Dictionary of mythology - part 8 pdf

[Ewain.Ewayne.Ivain.Knight of the Lion.Owein.Uwaine:=Dutch Iwainus.Iwein=French Yvain.Ywain] a knight of King Arthur’s court one of the Knights of Battleson of Urien and Morgan le Fay or

the first being, in the lore of the

Californian tribes

When Ouiot grew old, his children,

deeming him no longer capable of

ruling, poisoned him At his funeral,

Coyote snatched a piece of the corpse

from the pyre and ran off Some of the

skin fell on the ground and here the

creator Chinigchinich appeared,

giving Ouiot’s children the power to

become medicine-men for the benefit

of the men he promised to make

In another version, he was the son

of Sirout and Ycaiut, and was killed by

his children who ground up some of

the black rock, Tosaut, and used it to

kill him by sprinkling it on his chest

where it ate into his body At his

funeral, Attajen appeared and gave the

children of Ouiot the power to

become sorcerers

Other tribes referred to Ouiot as

Atahen or Attajen (see also Wy’ot)

[Oulomos]

a being produced by Aer and Ether

progenitor of Chousorus

Our Grandmother (see Kokumthena)

Our Great Chief (see Totec)

father of Ashtart, Baitulos, Dagan, El,

Pontus and Zeus Damaros

The Semitic version of the Greek

Uranus

In some versions he and Gea were

two halves of a primordial egg,

produced by Chousorus, from which

all else came

sacred mountains created by Gaea

[oroboros.(o)uraboros]

a symbolic serpent with its tail in its

mouth representing the cycle of life,

Ouzel of Cilgwri

(see Blackbird of Cilgwri)

Ouzelem bird

an imaginary birdThis bird is said to fly backwards andconsequently never knows where it isgoing but always knows where it hasbeen A similar story is told ofJayhawk

in Papuan lore, the third person to

be createdThis person, born from a turtle’s egg,later turned into the red coconut palm

[Ewain.Ewayne.Ivain.Knight of the Lion.Owe(i)n.Uwain(e):=Dutch Iwa(i)nus.Iwein=French Yvain.Ywain]

a knight of King Arthur’s court one of the Knights of Battleson of Urien and Morgan le Fay orModron

twin brother of Morfuddhusband of Denw or of Penarwanfather of Galian, some say

In some accounts, he was the son ofGorlois and Igraine, in others thebrother of Gawain

Morgan planned to kill King Arthurand her husband, Urien, marry herlover Accolan and make him king

Believing that Accolan had killed

Arthur in a fight, she took herhusband’s sword and was about to killhim as he slept Owain, alerted by aservant, was hidden in the room andseized his mother in time to preventmurder His mother duped him intobelieving that she had been possessed

by evil spirits and he forgave her whenshe promised to give up magic arts.King Arthur felt that he could nolonger trust Urien or Owain so hebanished Owain from his court Hisfriend Gawain opted to go with himand they set out to find adventurewhich would allow Owain to prove hisloyalty to the king

Their first encounter was withMorholt who quickly unhorsed twostrange knights in succession He thenchallenged Owain and Gawain,disposing easily of the young Owainwho sustained a leg wound, andfighting an honourable draw withGawain All three became friends andtravelled on together They met threewomen who offered to lead them toadventure and Owain chose the oldest

of the three

She turned out to be Lyne, a womanwho had always wanted to be a manand had made a lifetime study ofknightly pursuits She made Owainundergo ten months of intensivetraining at her home in Wales andthen they set off to find adventure Heunhorsed thirty knights at atournament and won the prize, riding

on to the Castle of the Rock Herelived the Lady of the Rock who hadhad all her property, except the Castle,taken from her by the brothersEdward and Hugh Owain foughtthem both at once, killing Edward andforcing Hugh to surrender The Lady

of the Rock offered him the chance tolive with her and run her regainedestates but he chose to leave At thecrossroads, Lyne left him to awaitanother knight errant she could trainwhile Owain joined Gawain andMorholt and returned with them toCamelot where they were all madewelcome by the king

He was one of the knights capturedand imprisoned by Tarquin, who hatedall Arthur’s knights, until rescued

by Lancelot

In Welsh stories, he appeared asOwein, in the dream of Rhonabwyplaying a game of chess with KingArthur and in the story of the Lady of

the Fountain His ‘army’ consisted of

300 ravens given to him by Cenferchyn

When Cynon (or Colgrevaunce) wasunhorsed by the Black Knight,Escalados, Owain met the victor andwounded him so severely that he died

He was rescued from prison by Lunedwho gave him a ring which made himinvisible and Owain took over all theBlack Knight’s lands and his wifeLaudine, the Lady of the Fountain,living with her for three years At theend of that time, Arthur went in search

of him and Kay met the Knight of theFountain in single combat and wasdefeated Each of Arthur’s knightswas defeated in turn and it was onlywhen Gwalchmei fought him thatthey realised they were fightingOwain He was reunited with Arthurand returned to his court for threeyears When he realised how he haddeserted his wife, he did penance (orwent mad, some say) and lived the life

of a mendicant, killing a dragon andtaming the lion which had beenfighting with it His path crossed that

of Luned once again and he rescuedher from death at the stake

In some versions, he returned to theLady of the Fountain, in others he wasreunited with his wife and they livedtogether at Arthur’s court

In another story, he arrived home tofind his castle occupied by Salados andhis followers In the fight that ensued,Owain escaped with his life only whenthe lion, which had become his faithfulcompanion, intervened, killing Saladosand routing his followers

Other stories include a fight withGawain when Owain set out to defend

a lady robbed of her property by herelder sister The two finally recognisedeach other, the fight was ended andArthur settled the dispute between thesisters En route to this adventure,Owain had released 300 ladies heldcaptive in the Castle of PesmeAventure by two demons who forcedthem to weave cloth

[Ewain.Ewayne.Iwain.Owein the Bastard.Owen]

a Knight of the Round Tablefather of Chaus

He was the illegitimate son of Urien

by the wife of his steward and thushalf-brother to the other Owain

He was killed by Gawain whom hechallenged to a joust

father of Madawg, the prince said tohave discovered America

owanka wakan North American

a sacred altar

an Algonquian bear-spirit

Owatatsumi (see Watatsumi)

Owein the Bastard (see Owain2)

a Welsh hero

He was said to own a stone, which hehad obtained fom a raven, which couldmake him invisible

owl

a widely-distributed night-flying bird ofprey traditionally deemed to be wise(1) The Buddhists regard the owl

as a messenger of Yama

(2) In Central America the Aztecrefer to the owl as Tlacolotl andregard it as a bird of ill-omen

(3) In the Christian tradition theowl is an attribute of both Christand Satan

(4) In Egypt the owl was regarded

as a symbol of death

(5) In Greece the owl was regarded

as sacred to Athene and Demeter

(6) In Hindu lore, the owl (Shakra)was regarded as an attribute ofYama and sacred to Indra

(7) The Japanese regard the owl astypifying filial ingratitude, as aform of Fukuro and as a god ofvillages

(8) The Malay regard owls as ghosts

(9) In North America, theAlgonquin people regard the owl

as an attendant on the Lord of theDead

(10) In Persian lore the owl, Zushta, could drive away demons

Asho-by reciting passages from theAvesta

Owl-glass (see Tyll Eulenspiegel)

a very old birdCulhwch consulted this bird in hisquest for the hand of Olwen but theowl was unable to give any help in

finding Mabon and referred him to theEagle of Gwern Abwy

Owlespiegle (see Tyll Eulenspiegel)

a supreme god of the Idoma people

of Nigeria

a Cheyenne sun-dance spirit

Oxlahun Ti Ku Central American

[Oxlanhuntiku]

a group of 13 Mayan sky-gods

In some accounts, these deities werecaptured by another group, theBolon Ti Ku

Oxlahuntiku (see Oxlanhun Ti Ku)

as Tonatiuh

Oxomoco was one of the four sages

of the Aztec migration, the othersbeing Chipactonal, Tlaltecuin andXochicahuaca These four were said tohave invented the Aztec alphabet

In some accounts, Oxomoco is thesame as Xmucane

co-king of Elis with Agoriusson of Andraemon or Haemonbrother of Thermius

He was banished to Elis afteraccidentally killing Thermius but laterreturned to Aetolia and raised an armywhich conquered Elis of which hebecame co-king with Agorius, oustingthe former king, Dius

He is said to have had three eyes

a fish sacred to Hathor

[Mammy of the Water.Oba.Oja]

a river-goddess and weather-goddess

of the Yoruba people

a consort of ShangoThis deity, though female, was said tohave a beard

Oya-Shima-Guni Japanese

the first 8 islands to be created when

Izanagi and Izanami made

She appeared at the home of

Kyuzaemon and prayed before his

family shrine She told Kyuzaemon

that her husband, Isaburo, had left her

parents without support when she died

and she wanted to correct this wrong

Next day, Kyuzaemon found that

Isaburo had returned to his in-laws,having been visited by his wife’s spirit

in the guise of Yuki-Onna

in Nigeria, a mediatorThis being, in the form of a postcarved from a tree, acts as a mediatorbetween the Isoko people and theirremote god, Cghene

[Fiery Mary.Mary the Fiery One

Ognyena Maria]

a fire-goddessassistant of the thunder-god, Perounsister of Elias

[Uyuyewi]

a war-god of the Kerestwin brother of Masewi in the lore ofthe Pueblo Indians

These twins are the equivalent of the

Zuni Ahayuta achi In some accounts,they were the sons of the sun and whenthey went to meet their father, he gavethem weapons with which to killmonsters

Ozanna le Cure Hardy British

a knight of King Arthur’s court

He was defeated by Lavaine in thetournament at which he and Lancelotfought on behalf of his father, Bernard

He was one of the knights capturedwith Guinevere by Meliagaunt

the eleventh of the 20 days of theAztec month

Symbolising the monkey and west, theday was governed by Xochipilli

P Central American

a Mayan deity of uncertain identity, referred to as god P:

a frog-godThis deity is depicted as a frog andmay be sowing seed or ploughing,leading some to identify him as a god

of agriculture

a drought-goddessdaughter of Huang Ti

Some accounts say that he wasoriginally a Mongolian peasant whowas never harmed by the wolves andscorpions that abounded where helived and whose crops were neveraffected by grasshoppers Othersequate him with Liu Meng, the god

very strong tortoises often depictedunder gravestones

Pa Hsien (see Eight Immortals)

Pa Kua (see Eight Diagrams)

an evil gnomeThese beings were said to kill thosewho slept in the desert by licking theirfeet to suck out their blood

a stupid character who always doesthe wrong thing

Pa Pao (see Eight Precious Things)

a god of Hawaii

a king of Udumufather of Hurriya

In some accounts, Hurriya was his wife

the soul, in the lore of the Tupari

It is said that, when a person dies, thesoul leaves the body through the eyes

or the pupils leave him and become the pabid After a perilous journey,threatened by fierce animals, the soulcrosses the river Mani-Mani to live inthe land of the dead Here two wormsbore into the belly and eat all thebowels before crawling out At thispoint, Patobkia restores the sight of thepabid by sprinkling pepper on the eyes

and then the pabid is required to havesexual intercourse with one of thegiants, the female Vaugh’eh or themale Mpokalero The pabid can breed

to produce children The malesbreathe on a bundle of leaves whichthey then throw on to the back of thechosen woman who then becomes

pregnant (see also ki-apogo-pod)

[Pabilsang]

a Sumerian godconsort of Nininsinna

a local god, hero of epic stories

in Rajasthan

[Apo-tampu.Cave of Refuge.Cave of the Dawn.Inn of Dawn.Inn of Origin Pacari Tampu.Pac(c)ari-Tambo Pacariqtambo.Paccarisca.Tambotocco]

a cave with 3 exitsThis is the cave from which theancestors of the Inca people were said

to have emerged Some say that therewere three such caves

In some versions, there were the four– Ayar Manco, Pachacamac, Viracochaand one other; in others, there were three– Apocatequil, Ataguchu and Piguerao.Others claim that there were three orfour brothers and three or four sisters

(see also Children of the Sun)

P

Paeivae Pacari-Tambo

in Inca lore, dead ancestors

It was believed that these beings could

intercede with the gods on behalf of

their descendants

Paccari-Tambo (see Pacari)

It is said that he defeated Con, the

earlier creator of men, turned Con’s

people into monkeys and made new

beings

In another version of his story it is

believed that he created humans but

forgot their need for food The man

died of starvation and the woman was

fertilised by the sun Pachacamac

killed her first son and grew plants

from pieces of his body Her second

son, Vichama, drove Pachacamac into

the sea when Pachacamac killed the

woman He remained in the seas as a

sea-god

Some stories equate him with Ayar

Ayca or Viracocha

Pachacamama (see Pachamama)

a name for Thunupa as ‘servant’

[Mama Pacha.Mother Earth.

Paca-Mama.Pachacamama]

an Inca earth-goddess

a Lamaist sorcerer

a name for Pachacamac as ‘maker of

all things’

Pachayachachic South American

[Teacher of the World.Ticci

Pachacamac but, in other accounts, is

said to be the same as Tici

an early desert goddess, envisaged

as a lion

an undersea paradise in the lore of

the Caroline Islanders

one of the dogs of ActaeonWhen Artemis discovered the hunter,Actaeon, watching her as she bathed,she turned him into a stag Hishounds, including Pachytos, tore him

to pieces

pack

something buried under the threshold

of an enemy’s house, a magic ritedesigned to harm him

owner of the magic coat, Pais Padarn

a witch’s familiar in Macbeth

a snake-godone of the mahanagasThis deity is usually depicted withthree eyes

Padma 2 (see Kamala.Vishnu)

a name for Lakshmi as ‘lotus’

the Tibetan name for Padmdakini

Padma-Nabha (see Brahma.Vishnu)

Padma-pani (see Padmapani)

a deity seated on a lotus

[Book of the Golden Lotus]

an epic, in some 50,000 couplets,which describes the creation

He is the guardian of the westernregion of the world

[‘lotus-born’.Padma-pani:=Chinese Kuan Yin.=Japanese Kwannon]

a bodhisattva

a form of Avalokiteshvara in TibetPadmapani can appear in various forms– animal or insect, man or woman –including that of the flying horseValahaka

This deity is depicted as three-eyed,sometimes with eleven heads

(see also Avalokiteshvara)

Lopon.Rinpochhe.sLob-an 8th CIndian seerson of Amitabha

He was said to have appeared in a lotusflower at the age of eight and wasforced to spend his life in penitencefor killing a minister of the royalpalace where he was raised

He took Buddhism to Tibet and,having converted that country,changed into a horse and convertedother races He was said to have livedfor a thousand years

a guardian god of the west

a Manichaean deity

He and Xrostag are a pair involved inthe ritual of prayer and the answer tothat prayer

in some accounts, son of Poseidon

by Helle (see also Edonus)

magic seeds, in the lore of the Tupari

These yellow seeds are said to have thepower, when used by a shaman, to killhis enemies

[=Greek Pegasus]

a horse of the Aswins

a temple or shrine for relics

(see also stupa)

Pagoda Bearer (see Li Ch’ing)

a fabulous coin-producing tree

a moving skeleton, in the lore

of the Algonquian and Ojibwa tribes

This apparition, said to be the skeleton

of a hunter who starved to death, issaid to move through the woodlands atfantastic speed with much bone-rattling Its presence portends thedeath of a friend

[‘father’]

a moon-god of the Pawneesconsort of Sakurufather of Closed Man

an evil spirit

Pahe-Wathahuni North American

a cannibal hillThis hill could open its mouth to form

a cavern and any hunters who ventured

in were swallowed up Rabbitdisguised himself as a man and enteredthe cavern with a band of hunters andslew the monster by slitting its heartopen The hill then split wide openand those who had been swallowedwere restored to life

an ancient hero

a commentary on the Avesta

Pahtecatl Central American

an Aztec fertility-god

in the lore of the Pawnee, one of the

5 houses of the animal spirits, thenahurak

Pahuanui (see Pahuanuiapitaaiterai)

