Saturday, September 17, 2005

Jenny Greenteeth - malevolent water spirit

I'm not sure if its the imminent arrival of autumn or not but i had a burning desire to draw Jenny Greenteeth - a water spirit said to lurk in weed covered pools or slow moving rivers in order to drown the unwary.

She is the complete opposite of the Lady of the Lake and Jenny uses her claws to drown the children who dare to get too close to the water's edge.
Its suggested that these legends were originally used to keep children from harm and that Jenny Greenteeth herself is based on the tangling fronds of duckweed that may hamper swimming.

There are all sorts of myths and legends associated with pools and rivers but a great many are connected to the need for a river to claim a certain number of victims per year.
Even now in local newspaper reports its common to read of drownings that happen regularly in particular unlucky watery places - often local folklore about the river or pool requiring victims is mentioned in a slightly embarassed way.

Jenny Greenteeth, Peg Powler, Nellie Longarms, or the drowning women called Bean Fionn in Ireland seem to cover the same sorts of ideas - perilous water , treacherous pools , gently flowing rivers with dangerous undercurrents.












3 comments:

Emily said...

I read your blog...she is definitely creepy...interesting how women are usually used as both good and bad forces. I love the historical/mythological aspects...good blog!
Plus, congrats on the camera! I know exactly how you feel about getting a your camera back...go out and take some pics! : )

The Tart said...

spooky! but neat..

Anonymous said...

Have you met Jenny Greenteeth. I'm her ghost writer and do her blog for her and she has asked me to say that picture you show is nothing like her, she is much greener than that and far from being a nasty boggart she is actually as mad as a box of frogs.
Even though Jenny is not really vindictive I wouldn't go treading on the cracks in the pabement if I were you.
Loved the blog Alison, some great pix there. Visit Jenny's page at
Boggart Blog