Laelaps

The Death of Procris c1500

Piero di Cosimo

The attractive dog on the right is a talented canine from Greek myth named Laelaps. To the great misfortune and dismay of his prey, Laelaps never failed to catch his quarry. Amazingly, in spite of his abilities, Laelaps had a number of owners including Zeus, the god of sky and thunder, and later King Minos, the son of Zeus and Europa. It seems his hunting prowess made him eminently giftable. King Minos understood Laelap's giftabilty, and presented him as a reward for the speedy cure of an uncomfortably bizarre medical condition "gifted" by his wife. It seems Zeus's wife was so angry at her wandering husband, she cursed him to ejaculate scorpions and spiders eager to eat the genitals of Minos's sleeping partners. That woman had one nasty imagination. 

      

Very nasty!

The desperate King Minos asked Procris of Athens to cure his problem. On succeeding, he prized her with Laelaps, an infallible javelin, and possibly a bronze giant named Talos. Procris's husband was impressed by Laelaps, eventually taking him along to hunt the uncatchable Teumessian fox. 

The Teumessian Fox and Laelaps

Artist: Polylerus

Unfortuanately, Procris's husband didn't consider the paradox of a dog that always caught it's prey, and a fox that could never be caught. As a consequence, the hunt went on indefinitely until Zeus, maddened by the contradictary nature of the pursuit, turned them both to stone and sent them to the stars. 

 

Laelaps can now be found in the sky posing as the constellation Canis Major. I hope he's happy. 

Hippocamp

Artist: Crystal Dunne

This odd looking creature is called the Hippocamp. It's the "Horse of the Sea" Nereid nymphs and sea gods rode in the mythology of ancient Greece. Poseidon's chariot was sensibly driven by two to four of these fishy tailed equines. As Poseidon was god of both horses and sea, it's fitting such aquatic horses should draw his chariot. He was also, scarily enough, the god of earthquakes. Homer called him the Earthshaker.

 

Chariot of Poseidon - Floor Mosaic 

In this picture, Poseidon is pulled by four of the composite creatures. I can't see any chariot in this mosaic, but perhaps it's hidden under the sea foam churned by the Hippocamps' racing hooves. This is a busy little mosaic. We can only hope Poseidon avoided the fish, swimmers, people riding dolphins and the very large shrimp found at the top of the mosaic. I think that's a shrimp anyway.

 

The ancients believed Hippocamps were the adult version of sea horses. Sea horses belong to the genus Hippocampus. The name Hippocampus comes from the ancient Greek and means horse (hippos) and sea monster (kampos).

  

Chariot of Poseidon Drawn by Hippocamps - Roman Mosaic 3rd A.D.

A color mosaic of Poseidon driven by two Hippocamps. Poseidon was a disagreeable god who fought with everyone. He especially fought with his brothers Zeus and Hades over the portioning of planet Earth. I wouldn't want to be the poor Hippocamps compelled to pull his chariot. This is a very fine mosaic though. Take a moment to consider the amount of work required in creating this artwork.  

Nereid Riding a Hippocampos - Mosaic - Imperial Roman

This Hippocamp has an especially long and convoluted tail. Nereids were the goddesses of the sea. They were the special patrons of sailors and fisherman, and came to their aid if hurt or in danger. 

A Hippocamp carved on the Trevi Fountain in Rome. I saw the Trevi Fountain many years ago. Though I threw a coin in the water, I have yet to return. 

 

A nice coin depicting Poseidon and two Hippocamps. It's a shame Hippocamps don't really exist. I would enjoy boarding a ship for a Hippocamp watch.

