Gwynedd, Wales
Llyn Barfog, or the Bearded Lake,
is the setting for one of the most colorful
of local stories about
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| Llyn Barfog, or
the Bearded Lake. |
Arthur. It is said that a terrible monster,
the avanc, lived in the lake, from where it would raid the
surrounding countryside. When Arthur came to hear of this, he went
to the lake and threw a great chain around the avanc. Then,
with the help of his mighty horse (sometimes called Llamrai), he hauled
the creature from the lake and killed it. Proof of this is found a
short distance from Llyn Barfog in the shape of a stone known as Carn
March Arthur, the Stone of Arthur's Horse.
Here there is an undoubted hoof-print
etched deeply into the rock - supposedly
made by Arthur's steed as it
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| Carn March Arthur,
the Stone of Arthur's Horse. |
strained to pull the avanc from the lake.
No one knows exactly what the avanc looked like; it has been
variously described as a dragon, a crocodile, and a beaver. Judging
from the size of the lake now, the latter would be its most likely
inhabitant; no doubt, though, the lake was once much bigger.
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