Mythical Z

        This is it, the final letter in the alphabet of mythical creatures!  Many thanks to the Slavic languages for so many of these Z creatures, although we’ve also got creatures from Hebrew, Arabic, and Haitian.  Anything beginning with Z automatically sounds rather exotic in English.

ziz - A bird so huge that its wingspan can block out the sun.  It’s the avian counterpart of leviathan and behemoth.  Standing in the deepest ocean, the water reaches only up to the ziz’s ankles.  Some sources describe it as being like a griffin, while others say it’s like a giant rooster.  I’ve chosen to show it in the gallinaceous style.  (Jewish)

zburător - Something like an incubus, this spirit is a ghostly, handsome young man who visits women in the night for indecent purposes.  He especially favors recently married women.  (Romanian)

zitiron- A sort of merperson with the upper body of a knight in full armor.  (medieval European)

zilant - This wyvern-like dragonoid is the symbol of Kazan, Russia.  (Tatar/Russian)

zmey/zmiy/zmaj/zmij/zmej - Slavic dragons, sometimes representing evil, but sometimes extremely wise, magical, and respected.  (Slavic)

     Zmey Gorynych is a green, three-headed dragon that walks on its hind legs and has small front limbs (like a T. Rex?), and breathes fire.  (Russian, Ukranian)

     Zmeu is an anthropomorphic dragonoid that can shapeshift, make and use tools and weapons, and has a magical shining stone on its head.  It has a predilection for stealing precious objects ranging from golden apples to the sun and moon, and with a particular yen for beautiful maidens.  (Romanian)

Zlatorog - A white chamois or mountain goat with magical golden horns that can lead to a treasure hidden in the highest peak of the Slovenian Alps.  (Slovenian, Alpine)

zubat - I felt that I should include a pokémon in my alphabet.  The zubat is certainly not the most interesting of pokémon, but having got to Z, I was out of better options.  (Japanese, universal)

zaratan - another name for aspidochelone, especially prevalent in the Middle East

zombie - A reanimated dead human, previously mentioned here.  (originally Haitian, now universal)

     At one point after beginning this mythical alphabet, I had fantasies of ending with a grand launch of a Kickstarter campaign for my own bestiary project… but then I decided it was all futile anyway!  So perhaps someday you’ll hear more about this scheme, but for now, this is the end of the series.  But don’t worry, I’m sure there will be plenty more mythical creatures to come.

[Pictures: Ziz Eclipse, rubber block print by AEGN, 2016 (sold out);

Zitiron, hand-colored wood block print from Hortus sanitatis, 1499 Strasbourg edition (Image from Boston Public Library);

Zubat, from Pokémon Go;

Disarmed Zombie, block print by Pete Mitchell (Image from his Etsy shop daspetey).]

Mythical Y

        We’re almost to the end now, and it might seem that we’re scraping the bottom of the mythical barrel.  (Not that one should keep mythical creatures in barrels, with the exception of slimes and extoplasms, of course.)  But Y turns out to host some grade A creatures, many little-known and a couple of classics.

yale - A sort of antelope with horns that can independently swivel 360°, the yale was first described by Pliny the Elder but became particularly well-known in the middle ages through the renaissance.  Its most famous feature is the very long horns which can be turned to face a threat from any direction, or to spare someone, as the yale deems appropriate.  In battle it sometimes holds one horn out of the way to keep in reserve in case the first is broken.  It may even be able to roll the horns up when not in use.  In addition yales have tusks in their lower jaws.  There’s some diversity in body type, from Pliny’s description of a body like a hippopotamus to very slender, goat-like varieties.  Coloration ranges from black to white, but many are spotted.  One of the more common species is white spotted with pure gold, while some have multi-colored spots.  There is also a species of yale with straight horns, although most of them are curved.  (European)

ypotryll - Another creature of heraldry, the ypotryll has the head of a boar complete with tusks, the body of a camel complete with humps, the legs of an ox or goat complete with hooves, and the tail of a serpent.  I have no idea what it’s good for, but it looks absolutely fabulous (in all senses of the word.)  (European)

Yara-ma-yha-who - This looks like a little red man with a big head, big toothless mouth, and suckers on its hands and feet.  It lurks in a fig tree until a human stops to rest in the shade.  Then it drops down on the victim and drains their blood through its suckers.  It then eats the human, but after taking a nap, it spits the person back up.  The human is now a little shorter and redder than before, and if this happens repeatedly to one person, they become a Yara-ma-yha-who themselves.  The best way to protect oneself is to play dead during the day, since the Yara-ma-yha-who hunts only during the day and only living prey.  (Australian Aboriginal)

yacumama - A water-monster some 150 feet long that lives at the mouth of the Amazon.  It is generally thought to be serpentine, can slurp up anything within 100 paces, may have horns, and can squirt a jet of water at prey.  Recently there have been claims that this is a genuine scientific species of giant snake or caecilian, but as always in cryptozoology, the evidence remains inconclusive.  (Brazilian indigenous people)

