__c_suffix
“When Peleus, some distance away, saw him torn apart by the frightful wound he
-shouted: ‘Accept this tribute to the dead, at least, Crantor, dearest of
-youths’, and with his powerful arm, he hurled his ash spear, at full strength,
-at Demoleon. It ruptured the ribcage, and stuck quivering in the bone. The
-centaur pulled out the shaft minus its head (he tried with difficulty to reach
-that also) but the head was caught in his lung. The pain itself strengthened
-his will: wounded, he reared up at his enemy and beat the hero down with his
-hooves. Peleus received the resounding blows on helmet and shield, and
-defending his upper arms, and controlling the weapon he held out, with one blow
-through the arm he pierced the bi-formed breast.”
+ shouted: ‘Accept this tribute to the dead, at least, Crantor, dearest of
+ youths’, and with his powerful arm, he hurled his ash spear, at full strength,
+ at Demoleon. It ruptured the ribcage, and stuck quivering in the bone. The
+ centaur pulled out the shaft minus its head (he tried with difficulty to reach
+ that also) but the head was caught in his lung. The pain itself strengthened
+ his will: wounded, he reared up at his enemy and beat the hero down with his
+ hooves. Peleus received the resounding blows on helmet and shield, and
+ defending his upper arms, and controlling the weapon he held out, with one
+ blow through the arm he pierced the bi-formed breast.”
-Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, XII, 330. 8 AD.
%%%%
__d_suffix
%%%%
__r_suffix
-HAMLET [Drawing his sword.]: How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead [Stabs
-through the arras.]
+HAMLET [Drawing his sword.]: How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead
+ [Stabs through the arras.]
-William Shakespeare, _The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark_, III, 4.
1603.
%%%%
__cap-D_suffix
“On the other hand, Confucius is made to say to his disciples, ‘I know how
-birds can fly, how fishes can swim, and how animals can run. But the runner may
-be snared, the swimmer may be hooked, and the flyer may be shot by the arrow.
-But there is the dragon. I cannot tell how he mounts on the wind through the
-clouds, and rises to heaven. Today I have seen Lao-tsze, and can only compare
-him to the dragon.’”
+ birds can fly, how fishes can swim, and how animals can run. But the runner
+ may be snared, the swimmer may be hooked, and the flyer may be shot by the
+ arrow. But there is the dragon. I cannot tell how he mounts on the wind
+ through the clouds, and rises to heaven. Today I have seen Lao-tsze, and can
+ only compare him to the dragon.’”
-Life of Confucius
“This Dragon had Two furious Wings
__cap-K_suffix
“The Parts Septentrionall are with these Sp'ryts Much haunted.. About the
-places where they dig for Oare. The Greekes and Germans call them Cobali.”
+ places where they dig for Oare. The Greekes and Germans call them Cobali.”
-Thomas Heywood, _The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels_, Book IX, l. 568.
1635.
%%%%
__cap-O_suffix
“The little princess, asleep in her cradle, floated on the water, and at last
-she was cast up on the shore of a beautiful country, where, however, very few
-people dwelt since the ogre Ravagio and his wife Tourmentine had gone to live
-there-for they ate up everybody. Ogres are terrible people. When once they have
-tasted raw human flesh they will hardly eat anything else, and Tourmentine
-always knew how to make some body come their way, for she was half a fairy.”
+ she was cast up on the shore of a beautiful country, where, however, very few
+ people dwelt since the ogre Ravagio and his wife Tourmentine had gone to live
+ there-for they ate up everybody. Ogres are terrible people. When once they
+ have tasted raw human flesh they will hardly eat anything else, and
+ Tourmentine always knew how to make some body come their way, for she was half
+ a fairy.”
-Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy, “'Orangier et
l'Abeille”. 1697.
“NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get
-it? We both have layers.”
+ it? We both have layers.”
-Shrek. 2001.
%%%%
__cap-S_suffix
“The latter lived in the country, and before his house there was an oak, in
-which there was a lair of snakes. His servants killed the snakes, but Melampus
-gathered wood and burnt the reptiles, and reared the young ones. And when the
-young were full grown, they stood beside him at each of his shoulders as he
-slept, and they purged his ears with their tongues. He started up in a great
-fright, but understood the voices of the birds flying overhead, and from what
-he learned from them he foretold to men what should come to pass.”
+ which there was a lair of snakes. His servants killed the snakes, but Melampus
+ gathered wood and burnt the reptiles, and reared the young ones. And when the
+ young were full grown, they stood beside him at each of his shoulders as he
+ slept, and they purged his ears with their tongues. He started up in a great
+ fright, but understood the voices of the birds flying overhead, and from what
+ he learned from them he foretold to men what should come to pass.”
-Pseudo-Apollodorus , _Library and Epitome_, 1.9.11. circa 150 BC.
trans. Sir James George Frazer, 1913.
%%%%
A broken pillar
-“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken
- and reared up for himself a pillar,
- which is in the king's dale: for he said,
- I have no son to keep my name in remembrance...”
+“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar,
+ which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in
+ remembrance...”
-KJV Bible, 2 Samuel 18:18.
%%%%
A faded altar of an unknown god
-Friedrich Nietzsche, _Beyond Good and Evil_ , Aphorism 146. 1886.
“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you'd generally
-get to somewhere else — if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been
-doing.” “A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now here, you see, it takes
-all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get
-somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
+ get to somewhere else — if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been
+ doing.” “A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now here, you see, it takes
+ all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get
+ somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
-Lewis Carroll, _Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There_,
-ch. 2
- “The Garden of Live Flowers”. 1871.
+ch. 2 “The Garden of Live Flowers”. 1871.
%%%%
A portal to a secret trove of treasure
“He saw a large cavern and a vaulted [roof], in height equalling the stature
-of a full-grown man and it was hewn in the live stone and lighted up with
-light that came through air-holes and bullseyes in the upper surface of the
-rock which formed the roof. He had expected to find naught save outer gloom
-in this robbers' den, and he was surprised to see the whole room filled
-with bales of all manner stuffs, and heaped up from sole to ceiling with
-camel-loads of silks and brocades and embroidered cloths and mounds on
-mounds of vari-colored carpetings; besides which he espied coins golden and
-silvern without measure or account, some piled upon the ground and others
-bound in leathern bags and sacks. Seeing these goods and moneys in such
-abundance, Ali Baba determined in his mind that not during a few years only
-but for many generations thieves must have stored their gains and spoils in
-this place.”
+ of a full-grown man and it was hewn in the live stone and lighted up with
+ light that came through air-holes and bullseyes in the upper surface of the
+ rock which formed the roof. He had expected to find naught save outer gloom in
+ this robbers' den, and he was surprised to see the whole room filled with
+ bales of all manner stuffs, and heaped up from sole to ceiling with
+ camel-loads of silks and brocades and embroidered cloths and mounds on mounds
+ of vari-colored carpetings; besides which he espied coins golden and silvern
+ without measure or account, some piled upon the ground and others bound in
+ leathern bags and sacks. Seeing these goods and moneys in such abundance, Ali
+ Baba determined in his mind that not during a few years only but for many
+ generations thieves must have stored their gains and spoils in this place.”
-_The Arabian Nights_. trans. Sir Richard F. Burton, 1885.
%%%%
A rock wall
%%%%
A stormy altar of Qazlal
-“The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned,
-while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call
-progress.”
+“The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is
+ turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what
+ we call progress.”
-Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History”. 1940.
trans. Harry Zohn, 1969.
%%%%
A tree
“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than
-other things do.”
+ other things do.”
-Willa Cather, _O Pioneers_. 1913.
%%%%
acid dragon scales
Agony spell
“Unbearable, isn't it? The suffering of strangers, the agony of friends. There
-is a secret song at the center of the world, Joey, and its sound is like razors
-through flesh.”
+ is a secret song at the center of the world, Joey, and its sound is like
+ razors through flesh.”
-Pinhead, _Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth_. 1992.
%%%%
Asterion
“The fact is that I am unique. What a man can pass unto others does not
-interest me; like the philosopher, I think nothing is communicated by the art
-of writing. Annoying and trivial minutiae have no place in my spirit, a spirit
-which is receptive only to whatsoever is grand.”
+ interest me; like the philosopher, I think nothing is communicated by the art
+ of writing. Annoying and trivial minutiae have no place in my spirit, a spirit
+ which is receptive only to whatsoever is grand.”
-Jorge Luis Borges, “The House of Asterion”. 1947.
trans. Antonios Sarhanis, 2008.
%%%%
Antaeus
“That country was then ruled by Antaeus, son of Poseidon, who used to kill
-strangers by forcing them to wrestle. Being forced to wrestle with him,
-Hercules hugged him, lifted him aloft, broke and killed him; for when he
-touched earth so it was that he waxed stronger, wherefore some said that he was
-a son of Earth.”
+ strangers by forcing them to wrestle. Being forced to wrestle with him,
+ Hercules hugged him, lifted him aloft, broke and killed him; for when he
+ touched earth so it was that he waxed stronger, wherefore some said that he
+ was a son of Earth.”
-Pseudo-Apollodorus , _Library and Epitome_, 2.5.11. ca. 150 BC.
trans. Sir James George Frazer, 1913.
%%%%
Asmodeus
“For myself, I have other occupations: I make absurd matches; I marry
-greybeards with minors, masters with servants, girls with small fortunes with
-tender lovers who have none. It is I who introduced into this world luxury,
-debauchery, games of chance, and chemistry. I am the author of the first
-cookery book, the inventor of festivals, of dancing, music, plays, and of the
-newest fashions; in a word, I am ASMODEUS, surnamed The Devil on Two Sticks.”
+ greybeards with minors, masters with servants, girls with small fortunes with
+ tender lovers who have none. It is I who introduced into this world luxury,
+ debauchery, games of chance, and chemistry. I am the author of the first
+ cookery book, the inventor of festivals, of dancing, music, plays, and of the
+ newest fashions; in a word, I am ASMODEUS, surnamed The Devil on Two Sticks.”
-Alain René Le Sage, _Asmodeus: Or, The Devil on Two Sticks_. 1707.
%%%%
Awaken Forest spell
and hearts of loved ones ache with sorrow and with anguish,
when bereft of those they love.’
So Azrael became the messenger of Death.”
-
-J. E. Hanauer, _Folk-lore of the Holy Land, Moslem, Christian and Jewish_.
1907.
%%%%
Call Canine Familiar spell
“There seemed a strange stillness over everything. But as I listened, I heard
-as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's
-eyes gleamed, and he said.
+ as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count's
+ eyes gleamed, and he said.
-‘Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!’ Seeing, I
-suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added, ‘Ah, sir, you
-dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter.’”
+ ‘Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!’ Seeing, I
+ suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added, ‘Ah, sir, you
+ dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter.’”
-Bram Stoker, _Dracula_. 1897.
%%%%
Cause Fear spell
Dispater
“Hoc idem magis ostendit antiquius Iovis nomen: nam olim Diovis et Diespiter
-dictus, id est dies pater; a quo dei dicti qui inde, et dius et divum, unde sub
-divo, Dius Fidius. Itaque inde eius perforatum tectum, ut ea videatur divum, id
-est caelum. Quidam negant sub tecto per hunc deierare oportere. Aelius Dium
-Fidium dicebat Diovis filium, ut Graeci Dioskopon Castorem, et putabat hunc
-esse Sancum ab Sabina lingua et Herculem a Graeca. Idem hic Dis pater dicitur
-infimus, qui est coniunctus terrae, ubi omnia ut oriuntur ita aboriuntur;
-quorum quod finis ortuum, Orcus dictus.”
+ dictus, id est dies pater; a quo dei dicti qui inde, et dius et divum, unde
+ sub divo, Dius Fidius. Itaque inde eius perforatum tectum, ut ea videatur
+ divum, id est caelum. Quidam negant sub tecto per hunc deierare oportere.
