The Washer At The Ford

[poliphilo]

 The Washer at the Ford is a Bean Si (that's the Irish) who washes the bloody clothes of those about to die. Bean Si gets anglicised as Banshee and translated as Fairy Woman. In the Scottish Highlands she's called Bean Nighe which translates as Washerwoman- and in Brittany she appears as a trinity known as Les Lavandieres. All the Celtic nations recognise her in some form or other.  She is a harbinger of death but also, if approached and dealt with cannily, a granter of wishes.