brigidi
In Shetlandic folklore, a kind of whale or large fish. Its fin was about the size and shape of a boat's sail. When it noticed a boat, it rushed at it and cut it in half with its large and sharp fin. Other times it would hit the boat with the fin sideways, thus crushing it or flattening it down on the water.
Formerly offerings seem to have been made, possibly of coins, and pieces of iron thrown to it in the water. See also sjafer.
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References
Source
- Teit, James A. (1918). "Water-beings in Shetlandic Folk-Lore, as remembered by Shetlanders in British Columbia." JAF 31:180-201, pp. 196-197.