Pahuanuiapitaaiterai Pacific Islands

[Pahuanui]

a sea-demon of Tahiti

in the lore of the Pawnee, one of the

5 houses of the animal spirits, thenahurak

pai de santo South American

[female=mae de santo:=Yoruba babalorisha]

a priest of the African immigrants

in Brazil

2 white cranes, messengers of the gods

Pai-ho T’ung-tzu

(see White Crane Youth)

[Bach-ho.White Tiger]

a guardian of the west

In some accounts, one of the FourAuspicious Animals in place of theunicorn, ch’i-lin

the first wife of Uenuku

Pai Lao-yeh (see Po Lao-yeh)

one of the Four Dragon KingsThis being is said to have been born as

a lump of flesh to a maiden givenshelter by an old man when she wascaught in a storm In disgust, shethrew the lump into the sea where itbecame a white dragon, the cause offamine The girl died from shock

a white horse with a single horn

(see also po2)

[Heang Ho:=Arab Al Kabah al Alif]

a later name for the constellationAries as ‘the white sheep’

fairies in the lore of the Maori

god of sea-creaturesoffspring of Rangi and Papa

Paimon

a demonone of the 72 Spirits of Solomon

He is said to be able to grant any wish

a magician may make and to teachscience and the arts He is depicted as

a crowned ruler riding a camel

(see also Paymon)

an Aztec war-god

a cauldron owned by DrynogThis vessel, said to boil meat only forthe brave, was one of the ThirteenTreasures of Britain collected byMerlin In some accounts, it is thesame as the cauldron of Diwrnach

son of the god of heaven

He makes entries in the book of fate asinstructed by the gods and sometimesvisits the earth in the form of a goose

to report what is happening

[Parik(a)]

a supernatural enchantressThese evil beings were the femalecounterparts of the Yatis

(see also peri)

a coat owned by Padarn Redcoat

This garment, which could make thewearer invisible and which would fit only a nobleman, became one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britaincollected by Merlin

an evil spiritThis being was opposed to the Matrika,Chaumunda

Paisunya

a fabulous land of gold

The Guarani say that this realm, ruled

by El Gran Moxo, was set in the lake

Cuni-Cuni where it was guarded by a

strange animal known as Teyu-Yagua

[Paeivae]

a Finnish sun-god

The rays of the sun formed roads

between heaven and earth along which

the gods could travel

[Paiyatamu.Paiyatuma.sun youth:

=Hopi T’aiowa]

a flute-playing spirit of the Zuni

son of Sun Father and Underground

Mother

In some accounts, Paiyatemu refers

to a group of spirits rather than to just

one

a Finnish god

He killed a huge bull or pig

a goddess

It is said that this healing goddess was

banished to the moon to prevent her

from restoring all the dead Her face is

now seen in the moon instead of the

more usual hare or man-in-the moon

Finnish spirits associated with metals

a Xingu shaman

a Lappish thunder-god

[Hsüan T’ien Shang Ti:=Taiwanese

Shang-ti Yeh]

a Taoist war-god

He was regarded as a mortal general

who was deified to lead the celestial

armies He threw the demon snake and

tortoise into a deep cleft and became

ruler of the dark heaven He is

expected to return to earth in times of

This animal is featured in stories of

New Britain and is usually outwitted

by the dog, Tulagola

a god of the hunt

a magician of the tribes of Bolivia

a Mayan war-god

a creator-god of the Serrano peoplebrother of Kukitat

He was so upset by the actions ofKukitat, who had been born from hisleft shoulder, that he left this worldand returned to the afterworld

Pal-Rai-Yuk North American

a water-monster of the Inuit

Palace Adventurous

(see Palace of Light)

an aspect of the Great Goddessconcerned with intuition

Palace of Cool Breezes

(see Itzeecayan)

Palace of Flowers

(see Xochiticacan)

Palace of Great Cold Chinese

the home of the moon-goddess, Heng O

[Castle of Light.Palace Adventurous]

a palace within the Castle of Carbonekwhere the Holy Grail was kept

[Brugh.Brug na Boinne.Bruigh na Boinne]

the fortress home of Nechtan and,later, of Angus Og

Palace of the Lonely Park Chinese

the home of the sun-god, I

Palace of the West (see Tamoanchan)

paladin

[pair.peer]

one of the 12 personal companions ofCharlemagne: a knight-errantThe list varied from time to time butsome of the most famous wereAstolpho, the English dukeAymon

Baldwin, son of GanoFierabras

FlorismartGano, the traitorGuido the WildMalagigi, the sorcererNamo, duke of BavariaOgier the DaneOliver, friend of RolandRinaldo

Roland (Orlando)Saloman from BrittanyTurpin, the archbishopOthers sometimes included in the listare Amulion, Anseis, Engelir, Gerard,Gerin, Gerier, Inon, Ivory, Otonneand Samson

[Palaimon]

son of Hephaestusone of the Argonauts

He arrived in Ireland at the time whenTristram was recovering from hiswounds after being nursed by Isolde

He wanted to claim her as a bride butTristram defeated him in a duel and hesailed for home

In another version, he was a guest

at Mark’s wedding to Isolde and sopleased the king that Mark offered him anything he could ask for Hedemanded Isolde and would havetaken her back to Syria but Tristramintervened and returned her to Mark Palamedes was heartbroken and sailed off

Yet another account says that he and Tristram fought another duel.Palamedes surrendered and madefriends with Tristram, embracedChristianity, became a loyal follower

of King Arthur and was made duke

He accompanied Agamemnon andMenelaus when they tried to persuadeOdysseus to join the invasion of Troyand, when Odysseus feigned madness

by ploughing salt into the earth,Palamedes placed the babyTelemachus in front of the plough.Odysseus avoided the child, revealingthat he was quite sane

During the Trojan war, Odysseusexacted revenge by bribing a servant toPaititi

plant money and a letter, said to befrom Priam As a result, Palamedeswas accused of treachery and stoned

to death

In another account, he was drowned

by Odysseus and Diomedes during afishing trip or buried by them understones when he climbed down a well insearch of gold which, they told him,was hidden there

He is said to have invented dice,lighthouses, scales and some of the alphabet

a prince of Thebescousin of Arcitehusband of Emily

He and Arcite, both captives ofTheseus, fell in love with his daughter

or sister-in-law, Emily They foughtfor her hand and Arcite won On hisway to claim his bride, Arcite wasthrown from his horse and was killed

Emily later married Palamon

[Island of Fruit]

the home of the dead

a Tamil god, a form of Seyon

cousin of TristramAfter the death of his cousin, Palanteinvaded Cornwall and was killed there

by Palamedes

husband of Durgandinifather of Abiasa

a monster of the Bantu

a culture-hero of the Dogon

He became an outcast for stealingseeds from Amma Marks in the earth,said to be his paw-prints, are used

travellers, is envisaged as half-man,split vertically

the Hawaiian paradise

at Troy and so the Greeks Odysseusand Diomedes made a night-raid intothe city and stole it during the siege ofTroy Some say that this was one ofmany copies to be found in the city

In some accounts, Diomedes gavethis copy to Aeneas who took it withhim to Italy although this could havebeen the original saved by Aeneaswhen Troy fell to the Greeks Otherssay it was Numa Pompilius whobrought the Palladium to Italy

Some say that the originalPalladium was made from theshoulder-bone of Pelops

descendants of Pallas

daughter of TritonTriton reared Athena as a companionfor Pallas

It was said that, having accidentallykilled Pallas, Athena had thePalladium made in her memory

(see also Pallas 4.5)

a Titanson of Crius and Eurybiabrother of Astraeus and Perseshusband of Styx

father of Bia, Cratos, Nike and Zelos

(see also Pallas1.5)

a name of Athena adopted either inmemory of the girl Pallas whom shehad killed or of the giant Pallas (herfather) she killed (see also Pallas1.4)

son of Pandionhalf-brother of Aegeus, Lyceusand Nicus

He was the father of fifty sons, all ofwhom were killed by Theseus

Pallas Athene (see Pallas5)

Palleneos (see Pallas4)

a creator-god of the Aborigines

He and his brother, Pundjel, createdbeings from bark and clay but, whenthey proved to be evil, they cut theminto pieces The ancestors of the tribessprang from these pieces

the god of terror

palmistry (see cheirognomy)

a knight

He was one of the 100 knights fightingfor Lisuarte against 100 knights of theIrish king, Cildadan

Palomir

Palomydes (see Palamedes1)

Palongahoya North American

[Balongahoya.Palungahoya]

a culture-hero of the Hopi

son of the sun-god

twin brother of Poquanghoya

He was one of two warriors (the other

was Poquanghoya) created by

Kokyangwuti to protect human beings

from demons

In another version he was a war-god

They are equivalent to the Zuni

Ahayuta Achi twins

Paluc’s Cat (see Palug’s Cat)

a deity of the Caroline Islands

husband of Leofas

father of Rongelap and Rongerik

[Cath Palug.Paluc’s Cat:=French

C(h)apalu]

a huge feline

offspring of Hen Wen, some say

In some accounts, this beast was

thrown into the sea by Coll ap

Collfrewr, the swineherd in charge of

Hen Wen, but was rescued and reared

by the sons of Palug on the island of

Anglesey It was said to have eaten

some 180 soldiers and was eventually

killed by Kay

Other versions say it was Capalu,

killed by King Arthur in the French

Alps; others that the beast killed the

king when they fought in a swamp and

afterwards came to Britain where it

took over the throne

[=Aztec Quetzalcoatl:=Zuni Koloowise]

a fertility-god

the plumed serpent of the Hopi

Palungahoya (see Palongahoya)

One version of the death of Mark

relates that he sacked Camelot and

died there at the hand of Pamlart

an evil spirit of darkness

in the lore of the Algonquians

She was one of the evil spirits killed

daughter of Apollo

son of Aegimiusbrother of Dymas

He is regarded as the founder of one ofthe Dorian tribes

Pamuri-mahse South American

[‘divine helper’]

a demi-god of the Tukano Indians

He helped Page Abe to create theearth and its animals

of Acis by Symaethis, in someaccounts

He was part man, part goat, withhorns, hoofs and tail

His parentage is not at all certain;

according to who is telling the story hemay be the son of Cronus by Rhea,Zeus by Hybris, or Hermes byCalypso, Dryope, Oeneis or Penelopeand either the father or brother ofSilenus It is even suggested that hewas the son of Hermes by Penelope,the wife of Odysseus

It is said that when he pursued thenymph Syrinx, she was turned into aclump of reeds by Gaea From seven ofthese reeds, Pan fashioned the reed-pipe, with which he is traditionallydepicted He seduced a number ofnymphs and goddesses includingEcho, Eupheme and Selene He gaveArtemis three hunting dogs and sevenhounds and helped Hermes restore thesinews of Zeus cut out by the monsterTyphon He was the only god to die

He is also depicted with a crook

(see also Evander1)

Pan Chhan Rin-po Chhe Tibetan

the first Tashi Lama, deified as anincarnation of Amitabha

a goddess of prostituteswife of Wu Ta-langShe fell in love with Hsi-men Ch’ingafter the death of Wu Ta-lang and wasdecapitated by her late husband’sbrother, Wu Sang, when he caught thelovers together She was immortalisedafter her death

He is depicted working with ahammer and chisel to make theuniverse from blocks of granitefloating in space, assisted by hiscompanions, a dragon, phoenix,tortoise and unicorn

Palomydes

P’an Kuan

In some versions of the creationstory, Pan-ku was assisted by thewoman Kua

the registrar of hell

He later received promotion and his post as registrar was taken byChung K’uei

son of Tou-shenbrother of Chen Shen, Ma Shen and Sha Shen

He helps his mother to deal with thosesuffering from small-pox

[Fan-t’ao.Shen-t’ao]]

a fabulous treeThis tree was a form of peach and wassaid to blossom once in 3,000 yearsand to bear fruit only after a furtherperiod of the same length It grew inSan Hsien Shan, the Fortunate Islands

[Pan-t’o-ka]

the Chinese version of Panthaka

Pan-t’o-ka (see Pan-t’o-chia)

[Panaceia]

a goddess of healthdaughter of Asclepius

a Lamaist sorcerer

He owned a pair of magic shoes whichcould transport him rapidly towherever he wished to go

Panalcarp

an evil demonThis being is depicted as a two-headed crocodile

[Paraiyan.Pariah]

devil-dancersThese people are said to be able todrive out devils by their dancing and drumming

a Javanese prince

He sent four of his retainers to kill thesultan, Jaka Tingkir, but this ruler wasunder divine protection and survived

In a later battle with the sultan,Panangsang was killed and the sultantook over his lands

Pancaraksa (see Pancharaksha)

Pancatantra (see Panchatantra)

a beaver in Reynard the Fox

He accused Reynard of attempting tomurder Coart, the hare

Pancha-Tathagata East Indian

5 kings of JavaThese rulers were regarded as theincarnation of the five Dhyanibuddhasand ruled in the 11th and 12thcenturies They were noted for theirwisdom and courage, manifestations

of the Fivefold Buddha Their namesare given as Jayanagara, Jaya-wardhana, Kartanagara, Rajasanagaraand Rajasawardhara

(see also Dhyanibuddhas)

a sea-demon

He angered Krishna by abducting theson of Sandipani and the god dived tothe bottom of the ocean and killed thedemon Krishna took the conch-shell

in which Panchajana had lived andused it thereafter as a trumpet withwhich he killed evil-doers

the divine conch-shell trumpet

of KrishnaThis was formerly the home of thesea- demon of the same name who waskilled by Krishna

the realm of King Drupada

[Pancatantra:=Arab Kalilah wa Dinmah

=English Tables of Bidpai:=French Fables de Pilpay:=Persian Anwar-u- Suhaili]

a collection of fabulous stories

He was said to have fathered over

500 children

a tutelary goddess of wealthShe is the commander of a host ofyakshas and is depicted with a pike(weapon) and a purse

a mother-goddess

a sakti of Amitabha

the Sanskrit version of White Tara

[Pandareos]

king of Miletusson of Merops and Clymenehusband of Hermothoefather of Aedon, Clothera and Merope

He stole Rhea’s golden mastiff made

by Hephaestus and refused to give itback, giving it to Tantalus for safe-keeping

Zeus killed him and his wife and hisdaughters were carried off by theHarpies and sold to the Furies

[Pandareos]

son of Hermes by Merope

In some accounts, he is the same asPandareus, king of Miletus

He acted as a messenger betweenTroilus and Cressida

At the siege of Troy he shot and

Pandarus

wounded Menelaus during a period of

truce, resulting in the battle being

resumed He also wounded Diomedes

who killed him

[Pandus:=East Indies Pandawas.Pandowas]

the 5 sons of Pandu

Pandu had two wives, Kintu and

Madri, but refused to father children

because of a curse which said that he

would die if he tried His five sons

were fathered by the gods – Arjuna by

Indra, Bhima by Vayu, Yudhishthira by

Dharma (all children of Kunti) and

Nakula and Sahadeva fathered by the

Aswins on Madri

They were sent to the court of their

uncle, Dhartarashtra, where they came

into conflict with his one hundred

sons, the Kauravas, and their

subsequent battles form the subject

matter of the Mahabharata After the

battle, in which all the Karauvas were

killed, the brothers went to Indra’s

heaven on Mount Meru

[Pandowas]

the Javanese version of the Pandavas

blacksmiths in Bali

These men, makers of the kris, are said

to have magic powers and are regarded

father of twins Butes and Erectheus

father of Procne and Philomena

He was expelled from Athens by the

sons of Metion, his uncle, and went

to Megara where he married Pylia,

the daughter of the king, Pylas He

became king of Megara when Pylas

was exiled for the murder of his

uncle, Bias

son of Phineus and Cleopatra

brother of Plexippus

His father took another wife, Idaea,

and put Cleopatra and her sons in

prison They were freed by Calais

and Zetes who killed Phineus and put the brothers on the throne ofSalmydessus Pandion and his brotherhanded over the kingdom to theirmother and joined the Argonauts

he must sacrifice Otionia, one of hisdaughters Pandora and anothersister, Protogonia, sacrificed themselves