yowie - Australia’s Bigfoot, the yowie is also sometimes called yahoo (which word I suspect must be related to the yha-who of the other Australian creature above).  It’s a tall, hairy, ape-like biped with long arms and irregular feet and toes.  It can be as tall as 12 feet, and is usually shy but sometimes accused of mauling pets or livestock.  Like many hominoid cryptids, it's often reported as having a strong, foul stench.  (Australian)

yeti - The Himalayan Bigfoot, this cryptid has widely varying descriptions.  It’s generally portrayed with white fur, which makes it look more at home in the mountain snows, but earlier descriptions often give it dark or orangish fur.  Its height seems to have wide variations, too.  Like many hominoid cryptids, it may have backwards-facing feet, to prevent being tracked by its tracks.  Previously mentioned here.  (Himalayan)

yeren - China’s Bigfoot, the yeren is usually reddish but occasionally albino, and lives in Hubei province.  It seems a little more prone than most Bigfoot-kin to eating humans.  (Chinese)
        What’s the mystical connection between the letter Y and giant ape-men?  That’s yet one more mystery to add to all the others.

[Pictures: Beaufort yale, by Torric inn Björn from Heraldic Templates, 1992 (Image from  Hrynkiw and Braidwood);

Extremely happy ypotryll, without artist, date, source, or other helpful info (Image from Heraldic Clipart);

A Description of a wonderful large wild man, or monstrous giant, brought from Botany-Bay, woodcut from a broadside, c 1788 (Image from New South Wales State Library);

Illustration of yowie seen by Charles Harper, 1912 (Image from Unsolved Mysteries In The World);

Yeti in winter, woodcut by Joshua Norton (Image from Etsy shop woodcutposters).]

Mythical X

        To no one’s surprise, I’m sure, mythical X creatures are few and far between.  This is where we can take a moment to be grateful that the English language is never as xenophobic as some of its speakers unfortunately are, so that we can welcome words from Chinese, Greek, and other x-otic languages.  And today I especially welcome their monsters.

xiezhi - Something like a lion with a single horn, but possibly with scales and possibly a type of cattle.  The special thing about the xiezhi is that it is instinctively just and knows good from evil.  If two people are arguing or in conflict, a xiezhi will ram the one who’s at fault.  (Asian)

xana - Another variety of nymph or water spirit, especially associated with fountains, rivers, and waterfalls.  They are extraordinarily beautiful, often with long, curly blonde hair, and alluring voices.  They frequently guard treasures, which they may occasionally offer to worthy travellers.  Because xanas cannot produce milk, when they give birth they often exchange their babies with human infants.  These xaninos grow up in less than a year.  (Spanish, specifically Asturian)

xiao - This one is rather confusing and I’d probably have left it out altogether if I didn’t need all the x’s I could get.  Is it an ape-like creature with very long striped or spotted arms and a penchant for hurling stuff?  Is it a flying monkey?  Or is it a bird with four wings, one eye, and a dog’s tail?  You’d think observers would be able to tell the difference.  The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that it’s extremely raucous and noisy.  (Chinese)

xenoceratops - A giant monster with a body like a rhinoceros, a tail like a crocodile, and a beak like an eagle.  Its most notable feature is the horns all over and around its head: one sticking out of each cheek, two on its forehead, and a sort of collar or frill of spikes and knobs all around the back of its head, with two larger ones at the top.  No one knows what magical abilities this creature might have had, because in fact it’s known only from fossils.  Yes, this is actually a real dinosaur, but isn’t its description every bit as improbable as the monsters I’ve been featuring all year?  In fact, it isn’t even the weirdest-looking of the ceratopsians (the dinosaurs in the same group as triceratops).  I like to remember from time to time that nature has just as wild an imagination as any human.  (Canadian)

xog - A flying puppy, previously mentioned here.  (Modern)

[Pictures: Xie zhi, sculpture about which I have no information at all (Image from China.org);

Xenoceratops foremostensis, drawing by Danielle Dufault, 2012 (Image from livescience).]

Mythical W

        W has a nice variety of creatures, so without further ado, we’re off to see the wizard.  And on the way…

will-o-the-wisp - A ghostly light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs and marshes.  It attempts to lure people into danger.  There are a wonderful array of names for these creatures, as well as different ideas of exactly what they are, including lost souls or ghosts, demons, fairies,  or fiery flying serpents.  On occasion they mark buried treasure, especially in Scandinavia and Mexico. A will-o-the-wisp called Peggiwick plays an important role in the Kate and Sam Adventures.  I particularly love how this wood engraving by Jakubowski captures the feel.  (Universal, except possibly in Africa)

werewolf - At its simplest, a person who transforms into a wolf - but there are many possible variations.  The transformation can be at will, or involuntary.  It can be permanent or temporary, one time or recurring.  The wolf-form can retain human sentience, or be wholly lupine, although either way its appetites become wholly bestial.  One can be born a werewolf as a particular species, or (more traditionally) become one through infection from another werewolf, or through curse or enchantment.  In wolf form it may look exactly like an ordinary wolf, or it may have no tail, or it may be especially large, or have human eyes.  You can recognize a werewolf in human form by traits such as a unibrow, claw-like nails, low-set ears, and bristles under the tongue.  (European, although similar creatures exist in other parts of the world involving, instead of wolves, such predators as tigers and jaguars.)

