Ceffyl Dwr is a demon of Celtic (Welsh) tradition.
Deadly in North Wales, often helpful and warning in South Wales.
The Ceffyl Dŵr is the water horse of the Welsh mountains: it lures tired travellers, carries them into the air and lets them fall, or drags them into the water.
Regionally divided: in North Wales sinister, in South Wales often a shining horse that warns and leads safely.
Type: water horse
Origin: Welsh legendary tradition
Texts: Owen 1887, Trevelyan 1909
Period: since the late 19th century
Appearance: grey or black horse with a white mane
Recorded in writing since the late 19th century by Owen and Trevelyan.
Wales: mountain lakes, waterfalls and coasts, varying by region.
Sources: regional collections, above all Owen 1887 and Trevelyan 1909.
Welsh: Ceffyl Dŵr combines ceffyl, horse, and dŵr, water. Unlike the Scottish Kelpie, its tradition is regionally divided.
Appearance
Usually a grey or black horse with a white mane, on the coast with backward-turned hooves.
Effect
It lures tired wanderers, rises into the air and dissolves into mist, or drags them into the water. In South Wales it warns of flooding.
Characteristics of the Welsh water horse at a glance.
Welsh legendary tradition, collected by Owen 1887 and Trevelyan 1909.
Tired travellers at waterfalls and mountain lakes during thunderstorms.
Grey or black horse with a white mane, backward-turned hooves.
Fall or being dragged under in the north, warning and guidance in the south.
Do not mount it, avoid lone horses, stay silent in the saddle.
Kelpie and Each-uisge, its closest relatives.
Well known is the tale of the Honddu: it carries a tired man all the way to the Towy near Carmarthen and brings him back battered.
Clergymen ride it without harm: in the tale of the parson and the sexton, the horse throws off the boastful sexton but carries the silent parson safely home.
The Ceffyl Dŵr belongs to the water horse type: its counterpart is the Scottish Kelpie, along with the more dangerous Each-uisge. Its horse form distinguishes it from the Afanc.
What is the Ceffyl Dŵr?
A Welsh water horse that lures tired travellers and then lets them fall or drags them into the water.
Is it always evil?
No: malevolent in North Wales, often harmless to helpful in South Wales.
Further standard works in the bibliography.
Anyone searching for the Ceffyl Dwr water horse finds a Welsh water horse: enticing to travellers, deadly in North Wales, often a warning helper in South Wales.
Against its influence, cross-cultural tradition names these protective means:
Compare in the Protection Compass →Recommended protective means
The simplest protective means in this collection: 41 layers of fine gold 999, platinum, silver and silicon, manufactured in Ruhla, Thuringia. It requires no activation, is bound to no person, and is effective within a radius of around 50 meters, even without being worn.
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