The belief that certain lakes and rivers are inhabited by supernatural horses is age-old and widespread. Not least frequently it is met with in Ireland, Scotland and the Nordic countries. Such waterhorses, or eachanna uisce as they are called in Irish, also figure in many narratives, some of which are in the form of short but fairly close-knit and well- constructed tales of the type folklorists term fabulates or migratory legends. Two such legends in particular - the one which has often been referred to as respectively The Waterhorse as Riding Horse and The Waterhorse as Work- Horse (or alternatively The Waterhorse as Plough Horse) - have been considered by several scholars - notably C.W. von Sydow and Brita Egardt - to be of ‘Celtic’ origin.’ This assumption rests mainly on certain similarities between Nordic and Scottish forms of the respective legend types, while, until recently, little attention has been paid to the Irish material. This is understandable, since but a fraction of the Irish source material had appeared in print and since the manuscript material was inaccessible at the time the above- mentioned studies were undertaken. - [Author]

Language: English

DOI: 10.2307/20522380