Throughout history, people have invented countless tales of mythical creatures, legendary monsters, and supernatural monsters. Despite their obscure origins, these mythical creatures are described in the folklore of various peoples and in many cases are part of the culture. It's amazing that there are people around the world who are still convinced that these monsters exist, despite the lack of any meaningful evidence. So, today we are going to look at a list of 25 legendary and mythical creatures that never existed.
Budak is present in many Czech fairy tales and legends. This monster is described, as a rule, as a creepy creature resembling a scarecrow. It can cry like an innocent child, thus luring its victims. On the night of the full moon, Budak allegedly weaves a fabric from the souls of those people whom he ruined. Budak is sometimes described as an evil version of Santa Claus who travels around Christmas in a cart pulled by black cats.
24. Ghoul
The ghoul is one of the most famous creatures in Arabian folklore and appears in the Thousand and One Nights. The ghoul is described as an undead creature that can also take the form of an intangible spirit. He often visits cemeteries to eat the flesh of recently deceased people. This is perhaps the main reason why the word ghoul in Arab countries is often used when referring to gravediggers or representatives of any profession directly related to death.
23. Yorogumo.
Loosely translated from Japanese, Yorogumo means "spider temptress", and in our humble opinion, the name perfectly describes this monster. According to Japanese folklore, Yorogumo was a bloodthirsty monster. But in most tales, it is described as a huge spider that takes the form of a very attractive and sexy woman who seduces her male victims, captures them in a web, and then devours them with pleasure.
22. Cerberus.
In Greek mythology, Cerberus is the guardian of Hades and is usually described as a bizarre monster that looks like a dog with three heads and a tail ending in a dragon's head. Cerberus was born from the union of two monsters, the giant Typhon and Echidna, and is himself the brother of the Lernaean Hydra. Cerberus is often described in myth as one of the most dedicated guards in history and is often mentioned in the Homeric epic.
21. Kraken
The legend of the Kraken came from the North Seas and its presence was initially limited to the coasts of Norway and Iceland. Over time, however, his fame grew, thanks to the wild imagination of storytellers, which led subsequent generations to believe that he also lives in all the seas of the world.
Norwegian fishermen originally described the sea monster as a gigantic animal that was as big as an island and posed a danger to passing ships not from direct attack, but from giant waves and tsunamis caused by its body movements. However, later people began to spread stories about the monster's violent attacks on ships. Modern historians believe that the Kraken was nothing more than a giant squid and the rest of the stories are nothing but the wild imagination of sailors.
20. Minotaur
The Minotaur is one of the first epic creatures that we meet in the history of mankind, and takes us back to the heyday of the Minoan civilization. The Minotaur had the head of a bull on the body of a very large, muscular man and settled in the center of the Cretan labyrinth, which was built by Daedalus and his son Icarus at the request of King Minos. Everyone who fell into the labyrinth became a victim of the Minotaur. The exception was the Athenian king Theseus, who killed the beast and left the labyrinth alive with the help of the thread of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos.
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19. Wendigo
Those familiar with psychology have probably heard the term "Wendigo psychopathy" which describes a psychosis that causes a person to eat human flesh. The medical term takes its name from the mythical creature called the Wendigo, which, according to the myths of the Algonquian Indians. The Wendigo was an evil creature that looked like a cross between a human and a monster, somewhat like a zombie. According to legend, only people who ate human flesh were able to become Wendigo themselves.
Of course, this creature never existed and was invented by Algonquin elders who were trying to stop people from engaging in cannibalism.
In ancient Japanese folklore, Kappa is a water demon that lives in rivers and lakes and devours naughty children. Kappa means "river child" in Japanese and has the body of a turtle, the limbs of a frog, and a head with a beak. In addition, on the top of the head there is a cavity with water. According to legend, Kappa's head should always be moistened, otherwise it will lose its power. Oddly enough, many Japanese consider the existence of Kappa to be a reality. Some lakes in Japan have posters and signs warning visitors that there is a serious danger of being attacked by this creature.
Greek mythology gave the world the most epic heroes, gods, and creatures, and Talos is one of them. The huge bronze giant allegedly lived in Crete, where he protected a woman named Europa (from whom the European continent takes its name) from pirates and invaders. For this reason, Talos patrolled the island's shores three times a day.
16. Menehune.
According to legend, the Menehune were an ancient race of gnomes who lived in the forests of Hawaii before the arrival of the Polynesians. Many scientists explain the existence of ancient statues in the Hawaiian Islands by the presence of Menehune here. Others argue that the legends of Menehune appeared with the arrival of Europeans in these areas and were created by the human imagination. The myth goes back to the roots of Polynesian history. When the first Polynesians arrived in Hawaii, they found dams, roads, and even temples that were built by the Menehune.
However, no one has found the skeletons. Therefore, it still remains a big mystery what kind of race built all these amazing ancient structures in Hawaii before the arrival of the Polynesians.
15. Griffin.
The griffin was a legendary creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body and tail of a lion. The griffin is the king of the animal kingdom, which was a symbol of power and dominance. Griffins can be found in many depictions of Minoan Crete and more recently in the art and mythology of Ancient Greece. However, some believe that the creature symbolizes the fight against evil and witchcraft.
14. Medusa
According to one version, Medusa was a beautiful maiden destined for the goddess Athena, who was raped by Poseidon. Athena, furious that she couldn't stand up to Poseidon directly, turned Medusa into an unsightly, evil monster with a head full of snakes for hair. The ugliness of Medusa was so disgusting that the one who looked at her face turned to stone. Eventually Perseus killed Medusa with the help of Athena.
Pihiu is another legendary monster hybrid native to China. Even though no part of its body resembled human organs, the mythological creature is often described as having the body of a lion with wings, long legs, and the head of a Chinese dragon. Pihiu is considered the guardian and protector of those who practice feng shui. Another version of pihiu, Tian Lu is also sometimes considered a sacred being that attracts and protects wealth. This is the reason why small statues of Tian Lu are often seen in Chinese homes or offices, as it is believed that this creature can contribute to the accumulation of wealth.
12. Sukuyant
Sukuyant, according to Caribbean legends (especially in the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Guadeloupe), is an exotic black version of the European vampire. From mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, Sukuyant has become part of the local folklore. He is described as a hideous-looking old woman by day, turning into a gorgeous-looking young black woman resembling a goddess at night. She seduces her victims to suck their blood or make them her eternal slaves. It was also believed that she practiced black magic and voodoo, and could transform into fireballs or enter the homes of her victims through any opening in the house, including through cracks and keyholes.
11. Lamassu.
According to the mythology and legends of Mesopotamia, Lamassu was a protective deity, depicted with the body and wings of a bull, or with the body of a lion, wings of an eagle and the head of a man. Some have described him as a menacing male, while others have described him as a female deity with good intentions.
10. Tarasca
The tale of Tarascus is reported in the story of Martha, which is included in the biography of the Christian saints Jacob. Tarasca was a dragon with a very intimidating appearance and bad intentions. According to legend, he had the head of a lion, six short legs like a bear, the body of a bull, was covered with a turtle shell and a scaly tail that ended with a sting of a scorpion. Tarasca terrorized the region of Nerluk in France.
It all ended when a young devoted Christian named Martha arrived in the city to spread the gospel of Jesus and discovered that people had been afraid of the ferocious dragon for years. Then he found a dragon in the forest and sprinkled it with holy water. This action tamed the dragon's wild nature. After that, Marfa led the dragon back to the city of Nerluk, where the enraged locals stoned Tarasque to death.
On November 25, 2005, UNESCO included Tarasque in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
9. Draugr.
Draugr, according to Scandinavian folklore and mythology, is a zombie that spreads a surprisingly powerful putrid smell of the dead. It was believed that Draugr eats people, drinks blood, and has power over the minds of people, driving them crazy at will. The typical Draugr was somewhat similar to Freddy Krueger, which, apparently, was created under the influence of fairy tales about the Scandinavian monster.
8. Lernaean Hydra.
The Lernaean Hydra was a mythical water monster with many heads that resembled large snakes. The ferocious monster lived in Lerna, a small village near Argos. According to legend, Hercules decided to kill the Hydra and when he cut off one head, two appeared. For this reason, Heracles' nephew Iolaus burned every head as soon as his uncle cut it off, only then did they stop breeding.
7. Brox.
According to Jewish legend, Broxa is an aggressive monster that looks like a giant bird that attacked goats or, in rare cases, drank human blood at night. The legend of Brox spread in the Middle Ages in Europe, where it was believed that witches took on the appearance of Brox.
6. Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga is perhaps one of the most popular paranormal creatures in the folklore of the Eastern Slavs and, according to legend, had the appearance of a ferocious and scary old woman. Nevertheless, Baba Yaga is a multifaceted figure that can inspire researchers, can turn into a cloud, a snake, a bird, a black cat and symbolize the Moon, death, winter, or the Earth Mother Goddess, the totem progenitor of matriarchy.
Antaeus was a giant with great strength, which he inherited from his father, Poseidon (god of the sea), and mother Gaia (Earth). He was a hooligan who lived in the Libyan desert and challenged any traveler in his lands to battle. Having defeated the stranger in a deadly wrestling match, he killed him. He collected the skulls of the people he defeated in order to one day build a temple dedicated to Poseidon from these "trophies".
But one day, one of the passers-by was Hercules, who made his way to the garden of the Hesperides to complete his eleventh feat. Antaeus made a fatal mistake by challenging Hercules. The hero raised Antaeus above the ground and crushed him in a bear hug.
4. Dullahan.
The fierce and powerful Dullahan is a headless horseman in Irish folklore and mythology. For centuries, the Irish have described him as a harbinger of doom who traveled on a black, terrifying-looking horse.
According to Japanese legend, Kodama is a peaceful spirit that lives inside certain types of trees. The kodama is described as a small white and peaceful ghost that is perfectly in sync with nature. However, according to legend, when someone tries to cut down the tree that Kodama lives in, bad things and a string of misfortunes begin to happen to him.
2. Corrigan
Strange creatures named Corrigan hail from Brittany, a cultural region in northwestern France with a very rich literary tradition and folklore. Some say that Corrigan was a beautiful, kind fairy, while other sources describe him as an evil spirit that looked like a dwarf and danced around fountains. He seduced people with his charms to kill them or steal their children.
1. Fish-man Lyrgans.
The fish-man Lyrgans existed in the mythology of Cantabria, an autonomous community located in northern Spain.
According to legend, this is an amphibious creature that looks like a sullen person who was lost at sea. Many people believe that the fish-man was one of the four sons of Francisco de la Vega and Maria del Casar, a couple who lived in the area. It was believed that they drowned in the waters of the sea while swimming with their friends at the mouth of Bilbao.
Every person has faith in a miracle, in a magical unidentified world, in good and not so good creatures that live around us. While we are children, we sincerely believe in fair fairies, beautiful elves, hardworking gnomes and wise wizards. Our review will help you, having renounced everything earthly, be carried away into this fantastic world of wonderful fairy tales, into an endless universe of dreams and illusions inhabited by magical creatures. Perhaps some of them are somewhat reminiscent of mythical creatures from or, while some are characteristic of a certain region of Europe.
1) Dragon
The dragon is the most common mythological creature, most of all resembling reptiles, sometimes combined with body parts of other animals. The word “dragon”, which entered the Russian language, borrowed from the Greek language in the 16th century, became a synonym for the devil, which is confirmed by the negative position of Christianity towards this image.
Almost all European countries have legends about dragons. The mythological motif of the battle of the hero-serpent fighter with the dragon later became widespread in folklore, and then penetrated into literature in the form of the myth of St. George, who defeated the dragon and freed the girl captivated by him. Literary adaptations of this legend and the images corresponding to them are characteristic of medieval European art.
According to the hypothesis of some scientists, the image of a dragon in the form that combines the features of birds and snakes refers to approximately the same period when the mythological symbols of the site of animals as such gave way to gods, combining the features of man and animal. Such an image of a dragon was one of the ways to combine opposite symbols - the symbol of the upper world (bird) and the symbol of the lower world (snake). Nevertheless, the dragon can be considered a further development of the image of the mythological serpent - the main signs and mythological motifs associated with the dragon, in general, coincide with those that characterized the serpent.
The word "dragon" is used in zoology as the names of some real species of vertebrates, mainly reptiles and fish, and in botany. The image of the dragon is widely used in literature, heraldry, art and astrology. The dragon is very popular as a tattoo and symbolizes power, wisdom and strength.
2) Unicorn
A creature in the form of a horse with one horn coming out of the forehead, symbolizing chastity, spiritual purity and quest. An important role was played by the unicorn in medieval legends and fairy tales, it was ridden by wizards and sorceresses. When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, God gave the unicorn a choice: stay in Eden or leave with the people. The unicorn preferred the latter and was blessed for being sympathetic towards humans.
There are scattered accounts of encounters with unicorns from ancient times to the Middle Ages. In his Notes on the Gallic War, Julius Caesar talks about a deer with a long horn that lives in the Hercynian Forest in Germany. The earliest mention of a unicorn in Western literature belongs to Ctesias of Knidos, in the 5th century BC. in his memoirs, who described an animal the size of a horse, which he and many others called the Indian wild ass. “They have a white body, a brown head and blue eyes. These animals are extremely fast and strong, so that no creature, be it a horse or anyone else, can cope with them. They have one horn on the site of their head, and the powder obtained from it is used as a remedy against deadly potions. Those who drink from vessels made from these horns are not subject to convulsions and epilepsy, they become resistant even to poisons. Ctesias describes an animal similar in appearance to the unicorn as it would be depicted in European tapestries a good two millennia later, but with varied colors.