wendigo - An evil, cannibalistic supernatural being embodying insatiable greed and gluttony.  Emaciated, grey-skinned, and covered with sores, no matter how many humans they devour, they are always starving for more.  In some regions they’re normal human-sized, but in some regions they’re giants.  (Algonquian)

wyvern - A classic European dragon with two legs instead of four.  Wyverns are generally smaller and weaker than the four-legged varieties, and usually cannot breathe fire or speak.  There’s also a sea-wyvern with a fish tail.  (European)

weewilmekq - A water monster resembling a giant leech.  I don’t have much information, but its horns may have healing properties.  (Wabanaki)

witch, wizard, warlock - Why three words for magic users, all from different roots, begin with the same letter is a strange coincidence.  The warlock is the most evil, having begun right from the start as a traitor in league with the devil.  The wizard began as a wise man, and the witch has had the most varied history, as well as the most mysterious etymology.  Of course cultures all around the world have the concept of people with supernatural powers, but the way they’re viewed can vary widely.  Probably one constant is fear - even if the power is believed to be generally benign, supernatural abilities are always going to be unnerving.  (Universal)

welwa - A monster with a mane like a horse, antlers like a deer, face like a bear, eyes like a polecat, and a body that mixes them all.  It lives in woods, and travels in a wind and a fog, not seeming to touch the ground.  The welwa of the Golden Wood “flew with her feet, and walked with her wings; her head was in her back, and her tail was on top of her body; her eyes were in her neck, and her neck in her forehead.”  (Romanian)

wolpertinger - A rabbit with antlers, fangs, and wings.  Previously mentioned here.  (Bavarian)

[Pictures: Bldne ogniki (Ignis Fatuus), woodcut by Stanislaw Jakubowski, 1929 (Image from lamus-dworski);

Wyvern with wings displayed, illustration by Graham Johnston from A Complete Guide to Heraldry, 1909;

The Battle with the Welwa in the Copper Wood, illustration by Henry Justice Ford in The Violet Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang, 1901.]

Mythical V

        V seems to be a fairly sinister letter for some reason.  Just about any of these creatures are apt to kill you if you don’t watch out.  But stay away from Eastern Europe, medieval France, and the planet Venus and you should be relatively safe.

vouivre - A serpentine dragonoid, sometimes with horns, a vouivre is extremely aggressive and attacks without provocation.  Oddly, however, when they see a naked human they blush and look away, thus giving an opportunity for escape.  Their exact complement of legs and wings (or none) is unclear.  Etymologically, another common spelling is guivre, but I chose vouivre because I needed more v’s, of course.  Both forms are related to wyrm, wyvern, and viper.  (medieval French)

vila - A sort of nymph, fairy, or spirit, vila have power over wind, often appear either naked or with a long, billowing cloak, and love to dance.  They can sometimes help humans, but are more likely to be dangerous, stealing young men’s breath, or dancing them to death.  (Slavic)

vodyanoy/vodník - When known as vodyanoy (East Slavic), this male fresh-water spirit somewhat resembles the creature of the black lagoon.  He has greenish beard and hair, black scales, webbed hands, burning red eyes, and a lot of algae and muck.  His primary hobby is drowning people.  When known as vodník (western Slavic), on the other hand, he has a more normal humanoid appearance, except for gills, webbed hands, greenish skin, and a predilection for patchy shirts and odd hats.  They like to smoke pipes and play cards, both of which I would expect to be difficult underwater, which is why they often hang out on the shore.  Only some vodníci are evil, but those collect the souls of their drowned victims in porcelain cups with lids.  (Slavic)

Velue - Also known as the Peluda, this beast terrorized a French village until it was defeated by having its tail cut off.  Its name means Hairy or Shaggy One, because it was covered with green quills or tentacles with poisonous tips.  As big as an ox, it had a scaly, snake-like head, neck, and tail, and big, stumpy feet like a tortoise.  Its breath was lethal, though whether because of fumes, fire, or acid is unclear, and it could shoot off its quills like arrows.  (medieval French)

Venusian - A creature from the planet Venus.  Although Venusians are not particularly popular now that we feel sure Venus has no native wildlife and wouldn’t even be a good choice for human habitation, in the early days of science fiction Venusians seemed as plausible as any other space aliens.  First Venus was generally understood to be tropical jungle and/or largely oceanic, then it was presumed to be harsh desert, in both cases with the appropriate fauna.  I haven’t read or seen any of these myself, but according to various sources the Venusians may include creatures that are a blend of elephants and horse-flies (Fred. T. Jane, 1897), spider-like shelks (Charles R. Tanner, 1930’s), serpent or lizard people (Lumley and Lovecraft, 1930’s), green humanoids (C.S. Lewis, 1940’s), giant frog-like amphibians (Captain Marvel, 1940’s), Aphrodite-worshipping fairies (Wonder Woman, 1942), grinning cones (“It Conquered the World” 1956), three-eyed chefs (“The Twilight Zone” 1961), animated plants (Arthur C. Clark, 1960’s), three-headed green Fearians (“Challenge of the Super Friends” 1978), horse-sized bees (Jacqueline Susann, 1979), snakes with sulfur blood (Ben Bova, 2000), or many other variations, especially of humanoids and dinosaurians.  It seems that a very high proportion of Venusians are either driven to extinction by humans, or do their darnedest to drive humans to extinction.  (modern, universal)

