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Text File | 1994-10-04 | 10KB | 253 lines

@ a human (usually you) - a wall | a wall + a door . the floor of a room a dark part of a room # a corridor } water filled area { a fountain < the staircase to the previous level > the staircase to the next level ^ a trap $ a pile, pot or chest of gold %% a piece of food ! a potion * a gem ? a scroll = a ring / a wand [ a suit of armor ) a weapon ( a useful item (camera, whistle, pick-axe etc.) 0 an iron ball _ an iron chain ` an enormous rock " an amulet ] a shrubbery \ a fewmet , a trapper : a chameleon ; a giant eel ' a lurker above & a demon A a giant ant B a giant bat C a centaur (or a Constable); Of all the monsters put together by the Greek imagination the Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves. Despite a strong streak of sensuality in their make-up, their normal behaviour was moral, and they took a kindly thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on Deianeira, and that of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the Lapith women, are more than offset by the hospitality of Pholos and by the wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet, lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles. Further, the Cen- taurs were peculiar in that their nature, which united the body of a horse with the trunk and head of a man, involved an unthinkable duplication of vital organs and important members. So grotesque a combination seems almost un-Greek. These strange creatures were said to live in the caves and clefts of the mountains, myths associating them especially with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos. [Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271] D a dragon; In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous under- taking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire-breathing nos- trils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body. [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library)] E a floating eye F a freezing sphere G a gnome (or a Gendarme); ... And then a gnome came by, carrying a bundle, an old fellow three times as large as an imp and wearing clothes of a sort, especially a hat. And he was clearly just as frightened as the imps though he could not go so fast. Ramon Alonzo saw that there must be some great trouble that was vexing magical things; and, since gnomes speak the language of men, and will answer if spoken to gently, he raised his hat, and asked of the gnome his name. The gnome did not stop his hasty shuffle a moment as he answered 'Alaraba' and grabbed the rim of his hat but forgot to doff it. 'What is the trouble, Alaraba?' said Ramon Alonzo. 'White magic. Run!' said the gnome ... [From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.] H a hobgoblin; Hobgoblin. Used by the Puritans and in later times for wicked goblin spirits, as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly spir- its of the brownie type. In 'A midsummer night's dream' a fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck: Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck: Are you not he? and obviously Puck would not wish to be called a hobgoblin if that was an ill-omened word. Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready to be helpful, but fond of practical joking, and like most of the fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on the verge of hobgoblindom. Bogles are just over the edge. One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted the road between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross the little river Kent, which flowed into the Tess. He was exorcised and laid under a large stone by the roadside for ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary as to sit on that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever. The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may soon be heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham. [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies] I an invisible stalker J a jackal K a kobold (or a Keystone Kop) L a leprechaun; The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is known under various names in different parts of Ireland: Cluri- caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu- rigadaun in Tipperary. Although he works for the Faeries, the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small, has dark skin and wears strange clothes. His nature has some- thing of the manic-depressive about it: first he is quite happy, whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a few minutes later, he is sullen and morose, drunk on his home-made heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man, impos- sible to out-fox. No one, no matter how clever, has ever managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of gold or his magic shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some way to divert his captor's attention and vanishes in the twinkling of an eye. [From: A Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ] M a mimic N a nymph O an orc P a purple worm Q a quasit R a rust monster S a snake T a troll U an umber hulk V a vampire W a wraith X a xorn Y a yeti Z a zombie a an acid blob b a giant beetle c a cockatrice; Once in a great while, when the positions of the stars are just right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then, along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a toad, to squat upon the egg, keeping it warm and helping it to hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature called basil- isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin- gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes will kill both man and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be so great that sometimes simply to hear its hiss can prove fatal. Its breath is so venomous that it causes all vege- tation to wither. There is, however, one creature which can withstand the basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay the basilisk, it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if it ever sees its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant- ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for it is said that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to sicken and die. [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library) and other sources. ] d a dog e an ettin f a fog cloud g a gelatinous cube h a homunculus i an imp; ... imps ... little creatures of two feet high that could gambol and jump prodigiously; ... [From: The Charwoman's Shadow, by Lord Dunsany.] An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree' was a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed. 'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot of Satan, but the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from hell is hard to make, and many in the Celtic countries as well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils. The fairies of tradition often hover uneasily between the ghostly and the diabolic state. [Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies] j a jaguar k a killer bee l a leocrotta m a rock mole n a nurse o an owlbear p a piercer q a quivering blob r a giant rat s a giant spider t a tengu; The tengu was the most troublesome creature of Japanese legend. Part bird and part man, with red beak for a nose and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for stirring up feuds and prolonging enmity between families. Indeed, the belligerent tengus were supposed to have been man's first instructors in the use of arms. [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library). ] u a unicorn; Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for the single twisted horn which projected from its forehead was thought to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn had simply to dip the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the water to become pure. Men also believed that to drink from this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an antidote to all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the royal food for poison. Although only the size of a small horse, the unicorn is a very fierce beast, capable of killing an elephant with a single thrust from its horn. Its fleetness of foot also makes this solitary creature difficult to capture. However, it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the sight of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden may secure it with a golden rope. [From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library). ] v a violet fungi w a long worm; From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured. ~ the tail of a long worm x a xan; The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba. y a yellow light z a zruty; The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses of the Tatra mountains. 1 The wizard of Yendor 2 The mail daemon 3 a scorpion 4 a minotaur 6 a deep worm A creature's stomach A creature's stomach A creature's stomach A creature's stomach A creature's stomach A creature's stomach A creature's stomach A creature's stomach a wall a wall a wall a wall a ghost a spider web