Beithir
Also called Behir.
The Beithir is a fiery-eyed, black-scaled serpent-dragon of Scottish Highland folklore said to haunt lochs, caves, and mountain corries.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Scottish folklore
- Region
- Scottish Highlands (habitat)
- Trait family
- The Tremor-Readers
- Symbols
- Dragon
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Dragon is image-domain The dragon denotes chaotic instinctual power, guardian of hoarded treasure and fertility, destructive in the West and, in China, the beneficent waterlike way of things.
why
The Beithir is a fiery-eyed, black-scaled serpent-dragon of Scottish Highland folklore said to haunt lochs, caves, and mountain corries.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Armor-like hide
why
large, black-scaled form
- Serpentine elongated body
why
Descriptions vary in detail but generally agree on a large, black-scaled form with a long, thick tail and glowing or fiery eyes; several accounts explicitly note the absence of wings, distinguishing it from winged dragon types elsewhere in British folklore even as other sources classify it loosely alongside dragons and serpents.
Sight and sound
- Glowing red eyes
why
glowing or fiery eyes
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Serpent carries
5 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Beithir."
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Beithir."
- George M. Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, s.v. "Beithir."
- Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, s.v. "Beithir."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Beithir."