The unicorn has always been of particular interest to the German-speaking peoples. The Harz mountain range in Central Germany has long been considered the habitat of unicorns, and to this day a cave called Einhornhole has been preserved there, where in 1663 a large skeleton of a unicorn was discovered, which made a great sensation. Unlike the skeleton, the skull was miraculously unscathed, and it showed a firmly seated, straight, cone-shaped horn over two meters long. A century later, another skeleton was discovered at the Einhornhol site near Scharzfeld. However, this is not surprising, because it is located very close.
In the Middle Ages, the unicorn acted as the emblem of the Virgin Mary, as well as the saints Justin of Antioch and Justina of Padua. The image of the unicorn is widely represented in the art and heraldry of many countries of the world. For alchemists, the swift unicorn symbolized mercury.
3) Angel and demon
An angel is a spiritual, incorporeal being with supernatural abilities and created by God before the creation of the material world, over which they have significant power. There are far more of them than all people. The purpose of the angels: the glorification of God, the embodiment of His glory, the fulfillment of His instructions and will. Angels are eternal and immortal, and their mind is much more perfect than human. In Orthodoxy, there is an idea of \u200b\u200bsent by God to every person immediately after his baptism.
Most often, angels are depicted as beardless young men in bright deacon robes, with wings behind their backs (a symbol of speed) and with a halo above their heads. However, in visions, angels appeared to people as six-winged, and in the form of wheels dotted with eyes, and in the form of creatures with four faces on their heads, and as rotating fiery swords, and even in the form of animals. Almost always, God does not personally appear to people, but trusts his angels to convey His will. Such an order has been established by God so that a larger number of individuals will be involved and thereby sanctified in the providence of God and so as not to violate the freedom of people who are not able to withstand the personal manifestation of God in all His glory.
Demons also hunt for every person - fallen angels who have lost God's mercy and grace and want to destroy human souls with the help of inspired fears, temptations and temptations. In the heart of every person there is a constant battle between God and the devil. Christian tradition considers demons to be evil servants of Satan, living in hell, but able to roam the world, looking for souls ready to fall. Demons, according to the teachings of the Christian church, are powerful and greedy creatures. In their world, it is customary to trample the lower ones into the dirt and kowtow to the stronger ones. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, demons, as intermediaries of Satan, became associated with sorcerers and witches. Demons are depicted as extremely ugly creatures, often combining the appearance of a person with several animals, or as dark-colored angels with tongues of fire and black wings.
Both demons and angels play an important role in European magical traditions. Numerous grimoires (witchbooks) are permeated with occult demonology and angelology, which have their roots in Gnosticism and Kabbalah. The magic books contain the names, seals and signatures of the spirits, their duties and abilities, as well as the ways of their evocation and submission to the will of the magician.
Each angel and the site of the demon has different abilities: some "specialize" in the virtue of non-possession, others strengthen faith in people, others help in something else. It is the same with demons - some incite fornication, others - anger, others - vanity, etc. In addition to personal guardian angels assigned to each person, there are patron angels of cities and entire states. But they never quarrel, even if these states are at war with each other, but they pray to God to enlighten people and grant peace on earth.
4) Incubus and succubus
An incubus is a promiscuous demon who seeks sexual liaisons with women. The corresponding demon that appears before men is called a succubus. Incubi and succubi are considered high-level demons. Contacts with mysterious and strangers who appear to people at night are a rather rare phenomenon. The appearance of these demons is always accompanied by a preliminary deep lulling of all household members and animals in the room and adjacent premises. If a partner is sleeping next to the intended victim, then he falls into such a deep sleep that it is impossible to wake him up.
The woman chosen for the visit is introduced into a special state, on the border of sleep and wakefulness, something like a hypnotic trance. At the same time, she sees, hears and feels everything, but has no way to move or call for help. Communication with a stranger occurs silently, through the exchange of thoughts, telepathically. Feelings from the presence of a demon can be both frightening, and vice versa, pacifying and desirable. The incubus usually appears in the guise of a handsome man, and the succubus, respectively, a beautiful woman, in reality, their appearance is ugly, and sometimes the victims feel disgust and horror from contemplating the real appearance of the creature who visited them, and then the demon is fed not only by sensual energy, but and fear and despair.
5) Undine
In the folklore of the peoples of Western Europe, as well as in the alchemical tradition, water spirits of young women who committed suicide because of unhappy love. The fantasy of medieval alchemists and caballists borrowed their main features partly from German folk ideas about water maidens, partly from Greek myths about naiads, sirens and tritons. In the writings of these scientists, the undines played the role of elemental spirits that lived in water and controlled the water element in all its manifestations, just as the salamanders were the spirits of fire, the gnomes ruled the underworld, and the elves ruled the air.
The creatures that corresponded to the undines in popular beliefs, if they were female, were distinguished by their beautiful appearance, had luxurious hair (sometimes greenish in color), which they combed when going ashore or swaying on the sea waves. Sometimes folk fantasy attributed to them, with which the torso ended instead of legs. Enchanting travelers with their beauty and singing, the undines carried them into the underwater depths, where they gave their love, and where years and centuries passed like moments.
According to Scandinavian legends, a person who once got to the undines, no longer returned back to the site of the earth, exhausted by their caresses. Sometimes Undines married people on earth, as they received an immortal human soul, especially if they had children. Undine legends were popular both in the Middle Ages and among writers of the Romantic school.
6) Salamander
Spirits and fire keepers of the medieval period, dwelling in any open fire and often appearing as a small lizard. The appearance of a salamander in the hearth usually does not bode well, but it does not bring much luck either. From the point of view of influencing the fate of a person, this creature can be safely called neutral. In some ancient recipes for obtaining the philosopher's stone, the salamander is mentioned as a living embodiment of this magical substance. However, other sources specify that the non-combustible salamander only maintained the required temperature in the crucible, where lead was converted into gold.
In some old books site appearance of the salamander is described as follows. She has the body of a young cat, behind her back are rather large membranous wings (like some dragons), the tail resembles a snake. The head of this creature is similar to the head of an ordinary lizard. The skin of a salamander is covered with small scales of a fibrous substance resembling asbestos. The breath of this creature has poisonous properties and can strike to death any animal of small size.
Quite often, a salamander can be found on the slope of a volcano during an eruption. She also appears in the flames of a fire, if she herself wishes to do so. It is believed that without this amazing creature, the appearance of heat on earth would be impossible, because without his command even the most ordinary match cannot light up.
Spirits of the earth and mountains, fabulous dwarfs from Western European, primarily German-Scandinavian, folklore, frequent heroes of fairy tales and legends. The first mention of dwarfs is found in Paracelsus. Their site images correlate with the doctrine of the primary elements. When lightning struck the rock and destroyed it, it was regarded as an attack by the salamanders on the gnomes.
The gnomes did not live in the earth itself, but in the earthly ether. From the labile ethereal body, many varieties of gnomes were created - house spirits, forest spirits, water spirits. Gnomes are experts and keepers of treasures, having power over stones and plants, as well as over mineral elements in man and animals. Some of the dwarves specialize in mining ore deposits. Ancient healers believed that without the help of gnomes, it was impossible to restore broken bones.
Gnomes were depicted, as a rule, in the form of old fat dwarfs with long white beards in brown or green clothes. Their habitats, depending on the species, were caves, stumps, or cabinets in castles. Often they build their dwellings from a substance resembling marble. Hamadryad gnomes live and die with the plant of which they are a part. Dwarfs of poisonous plants are ugly; the spirit of the poisonous hemlock resembles a human skeleton covered with dried skin. Gnomes can, at will, as the personification of the earthly ether, change their size. There are good-natured gnomes and evil gnomes. Magicians warn against deception of elemental spirits, which can take revenge on a person and even destroy him. It is easiest for children to make contact with gnomes, since their natural consciousness is still pure and open to contacts with invisible worlds.
Gnomes are dressed in clothes woven from the elements that make up their habitat. They are characterized by stinginess and gluttony. Gnomes do not like field work that harms their underground economy. But they are skilled artisans, making weapons, armor, jewelry.
8) Fairies and elves (elves)
Magic people in the German-Scandinavian and Celtic folklore. There is a popular belief site that elves and fairies are one and the same, but they can be either the same or different creatures. Despite the frequent similarity of description, traditional Celtic elves could be depicted as winged, unlike the Scandinavian ones, who in the sagas differed little from ordinary people.
According to the German-Scandinavian legends, at the dawn of history, fairies and elves lived freely among people, despite the fact that they and people are creatures of different worlds. As the latter conquered the wild nature, which was the shelter and home of the elves and fairies, they began to avoid people and settled in a parallel world invisible to mortals. According to Welsh and Irish legends, elves and fairies appeared before people in the form of a magical beautiful procession that suddenly appeared in front of the traveler and just as suddenly disappeared.
The attitude of elves and fairies to people is rather ambivalent. On the one hand, they are a wonderful "little people" living in flowers, singing magical songs, fluttering on the light wings of butterflies and dragonflies and captivating with their unearthly beauty. On the other hand, elves and fairies were quite hostile towards people, it was deadly dangerous to cross the borders of their magical world. Moreover, the elves and fairies were distinguished by extreme ruthlessness and insensitivity and were as cruel as they were beautiful. The latter, by the way, is optional: elves and fairies could, if desired, change their appearance and take the form of birds and animals, as well as ugly old women and even monsters.
If a mortal happened to see the world of elves and fairies, he could no longer live in peace in his real world and eventually died of inescapable longing. Sometimes a mortal fell into eternal captivity in the country of the elves and never returned to his world. There was a belief that if on a summer night in a meadow you see a ring of magical lights of dancing elves and enter this ring, then in this way a mortal becomes forever a prisoner of the world of elves and fairies. In addition, elves and fairies often abducted babies from people and replaced them with their ugly and capricious offspring. To protect their child from being kidnapped by elves, mothers hung open scissors over the cradles, resembling a cross, as well as garlic and rowan brushes.
9) Valkyries
In Scandinavian mythology, warlike maidens involved in the distribution of victories and deaths in battles, Odin's helpers. Their name comes from the Old Norse "chooser of the slain". Originally, the Valkyries were sinister battle spirits, angels of death who took pleasure in the sight of bloody wounds. On horseback, they swept over the battlefield like vultures, and in the name of Odin they decided the fate of the warriors. The chosen heroes of the Valkyries were taken to Valhalla - the site of the "hall of the slain", the heavenly camp of Odin's warriors, where they improved their military art. The Scandinavians believed that, influencing the victory, the warrior maidens held the fate of mankind in their hands.
In later Norse myths, the images of the Valkyries were romanticized, and they turned into the shield-bearing maidens of Odin, virgins with golden hair and snow-white skin, who served food and drinks to the chosen heroes in the banquet hall of Valhalla. They circled over the battlefield in the form of lovely swan-maidens or horsewomen, galloping on magnificent pearly cloud-steeds, whose rainy manes irrigated the earth with fertile frost and dew. According to Anglo-Saxon legends, some of the Valkyries descended from elves, but most of them were princely daughters who became the chosen ones of the gods during their lifetime, and could turn into swans.
The Valkyries became known to modern man thanks to the great monument of ancient literature, which remained in history under the name "Elder Edda". The images of Icelandic mythical warrior maidens served as the basis for the creation of the popular German epic "The Nibelungenlied". One part of the poem tells about the punishment that the Valkyrie Sigrdriva received, who dared to disobey the god Odin. Having given victory in battle to King Agnar, and not to the courageous Hjalm-Gunnar, the Valkyrie lost the right to take part in battles. By order of Odin, she plunged into a long sleep, after which the former warrior maiden became an ordinary earthly woman. Another Valkyrie, Brunnhilde, after marriage with a mortal, lost her superhuman strength, her descendants mixed with the norn goddesses of fate, spinning the thread of life at the well.
Judging by later myths, the idealized Valkyries were creatures more gentle and sensitive than their ferocious predecessors, and often fell in love with mortal heroes. The tendency to deprive the Valkyries of sacred spells was clearly seen in the legends of the beginning of the 2nd millennium, in which the authors often endowed Odin's militant assistants with the appearance and fate of real inhabitants of Scandinavia. The stern image of the Valkyries was used by the German composer Richard Wagner, who created the famous opera Valkyrie.
10) Troll
Creatures from Norse mythology, appearing in many fairy tales. Trolls are mountain spirits associated with stone, usually hostile to humans. According to legend, they frightened the locals with their size and witchcraft. According to other beliefs, trolls lived in castles and underground palaces. In the north of Britain there are several large rocks that are legendary, as if they were trolls caught in the sunlight. In mythology, trolls are not only huge giants, but also small, gnome-like creatures that usually live in caves, such trolls were usually called forest trolls. The details of the image of trolls in folklore are highly dependent on the country. Sometimes they are described in different ways even in the same legend.
