Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Carn Cabal’s Returning Stone
Sikes quotes an account of a heap of stones in Builth bearing the footprint of Cabal, Arthur’s dog. The mark is connected with the dog’s hunt of the swine Troynt. Arthur gathers the heap and sets the marked stone upon it. People who carry that stone away for a day and night find it returns, so the object retains its place despite human removal.
Also known as Cabal’s footprint stone
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes quotes an account of a heap of stones in Builth bearing the footprint of Cabal, Arthur’s dog. The mark is connected with the dog’s hunt of the swine Troynt.
Further detail
TraditionalArthur gathers the heap and sets the marked stone upon it. People who carry that stone away for a day and night find it returns, so the object retains its place despite human removal.
Context & interpretation
The entry follows the Carn Cabal passage reproduced by Sikes from the old British historian Nennius. It concerns the returning stone in the legend, without treating the footprint as demonstrated evidence of Arthur’s historical hunt.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
the impress of a dog's footOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 378
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0378
- Original scan leaf
- 379
- Recorded leaf number
- 379
- Current Reader position
- 377
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
called it Carn CabalOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 378
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0378
- Original scan leaf
- 379
- Recorded leaf number
- 379
- Current Reader position
- 377
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
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