Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-10-10
FABLED MONSTERS.


Is dlscreeily avoided or acknowledg-
ed TO be a puzzle by those writers
who have diligently delved through
the records of all peoples for traces Of
fabulous denizens of the earth, the
sea and the air That fascinating
terror Of the nursery, the fiery dragon,
u Is agreed is probably the degene-
rate offspring Of the awful ichthyo-
sauri and plesiosauri Of prehistoric
ages. Chiseled on the earliest stone
monuments Of Egypt and Assyria
and India exact representation are
found of the dragon which ~. George
oyercame in mighty battle, and
which the annals Of Winchester say
existed in England in such numbers
IN ll11 as 10 be of great danger and
scouTge.
Dlodorus saw one which was sixty
feet long, brought to Alexandria by
slave to please Ptolemey II. st.
Michaels dragon. the mOnkish chron-
lcle says, was much larger than this.
Marco Polo says he saw a roc whose
outstretched wings measured sixteen
PAGES from tip To tip. Not 10 be out
done by the latter, that adventurous
Englishman, Sir John Vaudeville. re
lates that he bebeld one IN iae Chi
nese seas, which was beside PolO's
Ike hawk 20 a sparrow. f. Wardee,
the Persian. writes that upon an ISL
and, In an unnamed sea, there was in
bis time roc's egg 100 cubits high.
firm. white, glistening dome, big
enough 10 serve as shelter for an ar
my. An island in the Chinese Sea
vas marked out as the home of these
great birds.
OF all tabled birds the most inter
es,ina was the pbRGix. This is
beautiful legend. yearning, it has
been eloquentlY said, for "A visible
sign Of Immortality. st. Cyril wrote:
God knows mans unbelief and pro
vides the phenix as an emblem of
the resurrection. Clement said this
bird goes TO the Ian ! Of Egypt once
IN 300 years. not To the desert, but 10
n notable city to show ferth the res
direction, that as The Lord was killed
and rose again. 20 the phenix immo-
lates itself 10 q fire of hemlock
bOughs. aud from its ashes comes a
worm which straightway grows into
n bird Of golden plumage with pur-
pie body The polished literature OF
the LzIius from birth until it, INNER
sion In the fOgs of the Dark Ages,
glows with the description of the
phmnix as u reality. PliDy knew the
bird well. The populace believed In
IL. The grave Manlius rose in the
Senate To mourn the departure of
phpnix which had resided near his
house for 800 years. Among other
flying creatures which existed in the
popular belief of the Laiins was the
flying pig, an enormous hog with an
appetite that ravaged the growing
crops Of Clazomene; and the griffin,
lion with an eagles head and wings
Sir John Vaudeville saw griffin iiy
into a field and carry av AZ a yoke of
oxen. The Romans fitmly believed
in the satyr. Pliny said they lived in
India; Albertius Magnus, lhai they
inhabited the woods os -aXony.
another writer, that their home was
in the Atlas Mountains. and another,
that they were To Oe found in what is
no~ Little Russia. There is no re.
cord that saiyr was ever seen alive.
Albertius Magnus, however, wrote
that ne once saw a satyr picked in
brine az Alexandria, where the Ptole-
mys reigned and collected such curl
Ositigs.
Imagination has sounded the mys-
terious depths of the ocean and
brought up the terrible kraken or
kraXen. There are thousands of
Norwegian fishermen. il Is said, 10
whom this monster is no fable. They
can tell its presence by the water ris-
ing when IL rises TO the surface In
warm weather. Bishop Pontippidan's
kraken measured mile and half
across the back. and its arms were as
long as the mast OF "A man-of-war
Though the fear IL has inspired has
exaggerated its size. there Is good
reason To believe that the kraken,
which Is doubtless the great cutie
fish, grows To- an enormous size.
In the age of the Crusaders, dwell
tIs on tue Cohst oi I'VE mediterranean
believed in the Zitiron, fish with the
head and breast clad In steel armor
The Arabians had the zedrusus, n fish
SO big that its bones were sawed in
to planks The pretty fable of the
mermaid aud siren is slow In dying
Less than fifty years ago the people
of the country for miles around
swarmed at little seaport in the
south of England nj rumor that a
mermaid had been seen sitting on q
rock combing its iuxuriant locks In
the moonlight The sea satyr and
the triton we're familiar with the an
clients. About 200 years ago one of
the latter was alleged 10 have been
captured off the coast of Portugal In
the very act OF blowing his conch.
Barnacle geese was curious aud
strong belief In the middle ages. Sir
John Vaudeville did not omit TO
state that he had seen the diminutive
goslings dropped from the shell of
the mussel. Within comparatively
short period letter appeared in an
English newspaper relating how a
baTnacie goose. grtwn to great size.
had swallowed fullrigged ship and
ali ,.,, hos "a save the writer