Most often, trolls are ugly creatures from three to eight meters tall, sometimes they can change their size. Almost always, a very large nose is an attribute of the troll's appearance in the images. They have the nature of a stone, as they are born from rocks, turn into stone in the sun. They eat meat and often devour humans. They live alone in caves, forests or under bridges. Trolls under bridges are somewhat different from the usual ones. In particular, they can appear in the sun, do not eat people, respect money, are greedy for human women, there are legends about the children of trolls and earthly women.
The dead, rising from their graves at night or appearing in the form of bats, sucking blood from sleeping people, sending nightmares. It is believed that "unclean" dead - criminals, suicides, who died an untimely death and died from vampire bites - became vampires. The image is extremely popular for cinema and fiction, although fictional vampires usually have some site of difference from mythological vampires.
In folklore, the term is usually used to refer to a blood-sucking creature from Eastern European legends, but similar creatures from other countries and cultures are often referred to as vampires. Characteristic features of the vampire in different legends vary greatly. During the day, experienced vampires are very difficult to distinguish - they perfectly imitate living people. Their main feature is that they do not eat or drink anything. A more attentive observer may notice that neither in sunlight nor in moonlight do they cast shadows. Also, vampires are big enemies of mirrors. They always seek to destroy them, because the reflection of the vampire is not visible in the mirror, and this betrays him.
12) Ghost
The soul or spirit of a deceased person who has not completely departed from the material world and is in his so-called ethereal body. Deliberate attempts to contact the spirit of the deceased are called séance or, more narrowly, necromancy. There are ghosts that are firmly attached to a particular place. Sometimes they have been its inhabitants for hundreds of years. This is explained by the fact that the human consciousness cannot recognize the fact of its own death and tries to continue its usual existence. That is why under ghosts and ghosts it is customary to mean the souls of dead people who, for some reason, have not found peace for themselves.
Sometimes it happens that ghosts or ghosts appear, because the site is that a person after death was not buried according to the established custom. Because of this, they cannot leave the earth and rush about in search of peace. There have been cases when ghosts pointed people to the place of their death. If the remains were interred in the earth according to all the rules of church rituals, the ghost disappeared. The difference between ghosts and ghosts is that, as a rule, a ghost appears no more than once. If a ghost appears constantly in the same place, then it can be classified as a ghost.
We can talk about the phenomenon of a ghost or a ghost when the following signs are observed: the image of a deceased person can pass through various obstacles, suddenly appear from nowhere and just as suddenly disappear without a trace. With the greatest probability of ghosts and ghosts can be found in the cemetery, in abandoned houses or in ruins. In addition, very often these sites, representatives of the other world, appear at crossroads, on bridges and near water mills. It is believed that ghosts and ghosts are always hostile towards people. They try to scare a person, lure him into an impenetrable thicket of the forest, and even deprive him of memory and reason.
It is not given to every mortal to see. Usually it comes to someone who is destined to experience something terrible soon. There is an opinion that ghosts and ghosts have the ability to talk to a person or transmit certain information to him in some other way, for example, using telepathy.
Numerous beliefs and legends that tell about encounters with ghosts and ghosts strictly forbid talking to them. The best protection against ghosts and ghosts has always been considered a pectoral cross, holy water, prayers and a sprig of mistletoe. According to people who met ghosts, they heard unusual sounds and experienced strange sensations. Scientists studying the site of such phenomena have found that a ghost is preceded by a sharp drop in temperature, and a person who is nearby at that moment experiences severe chills, which many of the eyewitnesses call nothing more than grave cold. In many countries of the world, legends about ghosts, apparitions and spirits are passed from mouth to mouth.
A monstrous chimera that has the ability to kill not only with poison, but also with a look, breathing, from which the grass dried up and rocks cracked. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the basilisk came out of an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad, so in medieval images it has the head of a rooster, the torso and eyes of a toad, and the tail of a snake. He had a crest in the form of a diadem, hence his name - "the king of snakes." One could save himself from a deadly look by showing him a mirror: the serpent died from its own reflection.
Unlike, for example, a werewolf and a dragon, which the human imagination gave birth to site invariably on all continents, the basilisk is a creation of minds that existed exclusively in Europe. In this fiend of the Libyan desert, a very specific fear of the inhabitants of green valleys and fields before the unpredictable dangers of sandy expanses was embodied. All the fears of warriors and travelers combined into one common fear of meeting with some mysterious lord of the desert. Scientists call the Egyptian cobra, the horned viper, or the helmeted chameleon the source material of fantasy. There is every reason for this: a cobra of this species moves half-upright - with its head and front part of the body raised above the ground, and in a horned viper and a chameleon, the growths on its head look like a crown. The traveler could protect himself only in two ways: to have a weasel with him - the only animal that is not afraid of a basilisk and fearlessly enters into battle with him or a rooster, because, for some inexplicable reason, the desert king cannot stand the cock's cry.
Starting from the site of the XII century, the myth of the basilisk began to spread throughout the cities and towns of Europe, appearing in the form of a winged serpent with the head of a rooster. The mirror became the main weapon in the fight against basilisks, which in the Middle Ages allegedly rampaged around dwellings, poisoning wells and mines with their presence. Weasels were still considered natural enemies of basilisks, but they could defeat the monster only by chewing on rue leaves. Images of weasels with leaves in their mouths adorned wells, buildings, and church pews. In the church, carvings of weasels had a symbolic meaning: for a person, the Holy Scripture was the same as rue leaves for a weasel - tasting the wisdom of biblical texts helped to overcome the basilisk-devil.
The basilisk is a very ancient and very common symbol in medieval art, but it is rarely seen in Italian Renaissance painting. In heraldry, the basilisk is a symbol of power, threat and royalty. Speech turns "the look of a basilisk", "eyes, like a site at a basilisk" mean a look full of malice and murderous hatred.
In Norse mythology, a huge wolf, the youngest of the children of the god of lies Loki. Initially, the gods considered him not dangerous enough and allowed him to live in Asgard - their heavenly abode. The wolf grew up among the Ases and became so great and terrible that only Tyr, the god of military courage, dared to feed him. To protect themselves, the aces decided to chain Fenrir, but the mighty wolf easily tore the strongest chains. In the end, the aces, by cunning, nevertheless managed to bind Fenrir with the magic chain Gleipnir, which the dwarves made from the noise of cat steps, a woman's beard, mountain roots, bear veins, fish breath and bird saliva. All this is no longer in the world. Gleipnir was thin and soft as silk. But in order for the wolf to allow himself to put on this chain, Tyr had to put his hand into his mouth as a sign of the absence of evil intentions. When Fenrir was unable to free himself, he bit off Tyr's hand. The Æsir chained Fenrir to a rock deep underground and stuck a sword between his jaws. According to the prophecy, on the day of Ragnarök (End Times), Fenrir will break his chains, kill Odin and himself be killed by Vidar, the son of Odin. Despite this prophecy, the aces did not kill Fenrir, because "the gods so honored their sanctuary and their shelter that they did not want to defile them with the blood of the Wolf."
15) Werewolf
A person who can turn into animals, or vice versa, an animal who can turn into people. This skill is often possessed by demons, deities and spirits. Forms of the word "werewolf" - the German "werwolf" ("werwolf") and the French "lupgaru" (loup-garou), ultimately derived from the Greek word "lycanthrope" (lykanthropos - wolf man). It is with the wolf that all the associations born by the word werewolf are associated. This change in site can occur both at the request of the werewolf, and involuntarily, caused, for example, by certain lunar cycles or sounds - howling.
Traditions about exist in the beliefs of almost all peoples and cultures. Phobias associated with belief in werewolves reached their apogee at the end of the Middle Ages, when werewolves were directly identified with heresy, Satanism and witchcraft, and the figure of a wolf man was the main theme of various "Hammers of the Witches" and other theological instructions of the Inquisition.
Werewolves are of two types: those who turn into animals at will (using witchcraft spells or other magical rituals), and those who are sick with lycanthropy - the disease of turning into animals (from a scientific point of view, lycanthropy is a mental illness). They differ from each other in that the former can turn into animals at any time of the day or night, without losing the ability to think rationally as a human being, while others only at night, for the most part on the full moon, against their will, while the human the essence is driven deep inside, releasing the bestial nature. At the same time, a person does not remember what he did, being in animal form. But not all werewolves show their abilities on a full moon, some can become werewolves at any time of the day.
Initially, it was believed that you could kill a werewolf by inflicting a mortal wound on him, for example, hitting him in the heart or cutting off his head. Wounds inflicted on a werewolf in animal form remain on his human body. In this way, you can expose a werewolf in a living person: if the wound inflicted on the beast later manifests itself in a person, then this person is that werewolf. In the modern tradition, you can kill a werewolf, like many other evil spirits, with a silver bullet or a silver weapon. At the same time, traditional anti-vampire remedies in the form of garlic, holy water and aspen stake against werewolves are not effective. After the site of the onset of death, the beast turns into a man for the last time.
16) Goblin
Supernatural humanoid creatures that live in underground caves and very rarely go to the surface of the earth. The term itself comes from the Old French "gobelin", which is probably related to the German "kobold", kobolds - a special kind of elves, approximately corresponding to Russian brownies; sometimes the same name is applied to mountain spirits. Historically, the concept of "goblin" is close to the Russian concept of "demon" - these are the lower spirits of nature, due to the expansion of man, they are forced to live in his environment.
Now the classic goblin is considered an anthropomorphic ugly creature from half a meter to two, with long ears, scary cat-like eyes, and long claws on the hands, usually with greenish skin. Turning into or disguising themselves as people, goblins hide their ears under a hat, their claws in gloves. But they can’t hide their eyes in any way, therefore, according to legend, you can recognize them by their eyes. Like dwarves, goblins are also sometimes credited with a passion for the complex machinery and technology of the steam age.
17) Lingbakr
Lingbakr is a monstrous whale mentioned in ancient Icelandic legends. The floating lingbakr looks like an island, and the name comes from the Icelandic words for heather and back. According to legend, sea travelers, mistaking the whale for a harsh northern island overgrown with heather, made a halt on its back. The sleeping lingbakr woke up from the heat of the fire, lit by sailors, and dived into the depths of the ocean, dragging people with him into the abyss.
Modern scientists suggest that the myth of such an animal arose due to the repeated observation by sailors of islands of volcanic origin, periodically arising and disappearing in the open sea.
18) Banshee
Banshee is a weeper, a creature from Irish folklore. They have long flowing hair, which they comb with a silver comb, gray cloaks over green dresses, eyes red from tears. website Banshees are guarded by ancient human races, utter heartbreaking cries, mourning the death of one of the family members. When several banshees come together, it foreshadows the death of a great man.
To see a banshee - to an imminent death. A banshee cries in a language no one understands. Her cries are the cries of wild geese, the sobs of an abandoned child and the howl of a wolf. The Banshee can take the form of an ugly old woman with matted black hair, protruding teeth, and a single nostril. Or - a pale beautiful girl in a gray cloak or shroud. She either sneaks among the trees, then flies around the house, filling the air with piercing screams.
19) Anku
In the folklore of the inhabitants of the Brittany peninsula, a harbinger of death. Usually, the anku is the person who died in a particular settlement last in the year, there is also a version that this is the first person buried in a particular cemetery.
Anku appears in the form of a tall, emaciated site of a man with long white hair and empty eye sockets. He is dressed in a black cloak and a black wide-brimmed hat, sometimes he takes the form of a skeleton. Anku drives a funeral wagon drawn by horse skeletons. According to another version, a skinny yellow mare. In terms of its functions, the anku approaches another Celtic harbinger of death - the banshee. Basically, the fact that, like the Irish harbinger of death, he warns of death and enables a person to prepare for it. According to legend, whoever meets Anka will die in two years. A person who meets an Anka at midnight will die within a month. The creaking of Anku's cart also portends death. Sometimes it is believed that the anku lives in cemeteries.
In Brittany, there are quite a few stories about the ancu. In some, people help him fix the wagon or the scythe. In gratitude, he warns them of imminent death, and thus they have time to prepare for the site of their death, having settled the last affairs on earth.
20) Water jumper
An evil spirit from the tales of the Welsh fishermen, something like a water demon that tore the nets, devoured the sheep that fell into the rivers and often uttered a terrible cry that frightened the fishermen so much that the water jumper could drag his victim into the water, where the unfortunate one shared the fate of the sheep. According to some sources, the water jumper has no paws at all. According to other versions, the wings replace only the front paws.
If the tail of this strange creature is a remnant of a tadpole's tail that was not reduced during metamorphosis, then the jumper can be considered a double chimera, consisting of a toad and a bat.
21) Selkie
In the folklore of the British Isles, there are entire nations of magical creatures that can be very different from everyone else. Selks (silks, roans), seal people are one of such peoples. Selkie legends are found throughout the British Isles, although they are most often told in Scotland, Ireland, the Faroe Islands and Orkney. The name of these magical creatures comes from the Old Scottish selich - "seal". Outwardly, selkie resemble humanoid seals with delicate brown eyes. When they shed their seal skins and appear on the shore, they appear as beautiful young men and women. Seal skins allow them to live in the sea, but they must come up from time to time to take a breath of air.
They are considered angels who were expelled from paradise for petty offenses, but these offenses were not enough for the underworld. According to another explanation, they were once people exiled to the sea for sins, but they are allowed to take on human form on land. Some believed that salvation was available to their souls.