In some accounts, she was themother of Deucalion and Pyrrha byPrometheus or Epimetheus

a box containing all human troubles, This box was given to Pandora as a giftwhen she married Epimetheus Againstinstructions, she opened it and out flewall the ills that have since afflictedmankind The last to come out of thebox was Hope In some versions a vase

or jug, containing all the items left overwhen Prometheus created humanbeings, was found by Pandora whocould not resist looking inside

he led a revolt of the Trojan captivesheld as slaves by Pandrasus andcaptured the king Pandrasus wasreleased only when he gave hisdaughter Imogen to Brutus as wife andfreed the slaves who then sailed offwith Brutus, in 300 ships, allegedly tosettle in Britain

[Pandrosos]

daughter of Cecropssister of Aglaurus and HerseShe and her sisters were entrusted withthe care of the infant Erichthonius

In one story, they were so shockedwhen they saw the infant that theythrew themselves to their death fromthe Acropolis

of his half-brother, Santanu, who haddied childless Because one of thewidows closed her eyes and the otherwent very pale when Vyasa slept withthem, their sons, Dhartarastra andPandu, were born respectively blindand light-skinned

Although he had two wives, he had

no children of his own because he hadaccidentally killed a sage who hadcursed him with his dying breath,proclaiming that Pandu would die if heever slept with either of his wives.Pandu took the throne butabdicated in favour of his half-brotherand became a hermit

Kunti bore three sons, afterpraying to the gods, and then handedthis gift to Madri who was able toproduce two more These five sons,the Pandavas, were in conflict withtheir cousins, the Kauravas

Pandu finally yielded to his desiresand made love to Madri but the sage’s curse took effect and he died atthat moment

Pandurganga (see Vitthali)

Pandavas

a stone said to have the power tomake barren women fertile

the plural form of Pan

In some accounts, there are a number

of gods such as Pan

a festival at which the Acagchememtribe of California sacrifice a buzzard

[Paradik.Purron]

a group of 7 gods of the hunt

These beings are said to live in a part

of the Otherworld and are well known

as thieves When they stole some ofIndra’s cattle, he made the dog Sharama

to recover them but she betrayed him

Indra then went himself, killed thedwarfs and recovered his cattle

In some accounts, Panis aredescribed as asuras

a Maori goddesswife of Rongo-mauiWhen Hina upset Ta’aroa with thenoise she made when beating tapa, heordered her to stop When sherefused, Pani grabbed her mallet andstruck her on the head with it,whereupon she flew off to the moon

an attendant on Pan: an inferior god

[Chekel Waneng Pati]

a Javanese princehusband of Chandra Kirana

He was allowed to marry his belovedChandra Kirana only after provinghimself by killing many giants and demons

He and Chandra are regarded asincarnations of Siwa and Dewi Shri

a goddess, attendant on Aphrodite

the underworld (or the entrance to it)

in the lore of the Banks Islanders

Panquetzalitztli Central American

an Aztec war-goddess

a mother-goddessone of the saptamataras

a king of Gennewishusband of Clarine

In a German version of the Lancelotstories, he and Clarine were theparents of Lancelot

Pantecatle Central American

an Aztec deity

an aspect of Tezcatlipoca

Pantha the Elder (see Panthaka)

Pantha the Younger

(see Chota Panthaka)

He is depicted seated with his armsfolded and reading a scroll

pantheon 1

a complete mythology: gods collectively:

a temple dedicated to all gods

a monster in the form of a star-spangled hind

the animal of Dionysus

a name for Pythagoras, whomaintained that he had beenEuphorbus, son of Panthous, in aprevious incarnation

He was killed at the siege of Troy

a bao which, it is said, contains thesoul of a great hero

to arrive, the others stood up, bowedand all of them, and the monastery,disappeared

a deitythe Imperial Censor

Pao-p’u-tzu (see Ko Hung1)

a pagoda

[Pao Yü]

wife of the emperor Ch’ing Temother of Yü HuangShe dreamt that she saw Lao Chuncarrying a baby when she prayed for ason and woke to find herself pregnantwith a son, Yü Huang

a goddess of echoes

Paoro

[Enua.Hotu-Papa.Papa Tu Anaku.

Papatuanuku.Whenua]

earth-mother of the Maori

wife of Rangi

wife of Tangaroa, some say

mother of Haumea, Rehua, Rongo,

Ruaumoko, Tane, Tangaroa, Tawhiri

and Tu

She and Rangi were so firmly

intertwined that their children could

not leave the womb until Tane-mahuta

forced them apart to form earth and

sky

In some stories, the gods Atea and

Tangaroa argued about the paternity

of Papa’s first child, each claiming to

be the father Papa cut the child in half

and gave half to each of them

In Hawaii, Papa is the wife of

Wakea (Atea) In some accounts, the

same as Fa’ahotu In Hervey Island,

Papa is the daughter of Timatekore

and Timaiti-Ngava and the wife of

Atea to whom she bore Rongo, Tane,

Tangaroa, Tanigila and Tongaiti

Papa-hanau-moku Pacific Islands

earth-goddess of Hawaii

wife of Wakea

mother of Ho’ohoku-ka-lania

She was the first woman and married

the mortal Wakea but separated from

him when he incestuously fathered

children on their own daughter

Ho’ohoku-ka-lani She later remarried

and had other children In some

stories, she bore a gourd which Wakea

used to make the world

[Oie]

a Haitian voodoo spirit derived

from St Peter

He is depicted as a soldier and is said

to be the cause of floods

Papa Taoto Pacific Islands

a rock raised from the sea-bed

by Tagaloa

The Samoans say that the sea-god

created this rock in the primordial

ocean so that his bird-child, Tuli,

could have somewhere to build a

nest Tagaloa later split this first rock

into many pieces to form the islands

of the Pacific

Papachtic Central American

an Aztec deity, the sun’s rayspersonified

an aspect of Quetzacoatl

a 19th Ccult worshipping the serpent Nakahi

[female=Mamaloi]

a voodoo priest

a snake

It was said that anyone holding a bone

of this snake became insensible toheat Part of the hilt of the Sword ofStrange Girdles was made from one ofits ribs

a princesssister of MontezumaSoon after she died and was buried,she was seen in the garden of thepalace by a young girl who told hermother The queen was shaken to findPapan apparently still alive and calledthe emperor It transpired that Papanhad been met, on the other side, by anangelic youth who told her that shewas not yet to cross the river butshould return to warn the emperorabout the forth coming invasion of the Spaniards

a moon-godWhen Aru Aru arrived, intending tokill this god, Papare explained thedetails of menstruation to him andsent him back to earth with a gift forhis people, the yam

[Papaja]

a Hattic fate-goddessShe and Isdustala used a mirror andspindle to determine the fate of the individual

[The Nerveless One]

a god of intoxicationone of the Centzon Totochtin

A sacrifice made to this god wouldensure that the drinker suffered

no more than a headache after getting drunk

a Hittite supreme god

Papposilenus (see Silenus)

Paps of Anu (see Da Chich nAnnan)

[Pap-sukal.Papsukkal]

a Babylonian messenger-godconsort of Amasagnul

In some accounts he is the same

as Ninshubur

She disguised herself as a man,travelled to Abelim and killed Yatpan,her brother’s murderer

demons of the Maya

[Bjara.Pukhis.Puk:=Estonian Pisuhand Puuk.Tulihand: =Lappish Smieragatto:

=Latvian Pukis: =Lithuanian Aitvaras Kaukas.Pukys:=Scandinavian Buttercat]

a Finnish spiritThis spirit, which a man can makefrom stolen objects, is said to supply its maker with food, drink and money

It sometimes takes the form of a catwhich carries milk in its mouth

or intestines (see also Puki)

parachero Central American

a Mexican sorcererPaort

paradise

home of the blessed dead

(see also Dar el-Jannah.

Fortunate Islands.heaven)

a tree which is the home of doveswhich can kill the evil dragon whichlives at the base of the tree

to appease the nymph’s spirit, he began

to prosper

a series of biographies by PlutarchThese stories dealt with Greek andRoman characters, real or mythical,

in pairs

the supreme beingThis name is used for the Trimurti, thetriple god, which represents thesupreme being

Paramapathanatha (see Adimurti)

a name for Surya as a creator

(see also Paramasva)

In some accounts, Ayur and Pariskaraare given as Paramita goddesses

a culture-hero of the tribes of Brazil

A fish he had caught turned into awoman who married Paraparawa Herfather, the crocodile, brought manyvegetables and fruits to the wedding-feast and those left over were planted

to produce the first cultivated crops

He is credited with the invention

He met Satyavati who, at that time,was in the form of a fish and theyproduced a son, Vyasa

It is said that he was born as Rama, son

of a Brahmin hermit, the rishi Agni, and was called Parashuramawhen Shiva gave him a battle-axe(Parashu) His father suspected hiswife, Renuka, of lustful thoughts andcommanded his five sons to kill her

Jamad-Only Parashurama was willing to obeyand he cut off her head with one blow

of the axe given to him by Shiva

When his father offered him a reward

he asked that Renuka be restored Hekilled Kartavirya, the 1,000-armedking of the Himalayas, for an attack

on his father’s hermitage and stealingthe sacred cow, Surabhi, or its calf

When the king’s twenty-one sonsmade a further attack, killing hisfather, Jamad-Agni, Parashuramakilled the whole kshatrya caste, thetask for which he had been re-incarnated, so that the priests couldrule the earth

At this point, Vishnu returned to theheavens leaving Parashurama to ruleMalabar

Parasu-Rama (see Parashurama)

Parasurama (see Parashurama)

[=Greek Moirae:=Norse Norns]

the Fates, Decuma, Morta and Nonadaughters of Ananke, some say

In some accounts, Parcae wasoriginally a goddess of childbirth

one of the 5 arrows carried by Kama

a high-class maidenShe fell in love with Hutu but he,knowing that he could never marrysuch a noble maiden, ran away, leavingher to die of grief Hutu then travelled

to the underworld and brought hersoul back to the land of the livingwhere she married him

a Tartar spirit of evil

Pari Penganten East Indian

the combination of Tresnawati and her husband as ‘the rice bride and bridegroom’

Tresnawati was turned into an ear ofrice when she came to earth to marry

a farmer and he became a rice-stalk sothat they were united Their wedding

is a popular annual Dayak rice-harvestfestival

a nymph

a sacred mountain in the Caribbean

In The Arabian Nights, she gave Ahmed

a wonderful tent and became his wife

a Peruvian hero

husband of Choque Suso

father of Huathiacuri

When the flood waters subsided, five

eggs on the high slopes of Mount

Condorcoto hatched to produce new

beings, one of whom was Paricaca

The other four produced falcons

which turned into great warriors

He went in search of the tyrant king

Huallallo and destroyed his whole

village, saving only one girl who had

given him a drink At another village

he met the girl Choque Suso who was

crying because the drought was killing

her maize crop He promised to get

water if she would love him and

enlisted the help of all the animals and

birds to irrigate the land and bring

water to the parched crops He

married Choque Suso and later turned

her into stone so that she could always

remain in the place she loved

In some accounts he is the same

as Pariacaca

[The Tree of Knowledge]

the tree of paradise

This tree was made of coral and could

produce any object asked of it It was

originally planted in Svarga, Indra’s

heaven, but was stolen by Krishna who

planted it in Dvaraka to please his

wife After his death, the tree was

returned to Svarga

It was the ninth thing to emerge

from the waters when the gods

churned the ocean to make amrita

(see also Parisadam)

a king

son of Abhimanyu and Uttara

father of Janamejaya

Ashvathaman killed Parikshit while

he was still in his mother’s womb and

he was still-born but Krishna gave

him life

When he insulted a hermit, the

snake-king Takshaka was invoked by

the hermit’s son With a group of

nagas in the form of monks, Takshaka

choked Parikshit to death and his

followers destroyed and burnt theking’s fortress which he had built in

a lake

Janamejaya avenged his father’s death

a lake said to exist in the mythicalland of Manoa

the state of one who has completedthe incarnation during which hereached Nirvana

Such a being will not be born again

a creator-god of the QuechaAfter the flood receded, five menhatched from eggs left on top of amountain Parioca was one of thesebeings and he travelled the countrysidechanging the landscape and makingwater-channels When some peoplemistook him for a vagrant, hedestroyed the whole village

a king of France

He was a friend of King Arthur whohelped in the quest of Culhwch for thehand of Olwen

[Alexander.Alexandros.Alexandrus]

a prince of Troyson of Priam and Hecubabrother of Deiphobos and Hectorfather of Corythus by OenoneHis mother, pregnant with Paris,dreamed that she would bear a torchthat would burn down the city or amonster which would destroy it Theprophet, Aesacus, interpeted this tomean that the boy would cause thedeath of his family and the loss of Troyand so his parents abandoned him onMount Ida He was suckled by a she-bear, sheltered by the shepherd,Agelaus, and survived to manhoodwhen he was returned to his parents

When he was asked to judge abeauty contest between the threegoddesses Aphrodite, Athene andHera, he awarded the prize, a goldenapple, to Aphrodite because shepromised him access to the mostbeautiful girl in the world – Helen,wife of Menelaus He abandoned hiswife, the nymph Oenone, who lovedhim, in the hope of winning Helenand returned to Troy where he wasreunited with his parents whoprovided the ships for his expedition

to Greece There he was a welcomeguest of Menelaus but when the king

was absent, Paris abducted Helen andtook her off to Troy In the Trojan Warthat resulted from this abduction, hemet Menelaus in single combat andwould have been killed had notAphrodite carried him back to safety inthe city His son, Corythus, came tofight at Troy and, when Helen fell inlove with the youth, Paris killed him

He later shot and killed Achilles fromthe city walls, the arrow striking theGreek hero in the only vulnerablespot, his ankle

Another version of the death ofAchilles says that Polyxena, who wasgiven to Achilles as a prize, persuadedthe Greek hero to divulge the secret ofhis vulnerable heel Polyxena then toldher brother Paris, and he stabbedAchilles in the heel at the wedding

of Achilles and Polyxena After thedeath of Achilles, Paris was shot andwounded by Philotoctes usingHeracles’ bow and was carried toOenone who was reputed to know of adrug that would save Paris but she, stillangry at being deserted, just let him die

[Tellerio-Remensis Codex]

a manuscript source of Mayan legendand culture

a tree said to grow only in heaven

(see also Parijata)

sacred writings summarising the vedas

a goddessone of the Paramita goddesses

In some accounts Parjanya is envisaged

as a celestial cow This beast is theembodiment of the rain-clouds, hermilk forming the rain

In some accounts, he was laterassimilated with Indra

Parjanya-vata (see Parjanya)

[Armenia.Armenie]

the realm of Rivalin

In other versions, this country becomesErmenia

Parmeson (see Bhagwan1)Paribanou

In some accounts she is equatedwith Pishashas and Pukkasi.

She is depicted as having threeheads, three eyes and six arms

a Brahmin

He was a counsellor to King Bhimawho sent him out with a hundredothers to find the missing Nala,husband of the king’s daughter,Damayanti Parnada found him,working as a charioteer to KingRituparna, and the couple werereunited

Parnasabari (see Parna-Savari)

Parnassavari (see Parna-Savari)

a malevolent Finnish forest-spirit

a deity of Kei Islandbrother of Hian

He lost the fish-hook of his elderbrother, Hian, who got it back when itwas returned to him by a fish WhenHian spilled some palm wine, Parparamade him dig a hole to find it He dug

so deep that he made a hole in the sky

Both the brothers, together withanother brother and a sister,accompanied by four dogs, descendedthrough the hole on a rope and camedown to earth where they became theprogenitors of the islanders

a log with an axe since it would kill twoserpents inside His grandfatherignored the warning and Parshva had

to restore the snakes, one as Anantathe other as Lakshmi, by singinghymns Following his grandfather’sexample, he became an ascetic andfinally starved himself to death

Parshvanatha (see Parshva)

[Parsival.Parzifal.Perceval.

