Mythical creature

A mystical, mythical, or legendary creature is a creature from mythology or folklore (often known as "fabulous creatures" in historical literature). Some — such as the dragon or the griffin — have their origin in traditional mythology and have at one time been believed to be real creatures. Others were based on real creatures, originating in garbled accounts of travelers' tales; such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which supposedly grew tethered to the earth (and was actually a type of fern). The traditional unicorn may have come from garbled stories about the rhinoceros and/or narwhal. Examples of the legendary creatures can be found in medieval bestiaries.

Conversely, some creatures downplayed as just storytelling, have been rediscovered and found to be real in recent times, such as the giant squid.

A dragon from the Wales Flag

Often mythical creatures are chimeras, a combination of two or more animals. Some of these are combinations of a human being and one or more other creatures. For example, a centaur is a combination of a man and horse, a minotaur of a man andbull. It should be noted that these were not always intended to be understood as literal juxtapositions of parts from disparate species. Lacking a common morphological vocabulary, classical and medieval scholars and travelers would attempt to describe unusual animals by comparing them point-for-point with familiar: the giraffe, for example, was called cameleopard, and thought of as a creature half-camel, and half-leopard.

Many legendary creatures appear prominently in fantasy fiction. These creatures are often claimed to have supernatural powers or knowledge or to guard some object of great value, which becomes critical to the plot of the story in which it is found.

Many legendary creatures have been incorporated into heraldry and architectural decoration. Legendary creatures have also been accepted into many facets of popular culture most notably in fantasy role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons or Everquest, video games, Hollywood movies and power metal bands (such as DragonForce)).

Examples

Birds and serpents

Lake monsters

Loch Ness Monster, known as "Nessie," of Loch Ness in Scotland
Champ of Lake Champlain in North America
Bessie of Lake Erie in the United States
Chessie of Chesapeake Bay in the United States
Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan in Canada
Nahuelito of Nahuel Huapi Lake in Argentina
Lake Tianchi Monster of Heaven Lake (known as Tianchi (天池) in Chinese and Chonji (천지) in Korean) on the border of China and North Korea
Isshii of Lake Ikeda in Japan
Brosno dragon of Lake Brosno in Russia
Mokele-mbembe of the Congo River in Congo

Monstrous creatures

Behemoth
Leviathan

Chimeras

Animal

Part-human

Humanoid creatures

Other

Kelpie a supernatural shape-shifting water horse from Celtic folklore

References
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Ashman, Malcolm and Joyce Hargreaves. 1997. Fabulous Beasts. Overlook. ISBN 978-0879517793
Barber, Richard. 2006. Bestiary: Being an English Version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Bodley 764. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0851157535
Borges, Jorge Luis. 2005. The Book of Imaginary Beings. Amazon Remainders. ISBN 0670891800
Conway, D.J. 2001. Magickal Mystical Creatures: Invite Their Powers Into Your Life. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 156718149X
Costello, Peter. 1979. The Magic Zoo: The Natural History of Fabulous Animals. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312504217
Dubois, Pierre, Claudine Sabatier, and Roland Sabatier. 2000. The Great Encyclopedia Of Faeries. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684869578
Eason, Cassandra. 2002. A Complete Guide to Faeries & Magical Beings: Explore the Mystical Realm of the Little People. Boston, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1578632671
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. 2004. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New Page Books. ISBN 978-1564147080
Hassig, Debra. 2000. The Mark of the Beast: The Medieval Bestiary in Art, Life, and Literature. Routledge. ISBN 041592894X
Keightley, Thomas. 2000. The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves & Other Little People. Gramercy. ISBN 0517263130
Nigg, Joe. 1995. Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Dragon. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 156308242X
Nigg, Joseph. 1999. The Book of Fabulous Beasts: A Treasury of Writings from Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0195095616
Nigg, Joe. 2001. The Book of Dragons & Other Mythical Beasts. Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 978-0764155109

External links

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