[Dragon-like creature]
Some people consider the basilisk a kind of dragon, or a close relative of the dragon. Those who read the Dragonology books know it to be the shape-shifting Draco basiliskos, those who enjoy myths know they were chicken-snakes that a man called Patrick had to rid an island of. Harry Potter fans will remember a giant snake, and herpetologists will think of a small cousin of the iguana with a fancy crest.
Before going into the common mythology of the basilisk, and the cockatrice, I'd like to say that 'basilisk' means 'king of reptiles' (in Greek it means 'little king'). This is why, the Jesus Lizard (for it can run on water) is named the green basilisk for it has a crest in the shape of a crown (its latin name is Basiliscus plumifrons). The first basilisk was described in the first century AD. It was a snake with a crown. (drawn by a guy called Athanasius Kircher in 1600s). King of Reptiles. It lived in the deserts of North Africa.
However, later pictures copied from the first picture made it so that the crown of the snake was a crest, rather like a chicken's. Then the basilisk got more and more chicken attributes, until there was a wealth of snake-chicken hybrids in Mediaeval art. They spread from Northern Africa to Western Europe. The more cockerel-shaped versions of the basilisk were renamed cockatrices.
Some basilisks had a variety of numbers of limbs.
Basic Basilisk rules:
-Gaze can kill.
-Breath can kill
-Venomous bit can kill
-Weasels are naturally resistant to Basilisk bites/breath/gaze, and can attack them.
- Rue has similar resistance.
-The eggs are laid by roosters, rather than hens. This usually occurs when Sirius the Dog Star is in the sky.
-They are sometimes nursed to be hatched by toads, or sometimes adders.
-The best way to kill a cockatrice or basilisk is to let it see its reflection
Myths:
On a island somewhere in the Atlantic a cockerel laid an egg on a dung heap, under the Dog Star. A grass snake within the dung heap took the creature into its brood, until it hatched a week later. The creature was small and looked like a chicken, except for its long scaled tail which ended in a snake's head. With four pairs of eyes it looked around the snake nest and killed all of the baby snakes with its glare. Then it dug itself out of the dung heap and killed the nearby birds, and breathed on the grass and nettles until they withered. After a day, animals knew to fear it, and were soon all hiding underground. The basilisk laid an egg (SOMEHOW) and within a month the island was overrun by basilisks. People hid in their homes and animals were either killed or underground.
One day, a knight rode out with his eyes covered with rue branches, as were the eyes of his horse. Although this made them blind, it made sure they could not look into the eyes of a basilisk. Following the sounds of the beast's screeches he speared one, but the creature's unholy blood was splattered on him during its death throes and he died.
A man called Patrick was washed up onto the shore of the island after escaping pirates by jumping off the side of his ship. A villager ushered him inside her house and explained the situation about the basilisks. Patrick decided to cover his clothes with mirrors and broken glass, and then he blindfolded himself with rue branches and walked out into the silent village, then beyond that into the wilderness the basilisks had made when the plants withered under their foul breath. As he walked blindly over the island the mirrors tinkled, attracting the attention of the basilisks. They ran at him, spitting venom and hissing, just to stop dead as they saw their reflections. The island was soon free of the menace.
Another myth was set in the Middle Ages, in England. The town of Wherwell in Hampshire a small chicken-like creature was hatched by a toad in Wherwell Priory. The nuns of the Priory did not know what it was, and thought it was a deformed bird so they nurtured it, hoping it would 'get better'. After a few nuns died when the newborn cockatrice opened its eyes at them it soon became clear that it was a deadly beast. The cockatrice was confined to the cellar, as no one could approach it without dropping dead. A servant boy who had heard a lot of stories knew the hissing snake-bird for what it was, and lowered a mirror into the celler. The cockatrice died.
Similar creatures:
-The inkhomi in central Africa is a deadly snake that kills using similar weaponry to the basilisk.
-A snake with wattles that made rooster noises reported by an English Naturalist during his visit to Jamaica in 1845.
-The skoffin, an Icelandic beast that could only be killed by another skoffin, or a bullet with a cross carved onto it.
The Dragonology series, made by Templar Publishing, is a series of 'factual' books accompanied by a mini-series of role playing books, a trilogy of short novels and a board game. The franchise is huge and popular. Dragonology combines popular myths and represents the dragons from the stories as actual creatures, with details on habitat, nests and diets of the various animals. The books explain how to become member of the SASD (Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologists) by showing you how to study and converse with dragons. They are lavishly illustrated by Wayne Anderson, Douglas Carrel, Helen Ward and Chris Forsey.