+ Aelius Dium Fidium dicebat Diovis filium, ut Graeci Dioskopon Castorem, et
+ putabat hunc esse Sancum ab Sabina lingua et Herculem a Graeca. Idem hic Dis
+ pater dicitur infimus, qui est coniunctus terrae, ubi omnia ut oriuntur ita
+ aboriuntur; quorum quod finis ortuum, Orcus dictus.”
-Marcus Terentius Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, Liber V, circa 40 BC.
%%%%
Dowan
“Skill and grace, the twin brother and sister, are dancing playfully on your
-finger tips.”
+ finger tips.”
-Rabindranath Tagore, _Chitra_, Act I, Scene iv. 1914.
%%%%
Duvessa
-William Shakespeare, _King Lear_, I, ii. 1606.
“When the forces stood in array Edmund proposed to decide their claims by
-single combat; but Canute saying that he, a man of small stature, would have
-little chance against the tall athletic Edmund, proposed, on the contrary, for
-them to divide the realm as their fathers had done.”
+ single combat; but Canute saying that he, a man of small stature, would have
+ little chance against the tall athletic Edmund, proposed, on the contrary, for
+ them to divide the realm as their fathers had done.”
-Thomas Keightley, _The History of England_. 1839.
%%%%
Enslavement spell
“He held up his hand, and they all stopped, and I thought he seemed to be
-saying, ‘All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more and greater,
-through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship me!’ And then a red
-cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close over my eyes, and before I
-knew what I was doing, I found myself opening the sash and saying to Him,
-‘Come in, Lord and Master!’”
+ saying, ‘All these lives will I give you, ay, and many more and greater,
+ through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship me!’ And then a red
+ cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed to close over my eyes, and before I
+ knew what I was doing, I found myself opening the sash and saying to Him,
+ ‘Come in, Lord and Master!’”
-Bram Stoker, _Dracula_. 1897.
%%%%
Ensorcelled Hibernation spell
Fire Storm spell
“Some have said there is no subtlety to destruction. You know what? They're
-dead.”
+ dead.”
-Jaya Ballard, task mage (Magic: the Gathering)
%%%%
Frederick
“I thoroughly disapprove of duels. I consider them unwise and I know they are
-dangerous. Also, sinful. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly
-and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet retired spot and kill him.”
+ dangerous. Also, sinful. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly
+ and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet retired spot and kill
+ him.”
-Mark Twain, _Autobiography of Mark Twain_. 1924.
%%%%
Geryon
“Khrysaor, married to Kallirhoe, daughter of glorious Okeanos, was father to
-the triple-headed Geryon, but Geryon was killed by the great strength of
-Herakles at sea-circled Erytheis beside his own shambling cattle on that day
-when Herakles drove those broad-faced cattle toward holy Tiryns, when he
-crossed the stream of Okeanos and had killed Orthos and the oxherd Eurytion out
-in the gloomy meadow beyond fabulous Okeanos.”
+ the triple-headed Geryon, but Geryon was killed by the great strength of
+ Herakles at sea-circled Erytheis beside his own shambling cattle on that day
+ when Herakles drove those broad-faced cattle toward holy Tiryns, when he
+ crossed the stream of Okeanos and had killed Orthos and the oxherd Eurytion
+ out in the gloomy meadow beyond fabulous Okeanos.”
-Hesiod, _Theogony_, circa 700 BCE.
%%%%
Ilsuiw
Khufu
“And then I looked farther, beyond the pallid line of the sands, and I saw a
-Pyramid of gold, the wonder Khufu had built. As a golden wonder it saluted me,
-as a golden thing it greeted me, as a golden miracle I shall remember it.”
+ Pyramid of gold, the wonder Khufu had built. As a golden wonder it saluted me,
+ as a golden thing it greeted me, as a golden miracle I shall remember it.”
-Robert Hichens, _The Spell of Egypt_
%%%%
Killer Klown
Kirke
“Lo, thy comrades yonder in the house of Kirke are penned like swine in
-close-barred sties. And art thou come to release them? Nay, I tell thee, thou
-shalt not thyself return, but shalt remain there with the others.”
+ close-barred sties. And art thou come to release them? Nay, I tell thee, thou
+ shalt not thyself return, but shalt remain there with the others.”
-Homer, Odysseia
%%%%
Lee's Rapid Deconstruction spell
“Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines
-were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women,
-that beheld while Samson made sport.
+ were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women,
+ that beheld while Samson made sport.
-And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray
-thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at
-once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
+ And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray
+ thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at
+ once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
-And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and
-on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with
-his left.
+ And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and
+ on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other
+ with his left.
-And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all
-his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were
-therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he
-slew in his life.”
+ And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with
+ all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that
+ were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which
+ he slew in his life.”
-KJV Bible, Judges 16:27-30.
%%%%
Mara
“This night the Lord of Illusion passed among you, Mara, mighty among dreamers,
-mighty for ill. He did come upon another who may work with the stuff of dreams
-in a different way. He did meet with Dharma, who may expel a dreamer from his
-dream. They did struggle, and the Lord Mara is no more. Why did they struggle,
-deathgod against illusionist? You say their ways are incomprehensible, being
-the ways of gods. This is not the answer.”
+ mighty for ill. He did come upon another who may work with the stuff of dreams
+ in a different way. He did meet with Dharma, who may expel a dreamer from his
+ dream. They did struggle, and the Lord Mara is no more. Why did they struggle,
+ deathgod against illusionist? You say their ways are incomprehensible, being
+ the ways of gods. This is not the answer.”
-Roger Zelazny, “Lord of Light”. 1967.
“He who lives looking for pleasures only,
Mass Confusion spell
“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not
-understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence
-upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.”
+ understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence
+ upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.”
-KJV Bible, Genesis 11:7-8.
%%%%
Maurice
“‘Stop thief! Stop thief!’ There is a magic in the sound. The tradesman leaves
-his counter, and the car-man his waggon; the butcher throws down his tray; the
-baker his basket; the milkman his pail; the errand-boy his parcels; the
-school-boy his marbles; the paviour his pickaxe; the child his battledore. Away
-they run, pell-mell, helter-skelter, slap-dash: tearing, yelling, screaming,
-knocking down the passengers as they turn the corners, rousing up the dogs, and
-astonishing the fowls: and streets, squares, and courts, re-echo with the
-sound.”
+ his counter, and the car-man his waggon; the butcher throws down his tray; the
+ baker his basket; the milkman his pail; the errand-boy his parcels; the
+ school-boy his marbles; the paviour his pickaxe; the child his battledore.
+ Away they run, pell-mell, helter-skelter, slap-dash: tearing, yelling,
+ screaming, knocking down the passengers as they turn the corners, rousing up
+ the dogs, and astonishing the fowls: and streets, squares, and courts, re-echo
+ with the sound.”
-Charles Dickens, _Oliver Twist_. 1838.
%%%%
Menkaure
Natasha
“It dooth appéere that there is in Cats as in all other kindes of beasts, a
-certaine reason and language wherby they vnderstand one another. But as
-touching this Grimmalkin: I take rather to be an Hagat or a VVitch then a Cat.
-For witches haue gone often in that likenes, And therof hath come the prouerb
-as trew as common, that a Cat hath nine liues, that is to say, a witch may take
-on her a Cats body nine times.”
+ certaine reason and language wherby they vnderstand one another. But as
+ touching this Grimmalkin: I take rather to be an Hagat or a VVitch then a Cat.
+ For witches haue gone often in that likenes, And therof hath come the prouerb
+ as trew as common, that a Cat hath nine liues, that is to say, a witch may
+ take on her a Cats body nine times.”
-William Baldwin, “Beware the Cat”, 1584
%%%%
Nikola
“One can prophesy with a Daniel's confidence that skilled electricians will
-settle the battles of the near future.”
+ settle the battles of the near future.”
-Nikola Tesla, “The Transmission of Electrical Energy Without Wires As a
Means for Furthering Peace”, _Electrical World and Engineer_. January 7, 1905.
%%%%
Polyphemus
“...as soon as he had got through with all his work, he clutched up two more of
-my men, and began eating them for his morning's meal. Presently, with the
-utmost ease, he rolled the stone away from the door and drove out his sheep,
-but he at once put it back again—as easily as though he were merely clapping
-the lid on to a quiver full of arrows.”
+ my men, and began eating them for his morning's meal. Presently, with the
+ utmost ease, he rolled the stone away from the door and drove out his sheep,
+ but he at once put it back again—as easily as though he were merely clapping
+ the lid on to a quiver full of arrows.”
-Homer, _The Odyssey_, Book IX.
trans. Samuel Butler, 1900.
%%%%
Shatter spell
“So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to
-pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted
-with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up
-into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
+ pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted
+ with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up
+ into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
-And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young
-and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.”
+ And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young
+ and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.”
-KJV Bible, Joshua 6:20-21.
%%%%
Shoals
“I often think about that old metaphor, the one that says we are all islands on
-a wide sea. Especially these days, now that things are more difficult than
-before and the world appears to be harsher than we once imagined it to be.
+ a wide sea. Especially these days, now that things are more difficult than
+ before and the world appears to be harsher than we once imagined it to be.
-We are all like islands, the philosopher said. Perhaps it's true. Yet I cannot
-help but remember an older saying scratched on a cave wall somewhere by a long-
-forgotten prophet: In the end the sea will claim everything.
+ We are all like islands, the philosopher said. Perhaps it's true. Yet I cannot
+ help but remember an older saying scratched on a cave wall somewhere by a
+ long- forgotten prophet: In the end the sea will claim everything.
-The ancient words crash into my mind like waves, waking me from sleep, filling
-me with feelings I cannot fully understand. We are like islands. Does it mean
-we are connected? Do we share a common origin? Or just the common fate of
-sinking?”
+ The ancient words crash into my mind like waves, waking me from sleep, filling
+ me with feelings I cannot fully understand. We are like islands. Does it mean
+ we are connected? Do we share a common origin? Or just the common fate of
+ sinking?”
-“The Sea Will Claim Everything”. 2012.
%%%%
Sigmund
Sticky Flame spell
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm
-for the rest of his life.”
+ for the rest of his life.”
-Terry Pratchett, “Jingo”. 1997.
%%%%
Summon Demon spell
Temple
“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go
-your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”
+ your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”
-KJV Bible, Revelations 16:1.
%%%%
Terence
“A MAN committed a murder, and was pursued by the relations of the man whom he
-murdered. On his reaching the river Nile he saw a Lion on its bank and being
-fearfully afraid, climbed up a tree. He found a serpent in the upper branches
-of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river,
-where a crocodile caught him and ate him. Thus the earth, the air, and the
-water alike refused shelter to a murderer.”
+ murdered. On his reaching the river Nile he saw a Lion on its bank and being
+ fearfully afraid, climbed up a tree. He found a serpent in the upper branches
+ of the tree, and again being greatly alarmed, he threw himself into the river,
+ where a crocodile caught him and ate him. Thus the earth, the air, and the
+ water alike refused shelter to a murderer.”
-Aesop, _The Manslayer_. 6th century BCE.
trans. George Fyler Townsend
%%%%
Tomb
“In the depths of every heart, there is a tomb and a dungeon, though the
-lights, the music, and revelry above may cause us to forget their existence,
-and the buried ones, or prisoners whom they hide. But sometimes, and oftenest
-at midnight, those dark receptacles are flung wide open. In an hour like this,
-when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength; when the
-imagination is a mirror, imparting vividness to all ideas, without the power of
-selecting or controlling them; then pray that your grieves may slumber, and the
-brotherhood of remorse not break their chain.”
+ lights, the music, and revelry above may cause us to forget their existence,
+ and the buried ones, or prisoners whom they hide. But sometimes, and oftenest
+ at midnight, those dark receptacles are flung wide open. In an hour like this,
+ when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength; when the
+ imagination is a mirror, imparting vividness to all ideas, without the power
+ of selecting or controlling them; then pray that your grieves may slumber, and
+ the brotherhood of remorse not break their chain.”
-Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Haunted Mind”. 1835.
