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In the early western world the basilisk was one of the most
feared monsters. A small but horrific reptile, hailed as the ‘King
of the Serpents’.
Basilisk is Greek for ‘little king’ which is the translation
of its latin name, regulus. Despite its diminutive size, the basilisk
was a near implacable for to all that it encountered. It could kill the
largest animal and split the largest boulder with a single glance from
its deadly eyes. Its noxious breath withered the strongest tree and permanently
poisoned any stream or river from which it drank, even the foul odour
of its sweat was toxic. It could cause birds flying overhead to drop lifeless
to the ground, just by simply spitting its envenomed saliva up into the
air.
Only three living things could counter the basilisks lethal powers; the
weasel, which was somehow immune to its death-dealing gaze; the cockerel,
whose raucous crowing would send the basilisk fleeing in fright; and rue,
a plant that could withstand the basilisks poison breath, and it was used
by weasels to heal themselves if they were injured during battles with
this monster.
In medieval times the basilisk underwent a dramatic transformation. It
acquired birdlike legs, a coiling tail, and a pair or wings, evolving
into a beast not reminiscent of a wyvern but with certain differences.
Although its body and tail retains their reptilian scales, its wings became
feathered and its head became the head of a cockerel. Wattles hung down
from either side of its face, jaws became a curved beak. Its name changed
too, no longer the king of serpents, it became known as the cockatrice
because of its fowl-impersonating features.
As far as its behaviour was concerned the cockatrice was just as gruesome
as its serpentine ancestor. Fortunatly there was at least one successful
method known for destroying this creature, a mirror. Seeing its reflection
the cockatrice will attack believing it to be an intruder but at the sight
of its own hideous image was so shocking that the monster promply perished.
The basilisk and cockatrice were largely confined to northern
Africa and western Europe but similar creatures have been reported in
many other parts of the world. Iceland’s equivalent was a basilisk-like
creature called the Skoffin. It could only be killed by the gaze of another
skoffin, or by shooting it with a silver button upon which the sign of
the cross has been carved. In Jamaica around 1845 the English naturalist
Philip Gosse collected many eyewitness accounts of a mysterous wattled
snake that could allegedly crow like a rooster, a true basilisk exhibiting
the first stages of metamorphosis into a cockatrice? A larger, very venomous
counterpart called the inkhomi (killer), or crowing crested cobra, has
been reported in central Africa for centuries. Partial remains have occasionally
been obtained but never formally identified with any species known to
date.
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