Selkies sometimes come ashore for their holidays, shedding their seal skins. If the skin is stolen, the sea fairy will not be able to return to the ocean site and will be forced to stay on land. Selkies can bestow riches from sunken ships, but they can also tear fishermen's nets, send storms, or steal fish. If you go to the sea and shed seven tears in the water, then the Selkie will know that someone is looking for a meeting with him. Both Orkney and Shetland believed that if the blood of a seal was shed into the sea, a storm would rise that could be fatal to people.
Dogs have always been associated with the underworld, the moon and deities, especially the goddesses of death and divination. For centuries in Scotland and Ireland, many people have seen a terrifying with huge burning eyes. Due to the widespread migration of the Celtic peoples, the Black Dog began to appear in many parts of the world. This supernatural being was almost always considered an omen of danger.
Sometimes the Black Dog appears as a site for the execution of divine justice, pursuing the guilty until justice is somehow served. The descriptions of the Black Dog are often vague, mainly due to the long years of fear that he inspires and is deeply rooted in the minds of people. The appearance of this terrible creature fills the one who sees it with a chilling despair and a sense of hopelessness, giving way to a decline in vitality.
This terrifying vision does not usually attack or chase its prey. It moves absolutely silently, spreading an aura of mortal fear.
23) Brownie
Scottish with disheveled hair and brown skin, hence the name (English: "brown" - "brown, brown"). Brownies belong to a class of creatures that are different in habits and character from the fickle and mischievous elves. He spends the day in seclusion, away from the old homes he loves to visit, and at night diligently performs whatever hard work the site deems desirable for the family he has dedicated himself to serving. But brownies don't work for rewards. He is grateful for the milk, sour cream, porridge or pastries left to him, but the brownie perceives an excessive amount of food left as a personal insult and leaves the home forever, so it is advisable to observe moderation.
One of the main properties of a brownie is concern for the moral principles of the household of the family it serves. This spirit usually pricks up its ears at the first sign of negligence in the behavior of servants. On the smallest offense he noticed in the barn, cowshed or pantry, he immediately reports to the owner, whose interests he considers superior to all other things in the world. No bribe can make him keep silent, and woe to anyone who decides to criticize or laugh at his efforts: the revenge of a brownie offended to the core will be terrible.
24) Kraken
In the legends of the Scandinavian peoples site, a giant sea monster. The kraken was credited with incredibly large dimensions: its huge back, more than a kilometer wide, protrudes from the sea like an island, and its tentacles are capable of embracing the largest ship. There are numerous testimonies of medieval sailors and travelers about alleged encounters with this fantastic animal. According to the descriptions, the kraken looks like a squid (octopus) or an octopus, only its dimensions are much larger. There are frequent stories of sailors about how they themselves or their comrades landed on the "island", and he suddenly plunged into the abyss, sometimes dragging the ship along with it, which fell into the whirlpool that was formed. In different countries, the kraken was also called polypus, pulp, krabben, kraks.
The ancient Roman scientist and writer Pliny described how a huge polypus raided the coast, where he liked to feast on fish. Attempts to hunt the monster with dogs failed: he swallowed all the dogs. But one day the watchmen nevertheless managed to deal with it and, admiring its enormous size (the tentacles were 9 meters long and as thick as a human body), they sent a giant mollusk to be eaten by Lucullus, the proconsul of Rome, famous for its feasts and gourmets.
The existence of giant octopuses was later proven, however, the mythical kraken of the northern peoples, due to the incredibly large size attributed to it, is most likely the fruit of a fantasy played out by seafarers who were in trouble.
25) Avank
In Welsh folklore, a ferocious aquatic creature, similar, according to some sources, to a huge crocodile, according to others - to the gigantic size of a beaver, a dragon from Breton legends, allegedly found in what is now Wales.
The pool of Lin-ir-Avank in North Wales is a kind of whirlpool: an object thrown into it will spin until it is sucked to the bottom. It was believed that this avank pulls people and animals into the pool.
26) Wild Hunt
It is a group site of ghost riders with a pack of dogs. In Scandinavia, it was believed that the wild hunt was led by the god Odin, who, with his retinue, rushes the earth and collects the souls of people. If anyone meets them, he will end up in another country, and if he speaks, he will die.
In Germany, it was said that the ghost hunters were led by the queen of winter, Frau Holda, known to us from the fairy tale “Lady Metelitsa”. In the Middle Ages, the main role in wild hunting most often began to be assigned to the Devil or his peculiar female reflection - Hekate. But in the British Isles, the king or queen of the elves could be the main ones. They kidnapped the children and young people they met, who became the servants of the elves.
27) Draugr
In Scandinavian mythology, a resurrected dead close to vampires. According to one version, these are the souls of berserkers who did not die in battle and were not burned in a funeral pyre.
A draugr's body can swell to an enormous size, sometimes remaining undecomposed for many years. Unbridled appetite, reaching the point of cannibalism, brings the draugr closer to the folklore image of vampires. Sometimes the soul is preserved. The appearance of the draugr depends on the type of their death: water constantly flows from the drowned fighter, and bleeding wounds gape on the body of the fallen fighter. The skin can vary from dead white to cadaverous blue. Draugrams are credited with supernatural power and magical abilities: to predict the future, the weather. Anyone who knows a special spell can subdue them. They are able to transform into various animals, but at the same time they retain human eyes and the mind that they had in their "human" form.
Draugr can attack animals and travelers staying overnight in a stable, but can also directly attack dwellings. In connection with this belief in Iceland, a custom arose to knock three times at night: it was believed that the ghost site was limited to one.
28) Dullahan
According to Irish legends, the dullahan is a malevolent spirit in the form of a headless, usually on a black horse, carrying his head under his arm. The Dullahan uses the human spine as a whip. Sometimes his horse is harnessed to a covered wagon, hung with all sorts of attributes of death: skulls with burning eye sockets hang outside, illuminating his path, the spokes of the wheels are made of femur bones, and the lining of the wagon is made of a worm-eaten burial shroud or dried human skin. When a dullahan stops his horse, it means that death awaits someone: the spirit loudly calls out the name, after which the person immediately dies.
According to Irish beliefs, the Dullahan cannot be protected by any obstacles. Any gates and doors open before him. The Dullahan also can't stand being watched: he can throw a bowl of blood on someone spying on him, which means that the site that person will die soon, or even whip a curious one in the eye. However, the Dullahan is afraid of gold, and even a slight touch of this metal is enough to drive him away.
29) Kelpie
In Scottish lower mythology, a water spirit, hostile to man and living in many rivers and lakes. Kelpie appears in the form of a grazing near the water, offering his back to the traveler and then dragging him into the water. According to the Scots, the kelpie is a werewolf that can turn into animals and humans.
Before a storm, many people hear how kelpies howl. Much more often than a human, a kelpie takes the form of a horse, most often black. It is sometimes said that his eyes glow or are full of tears, and his gaze causes chills or attracts like a magnet. With all its appearance, the kelpie, as it were, invites the passerby to sit on itself, and when he succumbs to the trick on the site, he jumps together with the rider into the waters of the lake. A person instantly gets wet to the skin, and the kelpie disappears, and his disappearance is accompanied by a roar and a blinding flash. But sometimes, when the kelpie is angry with something, he tears his victim to pieces and devours.
The ancient Scots called these creatures water kelpies, horses, bulls, or simply spirits, and mothers from time immemorial forbade babies to play close to the shore of a river or lake. The monster can take the form of a galloping horse, grab the baby, put it on its back, and then, with the helpless little rider, plunge into the abyss. Kelpie tracks are easy to recognize: his hooves are set back to front. Kelpie is able to stretch in length as much as he likes, and a person seems to stick to his body.
It is often associated with the Loch Ness monster. Allegedly, the kelpie turns into a sea lizard, or this is his true appearance. Also, the kelpie can appear on the site as a beautiful girl in a green dress inside out, sitting on the shore and luring travelers. He can appear in the guise of a beautiful young man and seduce girls. You can recognize it by wet hair with shells or algae.
30) Huldra
In Scandinavian folklore, huldra is a girl from the forest people or from the genus of trolls, but at the same time beautiful and young, with long blond hair. Traditionally ranked as "evil spirits". The name "Huldra" means "he (she) who hides, hides." This is a mysterious creature that constantly lives next to people and sometimes leaves traces by which one can guess about its existence. However, the huldra still showed itself to people in the eyes. The only thing that distinguished a huldra from an earthly woman was a long cow's tail, which, however, is not immediately detectable. If a christening ceremony was performed on the huldra, then the tail fell off. Apparently, he was a site and served as an external sign of her "unclean" origin, connected her with the wild animal world, hostile to the Christian church. In some areas, other "animal" attributes were also attributed to the hüldre: horns, hooves and a wrinkled back, but these are deviations from the classical image.
Genetically, belief in huldrs and nature spirits can be traced back to ancestral worship. The peasants believed that after the death of a person, his spirit continued to live in the natural world, and certain places - groves, mountains, where he found a posthumous refuge - were often considered sacred. Gradually, folk fantasy populated these places with various and bizarre creatures that were similar to the souls of their ancestors in that they guarded these places and maintained order there.
The Huldra have always wanted to be related to the human race. Numerous legends tell of how peasants married huldra or entered into relationship with them. Often a person, bewitched by her beauty, became a lost site for the human world. Huldra could take to their villages not only young men, but also girls. In the mountains, the Huldra taught people many arts - from household crafts to playing musical instruments and poetic skills.
It used to happen that rural lazy people ran away to the huldry, so as not to work during the harvest. Such a person was ordered to return to normal life: communication with evil spirits was considered a sinful weakness, and the church cursed such people. Sometimes, however, relatives or friends saved the bewitched by asking the priest to ring the bells, or they themselves went to the mountains with the bells. The ringing of bells removed the shackles of magic from a person, and he could return to people. If earthly people rejected the attention of huldra, then they could pay dearly for this until the end of their days with the loss of financial well-being, health and good luck.
31) Yule cat
Icelandic children are being scared by the Yule cat, one of the symbols of Icelandic Christmas. In northern countries, the ancient holiday of Yule was celebrated many centuries before the rise of the Christian religion. Yule celebrates both abundant food on the tables and the giving of gifts, which is reminiscent of Christian Christmas traditions. It is the Yule cat that takes with him at night or eats those children who have been mischievous and lazy during the year. And the cat brings gifts to obedient children. Yule cat is huge, very fluffy and unusually gluttonous. The cat confidently distinguishes loafers and loafers from all other people. After all, lazy people always celebrate the holiday in old clothes.
The belief about the dangerous and terrible was first recorded in the 19th century. According to folklore stories, the Yule Cat lives in a mountain cave with a terrible cannibal Grila, who kidnaps naughty and capricious children, with her husband, the lazy Leppaludi, their sons Yolasveinars, the site they are Icelandic Santas. According to a later version of the tale, more humane, the Yule Cat takes only holiday treats.
The origin of the Yule cat is connected with the traditions of Icelandic life. The production of cloth from sheep's wool was a family business: after the autumn shearing of sheep, all family members take up the processing of wool. According to custom, socks and mittens were woven for each member of the family. And it turned out that the one who worked well and diligently received a new thing, and the loafers turned out to be without a gift. To motivate children to work, parents frightened them by visiting the terrible Yule Cat.
32) Double (doppelganger)
In the works of the era of romanticism, the double of a person is the dark side of the personality or the antithesis of the guardian angel. In the works of some authors, the character does not cast a shadow and is not reflected in the mirror. His appearance often heralds the death of the hero. embodies shadow unconscious desires and instincts, displaced by the subject due to incompatibility with the conscious site of self-image under the influence of morality or society, with his own self-image. Often the double "feeds" at the expense of the protagonist, as he withers, becoming more and more self-confident and, as it were, taking his place in the world.
Another variant of the doppelganger is a werewolf, capable of accurately reproducing the appearance, behavior, and sometimes the psyche of the one he copies. In its natural form, the doppelganger appears as a humanoid figure sculpted from clay with blurred features. However, he is rarely seen in this state: the doppelganger always prefers to disguise himself as someone else.
A huge creature with a snake head and neck that lives in the Scottish Loch Ness and is affectionately called Nessie. There was always a warning about the giant monster among the locals, but the general public did not hear about it until 1933, when the first site witnesses from travelers appeared. If we turn to the very depths of Celtic legends, then the Roman conquerors first noticed this animal. And the very first mention of the Loch Ness monster dates back to the 5th century AD, where one of the chronicles mentions the water beast of the Ness River. Then all mention of Nessie disappears until 1880, when a sailboat with people went to the bottom in a dead calm. The northern Scots immediately remembered the monster and began to spread all sorts of rumors and legends.
One of the most common and plausible speculations is that the Loch Ness monster may be a plesiosaur that has survived to this day. This is one of the marine reptiles that existed during the age of dinosaurs, which ended about 63 million years ago. Plesiosaurs were very similar to dolphins or sharks, and an expedition of scientists to the lake in 1987 could well support this hypothesis. But the site is that about ten thousand years ago, there was a huge glacier on the site of Loch Ness for a long time, and hardly any animals could survive in the ice water. According to researchers, the Loch Ness monster does not belong to the younger generation of immigrants. The family of the largest marine animals that arrived in Loch Ness several decades or centuries ago has nothing to do with the family of whales or dolphins, otherwise their appearance would often be observed on the surface of Loch Ness. Most likely, we are talking about a giant octopus, which is rarely shown on the surface. In addition, eyewitnesses could observe different parts of his gigantic body, which can explain the conflicting descriptions of the monster by many witnesses.
