This, in Ireland, is almost identical with the Cailleach Bheur of the Highlands except that she is not so closely connected with winter nor with the wild beasts. She is a great mountain builder, and, like many other gigantic hags, she carried loads of stone in her apron and dropped them when the string broke. Eleanor Hull gives interesting information about both the Irish and the Highland Cailleachs in Folklore of the British Isles (pp.50-53). Mackenzie in Scottish Folk-Lore and Folk Life (pp.136-155) decides that the Highland tradition of the Cailleach is older and more deeply rooted than the Irish.

[Motif: A1135]