Myth-Land — Key Ideas to Explore

Introduction--"A Description of 300 Animals"--Unicorn--The Bible Unicorn--The Heraldic Unicorn--The Horn as a Poison Test--The Unicorn of Mediæval Legend--Wolf Causing Dumbness--The Rompo or Man-Eater--The Manticora--The Lamia--Stag Antipathies--Dragons-- Dragon-Slaying--Legends of the Saints--The "Legenda Aurea"--St. George--Mediæval Recipes--The "Historia Monstrorum" of Aldrovandus-- The Dragon in Heraldry--The Dragon of Wantley--Dragons' Teeth--The Dragonnades--The Dragons of Shakespeare--Guardians of Treasure--The Feud between the Dragon and the Elephant--The "Bestiare Divin" of Guillaume--The Cockatrice--The Basilisk--The Phoenix: Its Literary Existence from Herodotus to Shakespeare--The Dun-Cow of Warwick--Sir Guy, and Percie's "Reliques of Antient Poetry"--Old Ribs and other Bones in Churches--The Salamander--Breydenbach's Travels--The "Bestiary" of De Thaun--The Ylio--The Griffin--The Arimaspians-- Burton's "Miracles of Art and Nature"--The Lomie--The Tartarian Vegetable Lamb--The Sea-Elephant--Pegasus--The Vampyre--The Chameleon 1-80

The Sphinx--The Chimæra--The Centaurs--The Origin of the Myth--The Onocentaur--Sagittarius--Satyrs and Fauns--The Harpys, described by Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, and others--The Echidna--The Gorgon--The Hydra--The Sirens--The Lurlei--Mermaids--The Manatee-- Dog-Headed Men of Brazil--The One-Eyed Cyclops and Briaræus of the Hundred Arms--The Headless Men or Anthropophagi--Sir Walter Raleigh's El Dorado--Claw-Footed Men--The Marvels of Hackluyt and Mandeville-- The Long-Eared Fanesii--The Fairies--The "Discoverie of Witchcraft"-- The Little Good People--Fairy-Rings--Elf-Music--Changelings-- Elf-Possession--Spirits of the Mine, or Knockers--Robin Goodfellow-- Queen Mab--The Phoca or Storm-Spirit--The Kelpie--Jack-o'-Lantern-- The Pigmies--Giants--Early Sculptures--Gigantic Men of Antiquity 81-132

Comparatively Small Number of Mythical Bird-Forms--The Martlet--The Bird of Paradise--The Humma--The Huppe--The Ibis--The Roc--The Hameh Bird--Reptiles, Fish, &c.--The Sea-Serpent--The Adissechen of Hindu Mythology--The Iormungandur of Scandinavian Mythology-- The Egg Talisman--Fire-Drake--Aspis--Amphisbena--Kraken--Cetus-- Leviathan--Behemoth--Nautilus--Dolphin--The Acipenser--The Remora-- The Fish Nun--The Chilon--The Dies--Sea-Bishops and Sea-Monks--Davy Jones and his Locker--Ojibiway Legend of the Great Serpent--Fabledom in the Vegetable Kingdom--The Barnacle Tree--The Kalpa-Tarou--The Lote Tree--The Tree of Life--Lotus-Eating--Amaranth--Lotus Wreaths at Kew from the Egyptian Tombs--Asphodel--Mediæval Herbals-- Ambrosia--The Upas Tree--The Umdhlebi Tree of Zululand--The Kerzereh Flower--The Mandrake--"Miracles of Art and Nature"--Travellers' Tales--The Dead Sea Apple--Alimos--The Meto--The Herb Viva--Cockeram on Herb-Lore--The Pseudodoxia of Dr. Browne--Herb Basil--The "Eikon Basilike"--Fitzherbert's "Boke of Husbandry" 133-205

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE The Unicorn (from a "Description of 300 Animals," A.D. 1786) 5

The Manticora (from a "Description of 300 Animals," A.D. 1786) 13

The Lamia (from a "Description of 300 Animals," A.D. 1786) 13

Dragons (from a "Description of 300 Animals," A.D. 1786) 17

Dragon, from a piece of Italian decoration 79

The Harpy (from the "Historia Monstrorum" of Aldrovandus, A.D. 1642) 161

The Barnacle Tree, from Gerarde's "Herbal," A.D. 1633 169

The Barnacle Tree (from the "Theatrum Botanicum" of Parkinson, A.D. 1640) 173

The Barnacle Tree (from "Munster's Cosmography," A.D. 1550) 174

The Palm (from the "Eikon Basilike," A.D. 1648) 203

Introduction--"A Description of 300 Animals"--Unicorn--The Bible Unicorn--The Heraldic Unicorn--The Horn as a Poison Test--The Unicorn of Mediæval Legend--Wolf Causing Dumbness--The Rompo or Man-eater--The Manticora--The Lamia--Stag Antipathies--Dragons--Dragon-slaying-- Legends of the Saints--The "Legenda Aurea"--St. George--Mediæval Recipes--The "Historia Monstrorum" of Aldrovandus--The Dragon in Heraldry--The Dragon of Wantley--Dragons' Teeth--The Dragonnades--The Dragons of Shakespeare--Guardians of Treasure--The Feud between the Dragon and the Elephant--The "Bestiare Divin" of Guillaume--The Cockatrice--The Basilisk--The Phoenix--Its Literary Existence from Herodotus to Shakespeare--The Dun-Cow of Warwick--Sir Guy, and Percie's "Reliques of Antient Poetry"--Old Ribs and other Bones in Churches--The Salamander--Breydenbach's Travels--The "Bestiary" of De Thaun--The Ylio--The Griffin--The Arimaspians--Burton's "Miracles of Art and Nature"--The Lomie--The Tartarian Vegetable Lamb--The Sea-Elephant--Pegasus--The Vampyre--The Chameleon.

All science is a gradual growth. Travellers as they toil up a long ascent turn round from time to time, and mark with satisfaction the ever-lengthening way that stretches between them and their distant starting-place, and derive a further encouragement from the sight to press onward to the yet unknown. So may we in this our day compare ourselves, in no offensive and vainglorious way, with the men of the past, and gain renewed courage in the future as we leave their ancient landmarks far behind us. Shame, indeed, would it be to us had we not thus advanced, for our opportunities of gaining knowledge are immeasurably greater than those of any preceding generation.

The old herbals and books of travels abound in curious examples of the quaint beliefs of our forefathers, while their treatises on natural history are a still richer storehouse. Many of the old tomes, again, on the science of heraldry give other curious notions respecting the different animals introduced. Some of these animals, as the dragon or the griffin, are undoubtedly of the most mythical nature, yet we find them described in the most perfect good faith, and without the slightest suspicion as to their real existence. We shall have occasion to refer to several of the works of these old writers, and we will, without further preface, take down from our book-shelf a little book entitled "A Description of 300 Animals."[1]