A malicious sea monster from Shetland waters, the Bregdi is feared for its habit of chasing boats. Once it has caught up with a boat, it wraps its long fins around it, putting them up over the gunwales, and dives with the boat in its deadly embrace.
Fortunately a bregdi’s attentions can be deterred in two ways. Like many other supernatural creatures, the bregdi hates the touch of cold steel. A simple skuni (knife) is more than enough to combat it. Slashing the fins as soon as they appear over the gunwales will make it let go and flee. It is also terrified of amber beads, and a single amber bead thrown at a bregdi is enough to scare it off.
References
Angus, J. S. (1914) A Glossary of the Shetland Dialect. Alexander Gardner, Paisley.
Fleming, M. (2002) Not of this World: Creatures of the Supernatural in Scotland. Mercat Press, Edinburgh.
I kinda like that the claws on the thing look like knives. Was that intentional
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Sorta! They needed to be more like hooks.
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Interesting its steel instead of iron that wards it off.
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Presumably metals in general
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would I be safe if I was in a metal cage?
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Hey, if it works for sharks…
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I live in the neighbouring Orkney Islands so will definitely keep my eyes open in case one comes to visit – gulp!
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I like the little detail that it’s afraid of amber beads. That’s just so oddly specific and inexplicable, I wonder how it got started? Does amber have some sort of significance here that I’m unaware of?
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Probably has to do with purity or something, like silver?
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