%%%%
alligator
amulet
“Gringoire put out his hand for the little bag, but she drew back. ‘Do not
-touch it! It is an amulet, and either you will do mischief to the charm, or it
-will hurt you.’”
+ touch it! It is an amulet, and either you will do mischief to the charm, or it
+ will hurt you.’”
-Victor Marie Hugo, _Notre Dame de Paris_, Book II, chapter VII “A Wedding
Night”. 1831.
%%%%
arrow
“I saw in a hall an arrow pointing the way and I thought that this inoffensive
-symbol had once been a thing of iron, an inescapable and fatal projectile that
-pierced the flesh of men and lions and clouded the sun at Thermopylae and gave
-Harald Sigurdarson six feet of English earth forever.”
+ symbol had once been a thing of iron, an inescapable and fatal projectile that
+ pierced the flesh of men and lions and clouded the sun at Thermopylae and gave
+ Harald Sigurdarson six feet of English earth forever.”
-Jorge Luis Borges, _Mutations_. 1960.
trans. Mildred Boyle
%%%%
bardiche
“The republic always maintains seven or eight thousand regular troops on the
-frontiers, to prevent the incursions of the Tartars. The King does not maintain
-these troops; he only pays the Heydukes, the Semelles, and the Janizaries. The
-first-mentioned are dressed in blue, with large buttons and plates of tin, and
-have bonnets made of felt upon their heads. They have firelocks, and the
-bardiche, which they say is a very good weapon.”
+ frontiers, to prevent the incursions of the Tartars. The King does not
+ maintain these troops; he only pays the Heydukes, the Semelles, and the
+ Janizaries. The first-mentioned are dressed in blue, with large buttons and
+ plates of tin, and have bonnets made of felt upon their heads. They have
+ firelocks, and the bardiche, which they say is a very good weapon.”
-John Pinkerton, _A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting
Voyages and Travels in all parts of the World, many of which are now first
translated into English. Digested on a New Plan_. 1808.
battleaxe
“On Carian coins, indeed of quite late date, the labrys, set up on its long
-pillar-like handle, with two dependent fillets, has much the appearance of a
-cult image.”
+ pillar-like handle, with two dependent fillets, has much the appearance of a
+ cult image.”
-Sir Arthur John Evans, “Mycenaean tree and pillar cult and its
Mediterranean relations,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_ XXI, p. 109. 1901.
%%%%
blowgun
“Along the Upper Caiary-Uaupes blow-guns are made from the stems of a variety
-of palm (Iriartea setigera Martius)... The Indian selects two stems of such
-sizes that the smaller will exactly fit within the larger. After these stems
-have been carefully dried and the pith cleared out with a long rod, the bore is
-made smooth by drawing back and forth through it a little bunch of tree-fern
-roots. The smaller stem is then inserted in the larger, so that one will serve
-to correct any crookedness that may exist in the other. The wooden mouth-piece
-is then fitted to one end, and about three and one half feet from it, a boar's
-tooth is fastened on the gun by some gummy substance, for a sight. Over the
-outside the maker winds spirally a strip of the dark shiny bark of a creeper
-which gives it an ornamental finish, and his blow-gun is complete.
- ”The arrows are from ten to fourteen inches long, and of the thickness of an
-ordinary lucifer match. Those of the Indians of the Caiary-Uaupes are made from
-the midrib of a palm leaf or of the spinous processes of the Patawa (Enocarpus
-Batawa) sharpened to a point at one end and wound near the other with a
-delicate sort of wild cotton which grows in a pod upon a large tree (Bombax
-ceiba). This mass of cotton is just big enough to fill the tube when the arrow
-is gently pressed into it. The point is dipped into poison, allowed to dry, and
-redipped until well coated. The exact composition of this poison is unknown,
-and probably varies in different localities; but it would seem that the chief
-ingredient is always the juice of a Strychnos plant. It is known among
-different tribes by many names; such as Curari, Ourari, Urari and Woorali.”
+ of palm (Iriartea setigera Martius)... The Indian selects two stems of such
+ sizes that the smaller will exactly fit within the larger. After these stems
+ have been carefully dried and the pith cleared out with a long rod, the bore
+ is made smooth by drawing back and forth through it a little bunch of
+ tree-fern roots. The smaller stem is then inserted in the larger, so that one
+ will serve to correct any crookedness that may exist in the other. The wooden
+ mouth-piece is then fitted to one end, and about three and one half feet from
+ it, a boar's tooth is fastened on the gun by some gummy substance, for a
+ sight. Over the outside the maker winds spirally a strip of the dark shiny
+ bark of a creeper which gives it an ornamental finish, and his blow-gun is
+ complete.
+
+ The arrows are from ten to fourteen inches long, and of the thickness of an
+ ordinary lucifer match. Those of the Indians of the Caiary-Uaupes are made
+ from the midrib of a palm leaf or of the spinous processes of the Patawa
+ (Enocarpus Batawa) sharpened to a point at one end and wound near the other
+ with a delicate sort of wild cotton which grows in a pod upon a large tree
+ (Bombax ceiba). This mass of cotton is just big enough to fill the tube when
+ the arrow is gently pressed into it. The point is dipped into poison, allowed
+ to dry, and redipped until well coated. The exact composition of this poison
+ is unknown, and probably varies in different localities; but it would seem
+ that the chief ingredient is always the juice of a Strychnos plant. It is
+ known among different tribes by many names; such as Curari, Ourari, Urari and
+ Woorali.”
-C.W. Mead, _The American Museum Journal_, vol. VIII. 1908.
%%%%
boggart
-John Ray, _A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs_. 1768.
“A BOGGART intruded himself, upon what pretext or by what authority is unknown,
-into the house of a quiet, inoffensive, and laborious farmer; and, when once it
-had taken possession it disputed the right of domicile with the legal mortal
-tenant, in a very unneighbourly and arbitrary manner. In particular, it seemed
-to have a great aversion to children. As there is no point on which a parent
-feels more acutely than that of the maltreatment of his offspring, the feelings
-of the father and more particularly of his good dame, were daily, ay, and
-nightly, harrowed up by the malice of this malignant and invisible boggart.”
+ into the house of a quiet, inoffensive, and laborious farmer; and, when once
+ it had taken possession it disputed the right of domicile with the legal
+ mortal tenant, in a very unneighbourly and arbitrary manner. In particular, it
+ seemed to have a great aversion to children. As there is no point on which a
+ parent feels more acutely than that of the maltreatment of his offspring, the
+ feelings of the father and more particularly of his good dame, were daily, ay,
+ and nightly, harrowed up by the malice of this malignant and invisible
+ boggart.”
-C.J.T., _Folk-lore and Legends: English_ 1890.
%%%%
bolt
“In the midst of our last assault, which would have carried the gate sure and
-given us Paris and in effect France, Joan was struck down by a crossbow bolt,
-and our men fell back instantly and almost in a panic — for what were they
-without her? She was the army, herself.”
+ given us Paris and in effect France, Joan was struck down by a crossbow bolt,
+ and our men fell back instantly and almost in a panic — for what were they
+ without her? She was the army, herself.”
-Mark Twain, _Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de
Conte_, Book II, chap. 40 “Treachery Conquers Joan”. 1896.
%%%%
bush
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the
-midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the
-bush was not consumed.”
+ midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and
+ the bush was not consumed.”
-KJV Bible, Exodus 3:2.
%%%%
butterfly
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your
-grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
+ grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
%%%%
cacodemon
“We'll call him Cacodemon, with his black Gib there, his Succuba, his Devil's
-Seed, his Spawn of Phlegethon, that o’ my Consience was bred o’ the Spume of
-Cocytus.”
+ Seed, his Spawn of Phlegethon, that o’ my Consience was bred o’ the Spume of
+ Cocytus.”
-John Fletcher, _The Knight of Malta_. 1647.
%%%%
catoblepas
“So passed he over into the island, taking with him the two brothers of
-Anaxius; where he found the forsaken knight attired in his own livery, as black
-as sorrow itself could see itself in the blackest glass: his ornaments of the
-same hue, but formd into the figures of ravens which seemed to gape for
-carrion: only his reins were snakes, which finely wrapping themselves one
-within the other, their heads came together to the cheeks and bosses of the
-bit, where they might seem to bite at the horse, and the horse, as he champed
-the bit, to bite at them, and that the white foam was engendered by the
-poisonous fury of the combat. His impresa was a Catoblepta, which so long lies
-dead as the moon (whereto it hath so natural a sympathy) wants her light. The
-word signified, that the moon wanted not the light, but the poor beast wanted
-the moon's light.”
+ Anaxius; where he found the forsaken knight attired in his own livery, as
+ black as sorrow itself could see itself in the blackest glass: his ornaments
+ of the same hue, but formd into the figures of ravens which seemed to gape for
+ carrion: only his reins were snakes, which finely wrapping themselves one
+ within the other, their heads came together to the cheeks and bosses of the
+ bit, where they might seem to bite at the horse, and the horse, as he champed
+ the bit, to bite at them, and that the white foam was engendered by the
+ poisonous fury of the combat. His impresa was a Catoblepta, which so long lies
+ dead as the moon (whereto it hath so natural a sympathy) wants her light. The
+ word signified, that the moon wanted not the light, but the poor beast wanted
+ the moon's light.”
-Sir Philip Sidney
%%%%
chain mail
cherub
“The glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold
-of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full
-of the brightness of Yahweh's glory.
+ of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full
+ of the brightness of Yahweh's glory.
+
The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as
-the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.”
+ the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.”
-WEB Bible, Ezekiel 10:4-5
%%%%
triple sword
club
“I have always been fond of the West African proverb: ‘Speak softly and carry a
-big stick; you will go far.’ If I had not carried the big stick, the
-organization would not have gotten behind me, and if I had yelled and
-blustered, as Pankhurst and the similar dishonest lunatics desired, I would not
-have had ten votes.”
+ big stick; you will go far.’ If I had not carried the big stick, the
+ organization would not have gotten behind me, and if I had yelled and
+ blustered, as Pankhurst and the similar dishonest lunatics desired, I would
+ not have had ten votes.”
-Theodore Roosevelt, in a letter to Henry L. Sprague. January 26, 1900.
%%%%
crimson imp
“The Devil, too, sometimes steals human children; it is not infrequent for him
-to carry away infants within the first six weeks after birth, and to substitute
-in their place imps.”
+ to carry away infants within the first six weeks after birth, and to
+ substitute in their place imps.”
-Martin Luther
%%%%
daeva
“Between these twain the Daevas also chose not aright, for infatuation came
-upon them as they took counsel together, so that they chose the Worst Thought.
-Then they rushed together to Violence, that they might enfeeble the world of
-men.”
+ upon them as they took counsel together, so that they chose the Worst Thought.
+ Then they rushed together to Violence, that they might enfeeble the world of
+ men.”
-the Avesta, Yasna XXX, 6, Ahunavaiti Gatha.
trans. Christian Bartholomae, 1951.
%%%%
demon trident
“At these words he started up, and beheld—not his Sophia—no, nor a Circassian
-maid richly and elegantly attired for the grand Signior's seraglio. No; without
-a gown, in a shift that was somewhat of the coarsest, and none of the cleanest,
-bedewed likewise with some odoriferous effluvia, the produce of the day's
-labour, with a pitchfork in her hand, Molly Seagrim approached.”
+ maid richly and elegantly attired for the grand Signior's seraglio. No;
+ without a gown, in a shift that was somewhat of the coarsest, and none of the
+ cleanest, bedewed likewise with some odoriferous effluvia, the produce of the
+ day's labour, with a pitchfork in her hand, Molly Seagrim approached.”
-Henry Fielding, _The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling_, Book V, ch. X.
1749.
%%%%
demon whip
“With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and
-vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and
-curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered, and
-fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss.”
+ vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and
+ curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered, and
+ fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Fellowship of the Ring_. II, 5, “The Bridge of
Khazad-dûm”. 1954.
