December 15, 2009
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"Be thou like the imperial basilisk,
Killing thy foe with unapparent wounds!
Gaze on oppression, till at that dread risk,
Aghast she pass from the earth’s disk.
Fear not, but gaze,- for freemen mightier grow,
And slaves more feeble, gazing on their foe.”
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
Basilisk are written in many shapes and forms throughout legend. The Latin "basilískos", means little king, and as such the Basilisk is frequently referred to as the king of serpents. Descriptions vary, some saying it is a crested snake of no more than twelve fingers in length, others that it's gigantic, and some drawings depict it as a dragon rather than a serpent. Though Serpents and dragons were largely interchangeable from the time period whence this creature was believed real.
All fables of the Basilisk say it's gaze has the power to kill or turn victims to stone, and it is said to be created by hatching a chickens egg from underneath a toad.
Basilisks are not to be confused with Cockatrice, which are all but the same creature except that the cockatrice is a beaked bipedal wyvern.
cs3
`ChewedKandi has certainly gone out of her way to keep the vector community on the right path. Always making sure that her talents are infinitely scalable, Sharon has put her bezier curves to excellent use, and firmly anchored herself as an inspirational leader. We're absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for June 2013 to `ChewedKandi. Congratulations, Sharon! Read More
Sta.sh
When I was little I had this book which depicted the basilisk as a giant rooster with reptilian traits. But is that supposed to be a cockatrice then?
Would you mind if I use it in my study on dragons? I will fully credit you and its a perfect match for my serpent dragons section.