The Teakettler

Artist: Costas Koutsoukos

 Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)

Lumberjacks either enjoyed fooling gullible people, or spent way too much time in the woods surrounded by trees and one another. In any event, a fourth "fearsome critter" brightening American folklore is the Teakettler. Like the Axehandle Hound, the Teakettler hails from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Resembling a short legged dog, with cat-like ears, the Teakettler races around backwards while doing its tea kettle impersonation. No, that shrill whistling noise you hear is not your tinnitus kicking up, its the Teakettler blowing off steam. It LITERALLY blows off steam. While running backwards (Teakettlers always run backwards), steam pours from its mouth, and a high pitched shreak announces its presence. A shy creature, it's only been seen by a few lumberjacks in the right place at the right time. So if you happen to be in the woods, and hear a tea kettle whistling, it may not be campers making breakfast, but the Teakettler doing its crazy, backwards, steamy race. 

           

Dragonflies

Artist: Joel Nakamura

Southwest Native American Myth

"The speed in which the wings of a dragonfly moved would open up doorways to other realms and dimensions."

Dragonflies are one of my favorite insects. A pet sitting client of mine has a condominium with a dragonfly populated pond directly behind it. A couple of days ago, I stood watching as the swooping creatures chased one another from place to place. They looked like tiny helicopters. When I returned home, I googled dragonfly folklore and found quite a lot of information.  

Someone's going to get nipped!

Dragonflies are an old (predating the dinosaurs) and very successful species. They belong to the order Odonata, a name that means "toothed." Though no dragonfly has a stinger, they do have tiny jaws used to catch mosquitoes, flies, and other nasty bugs that live to cause trouble. If you catch a dragonfly with your hands, it may nip you. This is treatment you'd richly deserve. Leave them alone!  

In Europe and early America, the dragonfly had a fearsome reputation, due to its habit of darting around, and its scary needle-like appearance. If a dragonfly wasn't out to get you, nothing was! Here's a short list of dragonfly nicknames common in Europe and America:

America - Devil's Darner, Water Witch.

England - Devil's Darning Needle, Ear Cutter.

Wales - Adder's Servent

Norway - Oyenstikker (Eye Poker)

Sweden - Blindsticka (Blind Stingers)

Germany - Wasserhexe (Water Witch)

Portugal - Tiraolhos (Eye Snatcher) 

The dragonflies will get you!

Misbehaving children were told if they didn't behave, dragonflies would sneak in late at night and sew up their eyes and ears while they slept. The Swedes believed dragonflies could poke out peoples' eyes with their long pointy bodies. They also believed the Devil used dragonflies to weigh souls. Remember this the next time a dragonfly hovers around your head. You may be in big trouble.

The English and Australians called dragonflies "Horse Stingers." It was thought horses twitched and kicked due to the fiercely biting dragonflies darting around them. In reality, the dragonflies weren't bothering the horses, but instead eating the mosquitoes and horseflies making the poor animals' lives miserable.

 

Freya's looking very fetching!

Artist: J. Penrose  c. 1890

But the situation wasn't all bad. There was one Swedish cult who believed the dragonfly was a holy animal that symbolized Freya, the goddess of love and fertility.  

 

Chinese Brocade

What about the dragonfly in cultures other than Europe and America? In China, notwithstanding some lovely textiles, the dragonfly was not highly regarded. Though they did symbolize summer, they also stood for instability and feebleness. The poor dragonfly couldn't seem to win. But wait! There's some good news in Japan! 

 

Bell-Flower and Dragonfly by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

In Japan, the dragonfly was symbolic of many noble ideals. These ideals included success, happiness, courage and victory in battle.There's an old legend about an Emperor from Japan who was bitten by a horsefly. After snacking on the unfortunate Emperor, the nasty horsefly found itself consumed by a hungry dragonfly. In honor of the brave (and hungry) dragonfly, the Emperor named his country Akitsushima, or Isle of the Dragonfly.  

Highborn Japanese families loved the dragonfly. They pictured it on everything from jewery to furnishings to textiles. Dragonflies were far and wide!

But don't get too excited. There's more bad news to come.

What a delightful little shirt! Yuck! Cafepress.

They were (and still are) found digesting in some peoples' stomachs. In Bali, dragonflies are fried with coconut and vegetables. Meanwhile, in Thailand and Laos, dragonfly larvae are roasted and gobbled up. Yum! 