Percival.Perseval]

a guileless youthfather of Lohengrin

In the Wagnerian story of the HolyGrail he innocently shot a swan in thegrounds of the Temple of the Grail

The keeper allowed him to watch theknights at prayer and he resolved toregain the Sacred Spear which had beenseized from Amfortas, the guardian ofthe Grail, by the evil magician Klingsor

He resisted the temptations of themaiden, Kundry, in Klingsor’s garden

of delights and took the spear fromKlingsor, using it to banish him and allhis works from the face of the earth

After wandering for many years hefinally found his way back to theTemple where he cured the wound ofAmfortas by laying on the SacredSpear and he became the guardian ofthe Holy Grail in place of Amfortas

Parsival (see Parsifal1.Percival)

the first womanconsort of ManuShe was created, some say, from thedrink that Manu offered to the godswhen he survived the flood; others saythat she was created from his rib

His mother was taken up to Olympusand he was abandoned on a mountain

Artemis found him and handed himover to the Amazons who reared him

He faced Actor at the BorrhaeanGate in the battle at Thebes and waskilled by Periclymenus who crushedhim with rocks

one of the SirensWhen Odysseus and his crew failed tosuccumb to her charms and escaped,she drowned herself in despair

daughter of Stymphalusmother of Everes by Heracles

He had killed his parents in Greece,expecting to take over their kingdom.When he did not become king, hesailed for Ireland with his followersand settled there after defeating theFomoire at the Battle of Magh nIotha

On one occasion, while he was awayfrom home, his wife had an affair withTogda, his servant

In some accounts, Dealgnaid was hismother rather than his wife, andNemed was his father or his brother

Partholians (see Partholanians)

a princenephew of the king of Francehusband of Melior

The story of Parthonopeus and Melior

is that of Cupid and Psyche, with theroles reversed

A queen, Melior, decided that shewanted to marry Parthonopeus andsent a magic ship which took him to afabulous palace in Chief D’Oire where

he was waited on by invisible hands Bynight, Melior came to his bed butdecreed that he must never see heruntil they were married Inevitably hebroke the rule and was banished

Parthonopeus

Later, he took part in a great

tourn-ament and, as victor of the games, won

the queen’s hand

son of Espinogee

His father had been killed by Goon

Desert and Partinal killed Goon Desert

with the Grail Sword which shattered

One of the objects of the Grail Quest

was the repair of this sword He was

himself killed by Percival

(see also Nascien1)

the Hindu goddess adopted into

the Buddhist pantheon as

a name of Devi as ‘the mountaineer’

a mild form of Durga

daughter of Himavan and Mena

sister of Vishnu

wife of Shiva

mother of Ganesha and Skanda

Shiva’s first wife, Sati, immolated herself

but was later reborn as Parvati When

Shiva deplored her dark skin, Brahma

transformed her into Gauri, ‘the Yellow

Devi’ Some say that it was Gauri who

was burned to death to become Sati

Another version says that Brahma

created Gauri as a wife for Rudra

She, or Uma, once covered Shiva’s

eyes, putting the world in darkness,

and he then developed a third eye in

his forehead

In one story, Shiva banished her to

earth as a fisher-girl and then sent

Nandu in the form of a shark to

destroy the fishermen’s nets The

foster-father of Parvati offered her as

wife to any man who could kill the

shark and Shiva was able to win back

his wife by appearing in the form of a

young man and catching the shark

She is sometimes depicted with four

arms or with an elephant’s head

the Balinese version of Parvati

an aspect of Uma as goddess oftapas (see also Prawati)

Parytholon (see Partholan)

Pasabhrit (see Pashabhrit)

Aphrodite as queen of the underworld,

‘the shining one’

Paschent sent one of his men, Eopa, to penetrate the court indisguise where he found Aurelius illand poisoned him Uther defeatedPaschent’s forces, killing both him andGilloman

[pasa]

a noose, a symbol of Bhairava

In some versions, Durga is depictedholding a noose

[Pasabhrit]

a name of Varuna as ‘he who carries

a noose’ (see also Pasi)

P’ashajan’a North American

[=Pueblo Poseyemu:=Tigua Puspiyama:

a trickster-god of the Creek Indians

daughter of Helius and Crete or Perse

sister of Circewife of Minosmother of Acacallis, Androgeus,Ariadne, Deucalion, Glaucus and Phaedra

mother of Amphithemis by Apollomother of Miletus by Apollo, some say

mother of Deucalion by Prometheus,some say

She fell irrationally in love with thewhite bull that Poseidon sent at thebehest of Minos to prove that he wasthe rightful heir to the throne ofCrete Daedalus fashioned a hollowwooden cow in which she concealedherself to mate with the bull Theoutcome of the union was themonstrous bull-headed Minotaur.Pasiphae, together with Minos and theMinotaur retreated to the Labyrinth, atortuous maze constructed by Dae-dalus to contain the monster WhenMinos imprisoned Daedalus and hisson Icarus in the Labyrinth, it wasPasiphae who released them to maketheir famous escape on wings made byDaedalus

In some accounts, Europa was themother of the Minotaur

(see also Pasiphae2.Selene)

a Cretan moon-goddessPartinal

She was said to be the mother of a calfwhich changed colour from white tored to black each day

In some accounts, she is the same asPasiphae, wife of Minos

Pasiphaessa (see Pasaphaessa)

He was an ancestor of Merlin and, as

a child, was said to have visited hell

As a man, he killed Bruyant to avengehis father

a horse of King Arthur

[Patali:=Hindu Patala]

the underworldThis realm, ruled by Maiyarab, can bereached by sliding down inside thehollow stalk of the lotus

[Put:=Thai Patal]

the underworld, a place of many pleasuresPatala has seven distinct regions,known as Atala, Mahatala, Nitala (orPatala), Rasatala, Sutala, Talatala andVitala, each ruled by its own king

Beneath these realms are the various

hells and Sesha the serpent thatsupports the world

Others describe Patala as a nificent house, home of the Asuras

mag-(see also underworld)

one of the lords of Xibalba

the birthplace of Apollo, some say

the disc of the sun held by Vishnu

an Aztec god of medicinehusband of Mayahuel

In some accounts, this deity is one ofthe gods of intoxication, the CentzonTotochtin, and is said to havediscovered peyote

a Babylonian prince-priest

the way to Nirvana

Patinaya Nei Pacific Islands

a Tupari spirit of the underworldThis shaman greets all souls arriving inthe land of the dead, restores theirsight and refreshes them with a drink

of beer He then presents them to the giants, Mpokalero and Vaugh’eh,with one or other of whom they arerequired to have intercourse

husband of Alaghom Naum

[Patollo]

a Prussian god of the underworld

nephew of Hagen

He was one of the party sent byGunther and Hagen to kill Waltherand Hildegunde but was himself killed

In his youth he was said to haverestored to life his dying sister and hisdead foster-father and performedmany other miracles such as turningicicles into firewood

When he came to Ireland fromBritain, he spent some time as a slave

of Milius He offended the high-king,Laoghaire, and, in an argument withthe king’s druids, killed one of themnamed Lochru Another druid, LucatMoel, tried unsuccessfully to poisonhim and was burnt to death in acontest of magic with the saint

He turned into a fox a man,Coroticus, who had imprisoned some

of the saint’s followers and restored

to life a dead servant of the tyrant, Mac Goill

It is said that he was accompanied

by an angel named Victor and isgenerally supposed to have banishedsnakes from Ireland

It is said that he met Cailte or Oisinwho told him the history of the Fiannaand other ancient lore, all of which was written down by the saint’s scribe, Brogan

one of the 2 pillars (the other is Brigit)said to support the island

son of King Arthur

to repeat the trick One of thegoddesses fell in love with the cat and

Patripatan

Peace Frodi

kept him in heaven for 300 years He

then returned to earth carrying a

whole branch of the sacred tree

At a dinner given by Guinevere for

twenty-four of her knights, Pinel

planted a poisoned apple intended for

Gawain who had killed his cousin

Lamerock The apple was eaten by

Patrise who died on the spot Mador

accused the queen of murder and she

was saved from the stake only by the

intervention of Lancelot who killed

Mador in single combat

He inadvertently killed another

youth, Clytonymus, over a dice game

and was purified by Peleus He

became a close friend of Achilles and,

when Achilles sulked in his tent at the

siege of Troy, refusing to fight after a

quarrel with Agamemnon, Patroclus

put on the armour of Achilles and led

a fresh attack on the city He killed

Sarpedon but was wounded by

Euphorbus He then came face to face

with Hector and was killed His death

spurred Achilles back into action

Ostiak spirits

These beings are the restless spirits of

children who have been killed

a mother-goddess in Ceylon

a guardian of marriage

She was a mortal who was wrongly

executed for theft and later deified

In another account, she was born

when a sacred arrow was fired into a

mango

[=Hindu apsarases:=Japanese yosei:

=Persian peris:=Turkish houris]

fairies

Pau-puk-keewis North American

a sorcerer who changed into a beaver

and, later, into an eagle

[Pauahtuns]

a Mayan god

He was envisaged as having four aspects,each supporting one corner of theworld

In some accounts, the namePauahtuns is regarded as that of a group

of four gods (see also Bacabs)

brother of Radool and YelitzaPaul’s wife, jealous of her husband’saffection for his sister, Yelitza, stabbedhis horse, killed his falcons, and finallykilled their own child, blaming it all

on Yelitza Paul had Yelitza killed,pulled apart by horses, and a churcharose on the spot A disease thenaffected his wife and she begged to betaken to the church to be cured

Rejected by a mysterious voice, shethen allowed herself to be killed in thesame fashion but, where she died, afoul lake formed

a pastoral tale by Bernadin de St PierreThis story, about a pair of lovers raised

in Mauritius, is based on the classictale of Daphnis and Chloe

raped by Drumalika but her husbandagreed to rear the boy as his own

a deity, panic personified

a medicine manThese sorcerers act as mediums,prophets, controllers of weather, curers

of sickness and are consulted beforeone embarks on any new project

(see also bomor)

[=West Indies Zume]

a Paraguayan sun-god

He taught his people the arts ofagriculture and the chase

black beetles: supernatural spirits ofthe Toba Indians

[Payatamu]

a harvest-god of the Hopi and Zuni tribes

He sometimes appeared in the form of

a tiny flute-player or a butterfly whichfertilised plants

a culture-hero or god of ague

in Brazil

Paymon

[Pagimon]

one of the Cardinal demons (west)

He may be the same as Paimon

of wings

a fiendpatron of sorcerers (see also Bihar)

one of the 5 Appiades

Patrise

Peace Queen

Peace Queen (see Genetaska)

Peace Stead (see Breidablik)

the bird sacred to Juno

[peai-man.piache]

a witch-doctor in Guiana

Pean (see Apollo.Asclepius.Paeon)

pearl

a lustrous deposit found in the oyster or other molluscsThis object is valued as a semi-preciousjewel and appears in many myths

In Borneo, they say that if a pearl isplaced in a bottle with some grains ofrice and the finger of a dead man is used

as a stopper, more pearls will appear

In China, it was said that somedragons could spit out pearls and, ifdragons fought in the heavens, pearlscould fall like rain

Hindus say that pearls can be found

in the head or stomach of elephants

Some say that pearls lose their lustrewith age, others that they become dull

if the owner is ill

Pearl powdered and dissolved inlemon juice, to form salt of pearl, wassaid to cure certain illnesses or act as

an antidote to poison

Pearl of Beauty (see Fand)

Pearly Emperor (see Yü Huang)

the manitou of winter, in Algonquian lore

father of Goewin

Pebble-rattler North American

a wind-god of the Haida people

[King of Sessoyne.King of Tars.

King of the Lake]

This person appears in some of thestories of King Arthur under variousother names

a culture-hero of the cowboys

He taught the cowboys all they needed

to know, invented the six-shooter and,like Paul Bunyan, is said to havecreated the Grand Canyon

wife of Cranausmother of Athos and Cranae

son of BedivereHis son was also called Bedivere

a prince in the Philippineshusband of ChonguitaChonguita was a monkey-woman andPedro married her with greatreluctance As soon as they were wed,she turned into a beautiful woman

[Aganippe.Pegasos:=Hindu Pagas]

the winged horse of Apollothe horse of the MusesThis animal, fathered by Poseidon,sprang from the blood of Medusawhen she was decapitated by Perseus

It was ridden by Bellerophon when hekilled the Chimaera and, in someaccounts, Perseus rode Pegasus when

he rescued Andromeda from the monster It also carried thethunderbolts used by Zeus

sea-It is said that the fountainHippocrene, on Mount Helicon, sprangfrom one of the horse’s hoof-prints

pegomancy

divination from fountains and springs

a culture-hero of the Maidu Indians

the Great Bear constellation regarded

as the emperor’s chariot

in his quest for the hand of Olwen

(see also Melyn Granwyn.

At his wedding to Hippodamia, thedrunken Centaurs tried to rape thewomen attending the ceremony, sostarting the long-runing feud betweenthe Centaurs and the Lapitha

After the death of Hippodamia hehelped Theseus in the abduction ofHelen Theseus won when they drewlots for Helen and accompaniedPeirithous to Tartarus to demandPersephone as a bride for the loser.They were both trapped by Hades

in the Chair of Forgetfulness and although Theseus was rescued

by Hercules, Peirithous was doomedforever

In some versions, only Theseus wastrapped in the chair while Peirithouswas bound to the revolving wheel towhich Ixion had been bound

Some say that he was killed by the

Peirithous

dog Cerberus, while other versions of

the story say that the earth opened and

swallowed him

In Taiwanese lore, king of the island

of Maurigasma

He received a warning that when the

temple images of the gods Awun and

Infoniwoo changed to red, the flood

would come and he was able to board

a ship and escape

[Pisonoe]

one of the Sirens

father of Ixion, some say

the lightning-dog of the Maya

in some Italian stories, the fairy

castle of Morgan le Fay

Pelado Peak North American

a sacred mountain of the Navaho

Rock Crystal Boy and Rock Crystal

Girl were set on the top of this peak by

Atse Estsan and Atse Hastin

son of Asopus and Metope

brother of Ismenus and 20 sisters

king of Phocis

It was in the herds of this king that

Cadmus found the cow that led him to

the site of Thebes

father of Lycaon

He was said to have emerged from thesoil and became the ancestor of theearly Greek Pelasgi

In some accounts, an ancientprincess, ancestress of numerous tribes

a king of Argosson of Agenorbrother of Iasius

He helped Danaus in his struggle withthe fifty sons of Aegyptus who invadedhis kingdom seeking to kill Danaus butinstead married his fifty daughters

on Hawaii It is said that the earlierexcavations are the volcano craters ofthe Pacific region

Another story says that shechallenged a chief, Kahawali, to arace down the slope of a volcano onwooden sledges and erupted in furywhen she lost The winner escaped

by boat

Her first husband deserted her foranother woman and Pele married thechieftain Lahiau She left him soonafter the wedding to prepare a newhome but the message to say that itwas ready took so long to reach himthat he died He was restored to lifeand set off with his attendants to go toPele but once again it took so long thatPele lost patience and killed them allwith fire

Another variation says that she sent Hiiaka to rescue his soul from the underworld When Lahiau wasrestored to life, he fell in love withHiiaka so the jealous Pele poured lava

over him and he died again When hewas once again restored to life by KaneHoalani, Pele repented and gave him

up to Hiiaka

a Finnish water-spiritThis being floated on its back as ifdrowning Those who attemptedrescue were attacked and killed

[‘doves’]

priestesses tending the oracle of Zeus

at Dodona

Peleias (see Pelian spear.Pelias2)

a spiritSorcerers are said to be able to evokesuch a spirit, using the tongue of anewly dead baby, and use it inassociation with a polang against theirenemies as a blood-sucking insect like

He and his brother Telamon killedtheir half-brother, Phocus, and wereexiled to Phthia by their father

He was purified by the king,Eurytion, whose daughter Antigone hemarried, but he accidentally killedEurytion during the hunt for theCalydonian boar This time he waspurified by Acastus, king of Iolcus,whose wife Hippolyta (or Astydamia)accused him of rape Acastus tried toavenge this insult by taking his swordwhen Peleus fell asleep during a huntbut Peleus was saved from theCentaurs by Chiron and returned tothe court where he killed both Acastusand Hippolyta

In some accounts, the womanaccusing Peleus was Cretheis and itwas her husband who abandoned himduring the hunt

Advised by Chiron, he caughtThetis asleep in a cave and held herthrough many shape-changes until sheagreed to marry him At his weddingPeiroun

Zeus later gave him an army ofMyrmidons and he seized the throne

of Phthia He set off to welcome hisgrandson Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus),safely returned from the Trojan War,and died in the journey

[Pell(e)am.Pelleham.Pelle(h)an.

