The Monstrefact: The Afanc

his answer was the Avanc. The exact nature of the Avonk varies from telling to telling, as does its exact name, but drawing on the book Folklore of Wales by Anne Ross as well as Carol Rose's Giants, Monsters and Dragons, I think we can start with a general consistent tale.

Medieval and later Welsh traditions hold that the Avank was a terrifying water monster that preyed on human beings until such time as it was chained and dragged away by oxen across the Welsh countryside, sometimes through the moors, till it could be imprisoned in the Lake of shin kum Ifanon in Snowdonia. In other tellings of the tale, it was merely dragged by Oxen onto dry land, where it

became packerless. Sometimes this is the work of the Knight Peridur, other times Sir Percival, and even King Arthur himself in some tellings. Again, there are many variations, but this seems to be a good skeleton of a tale to work from. Now. What was the exact nature of the beast in question, Well, Ross and Rose mentioned several different alleged forms, a great supernatural crocodile, a giant beaver, a water demon, a dwarf,

a hippocampus or water horse. In at least one telling, according to Ross, it boasts the powers of the scott Irish kelpie, taking on the fair form of a horse or a youth in order to lure in its prey. Mostly, however, the avank was said to lurk in the waters and simply attack any human who came too close to the shore, but it was also said to occasionally thrash around in the water with sufficient force to cause devastating, even primordial floods.

In one telling, a fetching maiden lured the beast from shin Ur Avunk a pool by the Kanwei River, and the Avank fell asleep on her knee, clutching one of her breasts in its claw, And while the creature slept, men crept up with chains and bound the creature. When the Avank woke to this imprisoned state, it panicked and it fled back with all its strength towards its watery home.

The maiden's breast still gripped in its claw. And while the monster did indeed make it back to the waters of shin ur Avanc, trailing its chains the whole way, the men succeeded in binding its chains to Oxen, which succeeded in dragging the monster away to its watery prison in shin kum Ethanon, where it is said to lurk to this day. So if you find yourself in Wales, look out for the Avank and don't get too close to strange waters. Tune in for additional episodes of The

Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at Stuff to.