Painted Gourd by Brad Hawiyeh-ehi

At least Native-Americans valued the dragonfly. The Navahos believed dragonflies were symbolic of water purity. I guess if the water was pure enough for dragonflies, it was pure enough for the Navahos. There's also a wonderful Zuni myth about two children left behind when a corn crop failed to grow. The boy made a corn husk doll to coax a smile from his sister. Miraculously, the doll came to life, and so amazed the corn maidens, they produced a huge crop of corn luring the child abandoning family back home. That story is both wonderful and disturbing at the same time. Why were the children abandoned? 

Dragonfly crop circle

One last thing before I finish this long and time consuming post. This was a crop circle found in Wiltshire, England in the year 2009. It was 150 feet long, and very beautiful.

  

Rainbow Dragonfly by Marlene Page

Yara-ma-yha-who

                       Crazy little monster.                      

Artwork by Christopher Bonnette

Today, we're visiting the Australian outback to encounter an odd red vampire called the Yara-ma-yha-who. He comes from Aboriginal folklore, and is not easily missed with his large head and big toothless mouth. "Wait!" you ask. "How can he drain blood if he has no teeth?" This is a good question easily answered by the logical realization he drains blood through the suckers on his hands and feet. Dracula, with his tired old biting technique, obviously has nothing on the Yara-ma-yha-who.  

    

Burp!

Picture by Stevyn Colgan

The Yara-ma-yha-who's approach includes no active hunting, but only stealthy concealment within branches of fig trees. When a tired traveller sits beneath the shade, the sneaky vampire drops down and quickly sucks their blood through ninble fingers and toes. Fortunately, he has no interest in killing his victims, only wanting them weakened to finish his weird culinary ritual. When the victim is feeble enough, Yara-ma-yha-who opens his huge mouth as far as it can open, and swallows the person whole. After eating, he drinks water (victim swallowing can make a guy thirsty) and takes a nap. This is good, since napping is always considered wise by all the best experts. Upon waking, the strangest part of an already strange story begins. The vampire suddenly regurgitates his victim, not only rendering them a bit smaller than before, but with a vague reddish tint. 

    

This one is extra hungry.

Artwork by Michael Slack

The story of the Yara-ma-yha-who is told to small children in danger of wandering away. "If you roam too far," parents say, "the Yara-ma-yha-who will suck your blood and swallow you whole." I'm surprised they leave the house at all! Naturally, some people are slow learners and find themselves gobbled up more then once. When this happens, the repeat victims get smaller and smaller and redder and redder until becoming a Yara-ma-yha-who themselves. So when in Australia, tell your children not to rest under trees. If the dingoes don't get them, the Yara-ma-yha-who will.

The Tarasque

It's always wise to chew your food.

This terrifying creature devouring a hapless knight or peasant is called the Tarasque. Though originally believed to hale from Galatia, a part of central Anatolia in modern Turkey, it became famous in the French city of Nerlic (Provence), where it persistently ruined the countryside and refused to be killed. Not a prepossessing beast, this semi-dragon scorched retinas with its six short legs, turtle shell, scaly tail with nasty scorpion sting, and the face of a miserable old man. Worst of all, its breath was like flames. Obviously, Scope had not yet been invented. 

 

Daddy

The Taraque came by its beauty and charm naturally, as its parents were a scaly, incineratory, bison-like creature named Onachus, and the biblical sea serpent Leviathan. The apple didn't fall very far from the tree.

He was in such a hurry he forgot his pants!

You can't say the King of Nerluc didn't try having the Tarasque removed from his territory. Tired of chaos, death and destruction, he relentlessly assaulted the beast with brave knights and loaded catapults. To his great dismay, nothing seemed to work. Finally, along came Martha.

Martha was a charmer.

