Cockatrice - Deadly Medieval Beast
Channel: Mythology
Date: 2022-11-22

A cockatrice is a Biblical beast, essentially a rooster-headed dragon, wyvern, or serpent. Laurence Breiner described it as "an ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans".
As a matter of fact, it is rumoured that the cockatrice can kill people by either looking at them-"the death-darting eye of the cockatrice"-touching them, or even breathing on them when necessary.
According to the late medieval bestiaries, there was only one animal that could not be affected by a glance of a cockatrice, and that was the weasel. It is also believed that when a cockatrice heard a rooster crow, it would die instantly; one of the few methods that could be used to kill a cockatrice was by having it look in the mirror.
It was in medieval times that the image of the legendary serpent known as the basilisk began to undergo a change. Legs, wings, and a coiling tail were added to the image of the basilisk. 
Although it is unlikely that this creature could have existed in the first place, the cockatrice does look quite similar to a basilisk, a two-legged dragon-like wyvern, and a cockerel, though its real existence is a mystery. 
There was no difference between the cockatrice and the basilisk as far as its viciousness and venom, its breath and gaze, which were both deadly as well. 
Only the weasel was immune to the cockatrice's poison, and the two sometimes fought.
If one held up a mirror to reflect the cockatrice's image back at it, it would either die by its own evil gaze or simply be overcome by the sight of its own hideousness.