Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Gast Rhymhi
Sikes gives Gast Rhymhi as the name of a princess changed into a wolf-bitch, with two cubs and a cave dwelling. Her account explains a group of local names for stones and cromlechs. The tale restores mother and cubs to human form for Arthur. Sikes explicitly notes the Christian wording in the Mabinogi version, where God effects the change.
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes gives Gast Rhymhi as the name of a princess changed into a wolf-bitch, with two cubs and a cave dwelling. Her account explains a group of local names for stones and cromlechs.
Further detail
TraditionalThe tale restores mother and cubs to human form for Arthur. Sikes explicitly notes the Christian wording in the Mabinogi version, where God effects the change.
Context & interpretation
The entry follows Sikes’s account of the transformation legend and his reference to Kilhwch and Olwen. His comparison with Melusina is a comparison, not an assertion that the two characters or their conditions are identical.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
Her name was Gast RhymhiOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 396
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-P0396
- Original scan leaf
- 397
- Recorded leaf number
- 397
- Current Reader position
- 395
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
God did changeOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 397
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-P0397
- Original scan leaf
- 398
- Recorded leaf number
- 398
- Current Reader position
- 396
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
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