Pellehen]

a king of Listinoiseson of Pelles, some saybrother of Gorlan

He arranged a tournament for hisknights at which Balin turned uplooking for Gorlan When Gorlanchallenged him, Balin killed him andcut off his head so Pelham attackedBalin with a battle-axe, breakingBalin’s sword Balin ran away to findanother weapon and came upon aroom where there lay the perfectlypreserved body of an old man and astrange spear, the Holy Lance Balinseized the spear and used it to killPelham

Some accounts refer to this spearstroke as the Dolorous Stroke, othersreserve the name for the sword-strokethat killed Lambor

In some accounts, he is the same as

Pellimore (see also Fisher King.

[Peleias]

a king of Lyonessefather of LuciusPelias invaded Cornwall and Thanorthe king enlisted the help of the Irish

As a result, Cornwall was required topay an annual tribute until Tristramdefeated Morholt

Pelias 2 (see Pelian spear)

[Peleias]

king of Iolcusson of Poseidon and Tyrotwin brother of Neleushusband of Anaxibiafather of Acastus, Alcestis, Amphinoneand Evadne

Tyro was the wife of Cretheus and,when he found out about her affairwith Poseidon, he abandoned her andtook her maid Sidero in her place

Tyro’s twin sons by Poseidon wereabandoned but they were found andreared by horse-herders Sidero, whenshe married Cretheus, was very cruel

to Tyro and when the twins were oldenough they set out to avenge her withthe result that Pelias killed Sidero

Another version says that Siderowas the second wife of Tyro’s father,Salmoneus, and hence her stepmother

He later deposed Aeson andPolymele and took over the throne ofIolcus When their son Jason laterclaimed the throne, he offered to give it up if Jason would fetch theGolden Fleece from Colchis WhileJason was away, his parents committed suicide and Pelias killedtheir young son Promachus

Jason returned with the GoldenFleece bringing with him Medea, thesorceress She bewitched two of thedaughters of Pelias into killing him,cutting him up and boiling him in thebelief that, by this means, he would

The Greeks regarded it as theenemy of the quail and, in Hebrewlore, it was said to be a bird of ill-omen

a name of Achilles as ‘son of Peleus’

[Great Dentalium]

the personification of the shell-money

of the Yurok tribe

He and his companion, Tego’o, came

to California from the north

Pellam (see Fisher King.

Pelham.Pelles)

a Knight of the Round Tablehusband of Nimue

At a tournament where he defeated

500 knights in three days, Pelleas fellhopelessly in love with Ettard who hadorganised the contest When sherejected his advances, he made anuisance of himself and she sent herknights against him He unhorsed ten

in quick succession but then allowedhimself to be tied under the belly of hishorse and taken prisoner so that hecould catch just another glimpse of his beloved As soon as he was released,

he did the same again Gawain tried tohelp by going to Ettard in the armour

of Pelleas and telling her that he wasdead but the ploy failed when Gawainseduced Ettard and stayed with her forsome time Pelleas, heart-broken, took

to his bed and went into decline.Nimue found him in this state and put

a spell on Ettard causing her to fall inlove with Pelleas She then bewitchedPelleas who rejected Ettard with scorn.Nimue then stayed with Pelleas fortheir lifetime In some versions, theymarried

He was guardian of the Holy Grailwho had been made lame for his sins

In one story, he found a ship covered

in white samite, the ship that was laterfound by Galahad and his twocompanions in the Grail quest, andwent aboard When he tried to drawthe sword of King Hurlane which hefound there, a spectral spear piercedhim through both thighs

A similar story is told of bothNascien and Parlan

To ensure a follower worthy oflearning the secrets of the Grail, heused a magic potion to deceiveLancelot into thinking that Elaine wasGuinevere The result of their unionwas the boy Galahad

Pelles

When Galahad reached the Grail at

the end of his quest, he heard a voice

from heaven telling him to anoint

Pelles with blood from the Holy

Lance This washed away his sins and

healed his wounds

Pelles spent the last years of his life

in a monastery (see also Amfortas.

king of the Isles

a Knight of the Round Table

father of Aglovale, Alan, Dornar,

Driant, Elaine, Lamerock, Melodiam,

Nimue, Percival and Torre

He issued a challenge to all-comers,

killing Miles and badly wounding

Griflet He then jousted with King

Arthur and defeated him Merlin put a

spell on Pellimore to save the king’s

life He was later welcomed at the

king’s court and given a place of

honour at the Round Table At

Arthur’s wedding feast, he was sent to

find the knight who had ridden into

the hall and forcefully made off with

Nimue who had entered just before to

claim the white bitch which had

chased a white stag into the hall He

passed a damsel nursing a wounded

knight but refused to stop and help

her When he found the lady, he found

two knights fighting – Ontelake who

had carried her off and Meliot, her

cousin He killed Ontelake and Meliot

surrendered without a fight He took

Nimue back to Camelot and, on the

way, saw the dead bodies of the

damsel and the knight he had failed

to help It turned out that the girl was

Elaine, his own daughter by the Lady

of Rule, and the knight was her lover,

Myles; they had both been attacked

by Loraine le Sauvage as they travelled

to Camelot to be married

He was one of those who pursued

the Questing Beast without success

He killed Lot and was himself killed

by Gawain, Lot’s son

In some accounts, he is referred to

as the Rich Fisher, is wounded in the

thighs and is equated with Pelles; some

describe him as the brother of Pelles;

others equate him with Pelham

[Pelopea]

a priestessdaughter of Thyestes mother of AegisthusHer father raped her and she latermarried her uncle Atreus who raisedthe child of that union with her father,

a boy called Aegisthus, as his own

When she found out that the maskedman who had raped her was her ownfather she killed herself with hissword

king of Pisason of Tantalus and Dionebrother of Niobehusband of Euryanessa

or Hipppodamia father of Alcathous, Astydamia, Atreus,Chrysippus, Copreus, Epidaurus,Lysidice, Nicippe, Pittheus, Sicyon,Troezen and Thyestes

When Tantalus found himself short offood at a banquet he had laid on forthe gods, he killed his son Pelops, cuthim up and served him in a stew Theonly one to eat any of the portions wasDemeter (or Thetis, some say) who atethe shoulder The gods restoredPelops to wholeness with Demetercontributing a new shoulder made ofivory and Poseidon carried therestored youth off to Olympus

He fell in love with Hippodamiaand won her hand after beating herfather, Oenomaus, in a chariot race,driving a magic chariot given to him

by Poseidon Pelops had promised toallow Myrtilus, her father’s charioteer,

to sleep with Hippodamia, sopersuading Myrtilus to sabotage herfather’s chariot When it broke down,Pelops killed Oenomaus but after-wards reneged on his promise toMyrtilus and kicked him into the sea

Purified by Hephaestus he assumedthe throne of Pisa

On his death he was taken up toOlympus as an immortal Some say

that he was carried off by Poseidon to

twin brother of Faro

He was made from the void and thencreated the world He came down toearth as the seed from which an acaciatree grew He made the first woman,Musso-koroni, from the wood of thetree and mated with her to generatemen and animal life She plantedPemba in the earth only for his brother,Faro the water-god, to dig him up

(see also Faro1.2)

[Pephredo.‘spiteful’]

one of the Graiae

a name of Pwyll as ‘head of Hades’, The name he assumed during his one-year tenure as king of the underworldwhen he exchanged roles with Arawn

a blood-sucking demon or witch

It is said that these demons are womenwho, by witchcraft, leave their bodies

by night in the form of a disembodiedhead trailing intestines

daughter of Beli and Donsecond wife of Llyrwife of Euroswyddmother of Bran, Branwen andManawyddan by Llyrmother of Efnisien and Nisien

by EuroswyddSome say that she was Beli’s sisterrather than his daughter In someversions, she was the first wife of Llyr;others say Iweriadd was his first wifeand mother of Bran and Branwen Shelater married Euroswydd

In some accounts, she was anancestress of King Arthur

wife of Owain

[Di Magni.Di Penates]

household gods of the larderSome say these deities were broughtfrom Troy by Aeneas; some say theyare Castor and Pollux; some identifythem with the Cabeiri

Pellimore

Penates of the Thunderer

Penates of the Thunderer Italian

a group of great Etruscan gods

Some accounts say that King Arthuralso assumed this title which meanschief or leader

(see also Uther Pendragon)

the home of Breunor and Maladisant

son of Hippalcimusone of the Argonauts

Odysseus won her as his wife in afoot-race

When her son, Telemachus, was just

a baby, Odysseus went off to fight inthe siege of Troy He was away fortwenty years, the last ten of whichwere spent wandering at the whim ofthe gods

Many men came to woo her, sayingthat Odysseus must surely be dead,and they refused to leave, slowly eatingher out of house and home Shepromised to give them an answer whenshe had finished a robe (or shroud) shewas making but by night she unpickedall she had done by day so that it wasnever finished

In one account, Penelope, believingthat her husband was dead, threwherself into the sea but was saved

by ducks

When Odysseus finally came back,she contrived to get his bow andarrows to him and he very quicklydisposed of the unwelcome guests

They had a second son, Ptoliporthes

One story says that Telegonus, a son

of Odysseus by Circe, killed Odysseus,not knowing that he was killing hisown father, and then took Penelopeand Telemachus to Aeaea where hemarried a miraculously youthfulPenelope, fathering Italus, andTelemachus married Circe

Yet another story says that she hadbeen unfaithful to Odysseus and wasthe mother of Pan by Hermes

Penelope 2 (see Dryope1)

by air since the seas around it wouldnot support a boat

In later years, the Celestial Emperorhad the islands anchored by hugetortoises and guarded by Yü-chiang

(see also Fortunate Islands3)

a mountain in the paradise P’eng-lai

the Chinese version of the rocThis huge bird is said to carry the sky

or his fifty-four sons

(see also Shou Shen)

[Penthesileia]

queen of the Amazonsdaughter of Ares by OtrereShe fought on the side of the Trojans

in the siege of Troy and was killed byAchilles who mourned her death.Some say that she had a son, Caistus,

He took over the throne when hisgrandfather, Cadmus, resigned.When he tried to prevent Dionysusfrom inducing the women of Thebes

to join his drunken revels and dressed

as a woman to spy on them, theMaenads went berserk and tore himapart, led by his own mother, Agave,who pulled off his head

sick-People of Dana (see Danaans)

People of Morodo (see Masi)

People of the Sun (see Mlangeri)

Peopling Vine Pacific Islands

the vine planted by Tangaroa atcreation and from which the humanrace sprang

a god of the Yuracari tribe

[Pepin II.Pepin d’Heristal]

(d 714)king of the Franksfather of Charles Martel

Pepin

Percival de Gales

[Pepin III.Pepin the Short]

(715-768)

king of the Franks

son of Rother and Oda

brother of Carloman

husband of Aliste and Bertha

father of Andri and Remfré by

Aliste

father of Carloman and Charlemagne

by Bertha

He was betrothed to marry Bertha but

her old nurse, Magiste, substituted her

own daughter, Aliste, and she became

queen When the deception was

exposed some years later, Bertha, who

had meanwhile sheltered with Pepin’s

cowherd, Symon, and his wife

Constance, was installed in her proper

position

In some accounts he was said to

have abducted his nephew Valentine,

brother of Charlot and Louis

[=Bulgarian Perusan:=Estonin Piker:

=Lithuanian Perkunos:=Polish Piorun:

=Prussia Perkonis:=Russan Pyerun:

=Serbian Gromoit:=Slav Peroon]

a Bohemian thunder-god

[The Black Knight]

a knight

This knight was killed by Gareth

when he rode to the assistance of the

He was originally Betis, a man given

the throne of Britain by Alexander the

Great He killed a magician called

Damart and became known as

Perceforest thereafter He founded a

knightly order, the Knights of the

Franc Palais, but when Bethides

married Circe, she brought the

Roman invaders who broke up the

order and conquered Britain He and

his brother Gaddifer then retired to

the Isle of Life

a 14th Chistory of Britain in

which Alexander the Great is

said to have invaded the country

and installed Perceforest as king

a 13th Cstory of Percival’s adventureswritten by Boron

Perceval 2 (see Conte de Graal)

Perceval 3 (see Parsifal.

Percival Peredur)

the Dutch name for Percival

Perchtennacht (see Berchtennacht)

=Dutch Perchevael:=Welsh Peredur]

a knight of King Arthur’s courtson of Pellimore

brother of Aglovale, Dindrane and Lamerock

father of twin boys, Kardiez andLohenergrain, and a girl, Aribadale,

by CondwiramurHis parentage is variously described

Some say his father was Alan,Bliocadran, Efrawg, Evelake,Gahmuret, Gales, Greloguevaus,Julian or Percival; his mother isAchefleur, Herzeloyde, Philosophine

or Yglais; his sisters Agrestizia andDindrane

Reared in isolation, he yearned to

be a knight and left home at an earlyage to seek his fortune He was given

a bracelet by the wife of Orilus andsoon met his cousin, Sigune, weepingover the body of her husband,Schionatulander, killed by the RedKnight Percival killed the murdererand took his horse and armour Helearned the skills of his trade at thehands of Gurnemans and set off toseek adventure

In some accounts, these are twoseparate events In the first, Percivalkilled the Red Knight, who had stolen

a golden goblet from Camelot, takinghis horse and armour; in the second,the killer of Sigune’s husband (orlover) turned out to be Orgelleuse (orOrilus) and Percival defeated him andsent him to Arthur’s court

Hearing that Condwiramur, thequeen of Brobarz, was in trouble, he

rode to her aid, killed the besiegingenemies and married her, fathering ason, Lohenergrain He left after awhile to look for his mother, notknowing that she was dead

In some stories, he came to theGrail Temple where he found thewounded Amfortas but failed to askthe one question that would haveended his suffering He was latertricked into fighting Gawain on behalf

of Gramoflanz but spared his life whenItonje, Gawain’s sister, pleaded withhim He came to a hermit’s cell whereTrevrezent told him that he could cureAmfortas, his brother, if he asked theright question It is said that he set off

to find Amfortas again and waschallenged by a knight who turned out

to be his half-brother, Feirefiz, whojoined him in his quest When theyfound Amfortas, he was made wholeagain when Percival asked what ailedhim Then Titurel appeared andcrowned Percival as the guardian ofthe Holy Grail

He drove off the nine Hags ofGloucester who were harassing theLady of the Castle and spent threeweeks with her before Arthurpersuaded him to return to Camelot.One of the hags turned up at Camelotand said that the Lady of the Castlewas now a prisoner in the Fortress ofMarvels Percival set off to the rescuebut was trapped in the Tall Tower Themaster’s daughter released him and hedrove off the attackers sent by the hags

to kill him At the Fortress of Marvels,Percival killed the guards and cut offthe head of a unicorn The headbecame a rider on a skeleton horsewhich disappeared in dust and smokewhen Percival struck it with his sword

He killed the leader of the hags andthe others turned to grease puddles.The Lady of the Castle had dis-appeared from the world of mortalsand Percival returned to Camelotempty-handed In the parallel story ofPeredur, the hags are the witches

of Caer Llyw

He joined in the search for Lancelotwhen he went mad and disappearedfrom Camelot In one story, it is said

he and Ector found him at CastleBliant and persuaded him to return toCamelot

He joined the other knights in thequest for the Holy Grail Both he andLancelot fought a knight who turnedPepin

out to be Galahad in disguise WhenLancelot rode after Galahad, Percivalwent to the nearby home of ananchoress who turned out to be hisaunt, the former Queen of the WasteLand, who advised him on his futurecourse He arrived at a monasterywhere he saw King Evelake who hadlain wounded and almost blind for 400years, awaiting the arrival of Galahad

Leaving, he was attacked by a group ofknights (goblins in some versions)who killed his horse and would havekilled Percival if Galahad had notappeared on the scene and routed theattackers

In one version, he came to a riverand fell asleep When he awoke, hefound himself on an island populated

by wild animals and snakes A blackship arrived bearing a damsel dressed

in black velvet who offered to leadhim to Galahad if he would becomeher lover When he refused, she andthe ship disappeared to be replaced by

a white ship Another version says that

he arrived at the sea just as the whiteship came in carrying a lovely damselwith whom he fell in love Sheinduced him to go to bed with her but

he rejected her at the last minute tokeep himself pure for the Grail Quest

Later he met Bors and they weresoon joined by Galahad, who wasguided by Percival’s sister, Dindrane,and they sailed together on their questfor the Grail They found a desertedship and went aboard Galahad tookthe sword he found there and theyreturned to their own ship whichcarried them to Castle Carteloise

Here a woman lay sick who could becured only by the blood of a virgin

Dindrane gave her blood but died as aresult At her request, Percival placedher body in a boat and cast it adrift

All three rode to Castle Carbonek,home of the Maimed King, where theywere vouchsafed a sight of the HolyGrail The three then took the Grailand the Holy Lance to Sarras in theHoly Land where they found the shipbearing the body of Percival’s sisterwhich they buried All three wereimprisoned by the king, Esterause, but

he released them and asked theirforgiveness when he lay dying

Galahad was made king but died about

a year later Percival entered ahermitage and lived there until he toodied about a year after Galahad

In some versions, Percival, ratherthan Agloval, was the father ofMoriaen

(see also Dodinel.Parsifal.Peredur)

son of Temenusbrother of Archelaus, Creisus and Hyrnetho

His sister Hyrnetho marriedDeiphontes and, when Temenusshowed that he preferred his son-in-law to his own sons, they killed him

a Polynesian sea-goddessdaughter of Haumeadaughter of Tahinariki, some saywife of Wahiroa

She is said to have created the seas bypouring water from a jar given to her

by her mother

[Knight of the Mill.Longspear.