Studies, including sound scanning of the lake and many other experiments, only further confused the researchers, revealing many inexplicable facts, but no clear evidence of the existence of the Loch Ness monster in the lake was found. The most recent piece of evidence comes from a satellite that shows a strange spot resembling the Loch Ness Monster in the distance. The main argument of skeptics is the study, which proved that the flora of Loch Ness is very poor, and there simply would not be enough resources even for one such huge animal.
Spring-Heeled Jack is one of the most famous London characters of the Victorian era, a humanoid creature, notable primarily for its ability to jump of amazing heights. Jack wanders the night streets of the British capital, easily walks through puddles, swamps and rivers, enters houses. He lashes out at people, flays their skin and kills them mercilessly, agitating the police. The very first reports about London date back to 1837. Later, his appearances were recorded in many places in England - especially a site in London itself, its suburbs, Liverpool, Sheffield, the Midlands and even Scotland. Messages peaked in the 1850s-1880s.
Not a single photograph of Jack the Jumper exists, although at that time the photograph already existed. It is possible to judge his appearance only by the descriptions of the victims and eyewitnesses of his appearances and attacks on people, many of which are very similar. Most people who saw Jack described him as a tall, athletic humanoid being with a hideous, devilish face, pointed, protruding ears, large claws on his fingers, and luminous, bulging eyes that resembled red fireballs. In one of the descriptions, it is noted that Jack was dressed in a black cloak, in another - that he had a kind of helmet on his head, and he was dressed in tight-fitting white clothes, over which a waterproof cloak was thrown over. Sometimes he was described as a devil, sometimes as a tall and thin gentleman. Finally, on the site, many descriptions indicate that Jack could emit puffs of blue and white flames from his mouth, and that the claws on his hands were metal.
There are a large number of theories about the nature and personality of Jack the Jumper, however, none of them is scientifically proven and does not give affirmative answers to all questions related to him. Thus, its history remains unexplained until now, science does not know about the device with which a person could make jumps like Jack, and the fact of his real existence is disputed by a significant number of historians. The urban legend of Jumping Jack was incredibly popular in England in the second half of the 19th century - primarily due to his unusual appearance, aggressive eccentric behavior and the mentioned ability to make incredible jumps - to the point that Jack became the hero of several fictional works of European tabloid literature site of the XIX-XX centuries.
35) Reaper (Soul Reaper, Grim Reaper)
Guide of souls to the afterlife. Since initially a person could not explain the cause of death of a living being, there were ideas about death as a real being. In European culture, death is often depicted as a skeleton with a scythe, dressed in a black hooded robe.
Medieval European legends about the Grim Reaper with a scythe may have originated from the custom of some European peoples to bury people with scythes. Reapers are creatures that have power over time and human consciousness. They can change the way a person sees the world around them and themselves, thus facilitating the transition from life to death. The Reaper's true form is too complex to reproduce, but most people see them as ghostly figures in rags or dressed in grave robes.
Wahana(Skt. वहन, vahana IAST from Skt. वह, “sit, ride something”) - in Indian mythology, an object or creature (character) used by the gods as a means of transportation (usually a mount).
Airavata
Surely you have heard of such mystical animals as the Centaur, but do you know who Airavata is?
This magical animal comes from India. It is believed that this is a white elephant, which is the vahana of God Indra. Such an entity has 4 tusks and as many as 7 trunks. They call this entity in different ways - Cloud Elephant, War Elephant, Brother of the Sun.
In India, there are a lot of legends that are associated with this elephant. People believe that the White Elephant was born after Brahma sang the sacred Vedic hymns over the egg shell from which Garuda hatched.
After Airavata emerged from the shell, seven more elephants and eight female elephants were born. Subsequently, Airavata became the king of all elephants.
Mystical animal of Australia - Bunyip
One of the most amazing creatures known from Australian Aboriginal mythology is the Bunyip. It is believed that this is an animal of enormous size that lives in swamps, in various reservoirs.
There are many descriptions of the appearance of the animal. However, they are all very different from each other. But some features always remain similar: a horse's tail, large flippers and fangs. It is believed that the monster devours any animals and people, and its favorite delicacy is women.
In 2001, Robert Holden in his book described at least 20 variations in the appearance of the creature, which he learned from various tribes. Until now, such a magical creature, which is a dangerous enemy of man, remains a mystery. Some believe that it really exists. These people rely on eyewitness accounts.
In the nineteenth-twentieth century, researchers really saw strange aquatic animals, which were about 5 meters long, one and a half meters high, with a small head and a very long neck. However, these data remained unconfirmed, and the legend of a powerful and insidious magical creature still lives on.
Monster from Greece - Hydra
Anyone who has read the myths about Hercules knows who the Hydra is. It is hard to say that this is just an animal, albeit a magical one. This is a mythological entity that has the body of a dog and 9 snake heads. A monster appeared from the womb of Echidna. Such a monster lives in a swamp near the city of Lerna.
At one time, such a monster was considered invincible, because if you cut off her head, then two more would immediately grow in her place. However, Hercules managed to defeat the monster, as his nephew cauterized the decapitated neck of the Hydra as soon as the hero chopped off one head.
The peculiarity of this creature was also that its bite was fatal. As you remember, Hercules dipped his arrows into deadly bile so that no one could heal the wounds inflicted by him.
kerinean fallow deer
The Kerinean Doe is the magical animal of the goddess Artemis. The doe differed from others in that it had golden horns and copper hooves.
kerinean fallow deer
The main task of the animal is to devastate the fields. This was the punishment that fell on Arcadia, as the locals angered Artemis.
There is also a myth that in fact there were only five such creatures. They were huge, even larger than a bull. Four of them were caught by Artemis and harnessed to her chariot, but the last one was able to escape thanks to Hera.
Magic unicorn
Probably one of the most famous characters in mythology is the unicorn. Such an entity is described differently by different sources. Someone believes that the animal has the body of a bull, others believe that it has the body of a horse or a goat. The main difference of this creature is the presence of a horn in the forehead.
Unicorn
This image is a symbol of chastity. In modern culture, the unicorn is depicted as a snow-white horse with a red head and blue eyes. It is believed that it is almost impossible to catch this magical animal, since it is insatiable and can run away from its pursuers. However, a noble animal will always bow before a virgin. The only way to hold a unicorn is with a golden bridle.
The image of a one-horned bull first appeared in the third millennium BC on seals and from the cities of the Indus Valley. Various legends associated with this mythical creature are found in Chinese, Muslim, German fairy tales. Even in Russian legends there is a terrible invincible beast that looks like a horse, and all its power lies in the horn.
In the Middle Ages, a wide variety of properties were attributed to the unicorn. It was believed that it cures diseases. According to legend, using the horn, you can purify the water. Unicorns eat flowers, honey, morning dew.
Often, lovers of everything supernatural and magical wonder - are there unicorns? It can be answered that this essence is one of the best creations of human imagination. To date, there is no evidence of the existence of such an animal.
Iku-turso - sea monster
In Karelian-Finnish mythology, Iku-Turso is an animal that lived in the depths of the sea. It was believed that the god of thunder Ukko was the father of this monster.
Iku-Turso
Unfortunately, a detailed description of the appearance of the sea monster does not exist. However, it is known that he was described as a thousand-horned. It is worth noting that very often the northern peoples called the tentacles horns. For example: octopuses or squids. Therefore, it is quite logical to assume that a thousand horns may suggest the presence of a thousand tentacles.
By the way, if we translate the word "turso" from Old Finnish, we get the word "walrus". Such a creature has its own special symbol, which is somewhat reminiscent of a swastika and is called "Heart of Tursas".
According to legend, the essence is associated not only with the water element, but also with the fire element. There is a legend about how a creature set fire to a haystack, in the ashes of which an acorn was planted and an oak grew out of it.
Some researchers believe that this is an analogue of the Miracle Yud known to many. However, this is just a theory.
Heavenly dog from Asia - Tiangou
In Chinese, Tiangou means "sky dog". It is a magical entity in ancient Chinese mythology. The creature is described in different ways. It is believed that this is a white-headed fox, which brings harmony and tranquility to human life. People believed that the creature could protect from any troubles and the attacks of robbers.
There is also a black, evil hypostasis of this creature. They imagined an evil double in the form of a black dog that lives on the Moon and eats the Sun during an eclipse. The myths mention that in order to save the Sun, it is necessary to beat the dogs. Then the animal will spit out the moon and disappear.
Almost every one of us has heard about certain magical and mythical creatures that inhabit our world. However, there are many more such creatures, the existence of which we know little or do not remember. In mythology and folklore, many magical entities are mentioned, some are described in more detail, others less.
Homunculus, according to the ideas of medieval alchemists, a creature similar to a small person, which can be obtained artificially (in a test tube). To create such a little man, the use of a mandrake was required. The root had to be plucked at dawn, then it had to be washed and "saturated" with milk and honey. Some prescriptions said that blood should be used instead of milk. After that, this root will fully develop into a miniature person who will be able to guard and protect its owner.
Brownie- Slavic peoples have a home spirit, a mythological master and patron of the house, ensuring the normal life of the family, fertility, health of people and animals. They try to feed the brownie, leave a separate saucer with treats and water (or milk) for him in the kitchen on the floor. The brownie, if he loves the owner or hostess, not only does not harm them, but also protects household well-being. Otherwise (which happens more often), he starts to dirty things, breaks and hides things, encroaches on the light bulbs in the bathroom, creates an incomprehensible noise. It can "strangle" the owner at night by sitting on the owner's chest and paralyzing him. Brownie can change shape and pursue his master when moving.
Babai in Slavic folklore, a night spirit, a creature mentioned by parents to intimidate naughty children. Babai does not have a specific description, but most often he was represented as a lame old man with a bag over his shoulders, into which he takes naughty children. Usually parents remembered Babai when their child did not want to fall asleep.
Nephilim (watchers - "sons of God") described in the book of Enoch. They are fallen angels. The Niphilim were physical beings, they taught people the forbidden arts and, taking human wives as wives, gave birth to a new generation of people. In the Torah and several non-canonical Jewish and early Christian writings, nephilim - nephilim means "who cause others to fall." The Nephilim were of gigantic stature, their strength was enormous, as was their appetite. They began to eat up all human resources, and when they ran out, they could attack people. The Nephilim began to fight and oppress people, which was a huge destruction on earth.
Abaasy- in the folklore of the Yakut peoples, a huge stone monster with iron teeth. Lives in a forest thicket away from people's eyes or underground. It is born from a black stone, similar to a child. The older he gets, the more the stone looks like a child. At first, the stone child eats everything that people eat, but when he grows up, he begins to eat the people themselves. Sometimes referred to as anthropomorphic one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged monsters as tall as a tree. Abaasy feed on the souls of people and animals, tempt people, send misfortunes and illnesses, and can deprive them of their minds. Often the relatives of the sick or deceased sacrificed an animal to Abaasy, as if exchanging his soul for the soul of the person they threaten.
Abraxas- Abrasax is the name of a cosmological being in the ideas of the Gnostics. In the early era of Christianity, in the 1st-2nd centuries, many heretical sects arose, trying to combine the new religion with paganism and Judaism. According to the teachings of one of them, everything that exists is born in a certain higher Kingdom of light, from which 365 categories of spirits come. At the head of the spirits is Abraxas. His name and image are often found on gems and amulets: a creature with a human body and a cock's head, instead of legs - two snakes. Abraxas holds a sword and shield in his hands.
Baavan shi- in Scottish folklore, evil, bloodthirsty fairies. If a raven flew up to a person and suddenly turned into a golden-haired beauty in a long green dress, it means that a baavan shi is in front of him. They wear long dresses for good reason, hiding under them deer hooves, which the baavan shi have instead of feet. These fairies lure men into their dwellings and drink their blood.
Baku- "Dream Eater" in Japanese mythology, a good spirit that eats bad dreams. You can summon him by writing his name on a piece of paper and placing it under your pillow. At one time, images of Baku hung in Japanese homes, and his name was written on pillows. They believed that if Baku was forced to eat a bad dream, then he had the power to turn the dream into a good one.
There are stories where Baku does not look very kind. Eating all the dreams and dreams, he deprived the sleeping of beneficial effects, and even completely deprived them of sleep.
kikimora- a character of Slavic-Ugric mythology, as well as one of the types of brownie, causing harm, damage and minor troubles to the household and people. Kikimors, as a rule, settle indoors if a child has died in the house. child. Swamp or forest kikimora was accused of kidnapping children, instead of whom she left an enchanted log. Her presence in the house could be easily identified by wet footprints. A caught kikimora could be turned into a human.
Basilisk- a monster with the head of a rooster, the eyes of a toad, the wings of a bat and the body of a dragon that exists in the mythologies of many peoples. From his gaze, all living things turn to stone. According to legend, if the Basilisk sees his reflection in the mirror, he will die. Caves are the habitat of the Basilisk, they are also its source of food, since the Basilisk only eats stones. He can leave his shelter only at night, because he cannot stand the cock crow. And he is also afraid of unicorns because they are too "clean" animals.
