Myths, Legends and Beliefs: Miscellaneous

Robin Hood

Loxley – the village where Robin Hood was born, according to a legend that dates back to at least the end of the 16th century – is now on the outskirts of (English city)		Sheffield
First appears in the legends as a hired killer, who attempts to kill Robin but ends up being killed by him; in later stories he's a rival to Robin for the love of Maid Marian		Guy of Gisbourne
(According to legend) Robin Hood was the rightful Earl of		Huntingdon
English king of whom Robin is seen, in popular culture, as a supporter (having been driven to outlawry by his brother and regent, Prince John)		Richard I (the Lionheart)
Joins the Merry Men after fighting Robin with quarterstaves over a river (according to later stories); buried, according to local tradition, in the Derbyshire village of Hathersage		Little John
Commonly shown (starting with the ballad tradition) to be the only one of the Merry Men present at the death of Robin Hood
Wandering minstrel who became a member of Robin's "Merry Men"		Alan–a–Dale
Youngest of the Merry Men (according to later stories)		Much the Miller's Son
Robin's nephew, and one of the Merry Men – noted for hiis skilful swordsmanship		Will Scarlet
First appears in the legends as a hired killer, who attempts to kill Robin but ends up being killed by him; in later stories he's a rival to Robin for the love of Maid Marian		Guy of Gisbourne
The name of Robin's sword (in Robin of Sherwood, the 1980s ITV series starring Alan Praed as Robin)		Albion

