Celtic Creatures Coloring Pages
The Celtic lands were full of creatures who lived right alongside people. There was a little shaggy fellow who'd sweep your kitchen at night if you treated him right, a beautiful horse at the edge of the loch you should never, ever climb on, and seals who might be your neighbours in disguise.
Some of these Celtic creatures were helpful, some were tricky, and a few were best avoided altogether, but people told stories about all of them around the fire for hundreds of years.
The brownie is a small, shaggy household spirit from Celtic folklore. Stories say he slips into a home at night to sweep, tidy and help with the farm work, asking only for a bowl of cream or porridge in return. But he is easily offended. If someone tries to pay him with new clothes, or complains about his work, he may leave and never come back...
Cat Sidhe
The Cat Sidhe is a fairy cat from Celtic folklore. It's described as a big black cat with a white spot on its chest, about the size of a dog. Stories say it could be a fairy, or a witch who had turned into a cat. Some tales say people left out a saucer of milk for it on Samhain, so it would bring good luck to the house...
Celtic Dragons
The Celtic dragons of myth and legend...
Green Man
The Green Man is a face made entirely of leaves, with vines curling out of his mouth and hair. Stone carvers hid him in medieval churches all across Europe, and every spring he stands for life coming back to the land. Nobody can quite agree on how old he really is, though, or where he first came from...
Kelpie (Water Horse)
The kelpie looked like a lovely grey horse standing quietly at the edge of a loch, and that was exactly the problem. Anyone who climbed on its back found they couldn't let go, and the kelpie had only one place it liked to go. Still, it wasn't unbeatable, and there was one thing every kelpie hoped nobody would ever get their hands on...
Leprechauns
Leprechauns belonged to the fairy folk, one of the solitary kind who kept to themselves, and for a long time plenty of country people believed in them the same way they believed in the weather.
A leprechaun wasn't wicked, but he wasn't exactly friendly either, and anyone who tried to get the better of one usually found out the hard way who the clever one was...
Mac Tíre (Celtic Wolf)
The old stories didn't always treat wolves as the bad guys, and sometimes the wolf wasn't even really a wolf...
Merrow
Merrows are Ireland's mer-folk, half person and half fish. A merrow's magic lives in her red cap, and if someone hides it she forgets the sea and stays on land, right up until the day she finds it again...
Púca (Pooka)
The Púca is a shapeshifter, and you never know which shape you'll get: a horse, a goat, a rabbit or something big and hairy that talks. Its favorite trick is scooping up a traveler for a wild midnight ride and setting them down somewhere else entirely...
Puck (Robin Goodfellow)
Puck is the prankster of the woods and the farmhouse. He'll tidy your kitchen overnight if he likes you, or lead you into a bog with a bobbing light if he doesn't, and people called him Robin Goodfellow in the hope of staying on his good side...
Selkies (Scottish and Irish Seal-Folk)
Selkies are seals who can slip out of their skins and walk on land as people, and the old tales from Scotland and Ireland are full of them. A selkie can't go home without her sealskin, which is a problem when a lonely fisherman finds it first...
Sidhe (Aos Sí)
Long before fairies had butterfly wings, the Celts told stories about the people who live under the hills. In Ireland they're the Sidhe, in Scottish Gaelic they're the daoine sìth, and in both places a grassy mound can hide a door into their world...
Sprites (The Little Folk)
Every Celtic country has its own tiny nature spirits, and each one gives them a different name. In Cornwall they lead travelers astray, in Wales they're called the fair family, and in Scotland one of them will tidy your house at night if you leave him alone...