Mythical creatures of Wales - Cath Palug

Cath Palug

This giant cat features in several early Welsh poems, and the name translates as Palug's cat. It is also known as 'the cat with sharp claws' or 'the cat that scratches.'

It was said to be one of the offspring of the sow Henwen, who was chased to the edge of the sea. Born as a black kitten which took to the water and swam away. Cath Palug crossed the Menai Strait between North Wales and the island of Anglesey. On Anglesey, it grew to gigantic proportions and was said to have killed 180 warriors. It was eventually slain by Cei (the Sir Kay of  Arthurian legend)

A medieval French story tradition tells how a cat called Chapalu or Chatloup (a corruption of Cath Palug) pushed King Arthur into a bog and then overcame him in battle, passing through Britain to conquer it, wearing the crown of Britain. This tale may relate to the early medieval stories of the conflict between King Arthur and Mordred (or Medrawt), in which Mordred's symbol is the cat.

Not the sort of kitty one would want to nurse on one's lap in front of the fire of an evening!

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If you'd like to listen to a book rather than read it,there are some really great books available in audio.

(You can get my own Destiny Trilogy for FREE.)  

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Starquest: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=starquest
Children of the Mist: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=children+of+the+mist
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Interview of Chat & Spin Radio

Earlier this week (Monday August 3rd) I had an interview on 'Chat and Spin radio' This is a UK internet based radio station and they're very supportive of authors, writers etc.

You can hear my interview here:

https://soundcloud.com/ian-johnson-75/monday-3rd-august-mondays-evening-late-show-6pm-845pm-uk-time-part-1

(It starts at approx. 35.15 on the scale, immediately after the strains of Manna Manna (Remember the Muppets? 😄 )

If you'd like an interview yourself, this is the message they would like me to share with my fellow authors:

"Chat And Spin Radio is an Internet Radio Station based in the UK.

We Broadcast to half a million UK & International Listeners per week 24/7.

We are on www.chatandspinradio.com

We are looking for Book Authors, Writers, Artists, Illustrators, Businesses & Charities to come on the Radio Station over the Phone or by Skype / Facebook FREE PUBLICITY PROMOTION to get out to our Listeners while on Lockdown.

Please email IAN JOHNSON on chatandspin@gmail.com for more information.

WEBSITE- www.chatandspinradio.com 

FACEBOOK- www.facebook.com/chatandspin "

For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Welsh Myths and Legends - Merched y Mor - Daughters of the Sea

Hello, dear readers,

I hope you're keeping safe and well.

Continuing my series on Welsh Mythical Creatures, this week we're returning to the sea, and my hometown, Aberystwyth, overlooking Cardigan Bay (which as you will see from the pictures, is actually three bays). This part of the coast is subject to violent storms, so fierce the sea often sweeps over the low stone wall and across the promenade road, and casts sand and pebbles against the buildings facing the ocean.

See the range of hills in the distance? the nearest one has a stone pillar on the top which you might just be able to see, this hill is called Pen Dinas. I used to live on the hill directly behind it, and had a lovely view of the bay (and saw lots of seagulls - 'clue') which brings me to this week's story:

Daughters of the Sea

This is  quite a sad tale. Once an old man had three beautiful daughters.  Dylan Eil Ton the sea god, who lived beneath the waters of Cardigan Bay, envied the old man his daughters and decided to have the girls for himself. He called up a great storm, and sent a huge wave to steal the young women.

Their father was heartbroken over their loss. Regretting his evil deed, Dylan, not wanting to give them up entirely, turned the girls into seagulls, belonging to the sea as well as the land.

Legend says that whenever the old man walked on the beach and called their names, three white gulls would fly to him from the sea.

Oh, an exciting bit of news - I'm being inerviewed on the British radio show CHAT AND SPIN https://chatandspinradio.com/ this evening  at 6.35 p.m. (1.35 pm Eastern time for my friends in the U.S.). The radio show plays great music and is a wonderful supporter of authors and the arts in general.

I'll let you know how it goes next week!

FREE AUDIOBOOKS

If you'd like to listen to a book rather than read it,there are some really great books available in audio.

(You can get my own Destiny Trilogy for FREE.)  

GET YOUR FREE CODES NOW:

Starquest: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=starquest
Children of the Mist: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=children+of+the+mist
Beloved Enemy:https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=Beloved+Enemy



For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Mythical creatures of Wales - the Twrch Trwyth

 Hello my lovelies

I hope you're keeping well and safe. This week we're back on dry land for our mythical creature - and a return to the Arthurian legends.