The Dumb Knight.The Young Mute]

a Knight of the Round Tablethe Welsh version of Percivalthe seventh son of Efrawghusband of Condwiramurfather of Lohenergrain

He was raised in seclusion by hismother who feared that he would bekilled in fighting, just as his father andsix brothers had been Imbued with thespirit of adventure, he went toCaerleon armed only with a pointedstick On arrival, he was greeted by adwarf and his wife, neither of whomhad ever spoken before in the courtand they were ill-treated by Kay as aresult In some stories, a maiden whohad never smiled takes the place of thedwarfs who had never spoken

He killed a stranger knight who hadassaulted Guinevere by throwing hispointed stick through his eye and tookthe knight’s horse, weapons andarmour, vowing never to return to thecourt until he had avenged the insult

to the dwarfs

At the Castle of Wonders his uncleshowed him the severed head of hiscousin and the spear with which hehad been killed, so inciting Peredur toavenge his cousin’s death He fell inlove with a maiden whose lands hadbeen taken by a neighbouring earl and,

by defeating the earl’s forces, restoredthe property to its rightful owner Hespent three weeks at the witches’ court

learning more about the arts ofhorsemanship and weaponry

In another version, the uncle wasKing Pêcheur and the spear was theHoly Lance which he saw, togetherwith the Holy Grail Later, KingPêcheur took these holy relics to ‘a far country’

King Arthur went searching for thisyoung knight and when he found him,Peredur defeated many of Arthur’sbest knights in single combat,including Kay whose arm andshoulder were broken He returned toCaerleon with Arthur and metAngharad Golden-hand and fell inlove with her but went off to resumehis adventures vowing not to speakuntil she came to love him All themany men he overthrew on hisjourneying he forced to go to Arthur’scourt to submit to the king’s will Hefought with a lion and a serpent andtook the golden ring on which theserpent slept At this stage of hiscareer he was known as the DumbKnight but on his return to Caerleon,Angharad Golden-hand declared herlove and he was able to speak again

In another adventure he met andkilled the Black Oppressor, a one-eyedblack man who told him how to findthe Black Worm of the Barrow andthen the Addanc of the Lake He thendefeated 200 of the knights protectingthe Black Worm of the Barrow andkilled the serpent He used the stoneheld in the serpent’s tail to make goldwith which he paid the remaining 100knights and then gave the stone to hisattendant, Edlym

The Addanc of the Lake killed thethree sons of the King of Sufferingevery day and every evening theirwives restored them to life by bathingthem On the way to the lake Peredurmet a maiden who gave him a stonethat would protect him from the evilAddanc He killed the Addanc and cutoff its head which he gave to the threeprinces

At the court of the Countess ofAchievements he defeated each of her

300 knights and won the hand of theCountess for Edlym The maiden whohad given him the magic stone which protected him in his encounterwith the Addanc turned out to be theEmpress of Constantinople or, insome accounts, Cristonabyl the Great,and, at a great tournament in her

Peredur

Perilous Bridge, The

honour, Peredur, known as the Knight

of the Mill as a result of lodging with

a local miller, defeated all the knights

and stayed with her for fourteen years

On his return to Caerleon, an ugly

black maiden cursed him for not

seeking the explanation of the bloody

spear and the severed head which his

uncle had shown him years before, so

he set off to find the Castle of

Wonders once again En route, he was

imprisoned by a king but released

when he helped him defeat the forces

of an attacking earl and he killed

another black man at the castle of

Ysbidinongyl At the castle he was

required to kill the one-horned stag

that was killing all the animals in the

area and to joust three times with a

black man and then he encountered

his uncle and the slain cousin who,

unknown to Peredur, had appeared in

many of his adventures in various

guises including that of the ugly black

girl It appeared that he had been

killed by the witches of Caer Llyw

Peredur sought out the witches and,

with the help of Arthur’s war-band,

killed all of them

In the parallel story of Percival, the

witches are the Hags of Gloucester

He is said to have fought with Gwrgi

against their cousin Gwenddolau at

the Battle of Arthuret

In some accounts he married

Condwiramur by whom he had a son,

Lohenergrain (see also Percival)

a story from the Mabinogion relating

the adventures of Peredur

son of Elatus and Laodice

brother of Aepytus, Cyllen and

a spirit of the night

Perfect Knight, The British

a name for Galahad

a sacred book of Mahayana Buddhism

Perfectly Holy Ancient Master

(see Chi-sheng Hsien-shih)

daughter of Annaniece of King Arthurwife of Bugimother of Beuno

Peri-Banou (see Paribanou)

a Sumatran princeson of Sang Pertala Dewafather of Maniaka

He saw a silver cow near the lakewhere he was bathing but, when helooked later, he found a beautiful girlwho, his dead father’s spirit told him,was a gift from the gods

a tyrant of Corinthone of the Seven Sagesson of Cypselus

He killed the crew who had tried torob his protégé Arion

[Eriboea.Periboia]

a nymph, one of the Naiadswife of Icarius, king of Spartamother of Penelope and Iphthime

[Eriboea.Periboia]

daughter of Alcathoussecond wife of Telamonmother of Ajax

[Eriboea.Periboia]

daughter of Hipponoussecond wife of Oeneusmother of Olenias and Tydeus

[Eriboea.Periboia]

wife of Polybusfoster-mother of Oedipus

In some accounts, her name is given

as Merope

a moon-spirit of the YanomaniThe tribe is said to have sprung fromdrops of Periboriwa’s blood

daughter of Minyaswife of Pheresmother of Admetus and Lycurgus

son of Poseidonone of the Argonauts

He had been given the power byPoseidon to assume whatever shape hewished and attacked Heracles in theform of an eagle when Heracles sackedPylus He was killed by an arrow fromHeracles’ bow

In other accounts, he was killed inthe form of a fly

a giant

He killed the Lombard king, Alboin, at the behest of the queen,Rosamund, who had been ill-treated

by her husband

king of the Messeniansson of Aeolus and Enaretehusband of Gorgophonefather of Aphareus and Leucippusfather of Icarus, some sayfather of Borus and Pisus, some say

Perilous Bed (see Adventurous Bed)

Perilous Bridge, The British

[Bridge Perilous.Pomparles Pons Perilis]

a bridge which led to the Grail Castle

In other accounts, this was a bridgePeredur Son of Efrawg

Perilous Cemetery

over the River Brue and it was herethat Excalibur was thrown back intothe water

a burial ground attached to the Perilous ChapelEvery time a knight was killed by theBlack Hand a marble tombstone,bearing the knight’s name appeared inthe cemetery Until the hand wasstruck by Gawain or Percival, thecemetery remained unconsecrated andwas, as a result, haunted by ghosts

a chapel in Cornwall built by thequeen, Brangemore

an area harbouring man-eating beastsCuchulainn had to cross this plain

to reach the fortress home of Skatha where he received his militarytraining

Perilous Seat, The British

[Seat of Danger.Seat of Dread.

Seat Perilous.Siege Perilous]

a place at the Round Table reserved forthe knight worthy of the

Grail questThe only knight to occupy this seatwithout disaster was Galahad It hadearlier killed Brumart and, some say,had cracked when Percival sat in it but

it was later repaired by Percival

sister of Creonwife of Lycimnius

son of Eurystheuskilled by Heracles

daughter of Admetus and Alcestissister of Eumelus and Hipparuswife of Argos

[The Red Knight]

a Knight of King Arthur’s court

He was defeated in single combat

by Gareth

a servant at King Mark’s court

He was sent to ask King Arthur toadjudicate at the trial of Isolde

He fathered Amadis on Elizena and,after the boy had been abandoned,

married her and had two legitimatesons, Florestan and Galaor

[Club-bearer.Corunetes.Corynetes]

an outlawson of Hephaestus and Anticlea

In some accounts, his father wasPoseidon He was a cripple who killedtravellers with a brass or iron club

Theseus killed him with that veryweapon and kept it for himself

a supposed fluid linking body and soul

It is said that, after death, this fluid canappear as a ghost

Albanian mountain spirits

It was said that these spirits couldpunish people who wasted food bymaking them hunchbacked

a culture-hero of the Chaco tribe

Perithous (see Peirithous)

the Finnish name for the Devil

[Percunis:=Bohemian Peranu:=Bulgarian Perusan:=Estonian Piker.=Finnish Pitkoinen:=Latvian Perkons:=Lithuanian Perkunos:=Polish Piorun:=Russian Pirgene.Pyerun:=Slav Peroon]

a thunder-god

[=Bohemina Peranu:=Bulgarian Perusan:

=Estonian Piker:=Finnish Pitkoinen:

=Lithuanian Perkunos:=Polish Piorun:

=Prussian Perkonis:=Russian Pirgene.

Pyerun:=Slav Peroon]

a Latvian thunder-god

a goddess of thunder and lightning

[Perkun(as):=Bohemian Peranu:

=Bulgarian Perusan:=Estonian Piker:

=Finnisah Pitkoinen:=Latvian Perkons:

=Polish Piorun:=Prussian Perkonis:

=Russian Pirgene.Pyerun:

=Slav Peroon]

a Lithuanian thunder-godfather of Saule

Possibly the deified form of theLithuanian king Perkunas who, withhis court, went to heaven on his death

Some depict him as a strong youngman with a brown beard, others as anold man with an axe or hammer

a 13th Cstory of the Holy Grail

In this account, Percival, the son of aking, succeeds in the Grail Quest andbecomes the Grail King

Perlesvaus 2 (see Fescamp Abbey)

a river-godfather of Aganippe

[Pero(u)n.Perun(u).Prone:=Bohemian Peranu:=Bulgarian Perusan:

=Estonian Piker=Finnish Pitkainen:

=Latvian Perkons:=Lithuanian Perkunos:=Polish Piorun:=Prussian Perkonis:=Russian Pirgene.Pyerun:

=Serbian Gromovit]

a thunder-godfather of Peronutius

In Serbia, this deity is said to beincarnate in Ilya (St Elias) who cancontrol thunder and lightning

He is depicted as having threeheads, each with a red face

prophet-songs in New Guinea

a rain-goddess

a Knight of the Round Table

a maiden loved by EctorShe was promised to Zelotes but Ectortook her from him

[Perseis]

a goddess of the underworld one of the Oceanids daughter of Oceanus and Tethysconsort of Helios

Perse

mother of Aetes, Circe, Pasiphae and

Perses some say

a tree of fate which bears

heart-shaped fruit

Persephassa (see Persephone)

the name of Core as queen of

the underworld (see also Core)

part of the underworld visited

son of Helius by Perse

He usurped the throne of Colchis,

deposing Aetes, after Jason seized the

Golden Fleece He was killed either by

Medea or her son Medus

son of Perseus and Andromeda

He grew up to be a great soldier and

conquered much of the territory which

came to be known as Persia

son of Crius by Eurybia

brother of Astraeus and Pallas

father of Alcaeus, Electryon,

Gorgophone, Heleius, Mestor, Perses

and Sthenelus

He was born as the result of a visit by

Zeus, as a shower of gold, to Danae

who had been imprisoned in a bronze

tower by her father, Acrisius

As a baby he was cast into the sea

in a chest with his mother because

his grandfather, Acrisius, had been

warned that a son of Danae would

kill him The castaways came ashore

on the island of Seriphos where they

were sheltered by the fisherman,

Dictys, brother of the king,

Polydectes When the king tried to

force Danae into marriage, Perseus

undertook to bring him the head of

Medusa as a wedding present if he

married Hippodamia instead

Armed with a sickle from Hermesand a bright shield from Athene andwearing the Helmet of Invisibilityborrowed from Hades he flew inwinged sandals to the land of theHyperboreans where he stole the eye

of the Gaiae and handed it back onlywhen they told him where to find theGorgons He decapitated Medusa withone stroke, using the shield to see onlyher reflection – a direct sight wouldhave turned him to stone At once, theflying horse Pegasus and the warriorChysaor sprang from the corpse

Perseus turned several people tostone by displaying the head, includingAtlas and Polydectes who had beenpersecuting his mother, Danae, whohad refused the king’s offer ofmarriage

It was Perseus who decapitated thesea-monster, Cetus, which was about

to devour Andromeda who had beenchained to a rock by her father Cepheus

to atone for an alleged slight to theNereids He married Andromeda andthe wedding feast was interrupted byPhineus to whom Andromeda had been promised In the ensuing fight,Perseus again used the Medusa mask toturn the intruder and 200 of hisfollowers, including Ampyx, Astyagesand Thescelus, to stone His ownfriend, Aconteus, was also petrified

He inadvertently killed his owngrand-father, Acrisius, with a discushurled at the games and exchangedkingdoms with Megapenthes of Tiryns

He gave the Medusa’s head toAthene who carried it on her aegis

In another story, Perseus attackedDionysus, at the instigation of Hera,flying high in his magic sandals AsPerseus flew higher, Dionysus grew

in stature until he reached the sky

Only the intervention of Hermesprevented the god from destroying the presumptious mortal

Some say that he was killed byMegapenthes to avenge his father,Proetus, who had been turned tostone by Perseus

When he died he was placed in theheavens near Andromeda and, in someaccounts, was worshipped as a god

[The Green Knight]

a knight of King Arthur’s court

He was defeated in single combat byGareth who had ridden to theassistance of the lady, Lyonesse

a creator-god of the Tupi Indians

[=Bohemian Peranu:=Estonian Piker:

=Latvian Perkons:=Lithuanian Perkunos:

=Polish Piorun:=Prussian Perkonis:

=Russian Pyerun:=Slav Peroon]

Perys de Foreste Sauvage British

a villainous knight

He used to wait in ambush to waylayyoung maidens One of these enlistedthe help of Lancelot who killed the ravisher

a legendary dynastyThe exploits of these kings, said tohave ruled some time before 600 BC,

are described in the Shah Name.

the Pali version of pret(a)

a Pawnee hero

He is said to have prevented theceremonial sacrifice of captives

a creator-god of the sea-Dayaks

a name for Shiva

the winged travelling hat of Hermes

a god of revengePerse

Peter de Roche

(see Bishop of the Butterfly)

a wandering spirit in New EnglandFor the blasphemy of swearing that astorm would not prevent him reachinghome he was condemed to travelforever in his carriage between Bostonand Hartford followed always by athunderstorm

Petipase of Winchelsea British

a Knight of the Round table

He was one of the twelve knights whohelped Agravain and Mordred whenthey attempted to seize Lancelot inGuinevere’s bedroom All exceptMordred were killed by Lancelot

a fairy dogThis tiny animal, said to have comefrom Avalon, was given to Tristram byGilan In other accounts, the dog wasowned by the giant Urgar who waskilled by Tristram so that he could getthe dog as a present for Isolde

malevolent Haitian voodoo spiritsThis group of loa is said to be derivedfrom spirits, etc of San Domingo