        And don’t forget the V creatures I’ve discussed before:

vegetable lamb - As it sounds, this is a sheep that grows on a stem from a plant, and is the only creature in today's list that’s probably safe to approach.  (Central Asian)

vampire - An undead spirit that sucks people’s blood and life force.  One of the more interesting features of the classic European vampire is its ability to transform into a bat.  (universal, but especially Eastern European)

[Pictures: Vouivre, woodcut, 1550 (Image from akg-images);

Velue, engraving by Peter Sís from The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges, 2005;

Dracula, wood engraving by Barry Moser from Dracula by Bram Stoker, 2000 (Image from Prensa Bruta).]

Mythical U

        And now we enter those dark, inhospitable regions of the alphabet, where few words dwell.  From having to cull down long lists of possible beasts to feature, choosing only those exceptional stars that are most famous or most intriguing to me, I am now reduced to combing desperately through every cabinet of curiosities in the hope of discovering a few obscure creatures I’d never heard of before.  So here we are, with a pitiful handful of U’s.

undine - Elemental beings of water first named by alchemist Paracelsus, undines are always female, and usually to be found in pools and waterfalls.  Sometimes they are simply another kind of nymph.  They are humanoid, beautiful, and often with beautiful singing voices, but nevertheless, undines have no souls.  (European)

Unhcegila - Although a huge monster with a long scaly body, fiery eyes, iron-hard claws, and a fanged mouth obscured by smoke, Unhcegila didn’t need the claws or fangs to be lethal.  Anyone who saw her went blind, then insane, and then died on the fourth day.  The only way to kill her was to shoot her in the heart, which was a flashing red crystal under the seventh spot on her head.  Accounts of her demise vary, but you don’t need to worry any more - she’s dead now.  (Lakota)

umbrellaphant - Very much like an African elephant in size and general appearance, the umbrellaphant has evolved large umbrella-like structures, presumably of skin stretched over a skeletal framework, that function as parachutes and allow it to float downward safely from
great heights.  There are two species of umbrellaphant: the tusk-umbelled umbrellaphant, in which the parachute-like structures grow from the tips of each tusk, and the trunk-umbelled umbrellaphant, in which a single parachute grows from the end of the trunk.  Previously mentioned here.  (relatively recent discovery)

unicorn - Though sparsely populated, U does at least have the distinction of hosting one of the most famous and popular of all mythical creatures.  Previous post here.  (European)

[Pictures: Illustration by Arthur Rackham from Undine by De La Motte Fouqué and Courtney, 1912 (Image from Books Around the Table);

Young Unicorn, linoleum block print by AEGN, 2015 (sold out).]

Mythical T

        Today I have a nice variety of creatures for you: some traditional favorites, and some more obscure discoveries, some with a long history, and some newly identified by scientists.  And when I say “scientists,” of course I mean those people who explore and describe the regions of fantasy in all their wonderful biodiversity.

troll - Large, strong, slow-witted humanoids, trolls generally dwell in mountains and caves, but the dark area under a bridge is apparently cave-like enough to satisfy some.  They often live in family groups, and are dangerous and unfriendly to humans.  They may turn to stone if they’re touched by sunlight, like those encountered by Bilbo Baggins, and they may be frightened off by lightning, or disturbed by the sound of church bells.  (Scandinavian)

tove - According to Humpty-Dumpty, toves are something like badgers, something like lizards, and something like corkscrews.  They make their nests under sundials and live on cheese.  But as we all know, Humpty-Dumpty has a tendency to play fast and loose with definitions, so it may be instead that a tove is a species of badger with smooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag.  The cheese, diet, however, is confirmed.  (Looking-Glass World)

thunderbird - There are a variety of different traditions about thunderbirds, so I’ll take that to indicate different species.  Generally, thunderbirds are strong, powerful enemies of water monsters, and can create thunder and lightning by flapping their wings.  Some species live on a mountain that floats in the western sky.  Others live at the four directions.  (various North American Indian)

tatzelwurm - With the head and front paws of a cat, and the hind-end of a serpent, it's unclear whether this is a dragonoid or a mammal, although it does have scales.  It’s about 5-7 feet long and despite having no hind legs it can leap as far as 9 feet.  They live in burrows, hibernate in the winter, and have been known to attack livestock.  One account says they have green blood.  (Alpine European)

        And the ones I’ve posted about previously.  Follow the links for more information.

tarasque - a dragonoid with a lion’s head, six legs, a turtle shell, and a tail with a scorpion sting.  (French)

time fly - a family of insects with so far unexplored properties of affecting time and memory.    (probably European)

tsukumogami - a household object that becomes alive and self-aware.  (Japanese)

[Pictures: The slithy toves did gyre and gimble, illustration by John Tenniel from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, 1871 (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Baby Thunderbird, by John A. Sharkey (Image from Winn Devon);

Tarasque, ink drawing from Antiquités de Lyon, etc., sixteenth century (Image from Bibliotheque nationale de France).]

