Imaginative picture of huge, green dog the size of a cow goes here but I couldn’t find one with a commons license
Cu Sith
The Cu Sith (pronounced coo shee) is an enormous hound in Celtic mythology which roams the Scottish Highlands. It is the size of a cow, has shaggy, dark green fur and a long braided tail.
Its name means “faerie dog” which may explain its unusual color – the green associated with faeries. Most supernatural dogs are black, or white with red ears, in Celtic myth.
The dog hunts silently but occasionally emits three barks, so loudly it can be heard by ships at sea. The ferocious barks serve as a warning to farmers to lock up their women, lest the beast steal them away to a faerie mound to nurse the Sídhe children.
***
Don’t forget Sept 10th is the What’s Your Chocolate? blog fest.
Laura, I had to look this one up. I never knew such a creature existed in mythology. Please let me include this intriguing note from Wikipedia: “The Cù Sìth was feared as a harbinger of death and would appear to bear away the soul of a person to the afterlife (similar to the manner of the Grim Reaper).” Wow, a fairy and a beast and the Grim Reaper himself all rolled into one. And how fair he was: giving his victims warnings that could be heard on ships at sea. I kind of like him. Of course, I never would’ve been one of his victims. He was looking for women to suckle infant fairies. I’ve never been able to do that.
Don’t worry, Ron. Celtic mythology has many other beasties that would gladly carry you away!
I have an imagination – I can picture a giant green dog!
And yes! Michael, Jay, and Stephen signed up for the blogfest. I’m not the only guy.
I so much wanted to include a picture, Alex. I’m glad you can imagine it. Got your hot cocoa ready?
Love, love, love Scottish Faerie lore. This is a great one. I remember reading somewhere that lots of faeries have red caps because of the association of the color with blood. Maybe that’s why this fellow has red ears.
I think the Scots have some of the best magical beasties around, Buffy!
Cool on fairie dogs. I wonder who braids their tails.
Interesting question, Mary! Maybe the women they kidnapped?
A dog that barks louder than mine! Gotta love that
Your dogs are much cuter than this one too, Carol.
With the pronunciation of “Sith” as “She” it makes me wonder if that’s how we should pronounce the evil jedi in Lucas’ movies. But I guess if that were the case, he would have had people pronounce it that way in the films.
I guess Lucas didn’t have Gaelic in mind when he named his bad guy, Michael.
Yay! Looks like we are getting a good turn out for the Chocolate Blog Fest. I’ll mention it again on my blog tomorrow.
I think it’s going to be a blast, Ciara!