Other

Believed in Ireland to wail to foretell a death			Banshee
Monstrous black dog of legend in the North of England – particularly Yorkshire			Barghest
Legendary reptile, reputed to be a serpent king, who can cause death with a single glance; first mentioned by Pliny the Elder in AD 79; alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad (cf. Cockatrice)			Basilisk
Hero from Geatland in Sweden, of an Old English epic poem, dating from 800–1000 AD; slew the demon monster Grendel (and Grendel's mother) with his sword Hrunting			Beowulf
Ape–like creature believed by some to inhabit forested areas of the Pacific northwest United States and British Columbia			Bigfoot or Sasquatch
Irish artefact, kissing which is believed to bestow "the gift of the gab"			Blarney Stone
Buried under King's Cross Station, according to a popular urban myth (which places this as the site of her last battle and therefore her death and burial)			Boudica
Dick Whittington was persuaded to return to London, after failing to make his fortune at the first attempt, by			Bow Bells
Legendary queen, in the German legend of the Niebelungen, won for King Gunther by the magic of Siegfried			Brunnhilde
Mythical creature of Australian Aboriginal culture, said to live in swamps and other watery places, and to be part emu, part crocodile			Bunyip
Mythical beasts that guarded Burmese temples			Chindits
Blood–sucking creature of urban myth, in widely–spread parts of the Americas: name means 'goat–sucker'; earliest reports originated in Puerto Rico in 1995; more recent sightings have ranged from Maine to Chile			Chupacabra
Legendary monster with a deadly glance, supposedly hatched by a serpent from the egg of a cockerel; commonly represented with the head, legs, and wings of a cockerel and the body and tail of a serpent (cf. Basilisk)			Cockatrice
Father figure and protector of the tribe, in Irish mythology: associated with a magic club and a bottomless cauldron			The Dagda
Tragic heroine of Irish legend: fell in love with the handsome warrior Naoise, but was forced to marry King Conchobar of Ulster; dashed herself to pieces against a rock, rather than go to live with the man who had killed Naoise on Conchobar's orders			Deirdre
Name given by the Australian aborigines to the timeless past wherein their legends are set			Dreamtime
Legendary city of gold that inspired the Conquistadors, and also Walter Raleigh			El Dorado
Classic German legend about a successful scholar who sells his soul to the devil in return for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Inspired plays by Marlowe (c. 1592) and Goethe (1806–8); name derived from the Latin, meaning "auspicious" or "lucky"			Faust(us)
Irish giant who built the Giant's Causeway, in order to walk to Scotland and fight his rival Benandonner – who tore the bridge down			Finn MacCool (a.k.a. Fingal)
Bran and Sceólang were the hunting dogs of
Phantom ship of maritime legend, doomed to sail the seas forever in search of Table Bay; said to haunt the seas around the Cape of Good Hope; inspired an opera by Wagner, premièred on 2 January 1843, which is actually set on the North Sea			Flying Dutchman
Twin giants, traditionally the guardians of the City of London; said to be two of a race of giants that once occupied Britain; names originate in the Bible – also mentioned in the Koran, and feature widely in the mythology and folklore of many cultures			Gog and Magog
Humanoid creature of Jewish folklore, said to be made by men from inanimate matter (typically clay or mud)			Golem
Mythical mischievous creature that damages machinery, especially aeroplane engines			Gremlin
Mythical beast with a lion's body, eagle's head and wings (most common in the art and lore of Ancient Greece, but also represented in Ancient Persian and Egyptian art dating back to before 3000 BC)			Griffin (Gryphon)
Voodoo, and the associated Zombie legend, originated (among African–born slaves) in			Haiti
Ghostly figure associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park: he has antlers, rides a horse, rattles chains and torments cattle. First mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor; Shakespeare's source is unknown. Also featured in Harrison Ainsworth's 1843 novel Windsor Castle. May also be associated with Richard II's white hart badge			Herne the Hunter
Irish princess, in mediaeval legend: married to Mark, King of Cornwall, but fell in love with his knight Tristan			Iseult
Legendary founder and first emperor of Japan (7th century BC)			Jimmu
Divine wind, sent to destroy the Mongol fleet, in Samurai myth			Kami–kaze
Shape–shifting water spirit of Celtic legend, said to inhabit the lochs and pools of Scotland – particularly Loch Ness; usually described as a black horselike creature, able to adopt human form			Kelpie
Legendary sea monster believed to have lived off the coasts of Norway and Iceland – possibly originated in sightings of giant squid			Kraken
Fearsome dragon that, according to legend, terrorised part of Co. Durham in the time of the Crusades: named after the local landowning family (antecedents of the Earls of Durham), one of whom is the protagonist of the legend			Lambton Worm
Arctic rodent, popularly (but wrongly) believed to commit mass suicide			Lemming
The 'Surgeon's Photograph', taken in 1934, claimed to depict			Loch Ness Monster
River nymph of the Rhine – sits on a rock combing her hair, and lures sailors to their doom by her singing			Lorelei
Marine mammal said to be the origin of mermaid legends			Manatee
Plant of the nightshade family, perceived to resemble the shape of the human body and used in magic and witchcraft; said to shriek in pain when pulled from the ground			Mandrake
Patron god of the ancient city of Babylon			Marduk
Snow White: the occupation of the dwarfs			Mining
Scots author and narrator of a cycle of poems (probably of Irish origin) which James Macpherson (1736–96) claimed to have translated from the Gallic – son of Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool, or Fingal)			Ossian
"Legendary" character of the Old West, invented 1916 by Edward O'Reilly; feats included digging the Rio Grande and painting the Painted Desert			Pecos Bill
Nickname given to the only person, according to tradition, who looked at Lady Godiva as she rode naked through the streets of Coventry			Peeping Tom
Substance sought (in vain) by mediaeval alchemists in the belief that it could turn base metal into gold			Philosopher's stone
Fire–like element postulated in the 17th century as being contained in all combustible substances and released when they burned (first suggested by Joachim Becher 1667)			Phlogiston
Legendary bird that lives for up to 1,000 years, then builds a nest in which it burns, then is reborn from the ashes as an egg			Phoenix
Christian patriarch and king, said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans of the Orient during the Middle Ages (12th –17th centuries). Said to be a descendant of one of the three Magi			Prester John
The plumed or feathered serpent of Aztec and Toltec mythology – god of wind and learning; name literally means "feathered serpent"			Quetzalcoatl
Enormous bird of prey, in Arabian and Persian legend: could lift an elephant, destroyed Sinbad the Sailor's ship (in the Arabian Nights)			Roc
Celtic festival to mark the end of the harvest, said to be a precursor of Halloween			Samhain
Alternative name for Bigfoot			Sasquatch
Mythical princess who saved her life and those of other women by telling the 1,001 stories of the Arabian Nights			Scheherazade
Sea spirit in the form of a seal, which can come ashore and take human form (Scotland)			Silkie or selkie
A werewolf can only be killed with a dagger or bullet made from a			Silver crucifix
10th century Abbot of Glastonbury and Archbishop of Canterbury, said to have held the Devil's nose in a pair of red hot tongs			St. Dunstan
Semi–legendary Swiss archer of the 14th century: sentenced to shoot an apple from the head of his son Walter, for refusing to salute the Habsburg badge at his home town of Altdorf (on Lake Luzern); later shot the tyrannical Austrian ruler (Vogt) Gessler			William Tell
London barber, provided fillings for Mrs. Lovett's pies (sometimes claimed to be based on historical fact, but there is no evidence)			Sweeney Todd
Celtic 'Land of Youth'			Tir na n'Og
Commonly seen, in Mediaeval legend, as a symbol of purity and virtue, which can only be captured (according to Guillaume of Normandy in the 13th Century) by a virgin			Unicorn
More common name for a lycanthrope			Werewolf
Dragon–like creature of mediaeval legend, frequently used in British heraldry and popular even today for use in company logos; gave its name to a car (Vauxhall) and a strike aircraft (Westland) in the 1950s			Wyvern

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22