Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1884-07-30
MYTHICAL BEASTS,
Some New and Some Old, Yet Int
csting Withal.

The old authors, poets and oratoz
even the divine bard Shakespeare, -
pied the earth, sea and air with
sorts OF monsters and bugaboos. The
were then many worlds for sciences
| conquer. and when the Marco POI
Captain Magellans and Lord Monb
dos. and people who had been far COZ
tries for to see, came back with yo1
of incredibly fierce and ferocious e.
sters. why, the stay -at-homes had - ~
ing to do but believe. There afosf
moro Abyssinians for Ingenious
johnson to improyiss happy ~
out OF. and to people With KSssUlases
and other happy nortals. India and
tho Perus are explored, the Amazon Is
no longer a mystery, we know where
the Nile rises, and nearly all the earth
has yielded up lis mysteries to science
and man, excepting of course Symmes'
Hole and tho impenetrable North Pole.
The ignorance OF our early writer's up.
on subjects of natural history seems at
this day astonishing. yet cannot fail to
be amusing! The sea especially was
peopled with queer monsters. There
was the kraken, whom Pontoppeden,
in his Natural History of Norway, de-
scribes at length. Ii was not a ser
pent; in fact had not an elongated
body, but was round. like an island.
The Norwegian fishermen had frequent
ly seen it. and many were the tales
they told Of its presence in warm seas.
They knew of its presence by the
shadow Of the water from one hundred
fathoms 10 twenty. His back was .
mile and half long and his arms ~
big as the masts OF ships.
The dragon was another monster
that our forcfathcrs placed implicit
faith in the existence of. Some early
poet gives this description OF him:
He is as black as any COAL
Rugged as q rough foai;
His neck is great as any sommese tSumptef
He runneth swift ss any des.rcse.
Paws he hath as a hon;
An that no toucheth he elayeth dead down.
Great wings he hath to flight:
There Is no man to bear him might.
Sir Bevis of Hampton, ST. Michael,
St. George and other knights and saints
all killed dragons. In the age of
Queen Elizabeth the monster was fifty
feet long from shoulder TO tail, with
glittering scales bright as silver. but
tougher than brass, except just under
the wing. where. according to Percy
keliques, ST. George sent his good
sworu Ascalon clear up 10 the hilt.
Livy speaks of one that stopped tho
progress of the whole Roman army,
and Diodorus tells of one captured in
Africa that was sixty feet long.
The hydra was another terrible scr
l,.,x L. 81
seven. or nine or fifty heads, &C.
cording to the pleasure of the poet;
and when one was cut off another
sprouted. like the -fish's legs,
1A2ugh E3! ;sh,Hk ,HksJibras \ disputes this point.
That The h0ir grows l,si s'.hsst6sssb
never VIII
The hydra is supposed 10 have been
a brother of the chimera.
There are two animals mentioned bp
ba&spearc. The frs: is often repre-
senicd in heraldic designs. 1t is fly
ing serpent, the forepart Us dragon
with wings, and The latter part as a
snake, but differing from dragon in
only having two legs. Tho cockatrice,
or basilsk. was sort of missing link
between birds and reptiles. The
Scotch claimed he came from an egg.
laid by cock. after he was years
old. Piiny describes it under the name
Of basiisS, aud claims that its very
odor is death TO man and animals.
Scrpcnts fly from it. and the mortal
whom it looked upon died.
First came the great roc, whom one
reads of in The adventures of ''Sinbad
the Sailor" Marco Polo heard OF him
in Madagascar, and declares that it
was like the eagle, measuring sixteen
PAGES from wing to wing But the
Persian authorities give the widest &C
count. Trey represent him as carry
ing ali elephant IN his beak and one in
e.tch of his claws. Ihe Christian faith
ers believed in the existence Of the
phenix rs typical Of the resurrection,
and the Roman Senator Nautilus told
the Romans he had lived 500 years,
and built nest OF cinnamon and in
cense, then died. Out of his bones
came worm which performed funeral
rites for its parent by placing the nest
on an altar OF the City OF the Sun in
Egypt.
There are hosts of other mythical
animals, the c.n:aurs, gr.ttins. satyrs,
harpies, cerbcrus and unicorn, to say
nothing of were-wolvcs and the horrid
monsters that Aldroman andus described.
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