%%%%
doom hound
“Standing over Hugo, and plucking at his throat, there stood a foul thing, a
-great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever
-mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked the thing tore the throat
-out of Hugo Baskerville...”
+ great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever
+ mortal eye has rested upon. And even as they looked the thing tore the throat
+ out of Hugo Baskerville...”
-Arthur Conan Doyle, _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. 1902.
%%%%
Dragon's Call spell
- “This is where the dragons went.
+“This is where the dragons went.
They lie...
Not dead, not asleep. Not waiting, because waiting implies expectation.
Possibly the word we're looking for here is...
• Roy Quixote: Wait, what's my beef with clean energy again?
— Durkon Pansa: Dunno, but if'n ye prefer, I know a grove o'peach trees tha've
-been gettin' fresh wit tha locals.
+ been gettin' fresh wit tha locals.
-Rich Burlew, “Haleo and Julean”
%%%%
efreet
“When the hoopoe returned to Solomon (he told him the news), and he responded
-(to Sheba's people): “Are you giving me money? What GOD has given me is far
-better than what He has given you. You are the ones to rejoice in such gifts.”
-(To the hoopoe, he said), “Go back to them (and let them know that) we will
-come to them with forces they cannot imagine. We will evict them, humiliated
-and debased.” He said, “O you elders, which of you can bring me her mansion,
-before they arrive here as submitters?” One afrit from the jinns said, “I can
-bring it to you before you stand up. I am powerful enough to do this.”
+ (to Sheba's people): “Are you giving me money? What GOD has given me is far
+ better than what He has given you. You are the ones to rejoice in such gifts.”
+ (To the hoopoe, he said), “Go back to them (and let them know that) we will
+ come to them with forces they cannot imagine. We will evict them, humiliated
+ and debased.” He said, “O you elders, which of you can bring me her mansion,
+ before they arrive here as submitters?” One afrit from the jinns said, “I can
+ bring it to you before you stand up. I am powerful enough to do this.”
-The Quran, Sura 27 Al-Naml
%%%%
electric golem
elephant
“And the King went to where the blind men were, and drawing near said to them:
-‘Do you now know what an elephant is like?’
+ ‘Do you now know what an elephant is like?’
‘Assuredly, Lord: we now know what an elephant is like.’
‘Tell me then, O blind men, what an elephant is like.’
And those blind men, O Bhikkhus, who had felt the head of the elephant, said:
-‘An elephant, Sir, is like a large round jar.
+ ‘An elephant, Sir, is like a large round jar.
Those who had felt its ears, said: 'it is like a winnowing basket.’
Those who had felt its tusks, said: ‘it is like a plough-share.’
Those who had felt its trunk, said: ‘it is like a plough.’
Those who had felt its tail, said: ‘it is a like a pestle.’
Those who had felt the tuft of its tail, said: ‘it is like a broom.’
And they all fought amongst themselves with their fists, declaring, ‘such is
-an elephant, such is not elephant, an elephant is not like that, it is like
-this.’”
+ an elephant, such is not elephant, an elephant is not like that, it is like
+ this.’”
And the King, O Bhikkhus, was highly delighted.
-_Udāna_, VI “Jaccandhavagga”. ca. 5th cent. B.C.
trans. Dawsonne Melanchthon Strong, 1902.
emperor scorpion
“Portents had occurred indicating [Titus Flavius Vespasianus'] approaching end,
-such as the comet which was visible for a long time and the opening of the
-mausoleum of Augustus of its own accord. When his physicians chided him for
-continuing his usual course of living during his illness and attending to all
-the duties that belonged to his office, he answered: ‘The emperor ought to die
-on his feet.’”
+ such as the comet which was visible for a long time and the opening of the
+ mausoleum of Augustus of its own accord. When his physicians chided him for
+ continuing his usual course of living during his illness and attending to all
+ the duties that belonged to his office, he answered: ‘The emperor ought to die
+ on his feet.’”
-Cassius Dio, _Roman History_, LXVI, xvii, 2. 222 A.D.
trans. Earnest Cary, 1925.
%%%%
ettin
“But he had not been long in his hiding-hole, before the awful Ettin came in;
-and no sooner was he in, than he was heard crying:
+ and no sooner was he in, than he was heard crying:
‘Snouk but and snouk ben,
I find the smell of an earthly man,
Be he living, or be he dead,
eveningstar
“It is said to have been the favourite weapon of the Norman priest, who,
-objecting to the shedding of blood, had no scruple about the dashing out of
-brains.”
+ objecting to the shedding of blood, had no scruple about the dashing out of
+ brains.”
-T. M. Allison, “The Flail and Kindred Tools (from a historical and
literary standpoint)”, _Archaeologia Aeliana_, Third Series, vol. IV.
1908.
executioner's axe
“She danced, and was compelled to dance—to dance in the dark night. The shoes
-carried her on over thorn and brier; she scratched herself till she bled; she
-danced away across the heath to a little lonely house. Here she knew the
-executioner dwelt; and she tapped with her fingers on the panes, and
-called,—‘Come out, come out! I cannot come in, for I must dance!’
+ carried her on over thorn and brier; she scratched herself till she bled; she
+ danced away across the heath to a little lonely house. Here she knew the
+ executioner dwelt; and she tapped with her fingers on the panes, and
+ called,—‘Come out, come out! I cannot come in, for I must dance!’
+
And the Executioner said,—‘You probably don't know who I am? I cut off the bad
-people's heads with my axe, and mark how my axe rings!’
+ people's heads with my axe, and mark how my axe rings!’
+
‘Do not strike off my head,’ said Karen, ‘for if you do I cannot repent of my
-sin. But strike off my feet with the red shoes?’
+ sin. But strike off my feet with the red shoes?’
+
And then she confessed all her sin, and the Executioner cut off her feet with
-the red shoes; but the shoes danced away with the little feet over the fields
-and into the deep forest.
+ the red shoes; but the shoes danced away with the little feet over the fields
+ and into the deep forest.
+
And he cut her a pair of wooden feet, with crutches, and taught her a psalm,
-which the criminals always sing; and she kissed the hand that had held the axe,
-and went away across the heath.”
+ which the criminals always sing; and she kissed the hand that had held the
+ axe, and went away across the heath.”
-Hans Christian Andersen, “The Red Shoes”, _Nye Eventyr. Første Bind.
Tredie Samling._. 1845.
%%%%
fire crab
“The planet brought forth scintillating jewelled scuttling crabs, which [they]
-ate, smashing their shells with iron mallets; tall aspiring trees with
-breathtaking slenderness and colour which [they] cut down and burned the crab
-meat with.”
+ ate, smashing their shells with iron mallets; tall aspiring trees with
+ breathtaking slenderness and colour which [they] cut down and burned the crab
+ meat with.”
-Douglas Adams, The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
%%%%
fire dragon scales
flail
“Even after forcing their way, with great effort and loss, through this double
-defense, [the Germans] still found themselves at a disadvantage; for their
-armor scarce enabled them to contend on equal terms with the uncouth but
-formidable weapons of their adversaries. The Bohemians were armed with long
-iron flails, which they swung with prodigious force. They seldom failed to hit,
-and when they did so, the flail crashed through brazen helmet, skull and all.”
+ defense, [the Germans] still found themselves at a disadvantage; for their
+ armor scarce enabled them to contend on equal terms with the uncouth but
+ formidable weapons of their adversaries. The Bohemians were armed with long
+ iron flails, which they swung with prodigious force. They seldom failed to
+ hit, and when they did so, the flail crashed through brazen helmet, skull and
+ all.”
-James A. Wylie, _The History of Protestantism_, vol. I, book 3, ch. 15
“Jon Huss and the Hussite Wars”. 1878.
%%%%
flying skull
“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most
-excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how
-abhorr'd in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it.”
+ excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how
+ abhorr'd in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it.”
-William Shakespeare, _The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark_, V, 1.
1603.
%%%%
glaive
“To know the perfect length of your ſhort ſtaffe, or half Pike, Forreſt bil,
-Partiſan or Gleue, or ſuch like weapons of vantage and perfect lengths, you
-ſhall ſtand vpright, holding the ſtaffe vpright cloſe by your body, with your
-left hãd, reaching with your right hand your ſtaffe as high as you can, and
-then allow to that length a ſpace to ſet both your hands, when you come to
-fight, wherein you may conueniently ſtrike, thruſt and ward, & that is the iuſt
-length according to you ſtature. And this note, that theſe lengths will
-commonly fall out to be eight or nine foot long, and will fit, although not
-iuſt, the ſtatures of all men, without any hindrance at all vnto them in their
-fight, becauſe in any weapon wherin the hands may be remoued, and at libertie,
-to make the weapon lõger or ſhorter in fight at his pleaſure, a foot of the
-ſtaffe behind the backmoſt hand doth no harme.”
+ Partiſan or Gleue, or ſuch like weapons of vantage and perfect lengths, you
+ ſhall ſtand vpright, holding the ſtaffe vpright cloſe by your body, with your
+ left hãd, reaching with your right hand your ſtaffe as high as you can, and
+ then allow to that length a ſpace to ſet both your hands, when you come to
+ fight, wherein you may conueniently ſtrike, thruſt and ward, & that is the
+ iuſt length according to you ſtature. And this note, that theſe lengths will
+ commonly fall out to be eight or nine foot long, and will fit, although not
+ iuſt, the ſtatures of all men, without any hindrance at all vnto them in their
+ fight, becauſe in any weapon wherin the hands may be remoued, and at libertie,
+ to make the weapon lõger or ſhorter in fight at his pleaſure, a foot of the
+ ſtaffe behind the backmoſt hand doth no harme.”
-George Silver,_Paradoxes of Defence_.1599.
%%%%
gnoll
“Then he descended softly and beckoned to Nuth. But the gnoles had watched him
-through knavish holes that they bore in trunks of the trees, and the unearthly
-silence gave way, as it were with a grace, to the rapid screams of Tonker as
-they picked him up from behind — screams that came faster and faster until they
-were incoherent. And where they took him it is not good to ask, and what they
-did with him I shall not say.”
+ through knavish holes that they bore in trunks of the trees, and the unearthly
+ silence gave way, as it were with a grace, to the rapid screams of Tonker as
+ they picked him up from behind — screams that came faster and faster until
+ they were incoherent. And where they took him it is not good to ask, and what
+ they did with him I shall not say.”
-Lord Dunsany, “How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles”.
1912.
%%%%
gold piece
“Here it was that the ambassadors of the Samnites, finding him boiling turnips
-in the chimney corner, offered him a present of gold; but he sent them away
-with this saying; that he, who was content with such a supper, had no need of
-gold; and that he thought it more honourable to conquer those who possessed the
-gold, than to possess the gold itself.”
+ in the chimney corner, offered him a present of gold; but he sent them away
+ with this saying; that he, who was content with such a supper, had no need of
+ gold; and that he thought it more honourable to conquer those who possessed
+ the gold, than to possess the gold itself.”
-Plutarch, “Marcus Cato”, _Lives_. 75 AD.
trans. John Dryden, 1683.
%%%%
harpy
“Bird-bodied, girl-faced things they are; abominable their droppings, their
-hands are talons, their faces haggard with hunger insatiable.”
+ hands are talons, their faces haggard with hunger insatiable.”
-Virgil, Aeneid 3
“And Phineus had scarcely taken the first morsel up when, with as little
-warning as a whirlwind or a lightning flash, they dropped from the clouds
-proclaiming their desire for food with raucous cries. The young lords saw them
-coming and raised the alarm. Yet they had hardly done so before the Harpyiai
-had devoured the whole meal and were on the wing once more, far out at sea. All
-they left was an intolerable stench.”
+ warning as a whirlwind or a lightning flash, they dropped from the clouds
+ proclaiming their desire for food with raucous cries. The young lords saw them
+ coming and raised the alarm. Yet they had hardly done so before the Harpyiai
+ had devoured the whole meal and were on the wing once more, far out at sea.
+ All they left was an intolerable stench.”
-Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 179 — 434
%%%%
hell hound
hell knight
“Ok, let's review. It's up to the fair young maiden to rescue the dragon from
-the fire breathing knights in shining armour.”
+ the fire breathing knights in shining armour.”
-Exiern
%%%%
hobgoblin
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little
-statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
+ statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, _Essays: First Series_, Essay II: Self-Reliance.
1841.
%%%%
hog
“Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As she
-approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching noise.
-Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton. There,
-inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was a white one. The morning
-light shone through its ears, turning them pink. “He's yours,” said Mr. Arable.
-“Saved from an untimely death. And may the good Lord forgive me for this
-foolishness.”
+ approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching noise.
+ Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton. There,
+ inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was a white one. The
+ morning light shone through its ears, turning them pink. “He's yours,” said
+ Mr. Arable. “Saved from an untimely death. And may the good Lord forgive me
+ for this foolishness.”
-E.B. White, _Charlotte's Web_
%%%%
horn of Geryon
-‘So Joshua called together the priests and said, “Take up the Ark of the Lord's
-Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a
-ram's horn.’
+“So Joshua called together the priests and said, “Take up the Ark of the Lord's
+ Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a
+ ram's horn.
-‘When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as
-they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites
-charged straight into the town and captured it. They completely destroyed
-everything in it with their swords—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep,
-goats, and donkeys.’
+ When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as
+ they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites
+ charged straight into the town and captured it. They completely destroyed
+ everything in it with their swords—men and women, young and old, cattle,
+ sheep, goats, and donkeys.”
-Joshua 6:6,20-21, New Living Translation
%%%%
hound
“A traveller, by the faithful hound, Half-buried in the snow was found, Still
-grasping in his hand of ice That banner with the strange device, Excelsior!”
+ grasping in his hand of ice That banner with the strange device, Excelsior!”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Excelsior”
%%%%
human
iguana
“Once on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta was
-born an iguana. When he grew up he dwelt in a big burrow in the river bank with
-a following of many hundreds of other iguanas. Now the Bodhisatta had a son, a
-young iguana, who was great friends with a chameleon, whom he used to clip and
-embrace. This intimacy being reported to the iguana king, he sent for his young
-son and said that such friendship was misplaced, for chameleons were low
-creatures, and that if the intimacy was persisted in, calamity would befall the
-whole of the tribe of iguanas. And he enjoined his son to have no more to do
-with the chameleon. But the son continued in his intimacy.”
+ born an iguana. When he grew up he dwelt in a big burrow in the river bank
+ with a following of many hundreds of other iguanas. Now the Bodhisatta had a
+ son, a young iguana, who was great friends with a chameleon, whom he used to
+ clip and embrace. This intimacy being reported to the iguana king, he sent for
+ his young son and said that such friendship was misplaced, for chameleons were
+ low creatures, and that if the intimacy was persisted in, calamity would
+ befall the whole of the tribe of iguanas. And he enjoined his son to have no
+ more to do with the chameleon. But the son continued in his intimacy.”
-_Khuddaka Nikāya_, Jātaka 141 “Godha-jātaka”. ca. 4th cent. B.C.
trans. Robert Chalmers, 1895.
%%%%
jackal
“Always ready to take advantage of every favourable opportunity, the Jackal is
-a sad parasite, and hangs on the skirts of the larger carnivora as they roam
-the country for prey, in the hope of securing some share of the creatures
-which they destroy or wound.”
+ a sad parasite, and hangs on the skirts of the larger carnivora as they roam
+ the country for prey, in the hope of securing some share of the creatures
+ which they destroy or wound.”
-John George Wood, _The Illustrated Natural History: Mammalia_. 1865.
%%%%
javelin
“Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin
-through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their
-sins, and be received into the kingdom of God.”
+ through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their
+ sins, and be received into the kingdom of God.”
-Brigham Young, _Journal of Discourses_, 3:247. 1856.
%%%%
jelly
komodo dragon
“The three of us were sitting ashen faced as if we had just witnessed a foul
-and malignant murder. At least if we had been watching a murder the murderer
-wouldn't have been looking us impassively in the eye as he did it. Maybe it was
-the feeling of cold unflinching arrogance that so disturbed us. But whatever
-malign emotions we tried to pin on to the lizard, we knew that they weren't the
-lizard's emotions at all, only ours. The lizard was simply going about its
-lizardly business in a simple, straightforward lizardly way. It didn't know
-anything about the horror, the guilt, the shame, the ugliness that we,
-uniquely guilty and ashamed animals, were trying to foist on it. So we got it
-all straight back at us, as if reflected in the mirror of its single
-unwavering and disinterested eye.”
+ and malignant murder. At least if we had been watching a murder the murderer
+ wouldn't have been looking us impassively in the eye as he did it. Maybe it
+ was the feeling of cold unflinching arrogance that so disturbed us. But
+ whatever malign emotions we tried to pin on to the lizard, we knew that they
+ weren't the lizard's emotions at all, only ours. The lizard was simply going
+ about its lizardly business in a simple, straightforward lizardly way. It
+ didn't know anything about the horror, the guilt, the shame, the ugliness that
+ we, uniquely guilty and ashamed animals, were trying to foist on it. So we got
+ it all straight back at us, as if reflected in the mirror of its single
+ unwavering and disinterested eye.”
-Douglas Adams, “Last Chance to See”. 1990.
%%%%
kraken
“... Kraken, also called the Crab-fish, which [according to the pilots of
-Norway] is not that huge, for heads and tails counted, he is no larger than our
-Öland is wide [i.e. less than 16 km] ... He stays at the sea floor, constantly
-surrounded by innumerable small fishes, who serve as his food and are fed by
-him in return: for his meal, if I remember correctly what E. Pontoppidan
-writes, lasts no longer than three months, and another three are then needed to
-digest it. His excrements nurture in the following an army of lesser fish, and
-for this reason, fishermen plumb after his resting place ... Gradually, Kraken
-ascends to the surface, and when he is at ten to twelve fathoms, the boats had
-better move out of his vicinity, as he will shortly thereafter burst up, like a
-floating island, spurting water from his dreadful nostrils and making ring
-waves around him, which can reach many miles. Could one doubt that this is the
-Leviathan of Job?”
+ Norway] is not that huge, for heads and tails counted, he is no larger than
+ our Öland is wide [i.e. less than 16 km] ... He stays at the sea floor,
+ constantly surrounded by innumerable small fishes, who serve as his food and
+ are fed by him in return: for his meal, if I remember correctly what E.
+ Pontoppidan writes, lasts no longer than three months, and another three are
+ then needed to digest it. His excrements nurture in the following an army of
+ lesser fish, and for this reason, fishermen plumb after his resting place ...
+ Gradually, Kraken ascends to the surface, and when he is at ten to twelve
+ fathoms, the boats had better move out of his vicinity, as he will shortly
+ thereafter burst up, like a floating island, spurting water from his dreadful
+ nostrils and making ring waves around him, which can reach many miles. Could
+ one doubt that this is the Leviathan of Job?”
-Jacob Wallenberg, “Min son på galejan”. 1781.
%%%%
lajatang
lindwurm
“Freilich verbürgt uns keine Silbe die Existenz von solcherlei Thieren, wenn
-wir uns den Drachen oder Lindwurm als ein Ungeheuer vorstellen, dessen langer
-Hals in einen Adler-, Löwen- oder Delphinenkopf endigt; das auf dem breiten
-Rücken Greifs- oder Nachisittige trägt; und am vielfach gerollten Schweif einen
-Stachel mit Widerhaken hat; Feuer speit; sich in Mädchen verliebt und diese
-entführt; bald diese bald jene Gestalt annimmt; auf sauer erworbenen Schatzen
-ruht — kurz, als ein Ungeheuer, das alle Eigenschaften besitzt, welche die
-Fabel ihm andichtet; dann wäre es Wahnsinn, an Drachen und Lindwürmer glauben
-zu wollen. Nehmen wir aber dafür bloß ein furchtbares Ungeheuer überhaupt,
-welches nun aus unserem Welttheile vertilgt ist, so hat der Glaube daran nichts
-Lächerliches.”
+ wir uns den Drachen oder Lindwurm als ein Ungeheuer vorstellen, dessen langer
+ Hals in einen Adler-, Löwen- oder Delphinenkopf endigt; das auf dem breiten
+ Rücken Greifs- oder Nachisittige trägt; und am vielfach gerollten Schweif
+ einen Stachel mit Widerhaken hat; Feuer speit; sich in Mädchen verliebt und
+ diese entführt; bald diese bald jene Gestalt annimmt; auf sauer erworbenen
+ Schatzen ruht — kurz, als ein Ungeheuer, das alle Eigenschaften besitzt,
+ welche die Fabel ihm andichtet; dann wäre es Wahnsinn, an Drachen und
+ Lindwürmer glauben zu wollen. Nehmen wir aber dafür bloß ein furchtbares
+ Ungeheuer überhaupt, welches nun aus unserem Welttheile vertilgt ist, so hat
+ der Glaube daran nichts Lächerliches.”
-Leopold Ziegelhauſer, _Schattenbilder der Vorzeit: Ein Kranz von
Geschichten, Sagen, Legenden, Märchen, Skizzen und Heldenmahlen, Aus allen
Gegenden Deutschlands und des österreichischen Kaiserstaates_. 1844.
long sword
“While we were at grips with this great army and their dreadful broadswords
-(maquahuitl [made of obsidian]), many of the most powerful among the enemy seem
-to have decided to capture a horse. They began with a furious attack, and laid
-hands on a good mare well trained both for sport and battle. Her rider, Pedro
-de Moron, was a fine horseman; and as he charged with three other horsemen into
-the enemy ranks—they had been instructed to charge together for mutual
-support—some of them seized his lance so he could not use it, and others
-slashed at him with their broadswords (maquahuitl), wounding him severely. Then
-they slashed at his mare, cutting her head at the neck so that it only hung by
-the skin. The mare fell dead, and if his mounted comrades had not come to
-Moron's rescue, he would probably have been killed also.”
+ (maquahuitl [made of obsidian]), many of the most powerful among the enemy
+ seem to have decided to capture a horse. They began with a furious attack, and
+ laid hands on a good mare well trained both for sport and battle. Her rider,
+ Pedro de Moron, was a fine horseman; and as he charged with three other
+ horsemen into the enemy ranks—they had been instructed to charge together for
+ mutual support—some of them seized his lance so he could not use it, and
+ others slashed at him with their broadswords (maquahuitl), wounding him
+ severely. Then they slashed at his mare, cutting her head at the neck so that
+ it only hung by the skin. The mare fell dead, and if his mounted comrades had
+ not come to Moron's rescue, he would probably have been killed also.”
-Bernal Díaz del Castillo, _The Conquest of New Spain_. 1623.
trans. J.M.Cohen, 1963.
%%%%
lorocyproca
“There it had assumed a wild, incalculable and incredible shape, twisted into a
-fantastic arabesque — invisible to their eyes, but dreadful nonetheless — into
-the unfamiliar numeral under whose menace they lived.”
+ fantastic arabesque — invisible to their eyes, but dreadful nonetheless — into
+ the unfamiliar numeral under whose menace they lived.”
-Bruno Schulz, “The Brilliant Epoch”. 1937.
%%%%
lost soul
mace
“[My plan] does not propose to fill your lobby with squabbling colony agents,
-who will require the interposition of your mace at every instant to keep the
-peace among them.”
+ who will require the interposition of your mace at every instant to keep the
+ peace among them.”
-Edmund Burke, “On Conciliation with America”, speech in Parliament. 1775.
%%%%
mad acolyte of Lugonu
manticore
“Ctesias writeth, that in Aethiopia likewise there is a beast which he calleth
-Mantichora, having three rankes of teeth, which when they meet togither are let
-in one within another like the teeth of combes: with the face and eares of a
-man, with red eyes; of colour sanguine, bodied like a lyon, and having a taile
-armed with a sting like a scorpion: his voice resembleth the noise of a flute
-and trumpet sounded together: very swift he is, and mans flesh of all others
-hee most desireth.”
