# Lavellan

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lavellan
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lavellan.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavellan
> Source revision: 1357088518
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

In [Scottish folklore](/source/Scottish_folklore), the **lavellan**, **làbh-allan**, **la-mhalan** or **la-bhallan** is a [rodent](/source/Rodent)- or [lizard](/source/Lizard)-like creature with a venomous bite.[1][2] It reportedly lives in bodies of water.[3] It features in tales from both [Sutherland](/source/Sutherland) and [Caithness](/source/Caithness).[4]

The lavellan was described in [Robert Sibbald](/source/Robert_Sibbald)'s *[Scotia Illustrata](/source/Scotia_Illustrata)* as "an animal common in Caithness, it stays in water, it has a head similar to the weasel, and is a beast of the same colouring. The breath from these beasts does harm."[5] In the settlement of Ausdale, [Thomas Pennant](/source/Thomas_Pennant) asked the local people about the lavellan: they believed that the lavellan was particularly harmful to cattle; they also believed that sick cattle could be cured by giving them water in which the skinned hide of a lavellan had been dipped in.[6] Pennant believed that the mythical lavellan was truly a [water shrew](/source/Water_shrew) ([*neomys fodiens*](/source/Neomys_fodiens)). According to Dr Lee Raye, Pennant's view is now generally accepted as accurate.[5]

In literature, the lavellan was mentioned in a poem by Sutherland poet [Rob Donn](/source/Rob_Donn): "Let him not go away from the houses, to moss or wood, lest the Lavellan come and smite him."[7]

## See also

- [Dobhar-chu](/source/Dobhar-chu)
- [Kelpie](/source/Kelpie)

## References

1. Shute, Joe (2024-04-11). [*Stowaway: The Disreputable Exploits of the Rat – A NEW SCIENTIST NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR*](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FK75EAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA1&ots=6RCA3qAfOS&dq=%22Lavellan%22&lr&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q=%22Lavellan%22&f=false). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-3994-0254-5.

1. Redfern, Nicholas (2016). [*Nessie : exploring the supernatural origins of the Loch Ness Monster*](http://archive.org/details/nessieexplorings0000redf). Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-0-7387-4710-1.

1. Richard Holland (2015-04-17). [*Legends & Folklore Scotland*](http://archive.org/details/legendsfolklores0000rich). Bradwell Books. ISBN 978-1-909914-98-8.

1. Crofton, Ian (2012-11-05). [*A Dictionary of Scottish Phrase and Fable*](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Zqq8BQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT161&ots=zZbuacMSBR&dq=%22Lavellan%22&lr&pg=PT515#v=onepage&q=%22Lavellan%22&f=false). Birlinn. ISBN 978-0-85790-637-3.

1. Raye, Lee (2018-09-20). ["Robert Sibbald's Scotia Illustrata (1684): A faunal baseline for Britain"](http://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsnr/article/72/3/383-405/48664). *Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science*. **72** (3): 383–405. [doi:10.1098/rsnr.2017.0042](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2017.0042). [ISSN 0035-9149](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0035-9149)

1. Campbell, John Gregorson (1900). [*Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland*](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ziiNgDTiFqAC&ots=so4zWpRpbx&dq=%22Lavellan%22&lr&pg=PA220#v=onepage&q=%22Lavellan%22&f=false). J. MacLehose and sons.

1. ["The Project Gutenberg eBook of Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, by John Gregorson Campbell"](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61730/61730-h/61730-h.htm). *www.gutenberg.org*. Retrieved 2026-05-31.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lavellan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavellan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavellan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.