Baggain- in the folklore of the inhabitants of the Isle of Man, the insidious werewolf. He hates people and harasses in every possible way. Baggain is able to grow to gigantic sizes and take on any appearance. He can pretend to be human, but if you look closely, you can see pointed ears and horse hooves, which will still give out baggain.
Alkonost (alkonst)- in Russian art and legends, a bird of paradise with a maiden's head. Often mentioned and depicted along with Sirin, another bird of paradise. The image of Alkonost goes back to the Greek myth about the girl Alcyone, who was turned by the gods into a kingfisher. The earliest depiction of Alkonost is found in a book miniature of the 12th century. Alkonst is a safe and rare creature living closer to the sea. According to folk legend, in the morning on the Apple Savior, the Sirin bird flies into the apple orchard, which is sad and crying. And in the afternoon, the Alkonost bird flies to the apple orchard, which rejoices and laughs. The bird brushes off the live dew from its wings and the fruits are transformed, an amazing power appears in them - all the fruits on the apple trees from that moment on become healing
Water- the owner of the waters in Slavic mythology. Water graze at the bottom of rivers and lakes their cows - catfish, carp, bream and other fish. Commands mermaids, undines, drowned men, aquatic inhabitants. More often he is kind, but sometimes he drags some gaping person to the bottom to entertain him. It lives more often in whirlpools, likes to settle under a water mill.
Abnahuayu- in Abkhazian mythology ("forest man"). A giant ferocious creature, characterized by extraordinary physical strength and rage. The whole body of Abnahuayu is covered with long hair, similar to bristles, he has huge claws; eyes and nose are human. It lives in dense forests (there was a belief that one Abnauayu lives in every forest gorge). Meeting with Abnauayu is dangerous, the adult Abnauayu has an ax-shaped steel protrusion on his chest: pressing the victim to his chest, he cuts it in half. Abnahuayu knows in advance the name of the hunter or shepherd he will meet.
Cerberus (Spirit of the Underworld)- in Greek mythology, a huge dog of the Underworld, guarding the entrance to the afterlife. In order for the souls of the dead to enter the underworld, they must bring gifts to Cerberus - honey and barley biscuits. The task of Cerberus is to prevent dead living people from entering the kingdom who want to rescue their loved ones from there. One of the few living people who managed to penetrate into the underworld and emerge from it unharmed was Orpheus, who played beautiful music on the lyre. One of the feats of Hercules, which he was ordered to perform by the gods, was to bring Cerberus to the city of Tiryns.
Griffin- winged monsters with a lion's body and the head of an eagle, guardians of gold in different mythologies. Griffins, vultures, in Greek mythology, monstrous birds with an eagle's beak and the body of a lion; they. - “dogs of Zeus” - guard gold in the country of the Hyperboreans, guarding it from the one-eyed Arimaspians (Aeschyl. Prom. 803 following). Among the fabulous inhabitants of the north - the Issedons, Arimaspians, Hyperboreans, Herodotus also mentions Griffins (Herodot. IV 13).
There are also griffins in Slavic mythology. In particular, it is known that they guard the treasures of the Riphean mountains.
gaki. in Japanese mythology - ever-hungry demons. They are reborn those who, while living on Earth, overeat or throw away completely edible food. Gaki's hunger is insatiable, but they cannot die from it. They eat anything, even their children, but they cannot get enough. Sometimes they get into the Human World, and then they become cannibals.
Vuivre, Vuivre. France. King, or queen of snakes; in the forehead - a sparkling stone, a bright red ruby; the form of a fiery serpent; keeper of underground treasures; can be seen flying across the sky on summer nights; dwellings - abandoned castles, fortresses, donjons, etc.; his images are in the sculptural compositions of Romanesque monuments; when he bathes, he leaves the stone on the shore, and whoever manages to take possession of the ruby will become fabulously rich - he will receive part of the underground treasures guarded by the snake.
headdress- A Bulgarian vampire who eats dung and carrion because he is too much of a coward to attack people. It has a bad character, which is not surprising with such a diet.
Ayami, in the Tungus-Manchu mythology (among the Nanais) the spirits-ancestors of shamans. Each shaman has his own Ayami, he instructed, indicated what kind of costume a shaman (shaman) should have, how to treat. Ayami appeared to the shaman in a dream in the form of a woman (to a shaman - in the form of a man), as well as a wolf, a tiger and other animals, moved into shamans during prayers. Ayami could also have spirits - the owners of various animals, it was they who sent Ayami to steal the souls of people and cause them illness.
Duboviki- in Celtic mythology, evil magical creatures living in the crowns and trunks of oaks.
To every person passing by their dwelling, they offer delicious food and gifts.
In no case should you take food from them, and even more so taste it, since food cooked by oak trees is very poisonous. At night, oaks often go in search of prey.
You should know that it is especially dangerous to pass by a recently felled oak tree: the oak trees that lived in it are angry and can do a lot of trouble.
Damn (in the old spelling "devil")- an evil, playful and lustful spirit in Slavic mythology. In the book tradition, according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the word devil is a synonym for the concept of demon. The devil is social and most often goes hunting with groups of devils. The devil is attracted to people who drink. When the devil finds such a person, he tries to do everything so that the person drinks even more, bringing him to a state of complete madness. The very process of their materialization, popularly known as “get drunk to hell”, is colorfully and in detail described in one of the stories of Vladimir Nabokov. “By prolonged, stubborn, lonely drunkenness,” the famous prose writer reported, “I brought myself to the most vulgar visions, namely: I began to see devils.” If a person stops drinking, the devil begins to wither without receiving the expected replenishment.
Vampal, in the mythology of the Ingush and Chechens, a huge shaggy monster with supernatural powers: sometimes Vampala has several heads. Wampals are both male and female. In fairy tales, Vampal is a positive character, distinguished by nobility and helping the heroes in their battles.
hyanas- in Italian folklore, mostly female perfumes. Tall and beautiful, they lived in the forests, were engaged in needlework. They could also predict the future and knew where the treasures were hidden. Despite their beauty, hyanas, among which the majority were women, had difficulty finding a mate. There were extremely few male hyanas; dwarfs were no good for husbands, and giants were real brutes. Therefore, the hyanas could only do work and sing sad songs.
Yrka in Slavic mythology- an evil night spirit with eyes on a dark face, glowing like a cat, is especially dangerous on the night of Ivan Kupala and only in the field, because the goblin do not let him into the forest. They become suicidal. Attacks lonely travelers, drinks their blood. Ukrut, his assistant, brings him a sack of scoundrels, from whom Yrka drank life. He is very afraid of the fire, he does not approach the fire. To save yourself from it, you can’t look around, even if they call out in a familiar voice, don’t answer anything, say “stay away from me” three times, or read the prayer “Our Father”.
Div- The demonic character of East Slavic mythology. Mentioned in medieval teachings against the pagans. There are echoes of the latter meaning in the episodes of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, where the expression "spreading divas to the ground" is perceived as a harbinger of misfortune. Div turned people away from dangerous deeds, appearing in the form of unseen. Seeing him and being surprised, people forgot about the unrighteous deed that they wanted to commit. The Poles called him esiznik (“There is a sign”, there is and disappeared), that is, a god-vision.
Ayustal, in Abkhazian mythology, hell; harms people and animals. According to beliefs, if Ayustal moves into a person, he falls ill, and sometimes dies in agony. When a person suffers greatly before death, they say that Ayustal took possession of him, but often a person defeats Ayustal by cunning.
Sulde "life force", in the mythology of the Mongolian peoples, one of the souls of a person, with which his vital and spiritual strength is associated. Sulde ruler is the spirit - the guardian of the people; its material embodiment is the banner of the ruler, which in itself becomes an object of worship, guarded by the subjects of the ruler. During the wars, human sacrifices were made to the Sulde-banners to raise the morale of the army. The Suldi banners of Genghis Khan and some other khans were especially revered. The character of the shamanic pantheon of the Mongols Sulde-Tengri, the patron of people, apparently, is genetically connected with Sulde of Genghis Khan.
shikome in Japanese mythology, a warlike race of creatures vaguely similar to European goblins. Bloodthirsty sadists, slightly taller than people and much stronger than them, with well-developed muscles. Sharp teeth and burning eyes. They do nothing but war. They often set up ambushes in the mountains.
Buka - scarecrow. A small, vicious creature that lives in a child's closet or under a bed. Only children see it, and children suffer from it, since Buka loves to attack them at night - grab them by the legs and drag them under the bed or into the closet (his lair). He is afraid of the light, from which the faith of adults can die. He is afraid that adults will believe in him.
Beregini in Slavic mythology, spirits in the guise of women with tails, living along the banks of rivers. Mentioned in ancient Russian historical and literary monuments. They protect people from evil spirits, predict the future, and also save small children left unattended and fallen into the water.
Anzud- in Sumerian-Akkadian mythology, a divine bird, an eagle with a lion's head. Anzud is a mediator between gods and people, at the same time embodying good and evil principles. When the god Enlil took off his insignia while washing, Anzud stole the tablets of fate and flew with them to the mountains. Anzud wanted to become more powerful than all the gods, but by his act he violated the course of things and divine laws. In pursuit of the bird, the god of war, Ninurta, set off. He shot Anzud with his bow, but Enlil's tablets healed the wound. Ninurta managed to hit the bird only on the second attempt, or even on the third attempt (in different versions of the myth in different ways).
Bug- spirits in English mythology. According to legends, the bug is a "children's" monster, even in our time, English women scare their children with it.
Usually these creatures have the appearance of shaggy monsters with matted, tufted hair. Many English children believe that bugs can enter rooms by using open chimneys. However, despite their rather intimidating appearance, these creatures are completely non-aggressive and practically harmless, since they have neither sharp teeth nor long claws. They can scare in only one way - by making a terrible ugly face, spreading their paws and raising the hair on the scruff of the neck.
Alraunes- in the folklore of European peoples, a tiny creature that lives in the roots of a mandrake, the outlines of which resemble human figures. Alraunes are friendly to people, but they are not averse to making fun, sometimes quite cruelly. These are werewolves capable of transforming into cats, worms, and even small children. Later, the Alrauns changed their way of life: they liked the warmth and comfort in people's homes so much that they began to move there. Before moving to a new place, alrauns, as a rule, test people: they scatter all kinds of garbage on the floor, throw clods of earth or pieces of cow dung into milk. If people don't sweep the trash and drink milk, Alraun understands that it is quite possible to settle here. It's almost impossible to drive him away. Even if the house is burned down and people move somewhere, alraun follows them. Alraun had to be treated with great care due to its magical properties. You had to wrap or dress him in white robes with a gold belt, bathe him every Friday, and keep him in a box, otherwise Alraun would start yelling for attention. Alraunes were used in magical rituals. It was assumed that they bring great luck, in the likeness of a talisman - a quatrefoil. But possession of them carried the risk of being prosecuted for witchcraft, and in 1630 three women were executed in Hamburg on this charge. Due to the high demand for Alraunes, they were often cut from bryony roots, as genuine mandrakes were hard to come by. They were exported from Germany to various countries, including England, during the reign of Henry VIII.
Authorities- in Christian mythological representations, angelic creatures. The authorities can be both good forces and minions of evil. Among the nine angelic ranks, the authorities close the second triad, which, in addition to them, also includes dominions and powers. As Pseudo-Dionysius says, “the name of the holy Authorities signifies equal to the Divine Dominions and Forces, slender and capable of receiving Divine illuminations, the Chin and the device of a worldly spiritual dominion, which does not autocratically use the granted domineering powers for evil, but freely and decently to the Divine as itself ascending who brings others holy to Him and, as much as possible, becomes like the Source and Giver of all power and portrays Him ... in a completely true use of his sovereign power.
gargoyle- the fruit of medieval mythology. The word "gargoyle" comes from the Old French gargouille - throat, and with its sound imitates the gurgling sound that occurs when gargling. The gargoyles seated on the facades of Catholic cathedrals were ambivalent. On the one hand, they were like ancient sphinxes as guard statues, capable of coming to life and protecting a temple or a mansion in a moment of danger, on the other hand, when they were placed on temples, it showed that all evil spirits were fleeing from this holy place, since it could not bear the temple purity.
Grima- according to medieval European beliefs, they lived throughout Europe. Most often they can be seen in old cemeteries located near churches. Therefore, scary creatures are also called church makeup.
These monsters can take on a variety of forms, but most often they turn into huge dogs with jet-black hair and glow-in-the-dark eyes. You can see the monsters only in rainy or cloudy weather, they usually appear in the cemetery in the late afternoon, and also during the day during the funeral. They often howl under the windows of sick people, foreshadowing their imminent death. Often, some kind of makeup, not afraid of heights, climbs the church bell tower at night and starts ringing all the bells, which is considered by the people to be a very bad omen.
Ahti- a water demon among the peoples of the north. Neither evil nor good. Although he likes to joke and with jokes he can go too far so that a person will die. Of course, if you piss him off, he can kill you.
Atsys“Without a name”, in the mythology of the West Siberian Tatars, an evil demon that unexpectedly appears in front of travelers at night in the form of a shock, cart, tree, fiery clod and strangles them. Attsys was also called various evil spirits (Myatskai, Oryak, Ubyr, etc.), whose names were afraid to pronounce out loud, being afraid to attract a demon.