+ Mantichora, having three rankes of teeth, which when they meet togither are
+ let in one within another like the teeth of combes: with the face and eares of
+ a man, with red eyes; of colour sanguine, bodied like a lyon, and having a
+ taile armed with a sting like a scorpion: his voice resembleth the noise of a
+ flute and trumpet sounded together: very swift he is, and mans flesh of all
+ others hee most desireth.”
-Pliny the Elder, _Natural History_, Book 8, Chapter XXI
%%%%
manual
moth of wrath
“When within sight of their foe Berserks wrought themselves into such a state
-of frenzy, that they bit their shields and rushed forward to the attack,
-throwing away their arms of defence, reckless of every danger, sometimes having
-nothing but a club, which carried with it death and destruction.”
+ of frenzy, that they bit their shields and rushed forward to the attack,
+ throwing away their arms of defence, reckless of every danger, sometimes
+ having nothing but a club, which carried with it death and destruction.”
-Paul Belloni Du Chaillu,_The Viking Age: the Early History, Manners, and
Customs of the Ancestors of the English Speaking Nations_. 1889.
%%%%
naga
“Amongst the deities and Asuras and celestial Rishis, O amiable lady, the Nagas
-are endued with great energy. Possessed of great speed, they are endued again
-with excellent fragrance. They deserve to be worshipped. They are capable of
-granting boons. Indeed, we too deserve to be followed by others in our train. I
-tell thee, O lady, that we are incapable of being seen by human beings.”
+ are endued with great energy. Possessed of great speed, they are endued again
+ with excellent fragrance. They deserve to be worshipped. They are capable of
+ granting boons. Indeed, we too deserve to be followed by others in our train.
+ I tell thee, O lady, that we are incapable of being seen by human beings.”
-Mahābhārata, Santi Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, section CCCLX. ca. 500 B.C.
trans. Kisari Mohan Ganguli, 1883.
%%%%
nameless horror
“Then the sallow oval between Ged's arms grew bright. It widened and spread, a
-rent in the darkness of the earth and night, a ripping open of the fabric of
-the world. Through it blazed a terrible brightness. And through that bright
-misshapen breach clambered something like a clot of black shadow, quick and
-hideous, and it leaped straight out at Ged's face.”
+ rent in the darkness of the earth and night, a ripping open of the fabric of
+ the world. Through it blazed a terrible brightness. And through that bright
+ misshapen breach clambered something like a clot of black shadow, quick and
+ hideous, and it leaped straight out at Ged's face.”
-Ursula K. Le Guin, _A Wizard Of Earthsea_. 1968.
%%%%
needle
neqoxec
“If thus mutation is influenced by natural selection, it implies, that any
-particular mutation must advance in a direction advantageous for the respective
-species, and, indeed, many examples of mutation known among fossil animals are
-apparently due to the advantage produced by the change. I must add here,
-however that probably not all mutations (in a palaeontological meaning) are due
-to natural selection, but that many do not imply an actual improvement.”
+ particular mutation must advance in a direction advantageous for the
+ respective species, and, indeed, many examples of mutation known among fossil
+ animals are apparently due to the advantage produced by the change. I must add
+ here, however that probably not all mutations (in a palaeontological meaning)
+ are due to natural selection, but that many do not imply an actual
+ improvement.”
-_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, Volume XXV, no. 150.
1896.
%%%%
octopode
“In their brief time together Slothrop forms the impression that this octopus
-is not in good mental health, though where's his basis for comparing? But there
-is a mad exhuberance, as with inanimate objects which fall off of tables when
-we are sensitive to noise and our own clumsiness and don't want them to fall, a
-sort of wham! ha-ha you hear that? here it is again, WHAM! in the cephalopod's
-every movement, which Slothrop is glad to get away from as he finally scales
-the crab like a discus, with all his strength, out to sea, and the octopus,
-with an eager splash and gurgle, strikes out in pursuit, and is presently
-gone.”
+ is not in good mental health, though where's his basis for comparing? But
+ there is a mad exhuberance, as with inanimate objects which fall off of tables
+ when we are sensitive to noise and our own clumsiness and don't want them to
+ fall, a sort of wham! ha-ha you hear that? here it is again, WHAM! in the
+ cephalopod's every movement, which Slothrop is glad to get away from as he
+ finally scales the crab like a discus, with all his strength, out to sea, and
+ the octopus, with an eager splash and gurgle, strikes out in pursuit, and is
+ presently gone.”
-Thomas Pynchon, _Gravity's Rainbow_. 1973.
%%%%
oklob plant
“Carbonic acid is one of the three materials which together form the starting
-point of vegetable growth; the others being water and nitric acid. This acid is
-formed of carbon and oxygen in the proportion of one part of the former to two
-of the latter chemically combined. It is a colorless gas, having an acid taste
-and smell; is soluble in water; weighs one-half more than air and can be poured
-from one vessel to another, as a liquid may be; 100 parts of water dissolve 106
-parts of this gas, and it is from this source that the roots of plants derive
-the needed supplies of it.”
+ point of vegetable growth; the others being water and nitric acid. This acid
+ is formed of carbon and oxygen in the proportion of one part of the former to
+ two of the latter chemically combined. It is a colorless gas, having an acid
+ taste and smell; is soluble in water; weighs one-half more than air and can be
+ poured from one vessel to another, as a liquid may be; 100 parts of water
+ dissolve 106 parts of this gas, and it is from this source that the roots of
+ plants derive the needed supplies of it.”
-Henry Stuart, _The Culture of Farm Crops: A Manual of the Science of
Agriculture, and a Hand-book of Practice for American Farmers_, ch X. 1887.
%%%%
The open sea
“I mused upon the mystery of fish, their strange and mindless beauty, how—
-innocently evil—they prey upon each other, devouring the weaker and smaller
-without rage or shout or change of countenance. There, in the realm of water,
-which is also earth and air to them, the great fish passed up and down, growing
-old without aging and enjoying eternal growth without the softness of obesity.
-It was a world without morality, a world without choices, a world of eating and
-spawning and growing great. I envied the great fish, and (in other, smaller
-ponds) the lesser fish, darting and flashing and sparkling gold.
-
-They speak of ‘the beast in man,’ and of ‘the law of the jungle.’ Might they
-not (so I reflected, strolling underneath a sky of clouds as blue and as white
-as the tiles and marble of the Altar of Heaven), might they not better speak of
-‘the fish in man’? And of ‘the law of the sea’? The sea, from which they say we
-came...?”
+ innocently evil—they prey upon each other, devouring the weaker and smaller
+ without rage or shout or change of countenance. There, in the realm of water,
+ which is also earth and air to them, the great fish passed up and down,
+ growing old without aging and enjoying eternal growth without the softness of
+ obesity. It was a world without morality, a world without choices, a world of
+ eating and spawning and growing great. I envied the great fish, and (in other,
+ smaller ponds) the lesser fish, darting and flashing and sparkling gold.
+
+ They speak of ‘the beast in man,’ and of ‘the law of the jungle.’ Might they
+ not (so I reflected, strolling underneath a sky of clouds as blue and as white
+ as the tiles and marble of the Altar of Heaven), might they not better speak
+ of ‘the fish in man’? And of ‘the law of the sea’? The sea, from which they
+ say we came...?”
-Avram Davidson, “Dagon”, 1959.
%%%%
orange demon
phantom
“Who wondrous things concerning our welfare, And straunge phantomes doth lett
-us ofte foresee.”
+ us ofte foresee.”
-Spenser, _The Faerie Queene_ II. xii. 47
%%%%
phase bat
pillar of salt
“Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the
-LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all
-the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But [Lot's]
-wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
+ LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all
+ the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But
+ [Lot's] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
-KJV Bible, Genesis 19:24-26.
%%%%
player ghost
%%%%
polar bear
-“The Polar Bear is an animal of tremendous strength and fierceness.iBarentz, in
-his voyage in search of a north-east passage to China, had proofs of the
-ferocity of these animals, in the island of Nova Zembla, where they attacked
-his seamen, seizing them in their mouths; carrying them off with the utmost
-ease, and devouring them in the sight of their comrades. It is said that they
-will attack and attempt to board armed vessels, at a great distance from shore,
-and have sometimes been with much difficulty repelled.”
+“The Polar Bear is an animal of tremendous strength and fierceness. Barentz, in
+ his voyage in search of a north-east passage to China, had proofs of the
+ ferocity of these animals, in the island of Nova Zembla, where they attacked
+ his seamen, seizing them in their mouths; carrying them off with the utmost
+ ease, and devouring them in the sight of their comrades. It is said that they
+ will attack and attempt to board armed vessels, at a great distance from
+ shore, and have sometimes been with much difficulty repelled.”
-George Shaw, _General Zoology, or, Systematic Natural History_, vol. I,
p. 2. 1800.
%%%%
potion of blood
“Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood _is_ the life;
-and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.”
+ and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.”
-KJV Bible, Deuteronomy 12:23
%%%%
potion of curing
program bug
“If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first
-woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.”
+ woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.”
-Gerald Weinberg, Weinberg's Second Law
%%%%
quarterstaff
quasit
“You'll have to pay double reckoning; 'tis only fair you should pay for your
-dexterity.”
+ dexterity.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, _Egmont_, I, 1. 1788.
trans. Anna Swanwick, 1914.
%%%%
rakshasa
“Vaisampayana said, 'Not far from the place where the Pandavas were asleep, a
-Rakshasa by name Hidimva dwelt on the Sala tree. Possessed of great energy and
-prowess, he was a cruel cannibal of visage that was grim in consequence of his
-sharp and long teeth. He was now hungry and longing for human flesh. Of long
-shanks and a large belly, his locks and beard were both red in hue. His
-shoulders were broad like the neck of a tree; his ears were like unto arrows,
-and his features were frightful.”
+ Rakshasa by name Hidimva dwelt on the Sala tree. Possessed of great energy and
+ prowess, he was a cruel cannibal of visage that was grim in consequence of his
+ sharp and long teeth. He was now hungry and longing for human flesh. Of long
+ shanks and a large belly, his locks and beard were both red in hue. His
+ shoulders were broad like the neck of a tree; his ears were like unto arrows,
+ and his features were frightful.”
-_Mahābhārata_, Adi Parva, Hidimva-vadha Parva, section CLIV. ca. 500 B.C.
trans. Kisari Mohan Ganguli, 1883.
%%%%
ring of flight
“What surprised him the most, however, was the logic of his wings. They seemed
-so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn't understand why
-other men didn't have them too.”
+ so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn't understand why
+ other men didn't have them too.”
-Gabriel Garcia Marquez, _A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings_. 1955.
trans. Gregory Rabassa. 1972
%%%%
ring of intelligence
“HOBBES: Did it work?
-CALVIN: I think so.
- I feel smarter already.”
+ CALVIN: I think so.
+ I feel smarter already.”
-Bill Watterson, _Calvin and Hobbes_. November 19, 1993.
%%%%
ring of resist corrosion
ring of see invisible
“Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can
-see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
+ see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
-Antoine de Saint Exupéry, _The Little Prince_. 1943.
%%%%
ring of slaying
salamander
“As for example: the Salamander made in fashion of a Lizard, marked with spots
-like to stars, never comes abroad and sheweth it selfe but in great showers;
-for in faire weather he is not seene. He is of so cold a complexion, that if
-hee do but touch the fire, hee wil quench it as presently, as if yce were put
-into it. The Salamander casteth up at the mouth a certaine venomous matter like
-unto milke, let it but once touch any bare part of a man or womans bodie, all
-the haire will fall off: and the part so touched will change the colour of the
-skin to the white morphew.”
+ like to stars, never comes abroad and sheweth it selfe but in great showers;
+ for in faire weather he is not seene. He is of so cold a complexion, that if
+ hee do but touch the fire, hee wil quench it as presently, as if yce were put
+ into it. The Salamander casteth up at the mouth a certaine venomous matter
+ like unto milke, let it but once touch any bare part of a man or womans bodie,
+ all the haire will fall off: and the part so touched will change the colour of
+ the skin to the white morphew.”
