Ladies Of The Lakes (Story Time)

In British folklore, the Ladies of the Lake are mystical water spirits or beings associated with bodies of water, particularly lakes and pools. They are often depicted as beautiful and enchanting women who emerge from the waters, possessing magical powers and abilities.

These ladies are often described as guardians and protectors of the lakes, and are believed to have the ability to grant wishes, provide healing and wisdom, and bestow blessings on mortals. Legends and stories tell of how individuals who encounter the Ladies of the Lake are either blessed with great fortune or faced with challenges that test their character and worthiness.

Transcript

Britain has lots of stories about ladies who live in lakes.

Most famous one is of course Lady of the Lake from the legend of King Arthur.

Lady of the Lake was the one who gave him Excalibur,

The magic sword.

And when it was time for Arthur to leave this earthy realm,

The lady took the sword back.

In England and also from Wales you can find lots of swords and weapons from these marshes and swamps and they are from old battles,

Many of them from the Bronze Age or battles between Romans and the different Celtic tribes.

The stories about Lady of the Lake and the swords in the lakes,

They are based on history and reality to some degree.

There are some deep pools where the mermaids live.

There's a mermaid pool in Derbyshire.

She's a spirit of more sinister nature and she appears in Easter Eve at the stroke of midnight.

And the legend says that if you look at to the mermaid pool during this hour you might see your future,

But then you also might be dragged by this Lady of the Lake into the depths of this pool.

Another sinister mermaid lives in the Black Nearpool in the moors of North Staffordshire.

And a lot of people have drowned in this eerie spot.

Now sometimes when there are haunted places in the world just the nature of the place can make it haunted,

Like maybe there was lots of accidents that happened in that place or maybe people went there because they knew that it was a bit spooky and eerie.

In 1979 there was a serial killer who dumped his victim's body into the lake,

So it is no wonder that there is some kind of a ghost,

Mermaid spirits who haunts the lake.

And a number of people have drowned in this eerie spot.

In Celtic folktales the goddesses often have three roles,

The maiden,

The mother and the crown.

The maiden face of the goddess Aine is a mermaid.

Aine is a lake goddess and she lives in the Loch Gour in Ireland.

According to the legend the Earl of Edmund was mesmerized by her beauty and he stole her magical cloak,

Which is pretty similar to the selkie skin,

And Aine married him and they had a son together.

But Aine,

She missed her home and after the birth of their son Earl granted her back her freedom and she returned back to the lake.

And years later their son joined her there and between every seven years Loch Gour supposedly dries up and then you can see the world tree in the middle of the pool.

It grows in the bottom of this lake and that is where Aine lives and knits the web of destiny.

It's a very eerie story but also quite beautiful.