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Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of IHeart Radio.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Monster Fact, a short-form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time.

I spent last week in Wales, taking in the majestic beauty of the Welsh countryside as well as its vibrant history.

During my travels, I asked my tour guide O'Shawn,

which monster from Welsh traditions really stands out to him?

And his answer was the avonk.

The exact nature of the avonk varies from telling to telling,

as does its exact name,

but drawing on the book Folklore of Wales by Anne Ross, as well as Carol Rose's Giants, Monsters

and Dragons, I think we can start with a general, consistent tale.

Medieval and later Welsh traditions hold that the avonque was a terrifying water monster

that preyed on human beings, until such time as it was chained and dragged away by

oxen across the Welsh countryside, sometimes through the moors till it could be imprisoned

in the lake of Shin Kum Iphenon in Snowdonium. In other tellings of the tale, it was merely

dragged by oxen onto dry land where it became

powerless. Sometimes this is the work of the knight, Peredur, other times Sir Percival,

and even King Arthur himself in some tellings. Again, there are many variations, but this

seems to be a good skeleton of a tale to work from. Now, what was the exact nature of the beast in question?

Well, Ross and Rose mentioned several different alleged forms.

A great supernatural crocodile.

...