Mythical S

        S is a very magical letter, inhabited by many magical creatures in a variety of forms.  We have creatures of air, water, and fire; alluring beauties and hideous predators; humanoids, beasts, and spirits, and lots of hybrid variations of in-between.  Surely everyone should be able to find an S beast to their taste.

sphinx - a wise but perilous creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion.  Female sphinxes are Greek and deadlier than the male, which are Egyptian.  (Actually, some Egyptian sphinxes are female, too, because they often have the heads of pharaohs, just a few of whom were women.)  While both Greek and Egyptian sphinxes are strong, fierce guardians, the Greek females are known for their riddles.  In order to pass her, a traveller must correctly answer a riddle, and anyone who fails will be devoured.  (ancient Greek and Egyptian)

sylph - a spirit or elemental of the air.  According to Paracelsus, who invented the term with his alchemical theory of elementals in the early sixteenth century, sylphs are taller and stronger than humans and, to my surprise, rougher and coarser.  I’m not sure what “coarser” meant to Paracelsus, but the roughness of sylphs may be attested by the allegation that a gang of them murdered Abbé de Montfaucon de Villars in 1673 in revenge for his occult tell-all Comte de Gabalis.  Since the eighteenth century, however, they have come to be regarded as something more like wispy, pretty airy fairies.  (renaissance European)

siren - a beautiful creature whose song lures sailors to their deaths.  In early myths there are only two to five sirens, individually named, although now they’re often thought of as an entire species.  Their appearance  ranges from birds with the faces of women, to various proportions of avian and human characteristics.  Later they’ve been depicted as 100% sexy naked woman, and sometimes they’re even disguised as mermaids.  The Greeks described them as living in flowery meadows, despite their attempts to lure sailors; later authors place them within singing range of the sea.  In addition to singing, they play instruments, especially the harp.  (ancient Greek)

satyr - a wild woodland creature fond of wine, women, and song.  The original satyrs are humanoid with long beards, the tails and ears of horses, and a permanent erection.  Presumably their love of nature puts them one step above drunken frat boys, but I can’t say I find them any more interesting.  (ancient Greek)

sulchyh - an otter-like creature the size of a large dog, with rich, black fur and dark ruby eyes.  Sulchym are primarily subterranean and have a particular connection with the rufous dwarves who live in the same caverns, and with whom they can communicate telepathically.  (from Return to Tchrkkusk)

su - a large creature that dwells along river banks in Patagonia.  Its most interesting feature is
that the female carries her offspring on her back and protects them with her long, wide tail.  They were first written about by traveller André Thévet in 1575, but Edward Topsell embroidered the account in 1608 by describing the su as a “cruel, untamable, impatient, violent, ravening, and bloody beast.”  The su is also known for its warm fur, which is why the Patagonians hunt it by digging pit traps.  (renaissance European accounts of South American)

        And see previous posts on still more S creatures:

salamander - another elemental spirit described by Paracelsus, the salamander lives in fire.  Also see my version here. (renaissance European)

sea serpent - a sea monster of generally elongated form, though not necessarily strictly snake-like, a.k.a. seps or sepedon (universal)

selkie - a creature who lives in seal form in the ocean and in human form on land (ancient Celtic)

sirrush - a dragonoid with feline forelegs, eagle hind legs, and horns, a.k.a. mušḫuššu (Akkadian)

[Pictures: Sphinx, woodcut from Gesnerus Allgemeines Thier-Buch, 1669 edition (Image from Österreichische Nationalbibliothek);

Les Sirénes, wood block print by Raoul Dufy, 1911, from Le Bestiaire ou Cortége d’Orphée by Guillaume Apollinaire (Image from University of Wisconsin, digitized by Google);

Sulchyh, illustration by AEGN from Return to Tchrkkusk;

Of a Wilde Beast in the New-found World called SU, wood block print possibly by Jean Cousin the Younger from The History of Four-footed Beasts by Edward Topsell, 1658 (Image from Internet Archive);

Sea Serpent, wood block print possibly by Lucas Schan from Historiae animalium by Conrad Gesner, 1558.]

