| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
"White Buffalo Woman" | N American | The sacred woman who brought secret knowledge to the Oglala. She reminded them of the mysteries of their mother, the earth. Urging them always to honour her, she disappeared in the shape of a white buffalo. |
"White Ladies" | Normandy | A species of fee in Normandy. They lurk in ravines, fords, bridges, and other narrow påśśes, and ask the påśśenger to dance. If they receive a courteous answer, well; but if a refusal, they seize the churl and fling him into a ditch, where thorns and briars may serve to teach him gentleness of manners. |
| Spirit name "White Lady" | Ireland | White Lady Of Ireland the banshee or domestic spirit of a family. |
| Spirit name "White Lady" | Prussia | White Lady of the royal family of Prussia. A "spirit" said to appear before the death of one of the family. |
"White Merle" | Basques | Of the old Basques. A white fairy bird, which, by its singing, restored sight to the blind. |
| Goddess name "Whope" | Lakota | The daughter of the Sun Wi and the moon, a goddess of peace and the wife of the south wind. Lakota |
| Goddess name "Whope" | Sioux / USA | Goddess. The daughter of WI, the Sun god, and consort of the south wind. She is credited with giving the Sioux Indian the pipe of peace through which (narcotic) they commune with the great spirit WAKAN TANKA.... |
| God name "Wi" | Lakota | The Sun god of the Lakota. |
| Goddess name "Wi" | Sioux / USA | Sun god. The father of the goddess WHOPE, his sacred animal is the bison.... |
"Widenostrils" | French | A huge giant, who subsisted on windmills, and lived in the island of Tohu. When Pantagruel and his fleet reached this island no food could be cooked because Widenostrils had swallowed "every individual pan, skillet, kettle, frying-pan, dripping-pan, boiler, and saucepan in the land," and died from eating a lump of butter. French |
| God name "Wiidigo" | Ojibwa / Canada | Ice god. A terrible being formed of ice who symbolizes the starvation of Winter. There are said to be many windigos, but they are always referred to in the singular. Cannibalistic, the windigo appears as an ice skeleton and a human being can be turned into one through possession.... |
"Wild Huntsman" | German | The German tradition is that a spectral hunter with dogs frequents the Black Forest to chase the wild animals. The English name is "Herne the Hunter," who was once a keeper in windsor Forest. In Winter time, at midnight, he walks about Herne's Oak, and blasts trees and cattle. He wears horns, and rattles a chain in a "most hideous manner". Another legend is that a certain Jew would not suffer Jesus to drink out of a horse-trough, but pointed to some water in a hoof-print as good enough for "such an enemy of Moses," and that this man is the "Wild Huntsman." Various |
| Spirit name "Will-O'-the-Wisp" | Roman | A spirit of the bogs, whose delight is to mislead belated travellers. |
| Spirit name "Will-o'-the-wisps" | Europe | In the mediaeval ages, the will-o'-the-wisps were known as elf lights, for these tiny sprites were supposed to mislead travelers; and popular superstition claimed that the Jack-o'-lanterns were the restless spirits of murderers forced against their will to return to the scene of their crimes. Northern Europe |
| God name "Willow Pattern" | s | The tradition. The mandarin had an only daughter named Li-chi, who fell in love with Chang, a young man who lived in the island home represented at the top of the pattern, and who had been her father's secretary. The father overheard them one day making vows of love under the orange-tree, and sternly forbade the unequal match; but the lovers contrived to elope, lay concealed for a while in the gardener's cottage, and thence made their escape in a boat to the island home of the young lover. The enraged mandarin pursued them with a whip, and would have beaten them to death had not the gods rewarded their fidelity by changing them both into turtle-doves. The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred "when the willow begins to shed its leaves." |
"Winifred" | s | Patron saint of virgins, because she was beheaded by Prince Caradoc for refusing to marry him. She was Welsh by birth, and the legend says that her head falling on the ground originated the famous healing well of St. Winifred in Flintshire. She is usually drawn like St. Denis, carrying her head in her hand. Holywell, in Wales, is St. Winifred's Well, celebrated for its "miraculous" virtues. |
| Goddess name "Winonah" | Ojibwa | Daughter of the goddess Nokomis and the mother of Hiawatha. Ojibwa |
"Wintersmith" | Discworld | The personification of Winter. At his core he is the elemental personification of ice. Originally just a shape in the snow, with two violet eyes, he later formed a "snowman" out of all the elements that make a human body. He creates snowflakes and icebergs, and also the patterns of ice on windows. Discworld |
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