Cockatrice
The original Monster in my Pocket Cockatrice (not pictured, will be uploaded eventually) was pretty much my favorite MIMP back when I was a kid. And by that, I mean I carried it all around, looked up the monster in every dictionary and myth book out there, and basically jump-started my career as Sir Studiesalot. Whoops! I even asked my sister if she knew the original myth once, and she fooled me by making up this absurdly complex story about Sinbad finding it in a treasure chest. Double whoops! Anyway, as I said, I'll upload it eventually - this is the 2006 reboot.
The really awesome thing about this figure is that it looks exactly like traditional medieval art of the monster - it might as well have just walked off a bas relief or something. But anyway, on to the myth!
If a rooster lays a yolkless egg, and that egg happens to hatch, it produces the strange mixture of chicken and dragon known as the Cockatrice (or Basilisk, but basilisks don't have wings). The Cockatrice is a dangerous creature, and it is said that all who meet its gaze or feel its breath die or turn to stone instantly. There are only two known ways to kill one - you can force it to look at itself in a mirror, or... it can hear the sound of a rooster crowing, at which point it just falls over and dies. The end.
On a hilariously absurd note, some older english translations of the Bible (such as the original King James) translate the Hebrew word for "viper" into "cockatrice" for no good reason whatsoever. I think that's a great idea, though - and in fact, I am going to follow a similar route. From now on, instead of "cat," I will say "Behemoth," and instead of "dog," I shall say "Pazuzu!"
Cockatrice
The original Monster in my Pocket Cockatrice (not pictured, will be uploaded eventually) was pretty much my favorite MIMP back when I was a kid. And by that, I mean I carried it all around, looked up the monster in every dictionary and myth book out there, and basically jump-started my career as Sir Studiesalot. Whoops! I even asked my sister if she knew the original myth once, and she fooled me by making up this absurdly complex story about Sinbad finding it in a treasure chest. Double whoops! Anyway, as I said, I'll upload it eventually - this is the 2006 reboot.
The really awesome thing about this figure is that it looks exactly like traditional medieval art of the monster - it might as well have just walked off a bas relief or something. But anyway, on to the myth!
If a rooster lays a yolkless egg, and that egg happens to hatch, it produces the strange mixture of chicken and dragon known as the Cockatrice (or Basilisk, but basilisks don't have wings). The Cockatrice is a dangerous creature, and it is said that all who meet its gaze or feel its breath die or turn to stone instantly. There are only two known ways to kill one - you can force it to look at itself in a mirror, or... it can hear the sound of a rooster crowing, at which point it just falls over and dies. The end.
On a hilariously absurd note, some older english translations of the Bible (such as the original King James) translate the Hebrew word for "viper" into "cockatrice" for no good reason whatsoever. I think that's a great idea, though - and in fact, I am going to follow a similar route. From now on, instead of "cat," I will say "Behemoth," and instead of "dog," I shall say "Pazuzu!"