Mythical R

        Today’s episode of the Mythical Alphabet is brought to you by the letter R, which is a surprisingly sparse letter.  Of course there are plenty of other creatures I could cite to pad out my list, but many of them, such as Redcaps and Rusalka, are too similar to creatures I’ve already discussed.  Some just didn’t seem particularly interesting to me today.  And the rainbow serpent, though interesting, is more of a deity than a mere magical creature, and part of current religious belief, which I think puts it in a different category.  So that leaves us with:

ramidreju - A weasel-like creature that lives in Cantabria in northern Spain, it has an exceptionally long body, green-tinged fur, yellow eyes, and a hog-like snout with which it digs deep holes.  One is born once every hundred years, it loves gold, and its fur heals all illness.  (Spanish)

rompo - With a skeleton-like body, the front legs of a badger, the rear legs of a bear, a horse’s mane, the head of a hare, but the ears of a human, this beast feeds on human corpses.
Given that it seems to be a scavenger rather than a predator, it’s presumably more horrifying than dangerous, but even more unsettling is its habit of crooning softly as it devours human flesh.  On the other hand, it is cautious, not bold, and when frightened will camouflage itself with the color of whatever it sees around it.  (African and Indian, which seems rather vague, but it’s all I can tell you)

robot - Yes, I know robots are not mythical; they work mindlessly in factories all around the world, compete in soccer tournaments, and glow and beep benevolently in toy stores.  In the world of sci-fi and fantasy, however, robots are more than just machines capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically.  They are artificially made and powered by clockwork and/or electronics, but once they’re turned on, they have their own minds and even personalities.  Scientists are trying to make robots like this a reality, whether or not that’s actually a good idea, but so far that kind of robot remains mythical.  (I had hoped to have a new block print to show you here, but I decided to leave the carving to work on during my next show in June, so you get a repeat.)  See previous comments about robots here (Artifical Life), here (Mechanical Treasures), and here (Android Poetry).  (modern European)

roc - enormous elephant-eating bird of prey, see previous post here.  (Middle Eastern)

rakshasa - demonic humanoid who often eats humans, previous post here.  (Indian)

[Pictures: On the Rukh', woodcut based on a drawing by William Harvey, from The Story of Marco Polo, 1899, but apparently ripped off from 1001 Nights translated by Edward William Lane, 1841 (Image from Internet Archive, cf. Andy Brills);

Rompo, woodcut from Natural History by J. Maclock, 1815 (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Nycteris & Flederer’s Patent Mechanical Chiropterid (Model 3), rubber block print by AEGN, 2015 (sold out).]

Mythical Q

        Q, as you can imagine, is a pretty unusual letter for creatures of any sort.  Still, you should never underestimate the mythical menagerie, which is certainly not afraid to be unusual.  Here are the handful of Q beasties I’ve found.

qilin - First discovered in the fifth century BCE, the qilin is an auspicious creature that brings serenity and prosperity.  They have hooves, antlers, and manes, and their bodies are scaled and sometimes flaming.  They are peaceful vegetarians, who don’t disturb the grass when they walk (and presumably don’t burn it, either), and their voices sound like tinkling wind chimes.  (Chinese)

Questing Beast - First discovered in the thirteenth century, this creature has the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a deer.  The name comes from the noise it makes, like the barking of “thirty couple hounds questing.”  Its French name is Beast Glatisant, which means “barking beast.”  The really unusual thing about this noise, though, is that it comes not from the creature’s throat and mouth, but from its belly.  Could this be a strange sort of purring?  Questing is also an appropriate name, though, because it is Sir Pellinore’s never-ending quest to hunt it.  In contrast to the qilin, the Questing Beast is seen as a symbol of the violence and chaos that destroy King Arthur’s kingdom.  The contrast is particularly interesting because both qilin and Questing Beast may have evolved from legends of giraffes.  (medieval European)  

quinotaur - First mentioned in the seventh century, quinotaurs are sea monsters somewhat like the Ophiotaurus, but with five horns (hence the name.)  Inexplicably, one allegedly raped a Frankish queen in the fifth century, and the offspring of the episode was Merovech, for whom the line of Merovingian kings was named.  I have no information as to whether quinotaurs are usually so violent, or whether Merovech’s dad was a particularly heinous one.  You wouldn’t think you’d want to brag about being descended from a monster, and a monster rapist at that, but the historians just called it a “sea god” and that made it all good.  (ancient French)

qiqirn - a large dog spirit that is mostly bald but has hair on its feet, ears, mouth, and tail-tip.  People and dogs find it terrifying and run away from it, but at the same time it runs away from people and dogs.  You can be especially sure you’ll scare it if you shout its name.  However, my sources don’t tell me whether its name is Qiqirn, or whether it might have a personal name you need to know, such as Bob, Alice, or Rumpelstiltskin.  (Inuit)

quintaped - First mentioned in modern times, quintapeds are dangerous magical creatures a bit like huge tarantulas with five legs, each ending in a club foot.  They are covered in thick reddish-brown hair.  They are carnivorous and particularly love to eat humans.  Quintapeds are also known as Hairy McBoons.  (wizarding world)

[Pictures: Qilin, wood block print from Sancai Tuhui by Wang Qi and Wang Siyi, 1607 (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Arthur and the Questing Beast, illustration by H.J.Ford from King Arthur, Tales of the Round Table edited by Andrew Lang, 1904 (Image fromWikipedia);

Quintaped, illustration from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, edited by J.K. Rowling, 2001.]

