Only hinted at in some of these tales, and clearly stated in others, it is apparent that there was a long and continuing conflict between paganism and Christianity in the early centuries A.D. This may also be the explanation behind other well creation tales, such as the slaying by St Barry of a 'great serpent' in County Roscommon. The saint thrust his crozier at it before it disappeared into Lough Lagan, and where his knee touched the ground, a holy well, Tobar Barry, sprang up. Although the serpent may represent paganism, and the saint's victory is therefore the victory of Christianity over paganism, we cannot entirely ignore the possibility that some of the serpents in similar Irish tales may have been real water monsters, which are still seen from time to time in the lakes of Ireland and Scotland. These eerie, ugly monsters, with their aura of primeval mystery, appropriately symbolize the uncouth savagery which the Christians attributed to all non- Christian beliefs; but that is not to say that the monsters were totally symbolic and did not have a reality of their own. Colin Bord
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The Irish tale of “The Lough Gara Monster” is a classic illustration of how the Irish and their pagan ancestors viewed the world. It is not just a mere tale of an ugly beast which once terrorized the people, but a horror story with a moral lesson. A boatman with his wife and children was traveling on the lake when he saw something resembling a huge fish coming toward him. He thought it might be a porpoise until it came closer and he finally saw it as an enormous serpent.

The boatman rowed as fast as he could out of danger, but his wife and children were too terrified to row and they drifted away from him. The boatman gave up, tied his boat to a tree, and went into a cabin near the shore to wait for someone to come and rescue him. He had been there only a short time when he heard a noise like thunder coming from the lake.

He ran outside to see what it was, and saw that an enormous monster was coming at him! Terrified, the man retreated inside the cabin again, but he could not stay there for more than two hours before he realized that more monsters were coming at him from all sides! He left the cabin one more time, but this time he did not return. He took his canoe and paddled as far as he could until he reached dry land where no one could find him.

Source: Sacred Waters

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