One day, St. Martha (48 AD) heard of Nerlic's troubles. Promising certain success, she confronted the Tarasque armed with only a cross, holy water, and demure white dress. I don't know why she's not wearing white in the above picture. Maybe the white dress got dirty, so she changed. Standing barefoot before the Taraque, she charmed the beast with hymns and prayers until it became gentle as a kitten. Then, using her severed braids, she lead the now tame Tarasque back to the city of Nerlic. Unfortunately, the story did not end happily.

 

Kill the beast!

Nerlic's peasants, terrified to the point of loosing their retinas completely, attacked the cowering Tarasque and killed it. The poor tame Tarasque offered no resistance and died in Martha's arms. The weeping Martha, being a good Christian girl, forgave the peasants and set to work converting them. Successfully converted, the now contrite peasants (and King) changed the town's name to Tarascon in honor of Martha's fallen friend.

 Tarascon's coat of arms.

The story of St. Martha and the Tarasque contains many similarities to Beauty and the Beast. Both feature a frightening monster tamed by a gentle maiden, and horrified townspeople bent on its slaughter. King Kong is another example much like the Tarasque's tale.

This Beast looks a bit like the Tarasque. He has the air of an old man.

The Beast isn't the only creature who resembles the Tarasque. Here's a dinosaur called the Ankylosaurus, sporting the distinct look of the Medieval monster. As it became extinct 65 million years ago, it had no knights or peasants to snack on when hungry. 

Hoover those peasants!

Lastly, here's a vase by Pablo Picasso based on the Tarasque. This type of animal-like art is called zoomorphic. It can be found at the National Museum of Wales. I think it looks like a vacuum myself.

The Roc

The Roc is a mythological Arabic and Persian bird so large it could capture and eat elephants. Appearing in 1001 Arabian Tales, it became popular in the Sinbad the Sailor story when  unknowingly saving Sinbad from a shipwreak.

I like this picture, but not as well as the first. 

 Sinbad, finding himself in the Roc's nest accompanying an egg as large as"148 hens eggs," needed to find a way out as quickly and unintrusively as possible. Carefully tying himself to the Roc's leg with his turban, Sinbad flew off hanging on for dear life. The bird flew so high the Earth vanished from sight. Finally, Sinbad escaped when the Roc returned to Earth and flew by an island. That was one high flying bird! 

   

This looks larger than 148 hens eggs.

The origin of the Roc can be found in the mythological Indian story about a fight between the half-human, half-eagle Garuda (who loved to snack on snakes), and the serpent Naga. According to German historian Rudolf Wittkower, Naga is a word that means both snake and elephant. Since the elephant has a long snake-like trunk, this makes sense.

Garuda was so huge, he could block out the sun.

There's another story about Garuda flying off with an elephant and tortoise caught engaging in a massive fight. This story is found in both the Sanskrit Mahabharata and the Ramayana. After carrying the squabblers away, Garuda ate the malcontents. I have no idea why the elephant and tortoise were fighting. In Indian myth, the world rests on the backs of four elephants, who in turn, are all standing on the back of a tortoise. The whole crowd slowly travel through various examples of chaos. You'd think with such cooperation transporting the world, elephants and tortoises would get along better. Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt.  

  It's possible the Roc myth was encouraged by skeletons of the Aepyornis. Extinct since the 17th century, "Elephant birds" reached a height of over 10 feet and weighed nearly half a ton. These massive, though obviously flightless, birds may have been perceived as Aepyornis chicks. If that's the chick, I wouldn't want to meet the parents! The ostrich is another feasible baby Roc inspirer. 

     

An Aepyornis egg compared to a chicken egg.

I'll end this post with a quote about the Roc by Marco Polo (1254-1324). Polo was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote extensively about Central Asia and China. 

Marco Polo saw many colorful things.

"It was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size, so big in fact that its quills were twelve paces long and thick in proportion. And it was so strong that it will sieze an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird swoops down on him and eats him at his leisure." 

The Roc was a tempermental bird best not to make angry. Keep this in mind if you ever encounter an unusually large egg. The huge Roc was known for destroying ships in revenge if its egg was tampered with. Confine yourself to chicken eggs for your breakfast meal.