Mythical P

        Today I offer a selection of mythical P creatures, and it just so happens that I’m making split pea soup for dinner tonight, even though I completely forgot that it’s Tuesday and I was supposed to post something.  Conspiracy theorists, make of that what you will.  In any case, I think the theme of most of these P’s is flight - although I’m not actually thinking about it too hard, what with the forgetting about having to post something and all.

pixie - small, mischievous humanoid spirits, who are native to the moorland areas in the southwest of the UK, and often dwell in barrows, ring forts, and other archaeological sites.  They are extremely playful and love to dance and wrestle.  They are traditionally enemies of the fairies.  (Cornish)

pooka - Etymologically related to that knavish sprite call’d Puck, pooka are shape shifters who can be humanoid, or may have characteristics of animals, either ears and tail, or the entire appearance, especially horses, goats, cats, dogs, or rabbits.  They are usually dark in color.  Like the pixies, pooka are generally mischievous but not malevolent.  (Irish)

piasa - This mysterious creature was depicted as a large mural on a cliff overlooking the Mississippi River.  At the time it was first seen by Europeans it was somewhat dragonoid, but at some point in the eighteenth or nineteenth century it acquired wings and became known as a bird.  We know nothing about the habits of this creature, which is now extinct, its cliff having been quarried away for limestone.  The only record we have of its legend was published by a professor in about 1836 and was probably simply made up by him.  (probably Cahokian)

poltergeist - a ghost that makes physical disturbances, such as moving objects, making noises, and hurting people.  A poltergeist may haunt a person or a location.  According to Walt Kelly’s pup dog, poltergeists make up the principal type of spontaneous material manifestation.  (Sorry; in-joke for fans of Pogo.)  (nearly universal)

pterippus - a winged horse.  The most famous pterippus is, of course, Pegasus.  Indeed, Pegasus is the only one in classical mythology.  But it would be such a waste to have only one of such a cool and useful beast, so isn’t it nice to know there’s a word for a whole species of them?  (ancient Greek)

pyrallis or pyrausta - a dragonish insect with four legs and transparent wings.  It is born of fire, specifically the fire of the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus, and it cannot survive except in the fire.  (Cyprian)

phoenix - a bird that is reborn from the ashes of its own death (or, according to some theories, the ashes of its predecessor).  A phoenix can live for as long as 1,400 years in each of its cycles of life, and is associated with the sun.  They may vary in size from eagle to ostrich, and their coloring may also vary, but is always magnificent.  (ancient Greek and Roman)

[Pictures: Le Cheval, wood block print by Raoul Dufy, 1911, from Le Bestiaire ou Cortége d’Orphée by Guillaume Apollinaire (1918 edition);

Piasa Bird, woodblock print by Brian Reedy (Image from his Etsy shop WoodcutEmporium);

Phoenix, wood block print from Bestiarius by Magister Joseph Berreurius, 1524 (Image from A Fantastic Bestiary by Ernst and Johanna Lehner, 1969).]

Mythical O

        Ogres and onis and orcs, o my!  

ogre - a humanoid monster that is large, hideous, and eats humans, especially babies.  The word ogre comes from French, but beyond that there are many different theories for its etymology.  Does it come from the Etruscan god Orcus, from the biblical giant Og, from the French for Hungarian?  You probably already know that a female ogre is an ogress, but did you know that their offspring is an ogree?  (Universal)

orc - This humanoid’s name is derived from one of the possible roots that may have given us ogre, by way of Old English, and, of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.  (Tolkien apparently later decided he preferred the spelling ork, but not until it was too late.)  Orcs are a corrupted mockery of the noble elves, hideous, deformed, brutish, and evil.  Initially Tolkien imagined them as goblins, inspired in part by George MacDonald’s goblins, but as he studied Middle Earth further he discovered that some, at least, are considerably more powerful and less comical.  Since Tolkien, a number of other species of orc have been discovered, such as the green-skinned “noble savages” of “World of Warcraft.”  (European)

Orthrus - We’ve all heard of the three-headed dog Cerberus, but did you know he had a two-headed brother named Orthrus?  Orthrus was also a guard dog, and I can just imagine the sibling rivalry that went on in that family.  He was slain by Hercules, which is presumably why you never see two-headed guard dogs any more.  (ancient Greek)

oni - a humanoid spirit that is something like an ogre or demon, usually huge, hideous, and
horned.  Their skin is most often blue or red, and sometimes they have unusual numbers of fierce eyes or clawed fingers.  They often wear a tigerskin loincloth and carry an iron club.  They can be kept at bay by monkey statues and/or holly, which is nice to know, since we have a big holly shrub right at the corner of our house, and I have a small wooden monkey on a bookshelf.  Apparently in Japanese tag, “it” is called the “oni.”  (Japanese)

oozlum bird - This species is rare in part because once it begins a left turn, it continues to fly in ever tighter and tighter circles until it eventually flies right up itself.  Oozlum birds also sometimes fly backwards, in order to admire their own plumage.  First described in the mid-nineteenth century, it is a relatively recent discovery.  (Australian/British)

