Revolving Beast

The Revolving Beast comes from Celtic myth and is specifically from a poem recounting the voyage of Mael Duin. The voyaging ship he is on gets to an island with a stone fence around it. As soon as the crew got on the island, a massive creature started running around and then charged at Mael Duin with surprising speed. It resembles a mammal in many depictions but is actually thought to be representative of reptilian life. It has the ability to change form but doesn’t really classify as a shapeshifter. Instead of turning into something else, its bones move beneath the skin, which would either remain still or revolve like a mill wheel. It’s also thought to be constantly shifting, immediately changing into a new form as soon as it reaches one. When it approached Mael Duin and his men, it put its head down and its legs up   and then whirled its bones around under its skin. Mael Duin and his men ran away, but before they could get away, it threw a rock that broke through Mael Duin’s shield and embedded itself into the hull of the ship.

Citations:

Colum, Padraic. The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery. United States, Macmillan, 1925.

Matthews, Caitlin. The Celtic Book of the Dead: A Guide for Your Voyage to the Celtic Otherworld. United States, St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

Visser, Margaret. The Gift of Thanks: The Roots and Rituals of Gratitude. United States, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.