Across Europe, dramatic landscapes and ambitious structures that seemed impossible for humans to create have often been attributed to devils, giants, dragons, saints and other supernatural beings.Here is the legend behind Devil’s Bridge, Aberystwyth, Wales.

The Devil’s Bridge comprises three bridges, one above another, spanning the Mynach Gorge. The lowest is thought to date back to the medieval period, possibly built by monks from nearby Strata Florida Abbey. A second was added in 1753, and the third, an iron bridge, was constructed in 1901. The Mynach Falls drop nearly 300 feet through a narrow ravine (沟壑) before the river Mynach joins the Rheidol.

According to legend, the devil offered to build the bridge in return for the soul of the first living creature to cross it. An old woman fooled him by throwing bread across the bridge and sent her dog after it (as a sacrifice).

The history is less tidy. Michael Freeman, vice president of the Ceredigion Historical Society, says the bridge was known as Pontarfynach, or the Monk’s Bridge, in Welsh. Its association with the devil doesn’t seem to date beyond the early 18th century. The story was not mentioned in print until the early 19th century when English tourists helped publicize it, he says.

“People in the past, who could not understand how seemingly impossible structures were built, ascribed special powers to them, such as the devil, giants, and others,” Freeman says.

Juliette Wood, a folklorist at Cardiff University, says the Devil’s Bridge story is “one of many common legends usually called ‘migratory,’ as it appears in so many places.”

The devil isn’t always as formidable as he sounds. Wood says the “devils” who built these things are usually not frightening at all — they are more like giants, and easy to trick. She points out how easily they are tricked in these stories.