-Gaius Plinius Secundus, _Naturalis Historia_, Book X, ch. LXVII. 79 A.D.
trans. Philemon Holland, 1601.
%%%%
scimitar
“The museum-cabinet and huge library arrogated to themselves the entire lower
-floor — there were the controversial and incompatible books that are somehow
-the history of the nineteenth century; there were scimitars from Nishapur, in
-whose frozen crescents the wind and violence of battle seemed to be living on.”
+ floor — there were the controversial and incompatible books that are somehow
+ the history of the nineteenth century; there were scimitars from Nishapur, in
+ whose frozen crescents the wind and violence of battle seemed to be living
+ on.”
-Jorge Luis Borges, _The Form of the Sword_. 1953.
trans. Andrew Hurley.
%%%%
scroll of fear
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;
-the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
+ the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
-Plato
%%%%
scroll of fog
scroll of holy word
“However many holy words you read, however many you speak,
-what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?”
+ what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?”
-Gautama Buddha
%%%%
scroll of identify
scythe
“It was instinct. Illogical as lightning striking and not hurting. Each day the
-grain must be cut. It had to be cut. Why? Well, it just did, that was all. He
-laughed at the scythe in his big hands. Then, whistling, he took it out to the
-ripe and waiting field and did the work. He thought himself a little mad. Hell,
-it was an ordinary-enough wheat field, really, wasn't it?”
+ grain must be cut. It had to be cut. Why? Well, it just did, that was all. He
+ laughed at the scythe in his big hands. Then, whistling, he took it out to the
+ ripe and waiting field and did the work. He thought himself a little mad.
+ Hell, it was an ordinary-enough wheat field, really, wasn't it?”
-Ray Bradbury, _The Scythe_. 1943.
%%%%
seraph
“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne,
-high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
+ high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
+
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered
-his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
+ his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
+
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:
-the whole earth is full of his glory.”
+ the whole earth is full of his glory.”
-KJV Bible, Isaiah 6:1-3.
%%%%
shadow
shadow demon
“As we grow old, we become aware that death is drawing near; his shadow falls
-across our path...”
+ across our path...”
-Stefan Zweig, _Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman_. 1927.
%%%%
shadow dragon
simulacrum
“The simulacrum now hides, not the truth, but the fact that there is none, that
-is to say, the continuation of Nothingness.”
+ is to say, the continuation of Nothingness.”
-Jean Baudrillard, “Radical Thought”. 1994.
trans. François Debrix, 1995.
%%%%
sixfirhy
“I saw a mouth jeering. A smile of melted red iron ran over it. Its laugh was
-full of nails rattling. It was a child's dream of a mouth.
+ full of nails rattling. It was a child's dream of a mouth.
A fist hit the mouth: knuckles of gun-metal driven by an electric wrist and
-shoulder. It was a child's dream of an arm.
+ shoulder. It was a child's dream of an arm.
The fist hit the mouth over and over, again and again. The mouth bled melted
-iron, and laughed its laughter of nails rattling.
+ iron, and laughed its laughter of nails rattling.
And I saw the more the fist pounded the more the mouth laughed. The fist is
-pounding and pounding, and the mouth answering.”
+ pounding and pounding, and the mouth answering.”
-Carl Sandburg, “Gargoyle”, _Cornhusker_. 1918.
%%%%
skeletal bat
sky beast
“Her own mother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion
-that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.”
+ that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.”
-James Thurber, _My Life and Hard Times_. 1934.
%%%%
slave
“Who rebels? Who rises in arms? Rarely the slave, but almost always the
-oppressor turned slave.”
+ oppressor turned slave.”
-E.M. Cioran, _History and Utopia_. 1960.
%%%%
slime creature
hunting sling
“And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and
-smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead;
-and he fell upon his face to the earth.”
+ smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead;
+ and he fell upon his face to the earth.”
-KJV Bible, 1 Samuel 17:49.
%%%%
fustibalus
sling bullet
“For when things are once come to the execution, there is no secrecy comparable
-to celerity; like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as
-it outruns the eye.”
+ to celerity; like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as
+ it outruns the eye.”
-Francis Bacon, _Essays_, “Of Delays”. 1625.
%%%%
small abomination
“No — it wasn't that way at all. It was everywhere — a gelatin — a slime yet it
-had shapes, a thousand shapes of horror beyond all memory. There were eyes —
-and a blemish. It was the pit — the maelstrom — the ultimate abomination.
-Carter, it was the unnamable!”
+ had shapes, a thousand shapes of horror beyond all memory. There were eyes —
+ and a blemish. It was the pit — the maelstrom — the ultimate abomination.
+ Carter, it was the unnamable!”
-H.P. Lovecraft, _The Unnamable_. 1925.
%%%%
smoke demon
snapping turtle
“After a while they came to a village. ”Now then,“ said Snapping Turtle, ”in
-the morning at daylight, my friends, we will make on attack. I myself will
-first go to the place,“ the leader of the war party said to them.
-
-”Good,“ said the other little one, ”thou art the one who sees to it what we
-shall do,“ they said to that Snapping Turtle. ”Now then,“ said Snapping Turtle,
-”verily I am now going to tell you what I shall do.“ Thus he spoke. ”Now is the
-time I shall begin to walk toward this village. Verily at the time I shall kill
-the daughter of the chief will be when the light of day is breaking, and at the
-same instant the sky will glow with red in the direction whence the morrow
-comes. ‘Ho, there, our comrade has killed her!’ will thus be the thought in
-your hearts. Then is the time when you want to make a great noise, when you
-shall whoop all keep it up. Now is the time that you go to attack this
-village.“ Thus he spoke to those his young men.
-
-”All right!“ said the other little fellows.”
+ the morning at daylight, my friends, we will make on attack. I myself will
+ first go to the place,“ the leader of the war party said to them.
+
+ ”Good,“ said the other little one, ”thou art the one who sees to it what we
+ shall do,“ they said to that Snapping Turtle. ”Now then,“ said Snapping
+ Turtle, ”verily I am now going to tell you what I shall do.“ Thus he spoke.
+ ”Now is the time I shall begin to walk toward this village. Verily at the time
+ I shall kill the daughter of the chief will be when the light of day is
+ breaking, and at the same instant the sky will glow with red in the direction
+ whence the morrow comes. ‘Ho, there, our comrade has killed her!’ will thus be
+ the thought in your hearts. Then is the time when you want to make a great
+ noise, when you shall whoop all keep it up. Now is the time that you go to
+ attack this village.“ Thus he spoke to those his young men.
+
+ ”All right!“ said the other little fellows.”
-“When Snapping Turtle went to War”, _Publications of the American
Ethnological Society, Volume IX: Kickapoo Tales_. 1915.
trans. Truman Michelson
spatial vortex
“It was just a colour out of space—a frightful messenger from unformed realms
-of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence
-stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open
-before our frenzied eyes.”
+ of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence
+ stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open
+ before our frenzied eyes.”
-H.P. Lovecraft, “The Colour out of Space”. 1927.
%%%%
spear
“The halberd is inferior to the spear on the battlefield. With the spear you
-can take the initiative; the halberd is defensive. In the hands of one of two
-men of equal ability, the spear gives a little extra strength.”
+ can take the initiative; the halberd is defensive. In the hands of one of two
+ men of equal ability, the spear gives a little extra strength.”
-Miyamoto Musashi, _The Book of Five Rings_. 1645.
%%%%
spectral thing
staff
“Bashō Osho said to his disciples, ‘If you have a staff, I will give you a
-staff. If you have no staff, I will take it from you.’
+ staff. If you have no staff, I will take it from you.’
+
Mumon's Comment
+
It helps me wade across a river when the bridge is down. It accompanies me to
-the village on a moonless night. If you call it a staff, you will enter hell
-like an arrow.”
+ the village on a moonless night. If you call it a staff, you will enter hell
+ like an arrow.”
-Mumon Ekai, _The Gateless Gate_, case 44. 1228.
trans. Katsuki Sekida
%%%%
staff of death
“'I am Aed Abaid of Ess Rúaid, that is, the good god of wizardry of the Tuatha
-Dé Danann, and the Rúad Rofhessa, and Eochaid Ollathair are my three names.’
+ Dé Danann, and the Rúad Rofhessa, and Eochaid Ollathair are my three names.’
+
And thus he was, with Cermait Milbél, one of his sons, on his back, who had
-fallen in fight and combat by Lug, son of Cian, High King of Ireland. The Dagda
-betook himself to his knowledge and learning, and therefore frankincense and
-myrrh and herbs were put around the body of Cermait, and he lifted Cermait on
-his back, and bearing Cermait he searched the world, and came to the great
-eastern world.
+ fallen in fight and combat by Lug, son of Cian, High King of Ireland. The
+ Dagda betook himself to his knowledge and learning, and therefore frankincense
+ and myrrh and herbs were put around the body of Cermait, and he lifted Cermait
+ on his back, and bearing Cermait he searched the world, and came to the great
+ eastern world.
+
He met three men going the road and the way with their father's treasures. The
-Dagda asked news of them, and they said ‘We are three sons of one father and
-mother, and we are sharing our father's treasures.’
+ Dagda asked news of them, and they said ‘We are three sons of one father and
+ mother, and we are sharing our father's treasures.’
‘What have ye?’ said the Dagda.
‘A shirt and a staff and a cloak,’ said they.
‘What virtues have these?’ said the Dagda.
‘This great staff that thou seest,’ said he, ‘has a smooth end and a rough
-end. One end slays the living, and the other end brings the dead to life.’”
+ end. One end slays the living, and the other end brings the dead to life.’”
-Osborn Bergin, “How the Dagda Got His Magic Staff”, _Medieval Studies in
Memory of Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis_. 1927.
%%%%
staff of fire
“The wizard suddenly remembered the words of the god. He remembered that of all
-the creatures that people the earth, Fire was the only one who knew his son to
-be a phantom. This memory, which at first calmed him, ended by tormenting him.
-He feared lest his son should meditate on this abnormal privilege and by some
-means find out he was a mere simulacrum. Not to be a man, to be a projection of
-another man's dreams—what an incomparable humiliation, what madness!”
+ the creatures that people the earth, Fire was the only one who knew his son to
+ be a phantom. This memory, which at first calmed him, ended by tormenting him.
+ He feared lest his son should meditate on this abnormal privilege and by some
+ means find out he was a mere simulacrum. Not to be a man, to be a projection
+ of another man's dreams—what an incomparable humiliation, what madness!”
-Jorge Luis Borges, _The Circular Ruins_. 1940.
trans. Anthony Bonner, 1962.
%%%%
steam dragon scales
“His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so
-near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to
-another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.”
+ near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to
+ another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.”
-KJV Bible, Job 41:15-17.
%%%%
stone
stone giant
“I really believe what you say, answered the knight; for, I have been engaged
-with the giant, in the most obstinate and outrageous combat that I believe I
-shall ever fight in all the days of my life: with one backstroke, slam went his
-head to the ground; and discharged such a quantity of blood, that it ran like
-rills of water, along the field.”
+ with the giant, in the most obstinate and outrageous combat that I believe I
+ shall ever fight in all the days of my life: with one backstroke, slam went
+ his head to the ground; and discharged such a quantity of blood, that it ran
+ like rills of water, along the field.”
-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, _The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La
Mancha_, IV, 10. 1605.
trans. Carlos Fuentes, 1997.
tentacled monstrosity
“Oozing and surging up out of that yawning trap-door in the Cyclopean crypt I
-had glimpsed such an unbelievable behemothic monstrosity that I could not doubt
-the power of its original to kill with its mere sight. Even now I cannot begin
-to suggest it with any words at my command. I might call it gigantic —
-tentacled — proboscidian — octopus-eyed — semi-amorphous — plastic — partly
-squamous and partly rugose — ugh!”
