Kelpie

EDIT
I don't know what happened...I must have not been paying attention, but the scan is totally crap-a-licious. I'm sorry, I'll see if I can get a better scan at all.
*end edit*

Totally not my style. This was actually drawn for a contest, but then I realized that the contest wasn't for creatures, but characters. Wow. I'm seriously a loser. But, I liked it so much that I finished it anyway and am now posting it. It's AMAZING how many people don't know what creature this is! Here, I'm going to leave a little info on it. (Short version)

KELPIE

In old Scotland, the Kelpie is a treacherous water devil who lurks in lakes and rivers. It usually assumes the shape of a young horse. When a tired traveler stops by a lake to rest or to have a drink, he would see a horse, apparently peacefully grazing. When he mounts the horse, the Kelpie dives into the water and drowns its victim. Occasionally it has helped millers by keeping the mill-wheel going at night.

Some stories aren't so bad. They say that the Kelpie doesn't always drown its victims, but gives them a little splash. Also, though, the Kelpie may or may not eat the person it drowned. Some say that the only way to control a Kelpie is to posses its bridle. I think I'm going to put a few stories in now, so after this there's nothing really important...just interesting words.

-Moon

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There is a story about a young servant girl who allowed a man to put his head upon her lap while she went to comb his hair. She found a little bit of liobhagach an loch, which is a slimy green weed found in the water, in his hair. She worked until the man fell asleep in her lap, and then used her apron to gently lay his head upon the earth and then ran away. When she looked back, she could see him chasing after her in the guise of a horse.

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The proof that we provide for the truth of the Kelpie comes from an old Scottish tale about ten children who were playing too close to the water. A lovely black horse appeared and nine of the children jumped on. The last child placed his finger on the Kelpie and his finger adhered instantly. This child had heard the legend before and didn't believe it, but now knew that it was true. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a knife and cut his finger off in order to save his life. He then tried to run away but the Kelpie ran after him. After ten minutes or so, the Kelpie gave up for fear that people in the nearby area would hear the screams of the children stuck to its back already. So it ran to the bottom of the river and gobbled them all up. The one boy who survived went to the water to see if there was any way that he could save his friends. As he looked out at the water, he saw that his friend's hearts and livers were floating up toward the top. He realized that he was too late. He ran back to tell his parents what he had seen and to go to the doctor to get his finger fixed. From that day on, he traveled across the land to tell the story of the Kelpie and how children should never ride a horse that comes out of the water.

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A long time ago, there was a girl who was not only pretty but also big and strong. She was ploughing with the farm's horse on one of the fields by the lake. The birds chirped and the wagtails flitted in the tracks of the girl and the horse in order to pick worms. All of a sudden, a horse appeared out of the lake. The horse had a beautiful mane which fluttered in the wind and a tail that trailed on the ground. The horse pranced for the girl to show her how beautiful he was. The girl, however, knew that it was the brook horse and ignored it. Then the brook horse came closer and closer and finally he was so close that he could bite the farm horse in the mane. The girl hit the brook horse with the bridle and cried: "Disappear you scoundrel, or you'll have to plough so you'll never forget it." As soon as she had said this, the brook horse had changed places with the farm horse, and the brook horse started ploughing the field with such speed that soil and stones whirled in its wake, and the girl hung like a mitten from the plough. Faster than the cock crows seven times, the ploughing was finished and the brook horse headed for the lake, dragging both the plough and the girl. Immediately she fell down on the ground, and she saw the brook horse disappear into the lake with the plough. She heard a frustrated neighing when the brook horse understood that his trick had failed.