Ophiotaurus - This creature is front half bull, back half serpent.  Ovid asserts that whoever burns its entrails will get the power to defeat the gods.  (Apparently the Ophiotaurus appears in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, which I have not read, but T has.)  It would be a sad thing indeed to have everyone more interested in burning your entrails than getting to know you, but the fact is that Ovid didn’t have much to say about the Ophiotaurus’s quite-possibly-charming personality.  (ancient Greek/Roman)

        And some other O creatures that have been previously mentioned…

ouphe - imp or goblin  (English)

ouroboros - a serpent with its tail in its mouth, representing eternity  (European)

Oilliphéist - a serpentine dragonoid banished from Ireland by St Patrick  (Irish)

[Pictures: Antonio is not afraid of the Ogre, illustration by H.J. Ford from The Grey Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang, 1900 (Image from MonsterBrains);

Detail from Throwing Beans, wood block print by Kawanabe Kumajiro, 1890 (Image from the Smithsonian Institution);

Ophiotaurus, mosaic floor from a building in York, England, c 44-410 (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Emblem with ouroboros (and bonus Triton) representing immortality won through literary pursuits, wood block print from Emblemata by Andrea Alciato, 1621 edition (Image from Glasgow University).]

Mythical N

        I’ll reiterate that my selections of mythical creatures aren’t intended to be comprehensive - how would that even be possible?  Still, one thing I find especially interesting about the mythical creatures of N is how many of them are aquatic.  I wonder why that should be when these creatures come from lots of different languages over four continents.  N must be an intrinsically watery letter.

nymph - minor female nature deity, usually associated with a particular location or element of nature.  Nymphs are always young, beautiful, and fond of frolicking about while scantily clad, making them an ever-popular subject for artists.  There are hundreds of different kinds, as illustrated by the fact that there are not only nymphs of trees (dryads), but nymphs of each different species of tree.  (I wrote about an oak tree nymph in Kate and Sam and the Chipmunks of Doom.)  Some famous aquatic nymphs include the Nereids of the Mediterranean Sea, and naiads of fresh water.  (Greek and Roman)

nixie aka neck - These names cover a variety of water spirits, from Scandinavian shapeshifters to German river mermaids, to northern French mermaids of fresh water, especially springs.  The word is etymologically related to knucker, although nixies are definitely not dragonoids.  (Germanic, especially Scandinavian)

Nessie - The Loch Ness Monster is a mysterious cryptid often thought to be something along the lines of a plesiosaur.  There wasn’t much loch monster lore until 1933, when the mysterious beast was seen crossing a road toward the loch.  There may have been a few sightings prior to that, including St Columba’s encounter with a water monster in the River Ness in the sixth century, but the evidence suggests that Nessie is a fairly young monster.  (Scottish)

ningyo - a fish-like creature with the face of a monkey and a voice like a lark or a flute.  One woman who unknowingly ate the flesh of a ningyo lived to be 800 years old, but in general fishermen throw back any that they catch for fear of storms and other misfortunes.  (Japanese)

Nariphon girls - These maidens grow on the Nariphon tree, attached to the tree branches by a stem on their heads.  They were created to distract lustful forest men from attacking women (specifically Indra’s wife Vessantara) who went into the forest to gather fruit.  The Nariphon girls look exactly like humans except that they have no bones, and have some magical powers.  (Thai)

Namazu - a giant catfish who lives in the mud under Japan.  His occasional thrashing causes earthquakes.  The Japanese Earthquake Early Warning logo features a highly stylized catfish in his honor.  (Japanese)

númhyalikyu - an enormous halibut with a back that looks like rippled sand so that it can be mistaken for an island aspidochelone-wise.  It has a valuable magical crystal embedded in its seal-like head, and makes a deep, reverberating humming sound.  It brings storms, and when it swims near the surface causes treacherous shallows.  (Pacific Northwest Kwakwaka’wakw)

niffler - a fluffy, black, long-snouted burrowing creature that loves anything glittery.  Nifflers are gentle, but can cause terrible destruction by their uncontrollable habit of madly digging anything and anywhere in their search for shiny objects.  (British wizarding world)

nyamatsané - a mysterious creature that appears in a folk tale collected by Andrew Lang.  The nyamatsanés are never explained or defined, but I discover from the story that they love their grandmother, eat pebbles, can jump very far and run very fast, and hate humans and dogs.  Eating the liver of a nyamatsané causes insatiable thirst.  (Basotho)

[Pictures: Saturs and Nymphs on Naxos, woodcut by Sarah Young (Image from Sarah Young’s web site);
The miller sees the nixy of the mill-pond, illustration by H.J. Ford from The Yellow Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang, 1894;

Ningyo, wood block print from Konjaku Hyakki Shui by Toriyama Sekien, c 1781 (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Namazu causing the Great Ansei Eathquake of Edo, detail of a wood block print, 1855 (Image from Pink Tentacle);

The Nyamatsanés Return Home, illustration by H.J. Ford from The Pink Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang, 1897 (Image from Google Books);

Earthquake Early Warning system logo featuring Namazu.]