Shoggoths- creatures mentioned in the famous mystical book "Al Azif", better known as the "Necronomicon", written by the crazy poet Abdul Alhazred. Approximately one third of the book is devoted to the control of shoggoths, which are presented as shapeless "eels" from bubbles of protoplasm. The ancient gods created them as servants, but the shoggoths, possessing intelligence, quickly got out of submission and have since acted of their own free will and for their strange incomprehensible goals. It is said that these beings often appear in narcotic visions, but there they are not subject to human control.
Yuvha, in the mythology of the Turkmens and Uzbeks of Khorezm, Bashkirs and Kazan Tatars (Yukha) is a demonic character associated with the water element. Yuvkha is a beautiful girl whom she turns into after living for many years (among the Tatars - 100 or 1000) years. According to the myths of the Turkmens and Uzbeks of Khorezm, Yuvkha marries a man, setting him a number of conditions in advance, for example, do not watch how she combs her hair, does not pat on the back, perform ablution after intimacy. Violating the conditions, the husband discovers snake scales on her back, sees how, combing her hair, she removes her head. If Yuvha is not killed, she will eat her husband.
Ghouls - (Russian; Ukrainian upir, Belarusian ynip, other Russian Upir), in Slavic mythology, a dead man attacking people and animals. At night, the Ghoul rises from the grave and, in the guise of a bloodshot dead man or a zoomorphic creature, kills people and animals, sucks out blood, after which the victim either dies or can become a Ghoul herself. According to popular beliefs, people who died an "unnatural death" became ghouls - violently murdered, drunkards, suicides and also sorcerers. It was believed that the earth does not accept such dead people and therefore they are forced to wander around the world and harm the living. Such dead people were buried outside the cemetery and away from housing.
Chusrym in Mongolian mythology - the King of fish. He freely swallows ships, and when he sticks out of the water, he looks like a huge mountain.
Sharkan, in Hungarian mythology, a dragon with a serpentine body and wings. It is possible to distinguish between two layers of ideas about Shambling. One of them, associated with the European tradition, is presented mainly in fairy tales, where Sharkan is a ferocious monster with a large number (three, seven, nine, twelve) of heads, the hero’s opponent in battle, often an inhabitant of a magic castle. On the other hand, there are beliefs about the one-headed Shuffling as one of the assistants of the sorcerer (shaman) taltosh.
Shilikun, Shilikhan- in Slavic mythology - hooligan small spirits that appear on Christmas Eve and before Epiphany run through the streets with burning coals in pans. Drunk people can be pushed into the hole. At night they will make noise and roam, and turning into black cats, they will crawl under their feet.
They are as tall as a sparrow, their legs are like those of a horse - with hooves, fire breathes from their mouths. At Baptism they go to the underworld.
Faun (Pan)- spirit or deity of forests and groves, god of shepherds and fishermen in Greek mythology. This is a cheerful god and companion of Dionysus, always surrounded by forest nymphs, dancing with them and playing the flute for them. It is believed that Pan had a prophetic gift and endowed Apollo with this gift. The faun was considered a crafty spirit that stole children.
Kumo- in Japanese mythology - spiders that can turn into people. Very rare creatures. In their normal form, they look like huge spiders, the size of a man, with burning red eyes and sharp stingers on their paws. In human form, beautiful women with a cold beauty, trapping men and devouring them.
Phoenix- an immortal bird personifying the cyclical nature of the world. Phoenix is the patron of anniversaries, or great time cycles. Herodotus recounts the original version of the legend with marked skepticism:
“There is another sacred bird there, its name is Phoenix. I myself have never seen her, except as painted, because in Egypt she rarely appears, once in 500 years, as the inhabitants of Heliopolis say. According to them, she arrives when her father (that is, she herself) dies. If the images correctly show her size and size and appearance, her plumage is partly golden, partly red. Its appearance and dimensions resemble an eagle. This bird does not breed, but is reborn after death from its own ashes.
Werewolf- Werewolf - a monster that exists in many mythological systems. It means a person who can turn into animals or vice versa. An animal that can turn into people. This skill is often possessed by demons, deities and spirits. The classic werewolf is the wolf. It is with him that all the associations born by the word werewolf are associated. This change can occur either at the will of the werewolf, or involuntarily, caused, for example, by certain lunar cycles.
Viryava- the mistress and spirit of the grove among the peoples of the north. Appeared as a beautiful girl. Birds and animals obeyed her. She helped lost travelers.
wendigo- spirit-eater in the myths of the Ojibwe and some other Algonquian tribes. Served as a warning against any excesses of human behavior. The Inuit tribe calls this creature by various names, including Windigo, Vitigo, Vitiko. Wendigo enjoy hunting and love to attack hunters. A lone traveler who finds himself in the forest begins to hear strange sounds. He looks around for the source, but sees nothing but a flicker of something moving too fast for the human eye to see. When the traveler starts to run away in fear, the Wendigo attacks. He is powerful and strong like no other. Can imitate people's voices. In addition, the Wendigo never stops hunting after eating.
Shikigami. in Japanese mythology Spirits summoned by a magician, an expert on Onmyo-do. They usually look like small oni, but can take the form of birds and beasts. Many shikigami can possess and control the bodies of animals, and the shikigami of the most powerful magicians can possess humans. Controlling shikigami is very difficult and dangerous, as they can break out of the magician's control and attack him. An expert on Onmyo-do can direct the power of other people's shikigami against their master.
hydra monster, described by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod (VIII-VII centuries BC) in his legend of Hercules ("Theogony"): a many-headed snake (Lernean Hydra), in which two new ones grew instead of each severed head. And it was impossible to kill her. Hydra's lair was near Lake Lerna near Argolis. Under water was the entrance to the underground kingdom of Hades, which was guarded by a hydra. Hydra hid in a rocky cave on the shore near the spring of Amimona, from where it came out only to attack the surrounding settlements.
Fighting- in English folklore, water fairies that lure mortal women, appearing to them in the form of wooden dishes floating on the water. As soon as any woman grabs onto such a dish, the fight immediately takes on its true, ugly appearance and drags the unfortunate woman to the bottom so that she can look after his children there.
Sinister- pagan evil spirits of the ancient Slavs, the personification of Nedol, Navi servants. They are also called kriks or hmyrs - swamp spirits, which are so dangerous that they can stick to a person, even move into him, especially in old age, if a person did not love anyone in life and he had no children. Sinister can turn into a poor old man. In the Christmas game, the villain personifies poverty, poverty, winter darkness.
incubi- in medieval European mythology, male demons seeking female love. The word incubus comes from the Latin "incubare", which means "to lie down" in translation. According to old books, incubus are fallen angels, demons who are addicted to sleeping women. Incubuses showed such enviable energy in intimate matters that entire nations were born. For example, the Huns, who, according to medieval beliefs, were the descendants of "outcast women" Goths and evil spirits.
Goblin- the owner of the forest, the forest spirit, in the mythology of the Eastern Slavs. This is the main owner of the forest, he makes sure that no one in his household does any harm. He treats good people well, helps to get out of the forest, to not very good - bad: he confuses, makes him walk in circles. He sings in a voice without words, beats his hands, whistles, hoots, laughs, cries. Leshy can appear in various plant, animal, human and mixed forms, can be invisible. Most often appears as a lonely creature. Leaves the forest for the winter, sinking underground.
baba yaga- a character of Slavic mythology and folklore, the mistress of the forest, the mistress of animals and birds, the guardian of the borders of the kingdom of Death. In a number of fairy tales it is likened to a witch, a sorceress. Most often - a negative character, but sometimes acts as an assistant to the hero. Baba Yaga has several stable attributes: she knows how to conjure, fly in a mortar, lives on the edge of the forest, in a hut on chicken legs surrounded by a fence of human bones with skulls. She lures good fellows and small children to her, ostensibly in order to eat them.
Shishiga, an unclean spirit, in Slavic mythology. If he lives in the forest, then he attacks randomly wandering people, so that later he can gnaw their bones. At night, they like to make noise and gossip. According to another belief, shishimora or shishigs are mischievous restless house spirits that mock a person who does things without praying. We can say that these are very instructive spirits, correct, accustoming to the pious routine of life.
I already once in a column told you about even gave exhaustive proof in the form of photographs in this article. Why am I talking about mermaids yes, because mermaid- This is a mythical creature found in many stories, fairy tales. And this time I want to talk about mythical creatures that existed at one time according to legends: Grants, Dryads, Kraken, Griffins, Mandrake, Hippogriff, Pegasus, Lernean Hydra, Sphinx, Chimera, Cerberus, Phoenix, Basilisk, Unicorn, Wyvern. Let's get to know these creatures better.
Video from the channel "Interesting facts"
1. Wyvern
Wyvern-This creature is considered a "relative" of the dragon, but it only has two legs. instead of the front - bat wings. It is characterized by a long snake neck and a very long, mobile tail, ending in a sting in the form of a heart-shaped arrowhead or spear. With this sting, the wyvern manages to cut or stab the victim, and under appropriate conditions, even pierce it right through. In addition, the sting is venomous.
The wyvern is often found in alchemical iconography, in which (like most dragons) it personifies primary, raw, unrefined matter, or metal. In religious iconography, it can be seen in paintings depicting the struggle of Saints Michael or George. Wyverns can also be found on heraldic coats of arms, such as the Polish coat of arms of the Latskis, the coat of arms of the Drake family, or the Feuds of Kunwald.
2. Asp
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Asp- In the ancient ABC books there is a mention of an asp - this is a serpent (or snake, asp) "winged, has a bird's nose and two trunks, and in which land it is rooted, it will make that land empty." That is, everything around will be destroyed and devastated. The famous scientist M. Zabylin said that, according to popular belief, the asp can be found in the gloomy northern mountains and that he never sits on the ground, but only on a stone. It is possible to speak and kill the serpent - the destroyer - only with a "trumpet voice", from which the mountains are shaking. Then the sorcerer or medicine man grabbed the stunned asp with red-hot tongs and held it "until the snake died"
3. Unicorn
Unicorn- Symbolizes chastity, and also serves as the emblem of the sword. Tradition usually represents him in the form of a white horse with one horn coming out of his forehead; however, according to esoteric beliefs, he has a white body, a red head and blue eyes. In the early traditions, the unicorn was depicted with the body of a bull, in later ones with the body of a goat, and only in later legends with the body of a horse. Legend claims that he is insatiable when he is pursued, but dutifully lie down on the ground if a virgin approaches him. In general, it is impossible to catch a unicorn, but if you succeed, you can only keep it with a golden bridle.
“His back was curved and his ruby eyes shone, at the withers he reached 2 meters. A little higher than his eyes, almost parallel to the ground, his horn grew; straight and thin. eyelashes cast fluffy shadows on pink nostrils. (S. Drugal "Basilisk")
They feed on flowers, they especially like rosehip flowers, and well-fed honey, and they drink morning dew. They also look for small lakes in the depths of the forest in which they bathe and drink from there, and the water in these lakes usually becomes very clear and has the properties of living water. In Russian "alphabet books" of the 16th-17th centuries. the unicorn is described as a terrible and invincible beast, like a horse, all the strength of which lies in the horn. Healing properties were attributed to the horn of the unicorn (according to folklore, the unicorn purifies water poisoned by a snake with its horn). The unicorn is a creature of another world and most often portends happiness.
4. Basilisk
Basilisk- a monster with the head of a rooster, the eyes of a toad, the wings of a bat and the body of a dragon (according to some sources, a huge lizard) that exists in the mythologies of many peoples. From his gaze, all living things turn to stone. Basilisk - is born from an egg laid by a seven-year-old black rooster (in some sources from an egg hatched by a toad) into a warm dunghill. According to legend, if the Basilisk sees his reflection in the mirror, he will die. Caves are the habitat of the Basilisk, they are also its source of food, since the Basilisk only eats stones. He can leave his shelter only at night, because he cannot stand the cock crow. And he is also afraid of unicorns because they are too "clean" animals.
"It moves its horns, its eyes are so green with a purple tint, the warty hood swells. And he himself was purple-black with a spiked tail. A triangular head with a black-pink mouth opened wide ...
His saliva is extremely poisonous and if it gets on living matter, then carbon will immediately be replaced by silicon. Simply put, all living things turn into stone and die, although there are disputes that petrification also comes from the look of the Basilisk, but those who wanted to check it did not come back .. ("S. Drugal "Basilisk").
5. Manticore
Manticore- The story of this terrible creature can be found in Aristotle (4th century BC) and Pliny the Elder (1st century AD). The manticore is the size of a horse, has a human face, three rows of teeth, a lion's body and a scorpion's tail, and bloodshot red eyes. Manticore runs so fast that he overcomes any distance in the blink of an eye. This makes it extremely dangerous - after all, it is almost impossible to escape from it, and the monster feeds only on fresh human meat. Therefore, on medieval miniatures, you can often see the image of a manticore with a human hand or foot in its teeth. In medieval works of natural history, the manticore was considered to be real, but living in deserted places.
6. Valkyries
Valkyries- beautiful warrior maidens who fulfill the will of Odin and are his companions. They invisibly take part in every battle, granting victory to the one to whom the gods award it, and then carry away the dead warriors to Valhalla, the castle of heavenly Asgard, and serve them at the table there. Legends also call the heavenly Valkyries, which determine the fate of each person.
7. Anka
Anka- In Muslim mythology, wonderful birds created by Allah and hostile to people. It is believed that anka exist to this day: there are simply so few of them that they are extremely rare. Anka is in many ways similar in its properties to the phoenix bird that lived in the Arabian desert (it can be assumed that the anka is the phoenix).
