Coll

Coll (Scottish Gaelic: Cola) is an island located west of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breacachadh Castle. It is in the council area of Argyll and Bute.

Geography and geology

Coll is about 13 miles (20 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide and has a population of around 220. Coll's sandy beaches rise to form large sand dunes. The highest point on Coll is Ben Hogh in the mid west of the island, a ridge with two tops running NW/SE, which rises initially to a height of 104 metres (341 ft) with a triangulation pillar, and to 106 metres (348 ft) 450 metres (492 yd) to the southeast.

Settlements

Arinagour (Scottish Gaelic: Àirigh nan Gobhar), is the main settlement on the island located at the head of Loch Eatharna, on the east coast. Other inhabited locations include:

Coll (letter)

Coll is the Irish name of the ninth letter of the Ogham alphabet ᚉ, meaning "hazel-tree", which is related to Welsh collen pl cyll, and Latin corulus. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *kos(e)lo-. Its phonetic value is [k].

References

The Chronicles of Prydain

The Chronicles of Prydain is a pentalogy of children's high fantasy Bildungsroman novels by Lloyd Alexander. Henry Holt published one annually from 1964 to 1968; the second earned a 1966 Newbery Honor and the last won the 1969 Newbery Medal.

The five novels follow one protagonist Taran from youth to maturity, most overtly in the fourth book, Taran Wanderer. Taran has the title Assistant Pig-Keeper at Caer Dallben but initially dreams of being a grand hero. His most important companions in adventure are Princess Eilonwy, a girl his age; Fflewddur Fflam, a wandering bard and minor king; Gurgi, a wild hominid between animal and man; and Doli, a dwarf.

Inspiration and development

Thematically the novels draw upon Welsh mythology, particularly the Mabinogion. The novels are not, however, retellings of those myths, a point Alexander himself makes in an author's note for The Book of Three: stories have been conflated, and characters have been changed in both role and motive, so a student of Welsh culture should be prepared as Arawn becomes the books' dark arch enemy and Gwydion's negative traits are replaced with unclouded heroism.