Petrashin (see Voinovitch)

a water-spirit of the TlingitThis spirit was the original guardian offresh water but Yetl stole it to irrigatethe barren earth

a group of Haitian voodoo gods

(see also Dan Petro)

[Petroc(k).Petrog]

a 6th CWelsh bishop and saint

He lived as a hermit on Bodmin Moorand was said, by some, to be one of thesurvivors of the Battle of Camlan

a 1st Cwriter, author of Troiae Halosis

son of Semarbrother of Gareng

a companion of Joseph of Arimathea

He came to Britain with Joseph andconverted the people of Orkney where

he married Camille, daughter of theking, Orcant

He and his brother, having conqueredthe southern part of Italy, shared itbetween themselves

a Tamil demonThese beings are said to drink theblood of the wounded or the dead

the name of the Crommyonian sow

In some versions, she was the womanwho kept the sow which, in otherstories, was a boar, offspring ofTyphon and Echidna

Phaeaceans (see Phaeacians)

[Phaeaceans]

a mythical island race on Phaeacia

or ScheriaThey were said to lead a life of greathappiness, indulging in all forms ofluxury They owned ships that couldguide themselves

he rejected her advances she hangedherself accusing him of rape

This deception was exposed by Eros

Zeus placed Phaenon in the heavens

as the planet Jupiter

a son of Helius and Clymene

He is usually named as the son ofHelius and Clymene but some storieshave Rhode as his mother andClymene as one of his sisters Otherversions say that he was the son ofCephalus and Eos He persuaded hisfather to allow him to drive the chariot

of the sun but lost control and cametoo low, scorching large areas of theearth and causing African tribes toturn black Zeus slew him with athunderbolt before he could do moredamage In some versions, Zeus had tosend a flood to put out the fires caused

by Phaethon

His grieving sisters, Aegle,Lampetia and Phaetusa, whose tearsbecame amber beads, were turned intopoplars (or pine trees) and his loverCycnus, king of Liguria, who collectedhis mortal remains and buried them,was turned into a swan by Apollo

[‘bright’.Phaeton.Phaithon]

son of Cephalus by Eos

He was carried off by Aphrodite whosepriest he became

Phaeton’s Bird (see Cycnus1)

[Phaethusa]

daughter of Heliussister of PhaetonShe and her sisters Aegle andLampetia were turned into poplars (orpine trees) as they mourned the death

of their brother, Phaeton

[Phaethusa]

one of the Heliadesdaughter of Danaus and Clymenemother of Myrtilus by Hermes, some say

a fish sacred to the Egyptians

Phagrus

the Tibetan name for Virudhaka as

guardian of the south

Phakael

[Phakiel]

a spirit associated with the Zodiacal

sign Cancer, the crab

(see also Muriel)

Phalanthus (see Phalantus)

He had a bronze bull made by Perillus

in which he could roast his victims

The first to be put to this torture was

Perillus himself His subjects, appalled

at his cruelties, finally rose up against

him and he was killed in the same way

that he had killed Perillus

His father abandoned his son as a baby,

hoping to frustrate a prophecy that the

son would kill the father The child

was found by Phrom who handed the

boy to her sister Hom to be reared He

was given the name Phan and, when he

reached manhood, killed his own

father and slept with his own mother

who, too late, realised that Phan was

her son

a king who bred elephant-tigers

Phanes (see Fan1.Iao1)

phantasm

[phantasma:plur=phantasmata]

an apparition

phantasmata (see phantasm)

Phantom Queen (see Morrigan)

son of Dionysusbrother of Staphylusone of the Argonauts

He came to Britain as part of Ban’sarmy but was later banished for murder

of Athens (see also Pharmakos)

ill-luck personifiedWhen disaster struck, the practice was

to select a victim from amongst theugliest citizens (in reality, this was animage) which was then burned to put

an end to the troubles

(see also pharmakoi)

Pharmen-ma (see Htamenamas)

a leader of the Phocians

He is said to have seized the necklace

of Harmonia from the temple ofAthena to give to his mistress Her sonwent mad and set fire to her house,destroying both his mother and hertreasures

a Trojanson of Daresbrother of Idaeus

He was killed by Diomedes at the siege of Troy

[=Roman Fama]

a goddessrumour personified

In some accounts, Pheme was thedaughter of Elpis; in others, Phemewas male and another aspect of Ossa

Phags-skyes-po

[Phemeus.Phemios]

a minstrel at the court of Odysseus

He was spared by Odysseus when heslew the suitors of Penelope and wasrequired to provide music at thecelebrations that marked the hero’ssafe return after twenty years

king of SalmydessusWhen the Argonauts paused in theirjourney to Colchis, he advised them intheir future In return, Calais andZetes, drove off the Harpies who wereharassing him

Phersephatta (see Persephone)

Phersephone (see Persephone)

[=Burmese nat:=Pakistani neq]

a spirit of the dead

philamaloo bird North American

He was killed in battle by Phlegyas when the Orchomenansattacked Delphi

to the gods until, in great old age, he

and Baucis were turned into trees, he

an oak, she a lime, growing from the same trunk, so that they were neverparted

a king of Macedoniahusband of Olympiasfather of Alexander the Great

a king of Englandfather of Meliadice

the sword of Antony, a triumvir

phillyloo (see philamaloo bird)

a 3rd C BCmythographer

a famous archerone of the Argonautsson of Poeas and Demonassa

It was he who, on the orders of hisfather, set the torch to Heracles’

funeral pyre and Heracles bequeathedhis bow and arrows to him as reward

Others say that the pyre was set alight

by Poeas

He went with the Greek army when

it sailed to attack Troy but was left atLemnos, then uninhabited, when hereceived a severe bite from a serpentsent by Hera Others say that hedropped one of Heracles’ poisonedarrows on his foot Keeping the bowand arrows given to him by Heracles,

he managed to survive by shootinggame When Helenus foretold thatonly someone armed with the bow ofHeracles could bring about the fall ofTroy, Odysseus and Diomedes (or Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles)returned to Lemnos and persuadedPhiloctectes to go back with them toTroy where he was cured by the armyphysicians Machaon and Podaleirius

In his first action at Troy he shot andwounded Paris who died soonafterwards He left the siege before itended and sailed to Italy where hespent the rest of his life

He was said to have invented theplough or the wagon

When he died, some say that he wasplaced in the heavens as Bootes; othersay that this was Icarius

In another version, it was Procnewhose tongue was cut out

Whichever one it was communicatedwith the other by weaving a messageinto a tapestry All three were turnedinto birds Since Philomena waschanged to the nightingale, a famoussinger, it seems more likely that it wasProcne who had her tongue cut out

In other accounts, both girls meltedaway in their own tears

of Aphrodite versus Ares

She was seduced by Cronus who, when

Rhea caught them together, changed

both Philyra and himself into horses

The result was that her son turned out

to be a Centaur, Chiron In horror at

the sight of her offspring, she prayed

for deliverance and was turned into a

linden tree

Some say she lived with Chiron in

his cave and helped him in his work

as tutor

[Phineas]

king of Salmydessus

a prophet

son of Agenor and Telephassa

husband of Cleopatra and Idaea

father of Pandion and Plexippus

by Cleopatra

father of Maryandynus by Idaea

He married Cleopatra and, after her

death, Idaea She accused her two

stepsons of attempted rape and

Phineus blinded them

Another story says that he took

Idaea as his wife, not after Cleopatra’s

death but after he had shut her away in

a prison She was freed by Calais and

Zetes who put her sons on the throne

in place of Phineus and sent Idaea back

to her own people

He was blinded by the gods when he

foretold the future too accurately for

their liking or as punishment for

maiming his sons and was harassed by

the Harpies until Calais and Zetes

chased them off

Some say that he was killed by

He had planned to marry Andromeda

but she was given to Perseus who

rescued her from the rock to which

she had been chained as sacrifice to a

sea-monster

He interrupted the wedding of

Perseus and Andromeda and was

turned to stone by the sight of the

Medusa mask

[Pythias]

a friend of Damon

He had been condemned to death by

Dionysius, king of Syracuse Damon

stood as guarantor for Phintias while

he settled his affairs When he

surrendered himself for execution, theking was so impressed by his loyalty tohis friend, that he set them both free

He is often referred to as Pythias

[Pluriphlegethon]

a river of fire in Hades

(see also Pyriphlegethon)

king of the Lapithsson of Aresfather of Coronis and IxionWhen Apollo raped Coronis, Phlegyasattacked Delphi and killed Philammon

He was himself killed, either by Apollo

as he attacked the shrine at Delphi orlater by Lycus and Nycteus

He and his brothers helped Heracles

in his ninth Labour and he later joinedthe Argonauts

a local god of longevity and wealth

Pho-zem-na-po (see Jejamo-karpo)

[‘panic’.Phobos.Phoebus]

the god of alarm and panicson of Ares and Aphroditebrother of Deimus and Harmonia

He is one of three children born toAphrodite, wife of Hephaestus, fromher affair with Ares

[panic.Phobos.Phoebus]

one of the horses of Ares

(see also Deimus2)

phoca

a monster in the form of a scaly sea animal

Phocis (see Phocus.Pytho1)

[Phoceus.Phocis]

son of Ornytion or Poseidonhusband of AntiopeAntiope, who had been driven mad byDionysus when her sons killed hisdevotee, Dirce, came to the court ofPhocus He cured her of her madnessand made her his wife Some say thattheir children were Crisus, Naubolus

and Panopeus (see also Phocus2)

[Phoceus.Phocis]

son of Aeacus by Psamathehalf-brother of Peleus and TelamonHis father’s wife, Endeis, had two sons, Peleus and Telamon, who wereenvious of their half-brother’s athleticabilities When they killed Phocus,Aeacus banished them from hiskingdom of Aegira

Some say that this Phocus is thesame as Phocus, son of Ornytion

[‘bright’.Phoibe]

daughter of Leucippussister of Hilaeriamother of Mnesileos by Polydeuces

In some stories of the death of Castor,she was carried off with her sisterHilaeria by Castor and Polydeuces.Their cousins, Idas and Lynceus, towhom they were betrothed, pursuedthem and Idas killed Castor who washiding in a hollow tree

[‘bright’.Phoibe]

a Titanessdaughter of Uranus and Gaeawife of Coeus

mother of Asteria and Leto

[‘bright’.Phoibe]

daughter of Tyndareus and Leda,

in some accounts

Phoebe 4 (see Aegle.Artemis.Selene)

Phoebus (see Helius.Phobus)

Apollo as god of light

a wind from the south-east quarter

Philyrides

to rise again from its own ashes

Another story said that, althoughthe bird bred in Arabia, it flew toGreece to bury its parents

It was said to feed only on dew andwas described as having a purple body,

a gold neck and a blue tail Anyonewho found one of its golden featherswas sure to have good fortune

(see also simurg)

[Pho(i)nix]

a king of the Dolopiansson of Amyntor and CleobuleWhen Amyntor took a mistress,Phoenix, at the prompting of hismother, seduced her His father thenbanished him to Phthia where hebecame the tutor to Achilles andaccompanied him to Troy He survivedthe war but died on the journey home

to Greece

In another version, his father’sconcubine accused Phoenix of rapeand his father blinded him He waslater cured by Chiron

[Pho(i)nix]

son of Agenor and Telephassabrother of Cadmus, Cilix, Europa,Phineus and Thasus

He and his brothers were sent to lookfor Europa when she was carried off

by Zeus in the form of a bull and henever returned home He became thefounder of the Phoenicians

a ruler met by Chuang-tzu in his wanderings

Phogor

a demon said to take possession

of humans

a name for Balder

[Pholos]

a friendly Centaurson of Silenus by an ash-nymph While hunting the Erymanthian boar,Heracles stayed with Pholus in hiscave Other Centaurs, attracted by thesmell of wine, attacked the cave andwere driven off by Heracles Pholuswas killed when he accidentallydropped one of Heracles’ poisonedarrows on his foot

an ass, a horse, a calf or a goat, or acombination of these, or as a ghostlyblack dog, is said to be a pre-Celticdeity, later downgraded

Its favourite trick is to rise out of theground between a person’s legs andcarry him off At daybreak next day,the phooka throws his victim back,usually into the mud

It is said that a phooka can givehumans the power to understand thelanguage of animals

king of Elisson of Lapithes or Triopasfather of Augeas and Typhus, some say

He was involved in the battle with theCentaurs at the wedding of Peirithous

and Hippodamia and is said to have ridRhodes of snakes

or Nereus and Dorisbrother and consort of Cetofather of the Echidna, the Gorgons,the Graiae and Ladon

In some accounts he is the same asGlaucus, Nereus and Proteus Somesay that he was the father by Hecate ofScylla and by Sterope of the Sirens, theTritons and Thoosa

[Phorcides]

the offspring of Phorcos and Ceto

[Fearineus]

king of Argos son of Inachus and Meliabrother of Aegialius, Argus, Panoptesand Io

husband of Cerdofather of Car and Coronis

In some accounts, he was the first manand is credited with the invention offire and building the city of Argos

In some versions, he fathered Apis and Niobe on the nymph,Teledice, but some accounts makeNiobe his wife

[Eosphorus.Heosphorus.Phosphor(ous):

=Roman Lucifer]

god of lightgod of the morning starson of Astraeus or Cephalus by Eosbrother of Hesperus

father of Ceyx

an epithet for Artemis and Hecate as

‘bringer of light’

Phosphorous (see Phosphoros)

[In:=Hindu Indra]

a god of wealth and king of the gods

It is said that, to reward the people forgood living, he created three wellsfrom which they could obtain anything

Phra In

they wished When some started to

steal, he sent two giants who erected a

huge column, the radiation from

which restored nationwide virtue but

eventually the people reverted to their

old ways and Phra In sorrowfully had

the pillar removed

He appears at the Songkran festival

to indicate future trends If he is

armed, the year ahead will be

turbulent, a torch signifies hot weather,

a pot foretells rain and a wand indicates

peace

the name for Shiva in Thailand

a sacred mountain

Phra Narai (see Narayama5)

the name for Lakshmi in Thailand

a god of ill-fortune, ruler of

the planet Saturn

consort of Ananta Thewi

a Cyprian seer

son of Pygmalion and Galatea

He was sacrificed by his uncle Busiris

to avert drought

Phratria (see Apaturia1)

a name for Zeus as head of the clan

His father’s second wife, Ino, wanted

Phrixus out of the way so that her own

son could inherit the throne of Boeotia

so she sabotaged the harvest and

arranged for a message from the

Delphic Oracle to say that only the

sacrifice of Phrixus would secure the

lifting of the plague

In another story, his aunt Biadice

fell in love with him and cried rape

when he rejected her advances

For one or other of these reasons,

he was offered in sacrifice to Apollo

by his father but was saved by

Hermes and carried off with his sister

on the back of a huge flying ram with a golden fleece, known asChrysomallon, but Helle fell off intothe sea (afterwards called theHellespont) and was drowned Phrixussacrificed the ram to Zeus in gratitudefor his escape The fleece was hung off

a tree in Colchis where it was guarded

by a serpent that never slept and laterbecame the subject of the famous quest

by Jason and the Argonauts

Phrixus married Chalciope, daughter

of Aetes the king of Colchis, and, insome stories, was killed by Aetes whofeared him as the stranger an oraclehad prophesied would kill the king

an old womanShe found the son of Kong when hewas abandoned

daughter of Etearchusmother of Battus by PolymnestusPersuaded by his second wife,Etearchus gave Phronime to amerchant, Themison, and told him tothrow her into the sea Themison kepthis promise but attached a rope to thegirl and pulled her back to safety Shebecame a concubine to Polymnestusand bore him a son, Aristoteles, whowas called Battus

son of Phrixus and Chalciopebrother of Argeus, Cytisorus and Melanion

He and his brothers were shipwreckedbut were saved from drowning whenthey were picked up by the Argonauts

the Thai version of Bharata

a name for Iacchus by which he isdistinguished from Dionysus, theTheban Bacchus

a prophetess

[Zelos:=Roman Invidia]

a god of envy or jealousy

In some accounts, Phthonos, spitefulenvy, is distinguished from Zelos,admiring envy

a king of Phylaceson of Deion and Diomedebrother of Actor, Aenetus, Asteropiaand Cephalus

husband of Clymenefather of Alcimede father of Iphiclus, some say

In some accounts, Clymene laterbecame the second wife of Cephaluswho fathered Iphiclus

on Phylas’daughter

a king of Thesprotiafather of Astyoche, or Astydamia insome accounts

In some accounts, he is called Phyleus

Phra In Suen

father of MagesHis father had promised to giveHeracles a tenth of his herds forcleansing his filthy stables but reneged

on the promise When Phyleussupported the claim of Heracles,Augeas banished him from Elis and hebecame king of Dulichium Heracleslater wreaked vengeance on Augeasand he then installed Phyleus as king

of Elis In other accounts, Agasthenesbecame king

a king of Thracefather of Phyllis, some say

a nymph

a Thracian princessdaughter of Sithon or Phylleus, king of Thrace

She was in love with Demophoon whohad returned safely from the TrojanWar but, when he left her to visitAthens, she killed herself, thinkingthat he would never return She wasturned into an almond tree

In some accounts, she marriedDemophoon; in others, she marriedhis brother, Acamas, of whom a similarstory is told

She is sometimes identified withArtemis Caryatis

a lover of CycnusWhen he rejected Cycnus, the youththrew himself from a cliff and waschanged into a swan

guardian of the spirit of the fig-tree

He was a mortal who entertainedDemeter and, as a reward, was giventhe fig-tree

at once

a type of dragon often used in effigy

as prison guards

[Chen.Holy Mother.Lady of T’ai-shan.

