@ human (or you)
- a wall
| a wall
+ a door
the floor of a room
# a corridor
} water filled area
< the staircase to the previous level
> the staircase to the next level
^ a trap
$ a pile, pot or chest of gold
% a piece of food
! a potion
* a gem
? a scroll
= a ring
/ a wand
[ a suit of armor
) a weapon
( a useful item (camera, key, rope etc.)
0 an iron ball
_ an iron chain
" an amulet
, a trapper
: a chameleon
' a lurker above
& a demon
A a giant ant
B a giant bat
C a centaur;
Of all the monsters put together by the Greek imagination
the Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves.
Despite a strong streak of sensuality in their make-up,
their normal behaviour was moral, and they took a kindly
thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on
Deianeira, and that of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the
Lapith women, are more than offset by the hospitality of
Pholos and by the wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet,
lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles. Further, the Cen-
taurs were peculiar in that their nature, which united the
body of a horse with the trunk and head of a man, involved
an unthinkable duplication of vital organs and important
members. So grotesque a combination seems almost un-Greek.
These strange creatures were said to live in the caves and
clefts of the mountains, myths associating them especially
with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos.
[Mythology of all races, Vol. 1, pp. 270-271]
D a dragon
E a floating eye
F a freezing sphere
G a gnome
H a hobgoblin;
Hobgoblin. Used by the Puritans and in later times for
wicked goblin spirits, as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul
friend', but its more correct use is for the friendly spir-
its of the brownie type. In 'A midsummer night's dream' a
fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck:
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are you not he?
and obviously Puck would not wish to be called a hobgoblin
if that was an ill-omened word.
Hobgoblins are on the whole, good-humoured and ready to be
helpful, but fond of practical joking, and like most of the
fairies rather nasty people to annoy. Boggarts hover on the
verge of hobgoblindom. Bogles are just over the edge.
One Hob mentioned by Henderson, was Hob Headless who haunted
the road between Hurworth and Neasham, but could not cross
the little river Kent, which flowed into the Tess. He was
exorcised and laid under a large stone by the roadside for
ninety-nine years and a day. If anyone was so unwary as to
sit on that stone, he would be unable to quit it for ever.
The ninety-nine years is nearly up, so trouble may soon be
heard of on the road between Hurworth and Neasham.
[Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
I an invisible stalker
J a jackal
K a kobold
L a leprechaun;
The Irish Leprechaun is the Faeries' shoemaker and is known
under various names in different parts of Ireland: Cluri-
caune in Cork, Lurican in Kerry, Lurikeen in Kildare and Lu-
rigadaun in Tipperary. Although he works for the Faeries,
the Leprechaun is not of the same species. He is small, has
dark skin and wears strange clothes. His nature has some-
thing of the manic-depressive about it: first he is quite
happy, whistling merrily as he nails a sole on to a shoe; a
few minutes later, he is sullen and morose, drunk on his
home-made heather ale. The Leprechaun's two great loves are
tobacco and whiskey, and he is a first-rate con-man, impos-
sible to out-fox. No one, no matter how clever, has ever
managed to cheat him out of his hidden pot of gold or his
magic shilling. At the last minute he always thinks of some
way to divert his captor's attention and vanishes in the
twinkling of an eye.
[From: A Field Guide to the Little People
by Nancy Arrowsmith & George Moorse. ]
M a mimic
N a nymph
O an orc
P a purple worm
Q a quasit
R a rust monster
S a snake
T a troll
U an umber hulk
V a vampire
W a wraith
X a xorn
Y a yeti
Z a zombie
a an acid blob
b a giant beetle
c a cockatrice;
Once in a great while, when the positions of the stars are
just right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then,
along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a toad,
to squat upon the egg, keeping it warm and helping it to
hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature called basil-
isk, or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A sin-
gle glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes will kill
both man and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be
so great that sometimes simply to hear its hiss can prove
fatal. Its breath is so venomenous that it causes all vege-
tation to wither.
There is, however, one creature which can withstand the
basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows
why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay the
basilisk, it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps
the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if it ever
sees its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instant-
ly. But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for it is said
that merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to
sicken and die.
[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun
Library) and other sources. ]
d a dog
e an ettin
f a fog cloud
g a gelatinous cube
h a homunculus
i an imp;
An 'imp' is an off-shoot or cutting. Thus an 'ymp tree' was
a grafted tree, or one grown from a cutting, not from seed.
'Imp' properly means a small devil, an off-shoot of Satan,
but the distinction between goblins or bogles and imps from
hell is hard to make, and many in the Celtic countries as
well as the English Puritans regarded all fairies as devils.
The fairies of tradition often hover uneasily between the
ghostly and the diabolic state.
[Katharine Briggs, A dictionary of Fairies]
j a jaguar
k a killer bee
l a leocrotta
m a minotaur
n a nurse
o an owlbear
p a piercer
q a quivering blob
r a giant rat
s a scorpion
t a tengu;
The tengu was the most troublesome creature of Japanese
legend. Part bird and part man, with red beak for a nose
and flashing eyes, the tengu was notorious for stirring up
feuds and prolonging enmity between families. Indeed, the
belligerent tengus were supposed to have been man's first
instructors in the use of arms.
[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
(The Leprechaun Library). ]
u a unicorn;
Men have always sought the elusive unicorn, for the single
twisted horn which projected from its forehead was thought
to be a powerful talisman. It was said that the unicorn had
simply to dip the tip of its horn in a muddy pool for the
water to become pure. Men also believed that to drink from
this horn was a protection against all sickness, and that if
the horn was ground to a powder it would act as an antidote
to all poisons. Less than 200 years ago in France, the horn
of a unicorn was used in a ceremony to test the royal food
for poison.
Although only the size of a small horse, the unicorn is a
very fierce beast, capable of killing an elephant with a
single thrust from its horn. Its fleetness of foot also
makes this solitary creature difficult to capture. However,
it can be tamed and captured by a maiden. Made gentle by the
sight of a virgin, the unicorn can be lured to lay its head
in her lap, and in this docile mood, the maiden may secure
it with a golden rope.
[From: Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon
(The Leprechaun Library). ]
v a violet fungi
w a long worm;
From its teeth the crysknife can be manufactured.
x a xan;
The xan were animals sent to prick the legs of the Lords of Xibalba.
y a yellow light
z a zruty;
The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses
of the Tatra mountains.