The Twrch Trwyth iwas a massive, enchanted boar. A young squire, Culhwch was given a series of tasks in order to impress the evil giant,
Ysbaddaden Bencawr, who was the father of Olwen, with whom Culhwch was in love.

The hardest task was to take a magical comb, razor and scissors,entangled in the long hair around the boar's head. If Culhwch completed this task successfully, Ysbaddaden said he would use these items to shave his beard before the wedding!

Culhwch then enlisted the help of King Arthur. They pursued the creature to Ireland, but the boar took his family of monstrous young pigs across the sea, where it landed in Porthclais, Pembrokeshire, and created havoc, destroying large areas of the adjoining counties of Ceredigion (my home county) and Carmarthenshire, and killing many people, including some of Arthur's men. Eventually, they did manage to fulfil the quest,  and kill the young pigs, although even Arthur was unable to kill the gigantic boar itself, and it swam across the sea back to Ireland.

FREE AUDIOBOOKS

If you'd like to listen to a book rather than read it,there are some really great books available in audio.

(You can get my own Destiny Trilogy for FREE.)  

GET YOUR FREE CODES NOW:

Starquest: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=starquest
Children of the Mist: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=children+of+the+mist
Beloved Enemy:https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=Beloved+Enemy

For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Welsh myths and legends - Llamhigyn Y Dwr, or the Water Leaper.

Continuing my series of weird and wonderful Welsh mythical creatures, we return to the water this week, and a creature known as Llamhigyn Y Dwr, or the Water Leaper. It is an evil creature, described as a monstrous, carnivorous toad with a long tail and  bat's wings instead of legs, having no hind legs. The tail has a sting on the end.

 It jumps across the water using its wings, hence its name.

It is especially prevalent around two Welsh lakes - Llyn Gwynan and Llyn Glas,where it preys on unwary sheep or dogs, takes the bait and fish off fishermen's hooks and can even pull the fishermen themselves into the lake,, The water leapers are fast, powerful swimmers, capable of pulling an angler out of a boat. So, if you ever go fishing in a Welsh lake, please be very, very careful!

FREE AUDIOBOOKS

If you'd like to listen to a book rather than read it, there are some really great books available in audio.
(You can get my own Destiny Trilogy for FREE.)

GET YOUR FREE CODES NOW:

Starquest: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=starquest
Children of the Mist: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=children+of+the+mist

Beloved Enemy:https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=Beloved+Enemy

Also try this one by the very talented Helen Johannes:

https://www.freeaudiobookcodes.com/book/4911f918-9db3-4733-867a-53e015ec3192

(If you have a free audio book you'd like me to mention, just leave a comment with an email addy so I can contact you)

For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Welsh myths and legends - the gwyllion

Hi folks
Continuing my series on Welsh myths and legends, we've concentrated on mythical animals over the last few weeks - so this week I thought we'd have a kind of fairy.

No nice, pretty little fairies though, nor even the rather mischievous Tylwyth Teg, featured a few weeks ago.

No, these fairies are the gwyllion, female fairies, said to be frightfully ugly and scary, who haunt lonely mountain tracks and roads in the Welsh Mountains. They are really more like bad witches. They would lead the unwary traveller astray so that they were hopelessly lost, even if they had travelled the same road before.  One gwyll was reputed to be the ghost of a witch, and to shriek and cry in the Llanhyddel Mountain which she haunted.  A lost traveller upon encountering her, assumed she was a mortal woman and followed her, calling to her to help him find his way, but she led him further and further out of his way, eventually enticing him to a marsh. As she emitted an evil laugh, he realised the cackling sound was not human and drew his knife, whereupon she disappeared, because Welsh ghosts and fairies have an inherent fear of knives.

So should you ever come across an ugly old woman in the Welsh Mountians, be sure to flash a knife, and she will quickly disappear, but should she arrive in your home, treat her kindly, and you will come to no harm.

FREE AUDIOBOOKS
  If you're at a loose end in these strange and rather scary times, there are many great books out there to be read, so why no try a new author.
If you'd like to listen to a book rather than read it, again there are some really great books available in audio.

(You can get my own Destiny Trilogy for FREE.)

GET YOUR FREE CODES NOW:

Starquest: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=starquest
Children of the Mist: https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=children+of+the+mist

Beloved Enemy:https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/https://freeaudiobookcodes.com/?q=Beloved+Enemy

Also try this one by the very talented Helen Johannes:

https://www.freeaudiobookcodes.com/book/4911f918-9db3-4733-867a-53e015ec3192

For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join