Freybug is a monstrous Black Dog that is stated to come from medieval English folklore, specifically from Norfolk. Like most supernatural black dogs, it was roughly the size of a calf, and wandered country roads terrifying travelers.
The English martyr Laurence Saunders mentioned Fray-bugs in his letters to his wife in 1555. The word Fray-bug is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “an object of fear; a bogy, spectre.” The similar word “fray-boggart” was a word for a scarecrow. Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, by John Brand, referenced Saunders' letters and suggested that the Fray-bug was a Black Dog similar to the Barghest. Carol Rose seems to have drawn on Brand’s work for her description of the Freybug.
Resources
- Matthews, John (2005). The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: the Ultimate a-Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic. New York: Sterling. p. 220. ISBN 1-4027-3543-X.
- Rose, Carol (2001). Giants, Monsters, and Dragons. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-32211-4.
References
- Richmond, Leigh (1810). The Fathers of the English Church: Or, A Selection from the Writings of the Reformers and Early Protestant Divines of the Church of England, Volume 6. London: John Hatchard. pp. 643, 655.
- Brand, John (1905). Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Faiths and Folklore; a Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs, Past and Current, with Their Classical and Foreign Analogues, Described and Illustrated. Reeves and Turner. p. 28.
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