In the Battle of Mu, she was trapped in

a magic box which, when later opened,contained only water and blood

(see also Keng San Ku-niang)

a flying animal like a lion with horns

an ornamented coin used as a talisman

to ward off evilone of the Eight Precious Things

a 12th Cmortal deified as Ts’ai Shen, a god of wealthWhen, as a mortal, he criticised theemperor, he was killed and his heartwas cut out

In some accounts, the emperorwished to discover whether the heart

of a sage has seven holes in it

(see also Chao Kung-ming)

a fox with wings which made

a honking sound like a wild goose

[pajé.pagé.piaiaman.piay.=Araucanian machi]

a sorcerer of the Carib and Guarani peoples (see also lukuman)

a fictitious king of England

a dwarf living underground

a period in the Mayan time scale ofsome 8,000 years

He was one of three deities present atthe birth of a child to ward off anyadvances by Silvanus He ground thegrain while Intercidona chopped woodand Deverra did the sweeping

In some accounts, he is the same

as Picus (see also Picus.Sterculius)

He was betrothed to Canens but thenymph Circe fell in love with him.When he rejected her advances, shechanged him into a woodpecker.Others say that he changed himselfinto a woodpecker and made oracularpronouncements or that he was theson of Pilumnus who proclaimedoracles by tapping on wood and waslater turned into a woodpecker, the

Picus

sacred bird of Mars Some say that he

helped the she-wolf to rear Romulus

a Haitian voodoo spirit

Pié Dumballa (see Damballah Wedo)

the man who rid Hamelin of rats

When the burghers of this German

town refused to pay the fee he asked

for ridding the town of a plague of

rats, he played another tune on his

pipe that enticed all the children of

the town to follow him to the hill

Koppenberg which opened at their

approach and entombed them forever

Some say that he was the god Odin

in his role as leader of spirits

son of Pyrrhus and Andromache

brother of Molossus and

It is said that he presented two kings

with pieces of jade They, not knowing

it was genuine, assumed that it was

false and each of them cut off one of

Pien Ho’s feet

the castle of Aymon

a spring on Mount Olympus

associated with the Muses

The waters of this spring were said to

confer poetic inspiration

[sing=Pieris]

daughters of Pierus

These nine maidens challenged the

Muses to a contest and, being defeated,

were changed into magpies, jackdaws

or wrynecks

[Knight of the Silver Keys]

son of a count of Provence

He fell in love with Magdelona when hesaw her picture and set out to win herhand by knightly deeds Rather thanmarry suitors chosen by her parents,Magdelona eloped with Pierre, takingwith her all her jewels, including thering Pierre had given her The bagcontaining the jewels was taken by araven which dropped it into the sea andPierre nearly lost his life in an effort toretrieve it Magdelona, thinking thatPierre had deserted her, sailed toProvence where she established ahospital on an island, tending the poorand the sick Pierre’s parents wereconfirmed in their belief that their sonwas dead when his ring turned up in thebelly of a fish served at their table

In fact, Pierre had been saved fromdrowning by a pirate-ship and sold to

a sultan who treated him well andeventually set him free, giving himmuch wealth as a reward for faithfulservice En route to Provence, Pierrewas inadvertently stranded alone on anisland and fell ill but was rescued bysailors who took him to Magdelona’shospital where he was reunited withhis beloved whom he married

a king of Macedoniahusband of Euippefather of Oeagrusfather of Hyacinthus by ClioHis nine daughters the Pierides, werechanged into magpies or jackdawswhen they challenged the Muses and lost the contest He fatheredHyacinthus on Clio, one of the Muses

a Thracian fighting at Troy

He killed Diores, leader of thecontingent from Elis

(2) The Egyptians regarded the pig as unclean and capable ofcausing leprosy if eaten, except when used as a sacrifice at the mid-winter festival

(3) In Greece, the pig was asacred animal, said to havesuckled Zeus

(4) In Irish lore, the sea-godManannan gave the Danaans pigswhich, killed and eaten one day,were restored for the following day.(5) Some North American tribesregard the pig, who lives, theysay, on the moon, as a bringer of

Pig Fairy (see Chu Pa-chieh)

Pig Island (see Muic Inish)

a bloody ghostThis spirit was regarded as the soul of

a woman who had died in childbirth

(see also puntianak)

[Mucca Mhanannain]

food of the godsThese were pigs which, killed andeaten one day, were restored for re-usethe next day

They were one of the three giftsfrom Manannan to the Danaans; theothers were the Feast of Giobhniu andthe Veil of Invisibility

In some accounts, these animals arethe same as those given by Easal to theSons of Turenn

a sacred hero of the Incasson of Guamansuritwin brother of Apocatequil

[=Bohemian Peranu:Bulgarian Perusan:

=Finnish Pitkainen: =Latvian Perkons:

=Lithuanian Perkunos: =Polish Piorun:

=Prussian Perkonis: =Russian Pyerun:

=Serbian Gromovit:=Slav Peroon]

an Estonian thunder-god

pikvahahirak North American

in the lore of the Karok tribe, theperiod before humans appeared

a bishopbrother of UtePicvu’cin

Pilgrimage of the Chariot

Pilgrimage of the Chariot

(see Rathayatra)

[Hsi Yü Chi.Journey to the West]

the Chinese book setting out theadventures of Tripitaka on hisjourney from China to India to learnthe Buddhist doctrines

a gecko-godson of Tangaroahusband of SinaThese two produced five children whoare regarded as the ancestors of thePolynesians

a kestrelWhen Kunmanggur dived into the seataking all the fire with him, Pilirinshowed the tribes how to make fire byrubbing sticks together

a Hawaiian kingbrother of Lo-Lale

He sent his cousin, Kalamakua, on avoyage to find a suitable bride for hisbrother, Lo-Lale, in the hope ofproducing an heir to the throne, since

he had no children of his own

a demon or devil: a soul of the dead

Pillan 2 (see Guenu-Pillan)

Pillandoc

a patron spirit of pawn-brokers

It was said that, during an argumentwith Asmodeus, he knocked thedemon to earth causing injuries thatled to his being called the Devil onTwo Sticks

The exposed sides of the gap are thePillars of Hercules, now the Straits

a name of Tonatiuh as Young Prince

In this role he married the daughter ofXochiquetzal and begot the firsthumans, Cipactonal and Oxomoco

Other accounts say that he was theson of Oxomoco and Cipactonal

(see also Tonatiuh)

a guardian-god of bakers and the newborn

brother of Picumnusfather of Daunas by Danaefather of Picus, some sayHis symbol is a mortar and pestle

Pilzintecuhtli (see Piltzintecuhtli)

as a slave to a king, Lityerses Daphnis,who loved her, was challenged byLityerses to a reaping contest butHeracles took his place, won thecontest and killed the king Daphnismarried Pimplea and was made king ofPhrygia in place of Lityerses

In some accounts, her name is given

as Thalia

Pin-t’ou-lu-o-lo-sui-shih Chinese

one of the Eighteen Lohan

He is equated with the second Pindola

(see Pindola2)

Pin-tu-lo-po-lo-to-she Chinese

one of the Eighteen Lohan

In some accounts, he is equated withPindola the Bharadvaja and is depicted

as riding on the back of a tiger

(see Pindola1)

a treacherous knightson of Count AnselmHis wife had been carried off byAtlantes and he enlisted the help ofBradamante to get her back He led hertowards the castle in which his wife was held but when he discovered thatBradamante was a member of a familywhich his own people had long regarded

as enemies, he abandoned her in acavern from which there was no escape

When Gano was tried for treachery,Pinabel was matched in single combatwith Roland’s squire, Thiedric, to

determine Gano’s fate Thiedric wonand Gano was condemned to death

an Inca king

In one story of the origins of the Incas,the land was divided into four parts,each with its own king, when thewaters of the flood subsided One wasPinahua who took the west; the otherswere Colla, Manco Capac and Tocay

In some accounts he is Ayar Oco

an adviser to CharlemagneThis was the name taken by one ofCharlemagne’s Pleaid

to endure as punishment for his sins in

one of the Eighteen Lohan

He is depicted as having a lot of body hair

a Knight of the Round Table

a cousin of Lamerock

To avenge the death of Lamerock atthe hands of Gawain and his brothers,Pinel planted a poisoned apple to killGawain at a dinner given byGuinevere for twenty-four of herknights The apple was eaten byPatrise who died instantly and Madoraccused Guinevere of murdering hiscousin After Guinevere had beensaved from the stake by Lancelot whodefeated Mador in single combat,Nimue proclaimed Pinel’s guilt and hefled the country

Pinel le Savage

To punish Hariti, who seized and

ate children, the Buddha hid Pingala

so that his mother thought she

had lost him for ever When the

Buddha returned the boy, she became

the Tamil version of Niladevi

(see also Nappinnai)

the black magic rite of pushing a pin

into damp soil to prevent a man

from urinating

a culture-hero who became the

constellation Orion

son of Temioua

a knight

He was one of the 100 knights fighting

for Lisuarte against 100 knights of the

Irish king, Cildadan

a noble

He entertained the scholar Anera on

his journey to the castle of Cathal, the

king affected by the Hunger-beast

a culture-hero of the Tupi Indians

son of Numa Pompilius

brother of Mamercus and Pompo

[=Bohemian Peranu:=Bulgarian Perusan:

=Estonian Piker:=Finnish Pitkoinen:

=Latvian Perkons:=Lithuanian Perkunos:

=Prussian Perkonis:=Russian Pirgene.

Pyerun:=Slav Peroon]

a Polish thunder-god

a magicianhusband of Aro and Pora

He built himself a large butterfly,constructing it from cane, and flew to

a neighbouring island where he metAro and Pora His magic allowed him

to communicate with the girls in hisdreams and he arranged to meet themagain He later married both of them

the Polynesian name for Castor

a demon overcome by Indra

Piquant (see Baron Samedi)

Piqui-Chaqui South American

[Purgine Pas:=Lithuanian Perkunos]

a thunder-god of the Mordvins

[=Arab jinnee]

a spirit

Pirithoos (see Peirithous)

Pirithous (see Peirithous)

a hill, home of the fairies, sacred tothe Maori

the celestial form of Manco Capac

mother of the maize-goddess Mama Cora

Pisa, Rusticiano da Italian

a 13th Cwriter who compiledArthurian legends

Pisces

the twelfth sign of the Zodiac, the fishes

The constellation of the fishes, known

to the Babylonians as Nanu, to theArabs as Hut, and to the Chinese asTsen Tzu (the Pig) or Shuang Yü (TwoFishes), was said in classic mythology

to represent Cupid and Venus whowere carried off by fishes, or turnedinto fishes, to escape the monsterTyphon

a kingHis magic spear was said to have comedown to Lugh

in Cornwall, a night-flying mothThese moths are said to be the souls of

the dead (see also pisky.pixie)

These beings are regarded as ghoulishdemons of the graveyards, feeding oncorpses In some accounts, they aresaid to be able to enter the body of

mortals (see also Parna-Savari)

[pishrogue]

sorcery

a Pueblo spirit of sickness and death

son of Nestor and Anaxibia or Eurydice

a Cornish name for a pixie

(see also pisgy)

Pitaka Plant Rhys Ddwfn

a Maori hero

He became famous for killing two ofthe huge ocean-dwelling monstersknown as taniwhas

a name for Brahma as ‘Grandfather’

a nymph of Spartamother of Evadne by PoseidonShe was raped by Poseidon and boreEvadne

Pitao Cozobi Central American

a Zapotec maize-god

a monster slain by Keresaspa

a consort of Shiva

a navasakti

an aspect of Kali

a servant of Naymlap who acted as hismaster’s trumpeter

in Algonquian lore, a rogueGluskap caused Pitcher to be stuck

in a tree and then turned him into atoad

the site of a shrine built in honour of Sati

When Sati died, Shiva scattered parts

of her immolated corpse far and wide

Where these pieces fell to earth,shrines in her honour were built

[Pitkomoinen:=Bohemian Peranu:=Bulgarian Perusan:

=Estonian Piker: =Latvian Perkons:

=Lithuanian Perkunos:=Polish Piorun:

=Prussian Perkonis:=Russian Pirgene.

Pyerun:=Serbian Gromovit:=Slav Peroon]

a Finnish thunder-god

Pitkomoinen (see Pitkainen)

[‘father’.Pitar(a)]

a spirit of the dead: an ancestor

As in life, these beings are segregatedinto classes such as the vairagis andsomapas It is said that they live in therealm of Yama and feast with the gods

the way of the dead

(see also Devayana)

one of the sky-lords, the Thens

He came to earth when the flood watersreceded and taught the new races thearts of metalworking and weaving

one of the Seven Sages

a king of Troezenson of Pelops and Hippodamiabrother of Troezen

father of Aethra

He made Aegeus drunk when he came

to his court and allowed him to sleepwith his daughter, Aethra, who becamethe mother of Theseus

guardian of Yma Sumac

to her death from a cliff She wasturned into a pine tree

Pixies are said to take horses fromtheir stables at night and ride them but

a horse-shoe, nailed to the stable door,will keep them away

A girl affected by pixies is likely

to drop things which will then chaseafter her (see also pisgy)

a god of medicine

an incarnation of Vishnu

P’izlimtec (see Ah Kin Xoc)

Place of Seven Caves South American

in Aztec lore, the place where thetribes which emigrated from theirhomeland, Atzlan, split up and wenttheir separate ways

Place of Sleep (see Houhou)

Place of the Dark North American

the underworld of the Klamath Indians

Place of the Reeds

(see Atzlan.Sekhet-Aaru)

Place of the Sun Australian

the site where the Djanggawul sistersand their brother landed when theycame over the sea from the island ofthe dead

Place of Thorns (see Huitzlampa)

wife of Laomedon, in some accounts

(see also Strymo)

a French knight

He and Grastian were left in chargewhen Bors and Ban brought theirarmies to Britain to help King Arthur inhis battles with the rebellious barons

Plain Feather North American

a young hunter

He was taught the arts of the hunter byhis guardian spirit, an elk

Plain of Adoration (see Moyslaught)

the site of the battle between Donn,the Brown Bull of Cooley, andWhitehorn, the Bull of Connaught

part of Hades

Plain of Indoc (see Mag Indoc)

the site of Cuchulainn’s fortress home,Dun Dealgan

Plain of Towers (see Moytura)

Plain of Two Mists

(see Mag da Cheo)

Plant of Immortality (see Ling Chih)

[Clashing Rocks.Wandering Rocks]

rocks that could move of their own accord

These rocks were said to close on andcrush any ship passing between them, as did the Symplegades Someaccounts say that there were two sets

of such rocks, one at each end of theMediterranean

(see also Symplegades)

the fairy inhabitants of an invisibleisland off the coast of Wales