply dismiss them as the spontaneous ignition of marsh gasses.

(Title: Ignis fatuus / Th. Nast. Abstract/medium: 1 prints  : wood engraving.)

Spunkies and Pinkets are the spirits of unbaptized children, but Willo’ the Wisp is often a usurer who has hidden gold, or an unjust man who has moved his neighbours’ boundary stones, or in some stories, a man who has been too clever for the Devil, and can get entry into neither Heaven nor Hell.’  The Fairies in Tradition and Literature by Katharine Mary Briggs (1967)

No matter what the origin, they typically hold the same role; leading people astray. In the forest, people typically describe thinking the lights are for a distant building and so heading towards it, while others seem to be curious or enraptured by the strange lights. If the person followed, they are lead somewhere to kill them, such as a swamp to drown in or a cliff to fall from.

“Willy and the Wisp, he is a fiery devil, and leads people off their road in order to drown them, for he sparks sometimes at our feet, and then runs before with his candle, as if he were two or three mile before us…” Ancient and modern history of Buck-haven in Fife-shire by Merry Andrew at (1793)

On the ocean, they trick sailors into thinking they are heading towards a port, when instead it is a random shoreline.

“…many a good boat has Spunkie drowned; the boats coming to land in the night-time, they obsere a light off the land, and set upon it and are drown’t.” Ancient and modern history of Buck-haven in Fife-shire by Merry Andrew at (1793)

So essentially, what it comes down to is that it does not matter their origin, just do not follow them.

(The Child sees the Will o’ the Wisps. (1913))

That Bards are second-sighted is nae joke, And ken the lingo of the sp’ritual folk; Fays, Spunkies, Kelpies, a’, they can explain them, And even the very deils they brawly ken them “The Brigs Of Ayr” Inscribed to John Ballantine, Esq., Ayr. 1786

[blairstales]

Biasd Bheulach Odail, The Beast of Odail Pass

Biasd Bheulach Odail, also known as “The Beast of Odail Pass,” was a nocturnal creature living in (you guessed it) the Odail Pass of the Isle of Skye. About 180 years ago, Skye’s first public road was being built in that pass, which is when the beast first made it appearance.

"At the time it was being made, the pass was haunted by “something” awful – the more awful that its character was not distinctly known,-that enjoyed an evil reputation far and wide as “The Beast of Odal Pass” (Biasd Bealach Odail).” Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

Despite it’s reported fame, no one was able to narrow down what exactly it looked like. It’s shaped ranged from an animal, to a beast, to a man with one leg.

"Sometimes it bore the form of a man, sometimes of a man with only one leg; at other times it appeared like a greyhound, or beast prowling about; and sometimes it was heard uttering frightful shrieks and outcries, which made the workmen leave their bothies in horror. " Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

It was, seemingly, some sort of shapeshifter that targeted both the workers and travelers, by pushing them to the ground so hard that it caused injury. Those injured people would have to escape to safety.

Luckily, the sightings did end, but only after the death of one man.

"It ceased when a man was found dead at the roadside, pierced with two wounds one on his side and one on his leg, with a hand pressed on each wound. It was considered impossible these wounds could have been inflicted by human agency.” Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)

Whoever that man was, it was clear that his death somehow caused the end to the attacks.

How it so suddenly ended has caused some, including Katharine Briggs (author of 1976’s A Encyclopedia of Fairies) to suggest that it was not a beast at all, but instead a ghost seeking revenge. When the intended man met his end, the ghost was satisfied.

“The distinction between demon spirits and demonic ghosts is hard to draw’, and people might well have accounted for Biasd Bheulach as the ravening ghost of a murdered man, hungry for revenge.” A Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katharine Briggs (1976)