8. Phoenix
Phoenix- In monumental statues, stone pyramids and buried mummies, the Egyptians sought to gain eternity; it is quite natural that it was in their country that the myth of the cyclically reborn, immortal bird should have arisen, although the subsequent development of the myth was carried out by the Greeks and Romans. Adolf Erman writes that in the mythology of Heliopolis, the Phoenix is the patron of anniversaries, or great time cycles. Herodotus, in a famous passage, recounts with marked skepticism the original version of the legend:
“There is another sacred bird there, her name is Phoenix. I myself have never seen her, except as painted, because in Egypt she rarely appears, once every 500 years, as the inhabitants of Heliopolis say. According to them, she arrives when she dies father (that is, she herself) If the images correctly show her size and size and appearance, her plumage is partly golden, partly red. Her appearance and size resemble an eagle.
9. Echidna
Echidna- half-woman half-snake, daughter of Tartarus and Rhea, gave birth to Typhon and many monsters (Lernean hydra, Cerberus, Chimera, Nemean lion, Sphinx)
10. Sinister
Sinister- pagan evil spirits of the ancient Slavs. They are also called kriks or khmyrs - swamp spirits, which are so dangerous that they can stick to a person, even move into him, especially in old age, if a person did not love anyone in life and he had no children. Sinister has a not quite definite appearance (she speaks, but is invisible). She can turn into a little man, a small child, a poor old man. In the Christmas game, the villain personifies poverty, poverty, winter darkness. In the house, the villains most often settle behind the stove, but they also like to suddenly jump on the back, shoulders of a person, "ride" him. There may be several bad guys. However, with some ingenuity, they can be caught by locking them up in some kind of container.
11. Cerberus
Cerberus One of Echidna's children. A three-headed dog, on whose neck snakes move with a formidable hiss, and instead of a tail he has a poisonous snake .. Serves Hades (the god of the Kingdom of the Dead) stands on the eve of Hell and guards its entrance. He made sure that no one left the underground kingdom of the dead, because there is no return from the kingdom of the dead. When Cerberus was on earth (This happened because of Hercules, who, on the instructions of King Eurystheus, brought him from Hades), the monstrous dog dropped drops of bloody foam from his mouth; from which the poisonous herb aconite grew.
12. Chimera
Chimera- in Greek mythology, a monster that spewed fire with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon (according to another version, the Chimera had three heads - a lion, a goat and a dragon) Apparently, the Chimera is the personification of a fire-breathing volcano. In a figurative sense, a chimera is a fantasy, an unrealizable desire or action. In sculpture, images of fantastic monsters are called chimeras (for example, chimeras of Notre Dame Cathedral), but it is believed that stone chimeras can come to life to terrify people.
13. Sphinx
sphinx s or Sphinga in ancient Greek mythology, a winged monster with the face and chest of a woman and the body of a lion. She is the offspring of the hundred-headed dragon Typhon and Echidna. The name of the Sphinx is associated with the verb "sphingo" - "compress, suffocate." Sent by the Hero to Thebes as a punishment. The Sphinx was located on a mountain near Thebes (or in the city square) and asked each passerby a riddle (“Which living creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?”). Unable to give a clue, the Sphinx killed and thus killed many noble Thebans, including the son of King Creon. Dejected with grief, the king announced that he would give the kingdom and the hand of his sister Jocasta to the one who would save Thebes from the Sphinx. The riddle was solved by Oedipus, the Sphinx in despair threw herself into the abyss and crashed to death, and Oedipus became the Theban king.
14. Lernaean Hydra
lernaean hydra- a monster with the body of a snake and nine heads of a dragon. The hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna. She crawled out of her lair and destroyed entire herds. The victory over the hydra was one of the exploits of Hercules.
15. Naiads
naiads- Each river, each source or stream in Greek mythology had its own boss - a naiad. No statistics covered this cheerful tribe of patronesses of waters, prophetesses and healers, every Greek with a poetic streak heard the careless chatter of naiads in the murmur of the waters. They refer to the descendants of Oceanus and Tethys; number up to three thousand.
“None of the people can name all their names. Only those who live nearby know the name of the stream.
16. Ruhh
Ruhh- In the East, they have long been talking about the giant bird Ruhh (or Hand, Fear, Foot, Nagai). Some even dated her. For example, the hero of Arabian fairy tales Sinbad the Sailor. One day he found himself on a desert island. Looking around, he saw a huge white dome without windows and doors, so big that he could not climb on it.
“And I,” says Sinbad, “walked around the dome, measuring its circumference, and counted fifty full steps. Suddenly the sun disappeared, and the air darkened, and the light was blocked from me. And I thought that a cloud had found a cloud in the sun (and it was summertime), and I was surprised, and raised my head, and saw a bird with a huge body and wide wings that flew through the air - and it was she who covered the sun and blocked it over the island . And I remembered a story long ago told by people wandering and traveling, namely: on certain islands there is a bird called Ruhh, which feeds its children on elephants. And I made sure that the dome, which I went around, is a Ruhh egg. And I began to marvel at what Allah the great had created. And at that time, a bird suddenly landed on the dome, and embraced it with its wings, and stretched out its legs on the ground behind it, and fell asleep on it, praise be to Allah, who never sleeps! And then, having untied the turban, I tied myself to the feet of this bird, saying to myself: “Maybe it will take me to countries with cities and populations. It will be better than sitting here on this island." And when the dawn rose and the day came, the bird took off from the egg and took me up into the air. quickly got rid of her legs, afraid of the bird, but the bird did not know about me and did not feel me.
Not only the fabulous Sinbad the Sailor, but also the very real Florentine traveler Marco Polo, who visited Persia, India and China in the 13th century, heard about this bird. He said that the Mongol Khan Kublai once sent faithful people to catch a bird. The messengers found her homeland: the African island of Madagascar. They did not see the bird itself, but they brought its feather: it was twelve paces long, and the feather core was equal in diameter to two palm trunks. It was said that the wind produced by the wings of Ruhh knocks a person down, her claws are like bull horns, and her meat restores youth. But try to catch this Ruhh if she can carry a unicorn along with three elephants strung on her horn! the author of the encyclopedia Alexandrova Anastasia They also knew this monstrous bird in Rus', they called it Fear, Nog or Noga, giving it even new fabulous features.
“The leg-bird is so strong that it can lift an ox, it flies through the air and walks on the ground with four legs,” says the ancient Russian Alphabet Book of the 16th century.
The famous traveler Marco Polo tried to explain the secret of the winged giant: “They call this bird on the islands Ruk, but in our opinion they don’t call it, but that’s a vulture!” Only ... greatly grown up in the human imagination.
17. Khukhlik
Khukhlik in Russian superstitions, the water devil; disguised. The name khukhlyak, khukhlik, apparently, comes from the Karelian huhlakka - "to be weird", tus - "ghost, ghost", "strangely dressed" (Cherepanova 1983). The appearance of Khukhlyak is unclear, but they say that it is similar to Shilikun. This unclean spirit appears most often from water and becomes especially active during Christmas time. Likes to play pranks on people.
18. Pegasus
Pegasus- in Greek mythology winged horse. Son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. He was born from the body of a gorgon killed by Perseus. The name Pegasus received because he was born at the source of the Ocean (Greek "source"). Pegasus ascended to Olympus, where he delivered thunder and lightning to Zeus. Pegasus is also called the horse of the muses, as he knocked Hippocrene out of the ground with a hoof - the source of the muses, which has the ability to inspire poets. Pegasus, like a unicorn, can only be caught with a golden bridle. According to another myth, the gods gave Pegasus. Bellerophon, and he, taking off on it, killed the winged monster Chimera, which devastated the country.
19 Hippogriff
hippogriff- in the mythology of the European Middle Ages, wanting to indicate the impossibility or inconsistency, Virgil speaks of an attempt to cross a horse and a vulture. Four centuries later, his commentator Servius states that vultures or griffins are animals in which the front part of the body is eagle and the back is lion. To support his assertion, he adds that they hate horses. Over time, the expression "Jungentur jam grypes eguis" ("to cross vultures with horses") became a proverb; at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Ludovico Ariosto remembered him and invented the hippogriff. Pietro Michelli notes that the hippogriff is a more harmonious creature, even than the winged Pegasus. In Furious Roland, a detailed description of the hippogriff is given, as if it were intended for a textbook of fantastic zoology:
Not a ghostly horse under the magician - a mare
Born into the world, his vulture was his father;
In his father, he was a wide-winged bird, -
In the father was in front: like that, zealous;
Everything else, like the uterus, was
And that horse was called a hippogriff.
The limits of the Riphean mountains are glorious for them,
Far beyond the icy seas
20 Mandragora
Mandrake. The role of Mandragora in mythopoetic representations is explained by the presence of certain hypnotic and stimulating properties in this plant, as well as the similarity of its root with the lower part of the human body (Pythagoras called Mandragora “a human-like plant”, and Columella called it “half-human grass”). In some folk traditions, the type of Mandragora root distinguishes between male and female plants and even gives them the appropriate names. Old herbalists depict Mandragora Roots as male or female forms, with a tuft of leaves sprouting from the head, sometimes with a chained dog or an agonizing dog. According to beliefs, the one who hears the groan emitted by the Mandrake when it is dug out of the ground must die; to avoid the death of a person and at the same time satisfy the thirst for blood, allegedly inherent in Mandrake. When digging up the Mandrake, a dog was put on a leash, which, as it was believed, died in agony.
21. Griffins
Griffin- winged monsters with a lion's body and an eagle's head, guardians of gold. In particular, it is known that they protect the treasures of the Riphean mountains. From his cry, flowers wither and grass withers, and if there is someone alive, then everyone falls dead. The eyes of a griffin with a golden tint. The head was the size of a wolf's head, with a huge, intimidating beak a foot long. Wings with a strange second joint to make it easier to fold them. In Slavic mythology, all approaches to the Iry garden, the Alatyr mountain and the apple tree with golden apples are guarded by griffins and basilisks. Whoever tries these golden apples will receive eternal youth and power over the universe. And the very apple tree with golden apples is guarded by the dragon Ladon. There is no passage here for foot or horseback.
22. Kraken
kraken is the Scandinavian version of the Saratan and the Arabian dragon or sea serpent. The back of the Kraken is a mile and a half wide, and its tentacles are capable of embracing the largest ship. This huge back protrudes from the sea, like a huge island. The Kraken has a habit of darkening the sea water by spewing some kind of liquid. This statement gave rise to the hypothesis that the Kraken is an octopus, only enlarged. Among the youthful writings of Tenison, one can find a poem dedicated to this remarkable creature:
For centuries in the depths of the ocean
The bulk of the Kraken sleeps soundly
He is blind and deaf, on the carcass of a giant
Only at times a pale beam glides.
Giants of sponges sway over him,
And from deep, dark holes
Polypov innumerable choir
Extends tentacles like arms.
For thousands of years the Kraken will rest there,
So it was and so it will continue,
Until the last fire burns through the abyss
And heat will scorch the living firmament.
Then he wakes up from his sleep
Before angels and people will appear
And, surfacing with a howl, he will meet death.
23. Golden dog
golden dog.- This is a dog of gold that guarded Zeus when Kronos pursued him. The fact that Tantalus did not want to give up this dog was his first strong offense before the gods, which the gods later took into account when choosing a punishment.
“... In Crete, the homeland of the Thunderer, there was a golden dog. Once she guarded the newborn Zeus and the wonderful goat Amalthea who fed him. When Zeus grew up and took power over the world from Kron, he left this dog in Crete to guard his sanctuary. The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, seduced by the beauty and strength of this dog, secretly came to Crete and took her away on his ship from Crete. But where to hide a wonderful animal? Pandarey thought about this for a long time during his journey by sea and, finally, decided to give the golden dog to Tantalus for safekeeping. King Sipila hid a wonderful animal from the gods. Zeus was angry. He called his son, the messenger of the gods Hermes, and sent him to Tantalus to demand from him the return of the golden dog. In the twinkling of an eye, swift Hermes rushed from Olympus to Sipylus, appeared before Tantalus and said to him:
- The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, stole a golden dog from the sanctuary of Zeus in Crete and gave it to you to keep. The gods of Olympus know everything, mortals cannot hide anything from them! Return the dog to Zeus. Beware of incurring the wrath of the Thunderer!
Tantalus answered the messenger of the gods thus:
- In vain you threaten me with the wrath of Zeus. I did not see the golden dog. The gods are wrong, I don't have it.
Tantalus swore a terrible oath that he was telling the truth. With this oath, he angered Zeus even more. This was the first insult inflicted by tantalum on the gods...
24. Dryads
Dryads- in Greek mythology, female spirits of trees (nymphs). they live in a tree that they protect and often died with this tree. Dryads are the only nymphs that are mortal. Tree nymphs are inseparable from the tree they inhabit. It was believed that those who plant trees and those who care for them enjoy the special protection of the dryads.
25. Grants
Grant- In English folklore, a werewolf, who is most often a mortal disguised as a horse. At the same time, he walks on his hind legs, and his eyes are full of flames. Grant is a city fairy, he can often be seen on the street, at noon or closer to sunset. Meeting with a grant portends misfortune - a fire or something else in the same vein.
