Oilliphéist

In Irish folklore, Caoránach (sometimes Caol) was an Oilliphéist and said to be the mother of demons who was banished by Saint Patrick to Lough Dearg in Donegal, Ulster.{{Cite book|title=Lough Derg and Its Pilgrimages: With Map and Illustrations|last=O'Connor|first=Daniel|url=https://archive.org/details/loughdergandits00ocogoog/page/n158/mode/2up|year=1879|pages=131|publisher=J. Dollard }}{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines|last=Monaghan|first=Patricia|year=2014|isbn=978-1-60868-217-1|pages=184|publisher=New World Library }}{{Cite book|title=Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable: The Cultural Links between the Human and Inhuman|publisher=Cambridge Scholars|year=2018|isbn=978-1527514836|pages=387}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/legends-of-saint-provide-vital-clues-about-pagan-ireland-34550944.html|title=Legends of saint provide vital clues about pagan Ireland|last=Riegel|first=Ralph|date=March 18, 2016|work=Irish Independent}}{{Cite book|last=Faulkenbury|first=Thomas J|title=Out of the Mist Celtic Christianity|year=1992|pages=73}}{{Cite book|last=Cassidy|first=Janet|title=THE PILGRIMAGE OF DABHACH PHÁDRAIG: PLACE, MEMORY, AND SACRED LANDSCAPE AT THE HOLY WELL OF BELCOO|publisher=Empire State College State university of New York|year=2017|pages=27}}

According to earlier legends, Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna are asked to slay a Hag in the Lough Dearg region. The Hag is shot and killed from far away, and her body is lost as a result. When the Fianna find her corpse, they are warned to not break its thigh bone lest a dangerous monster be released.{{Cite book|title=Saint Patrick's purgatory : a mediaeval pilgrimage in Ireland|url=https://archive.org/details/stpatrickspurgat00seym/page/8/mode/2uphttps://archive.org/details/stpatrickspurgat00seym/page/8/mode/2up|last=Seymour|first=John D|year=1918 |pages=8–10}}

A man named Conan breaks the bone nevertheless, and releases a small hairy worm. The worm, named Caoránach, quickly grows into a large monster which attempts to eat all the cattle in the land. The people of Ulster blame Conan for the deaths of their cattle. Enraged, Conan stabs the monster from within its mouth. Lough Dearg is named after its red rocks, which are said to have been dyed by Caoránach's blood.{{Cite book|title=The great folly, superstition, and idolatry, of pilgrimages in Ireland; especially of that to St. Patrick's purgatory. Together with an account of the loss that the publick sustaineth thereby; truly and impartially represented.|url=https://archive.org/details/greatfollysupers00rich/page/n31/mode/2up|last=Richardson|first=John|year=1727|pages=2–3}}

In a more Christianised version of the story, Saint Patrick slays the monster after being told about it. Its blood dyes the lake red{{Cite book|title=Evil Archaeology: Demons, Possessions, and Sinister Relics|last=Lynn|first=Heather|year=2019|pages=62}} and in some tales Saint Patrick declares the lake should be called Lough Dearg as a result. In some variants of the tale, Saint Patrick fails to kill the monster, and it lives on in Lough Dearg to this day as a result.

• Muirdris
• Each-uisge

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|editor-first=Kevin|editor-last=O'Nolan|title=Eochair, a king's son in Ireland|url=https://archive.org/details/eochairkingssoni0000bour|year=1982|publisher=Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann, University College|language=Irish|isbn=978-0-906426-08-1}}
• {{cite book |title=世界の龍の話 |publisher=三弥井書店|trans-title=Story of the dragon of the world |language=ja|date=1998|editor=竹原威滋|editor2= 丸山顯徳 |isbn=978-4-8382-9043-7}}

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Category:Aos Sí

Category:European dragons

Category:Fairies

Category:Irish folklore

Category:Irish legendary creatures

Category:Mythological aquatic creatures

Category:Scottish legendary creatures

Category:Tuatha Dé Danann

Category:Sea serpents