Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the
Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time.
Speaker 2: I spent last week in Wales, taking in the majestic
Speaker 2: beauty of the Welsh countryside as well as its vibrant history.
Speaker 2: During my travels, I asked my tour guide O'shan which
Speaker 2: monster from Welsh traditions really stands out to him, and
Speaker 2: his answer was the avonc. The exact nature of the
Speaker 2: Avonk varies from telling to telling, as does its exact name,
Speaker 2: but drawing on the book Folklore of Wales by Anne
Speaker 2: Ross as well as Carol Rose's Giants, Monsters and Dragons,
Speaker 2: I think we can start with a general consistent tale.
Speaker 2: Medieval and later Welsh traditions hold that the avank was
Speaker 2: a terrifying water monster that preyed on human beings until
Speaker 2: such time as it was chained and dragged away by
Speaker 2: oxen across the Welsh countryside, sometimes through the moors, till
Speaker 2: it could be imprisoned in the Lake of shin kum
Speaker 2: Ethanon in Snowdonia. In other tellings of the tale, it
Speaker 2: was merely dragged by Oxen onto dry land, where it
Speaker 2: became powerless. Sometimes this is the work of the Knight Peridur,
Speaker 2: other times Sir Percival, and even King Arthur himself in
Speaker 2: some tellings. Again, there are many variations, but this seems
Speaker 2: to be a good skeleton of a tale to work from. Now.
Speaker 2: What was the exact nature of the beast in question, Well,
Speaker 2: Ross and Rose mentioned several different alleged forms, a great
Speaker 2: supernatural crocodile, a giant beaver, a water demon, a dwarf,
Speaker 2: a hippocampus or water horse. In at least one telling,
Speaker 2: according to Ross, it boasts the powers of the Scotch
Speaker 2: Irish kelpie, taking on the fair form of a horse
Speaker 2: or a youth in order to lure in its prey. Mostly, however,
Speaker 2: the avank was said to lurk in the waters and
Speaker 2: simply attack any human who came too close to the shore,
Speaker 2: but it was also said to occasionally thrash around in
Speaker 2: the water with sufficient force to cause devastating, even primordial floods.
Speaker 2: In one telling, a fetching maiden lured the beast from
Speaker 2: shin Ur Avunk a pool by the Knwei River, and
Speaker 2: the Avank fell asleep on her knee, clutching one of
Speaker 2: her breasts in its claw. And while the creatures slept,
Speaker 2: men crept up with chains and bound the creature. When
Speaker 2: the Avank woke to this imprisoned state, it panicked and
Speaker 2: it fled back with all its strength towards its watery home.
Speaker 2: The maiden's breast still gripped in its claw. And while
Speaker 2: the monster did indeed make it back to the waters
Speaker 2: of shin Ur Avank, trailing its chains the whole way.
Speaker 2: The men succeeded in binding its chains to Oxen, which
Speaker 2: succeeded in dragging the monster away to its watery prison
Speaker 2: in shin kum Ethanon, where it is said to lurk
Speaker 2: to this day. So if you find yourself in Wales,
Speaker 2: look out for the Avank and don't get too close
Speaker 2: to strange waters. Tune in for additional episodes of The
Speaker 2: Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us
Speaker 2: at contact at Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.
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