Mythic Bestiary

Log 10:Kelpie

Summary: The kelpie is a creature from Scottish myths that lives underwater and is known for its trickery and shapeshifting.

Behavior and Powers:The Kelpie is a rather cruel creature, constantly on the look out for humans to devour, it will do anything to get these humans. It goes after children mostly, as they are easily tricked. To gain prey it will shape shift into a normal looking horse or a human to lure people in. But you can always tell a kelpie from how their new form looks. As a human, they will always have kelp in their hair and may have hooves instead of feet. As a normal horse, its hooves may be backwards.

Legends: The Kelpie is known for two major stories. Once there was a young woman on the beach, minding her business until she spotted what looked to be a beautiful black horse wandering on the shore. She figured it must've wandered off from it's owner, as it had reins and it seemed tame, so she crept closer. The horse was dripping wet, and it had kelp in its mane. She grabbed its reins to try and lead it away from the beach, but it refused to move. She pulled harder, she pushed the horse, she even tried scaring it away. Nothing. Then an idea came to her. She climbed onto the horse's back, wanting to lead it that way. And to her delight, it began to move. But that delight slowly turned to horror as she found that she couldn't hop off its back, and it was moving towards the water. A few days later, a search party was looking for the woman on the beach, and all they found were her entrails in the sand. The second story is...somewhat similar. There is a group of children playing on the beach when a beautiful horse trots up. They all fall in love with it,and they all fight to get in its back. It seems perfectly okay with this. Many of the children somehow fit on its back,and they're all delighted. A shyer boy decides to simply pet the friendly horse instead of ride, but finds that he can't move his hand from its neck after a minute or two.The other children start screaming, they can't move and the horse is going to the water. The boy makes a hasty decision, cutting off his fingers to free himself from the horse. It works. The horse dives in without him and the boy runs home. The entrails of the children are found a few days later.

Known Weaknesses: It is said that if you can grab the Kelpie's reins before it drowns you, you'll be able to control it.