+ had glimpsed such an unbelievable behemothic monstrosity that I could not
+ doubt the power of its original to kill with its mere sight. Even now I cannot
+ begin to suggest it with any words at my command. I might call it gigantic —
+ tentacled — proboscidian — octopus-eyed — semi-amorphous — plastic — partly
+ squamous and partly rugose — ugh!”
-H.P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald, “Out of the Aeons”, _Weird Tales_, 25, No.
4, pp. 478-96. April 1935.
%%%%
titan
“And on the other part the Titans eagerly strengthened their ranks, and both
-sides at one time showed the work of their hands and their might. The boundless
-sea rang terribly around, and the earth crashed loudly: wide Heaven was shaken
-and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundation under the charge of
-the undying gods, and a heavy quaking reached dim Tartarus and the deep sound
-of their feet in the fearful onset and of their hard missiles. So, then, they
-launched their grievous shafts upon one another, and the cry of both armies as
-they shouted reached to starry heaven; and they met together with a great
-battle-cry.”
+ sides at one time showed the work of their hands and their might. The
+ boundless sea rang terribly around, and the earth crashed loudly: wide Heaven
+ was shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundation under the
+ charge of the undying gods, and a heavy quaking reached dim Tartarus and the
+ deep sound of their feet in the fearful onset and of their hard missiles. So,
+ then, they launched their grievous shafts upon one another, and the cry of
+ both armies as they shouted reached to starry heaven; and they met together
+ with a great battle-cry.”
-Hesiod, _Theogony_, 8th cent. B.C.
trans. H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914.
%%%%
toenail golem
“Gentle socks pamper them by day, and shoes cobbled of leather fortify them,
-but my toes hardly notice. All they're interested in is turning out
-toenails—semitransparent, flexible sheets of a hornlike material, as defense
-against—whom?”
+ but my toes hardly notice. All they're interested in is turning out
+ toenails—semitransparent, flexible sheets of a hornlike material, as defense
+ against—whom?”
-Jorge Luis Borges, “Toenails”. 1960.
trans. Andrew Hurley, 1998.
%%%%
boomerang
“The weapon, thrown at 20 or 30 yards distance, twirled round in the air with
-astonishing velocity, and alighting on the right arm of one of his opponents,
-actually rebounded to a distance not less than 70 or 80 yards, leaving a
-horrible contusion behind, and exciting universal admiration.”
+ astonishing velocity, and alighting on the right arm of one of his opponents,
+ actually rebounded to a distance not less than 70 or 80 yards, leaving a
+ horrible contusion behind, and exciting universal admiration.”
-The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 23 December 1804
%%%%
tormentor
training dummy
“Things are only mannequins and even the great world-historical events are only
-costumes beneath which they exchange glances with nothingness, with the base
-and the banal.”
+ costumes beneath which they exchange glances with nothingness, with the base
+ and the banal.”
-Walter Benjamin, _Protocols to the Experiments on Hashish, Opium and
Mescaline 1927-1934_, “Protocol II: Highlights of the Second Hashish
Impression”. 15 January 1928.
trident
“Without noticing the occupations of an intervening day or two, which, as they
-consisted of the ordinary sylvan amusements of shooting and coursing, have
-nothing sufficiently interesting to detain the reader, we pass to one in some
-degree peculiar to Scotland, which may be called a sort of salmon-hunting. This
-chase, in which the fish is pursued and struck with barbed spears, or a sort of
-long shafted trident, called a waster, is much practised at the mouth of the
-Esk, and in the other salmon rivers of Scotland.”
+ consisted of the ordinary sylvan amusements of shooting and coursing, have
+ nothing sufficiently interesting to detain the reader, we pass to one in some
+ degree peculiar to Scotland, which may be called a sort of salmon-hunting.
+ This chase, in which the fish is pursued and struck with barbed spears, or a
+ sort of long shafted trident, called a waster, is much practised at the mouth
+ of the Esk, and in the other salmon rivers of Scotland.”
-Sir Walter Scott, _Guy Mannering_, ch. XXVI. 1815.
%%%%
triple crossbow
ugly thing
“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which
-contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may
-even perceive deformity, where another is sensible of beauty; and every
-individual ought to acquiesce in his own sentiment, without pretending to
-regulate those of others.”
+ contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may
+ even perceive deformity, where another is sensible of beauty; and every
+ individual ought to acquiesce in his own sentiment, without pretending to
+ regulate those of others.”
-David Hume
%%%%
Urug
-U r u g, tumbled down, fallen by crumbling down. Slipped down, as earth from a
-hill-side, stones which have been piled up or the like. To fall as water at a
-cascade. To fill up a hollow by putting earth into it. To lay gravel or
-materials on a road. A landslip.
-
-U r u r u g a n, apparently a plural form of 'Urug'. To go with a number of
-men to any work. To make war, to attack with an army. To set upon in numbers,
-as it were to tumble upon in masses.
+“_Urug_, tumbled down, fallen by crumbling down. Slipped down, as earth from a
+ hill-side, stones which have been piled up or the like. To fall as water at a
+ cascade. To fill up a hollow by putting earth into it. To lay gravel or
+ materials on a road. A landslip.
+ _Ururugan_, apparently a plural form of 'Urug'. To go with a number of men to
+ any work. To make war, to attack with an army. To set upon in numbers, as it
+ were to tumble upon in masses.”
-Jonathan Rigg, A dictionary of the Sunda language of Java. 1862.
%%%%
unseen horror
• 'course not!
• But I do believe in con artists. And charletans who like to stir up trouble!
• Dead people who get up at night and suck blood. How stupid do you think we
-are?
+ are?
• My place is haunted with 16 ghosts and they all say there n'ain't no
-vampires!
+ vampires!
-Rich Morris, Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic
%%%%
vampire bat
vine stalker
“The monstrous plant bud . . . had grown again with preternatural rapidity,
-from Falmer's head. A loathsome pale-green stem was mounting thickly, and had
-started to branch like antlers after attaining a height of six or seven inches.
- “More dreadful than this, if possible, similar growths had issued from the
-eyes; and their stems, climbing vertically across the forehead, had entirely
-displaced the eyeballs.”
+ from Falmer's head. A loathsome pale-green stem was mounting thickly, and had
+ started to branch like antlers after attaining a height of six or seven
+ inches.
+
+ More dreadful than this, if possible, similar growths had issued from the
+ eyes; and their stems, climbing vertically across the forehead, had entirely
+ displaced the eyeballs.”
-Clark Ashton Smith, “The Seed from the Sepulcher”. 1933.
%%%%
wand
“[The principle of selection] is the magician's wand, by means of which he may
-summon into life whatever form and mould he pleases.”
+ summon into life whatever form and mould he pleases.”
-William Youatt, _Sheep: their breeds, management, and diseases; to which
is added the Mountain Shepherd's Manual_, ch. III. 1837.
%%%%
wandering mushroom
“Telimena, wearied with the prolonged wrangling, wanted to go out into the
-fresh air, but sought a partner. She took a little basket from the peg.
-“Gentlemen, I see that you wish to remain within doors,” she said, wrapping
-around her head a red cashmere shawl, “but I am going for mushrooms: follow me
-who will!” Under one arm she took the little daughter of the Chamberlain, with
-the other she raised her skirt up to her ankles. Thaddeus silently hastened
-after her—to seek mushrooms!”
+ fresh air, but sought a partner. She took a little basket from the peg.
+ “Gentlemen, I see that you wish to remain within doors,” she said, wrapping
+ around her head a red cashmere shawl, “but I am going for mushrooms: follow me
+ who will!” Under one arm she took the little daughter of the Chamberlain, with
+ the other she raised her skirt up to her ankles. Thaddeus silently hastened
+ after her—to seek mushrooms!”
-Adam Mickiewicz, _Pan Tadeusz_, II. 1834.
trans. G.R. Noyes, 1917.
%%%%
war gargoyle
“Their innumerable sculptures of demons and dragons assumed a lugubrious
-aspect. The restless light of the flame made them move to the eye. There were
-griffins which had the air of laughing, gargoyles which one fancied one heard
-yelping, salamanders which puffed at the fire, tarasques which sneezed in the
-smoke. And among the monsters thus roused from their sleep of stone by this
-flame, by this noise, there was one who walked about, and who was seen, from
-time to time, to pass across the glowing face of the pile, like a bat in front
-of a candle.”
+ aspect. The restless light of the flame made them move to the eye. There were
+ griffins which had the air of laughing, gargoyles which one fancied one heard
+ yelping, salamanders which puffed at the fire, tarasques which sneezed in the
+ smoke. And among the monsters thus roused from their sleep of stone by this
+ flame, by this noise, there was one who walked about, and who was seen, from
+ time to time, to pass across the glowing face of the pile, like a bat in front
+ of a candle.”
-Victor Hugo, _The Hunchback of Notre-Dame_, 10, ch. IV. 1831.
trans. Isabel F. Hapgood
%%%%
water nymph
“Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some
-watery tart threw a sword at you.”
+ watery tart threw a sword at you.”
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975.
%%%%
whip
wizard
“Each family or tribe has a wizard or conjuring doctor, whose office we could
-never clearly ascertain.”
+ never clearly ascertain.”
-Charles Darwin, _The Voyage of the Beagle_, ch. X. 1839.
%%%%
worm
ynoxinul
“He fixed his eyes upon the door, which, slowly opening, disclosed a stranger
-of majestic form, but scowling features, who demanded sternly, why he was
-summoned? ‘I did not summon you,’ said the trembling student. ‘You did!’ said
-the stranger, advancing, angrily; ‘and the demons are not to be invoked in
-vain.’ The student could make no reply; and the demon, enraged that one of the
-uninitiated should have summoned him out of mere presumption, seized him by the
-throat and strangled him.
-
-When Agrippa returned, a few days afterwards, he found his house beset with
-devils. Some of them were sitting on the chimneypots, kicking up their legs in
-the air; while others were playing at leapfrog, on the very edge of the
-parapet. His study was so filled with them that he found it difficult to make
-his way to his desk.”
+ of majestic form, but scowling features, who demanded sternly, why he was
+ summoned? ‘I did not summon you,’ said the trembling student. ‘You did!’ said
+ the stranger, advancing, angrily; ‘and the demons are not to be invoked in
+ vain.’ The student could make no reply; and the demon, enraged that one of the
+ uninitiated should have summoned him out of mere presumption, seized him by
+ the throat and strangled him.
+
+ When Agrippa returned, a few days afterwards, he found his house beset with
+ devils. Some of them were sitting on the chimneypots, kicking up their legs in
+ the air; while others were playing at leapfrog, on the very edge of the
+ parapet. His study was so filled with them that he found it difficult to make
+ his way to his desk.”
-Charles Mackay, _Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, Vol. III,
Part I. 1841.
%%%%
zombie
“It seemed that while the zombie came from the grave, it was neither a ghost,
-nor yet a person who had been raised like Lazarus from the dead. The zombie,
-they say, is a soulless human corpse, still dead, but taken from the grave and
-endowed by sorcery with a mechanical semblance of life—it is a dead body which
-is made to walk and act and move as if it were alive. People who have the power
-to do this go to a fresh grave, dig up the body before it has had time to rot,
-galvanize it into movement, and then make of it a servant or slave,
-occasionally for the commission of some crime, more often simply as a drudge
-around the habitation or the farm, setting it dull heavy tasks, and beating it
-like a dumb beast if it slackens.”
+ nor yet a person who had been raised like Lazarus from the dead. The zombie,
+ they say, is a soulless human corpse, still dead, but taken from the grave and
+ endowed by sorcery with a mechanical semblance of life—it is a dead body which
+ is made to walk and act and move as if it were alive. People who have the
+ power to do this go to a fresh grave, dig up the body before it has had time
+ to rot, galvanize it into movement, and then make of it a servant or slave,
+ occasionally for the commission of some crime, more often simply as a drudge
+ around the habitation or the farm, setting it dull heavy tasks, and beating it
+ like a dumb beast if it slackens.”
-William Seabrook, _The Magic Island_. 1929.
%%%%
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