The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic. John Matthews
to snare wolves and bears. The son of Apollo Aristaios was Aesculapius the great physician. Apollo took Aesculapius from his mother, Koronis’ womb, when the pregnant mother lay dead on her pyre and brought him to Cheiron, who taught him the art of healing.
When Hercules was seeking the Erymanthean Boar, he was offered wine by the centaur Pholos. Pholos did not know that the jar, a gift from Dionysus to Hercules, contained wine. Once the jar was opened, all the centaurs from miles around were drawn by its intoxicating and alluring scent. The centaurs fell into a drinking bout, growing wilder and more intoxicated on the wine, becoming combative and dangerous. The disruptive centaurs then came to disrupt the wedding of Perithous of the Lapith Greeks. Cheiron was accidentally wounded by one of Hercules’ poisoned arrows which had the venom of the Hydra upon them. Hercules tried in vain to save the wise centaur with healing herbs but Cheiron was pierced in the knee and could neither recover nor die, and so he retired with his incurable wound to his dark cave.
Finally, when Hercules was attempting to liberate Prometheus, who had stolen fire from heaven, from his eternal punishment, it was Cheiron who agreed to take Prometheus’ place, since he had been set there to suffer for the sake of all humanity who enjoyed the gifts of the gods. Prometheus had been bound to have his ever-regenerating liver pecked away daily by an eagle for eternity. Cheiron suffered this fate gladly since he could not die. But Zeus relented and set him in the sky as the constellation Centaurus, or Sagittarius, according to some sources.
CHERUFE
Among the Araucanian peoples of Argentina and Chile, the Cherufe is a monster who preys upon young women in the high Andes mountains. The sun god sent two of his warrior daughters to stand watch on the Cherufe and freeze it with their magical swords. However, the Cherufe is a crafty beast and it often escapes their watchful guardianship, sliding off to create more volcanic eruptions and chase more young women, but preferably not those with magical swords!
CHEVAL BAYARD
Among the waterways of Normandy, France, Cheval Bayard is a water horse which sometimes takes human shape. Like many other water horses around the world, he tempts passers-by to mount his back by appearing as an appealing pony. But as soon as someone mounts him, he tosses them into the water.
Cheval Bayard took human form and went courting a lonely peasant woman whose husband was away. On his return, the husband was suspicious that his wife was seeing callers, so he put a bar of iron in the fire and, dressed in his wife’s clothes, he pretended to spin while awaiting the unknown caller. Finally, Cheval Bayard, looking just like a very handsome man, called by. Trying to capitalize on his last visit and win the good wife’s trust, he asked her her name. ‘Myself’, said the disguised husband, and threw the red-hot iron at the visitor. Cheval Bayard was so outraged and shocked that he called upon the help of other water horses to assist him. They gathered at the door enquiring who was attacking Cheval Bayard, to which he replied, ‘Myself is attacking me.’ ‘Then you had better stop doing it,’ was all they said.
CH’I LIN
This is the alternative spelling of the creature from Chinese mythology that has a deer’s body and an ox’s tail, with a single horn on its head, and the legs and hooves of a horse. (See Ki’lin)
CHI LUNG WANG
In Chinese folklore, Chi Lung Wang is the protector of domestic water supplies and is the one who is in charge of the pumps when it comes to putting out fires. His name means ‘Fire-Engine King Dragon’, and he is a dragon who is under obedience to the Dragon King, Lung Wang, who is the provider of water to the whole Earth.
CHIAI TUNG
This is an alternative spelling of the Chinese Unicorn, which is called Hai Chiai.
CHIANG LIANG
In Chinese mythology, Chiang Liang has the body of a panther and the head of a tiger with a human face upon it. It has huge long legs with hooves. It is frequently shown with a snake in its mouth
CHICHELVACHE
In medieval European folklore, the Chichelvache is the wife of Bicorne. Chichelvache takes the form of an undernourished cow who has a miserable expression on her human face. She is supposed to live on a diet of wives who were both obedient and tyrannized by their husbands. Since it was supposed that there would not be a surplus of such women, the Chichelvache was always hungry! Chichelvache and Bicorne were frequently represented in allegorical sculptures and misericords in churches to represent the lot of wives and husbands. Sometimes Chichelvache (‘Scrawny Cow’) is called by the alternative Chichifache (‘Thin-Face’), which is how Chaucer spelled it in his ‘Clerk’s Tale’ in The Canterbury Tales.
CHICKEN
See Cockerel.
CHIMAERA
The Chimaera or Chimera was the creature with body of a goat, the fore-parts of a lion, the hind-parts of a serpent and, sometimes, is shown with the heads of all three animals ranged along its back. Chimaera was one of the many children of Echidna and Typhon. It spat fire and was responsible for killing everyone in the city of Lycia in Asia Minor. It was finally dispatched by the hero Bellerophon, who rode upon the back of Pegasus, and killed it by thrusting his spear into its mouth. As the metal of the spear melted in the heat of its gullet, the Chimaera choked to death.
CHIN-CHIN KOBAKAMA
In Japanese folklore, the Chin-Chin Kobakama are the fairies. The writer and traveller Lafcadio Herne wrote a book of stories about them of this same name.
CHINESE LYCOPODIUM
This is the alternative name for Barometz, the part-vegetable, part-animal creature of European legend. It is possible that the legends surrounding this intriguing creature are based upon the little understood formation of the mineral travertine which is built up by calcium carbonate deposited through the flow of thermal waters over plant matter. As these deposits build up so the branch or bush becomes slowly turned into stone. In botany, Lycopodium is now the Latin name for the genus of club mosses.
CHIO-TUAN
In Chinese mythology, Chio-Tuan is the Unicorn who appeared to Gengis Khan in the 13th century, warning him to stop his wars. He is the same as Ki-Lin and Ch’i Lin.
CHITRA-RATHA
Chitra-Ratha is the king of the Gandarvas in Hindu mythology, the centaur-like beings who are in charge of the divine soma of the gods. As well as brewing medicines, Chitra-Ratha is also the divine musician who provides music at the banquets of the gods. He is sometimes discovered in woodland clearings making music and dancing with the Apsaras. It was in such a place that the yogi Medhavi was seduced from his ascetic practices by the dancing girl, Manjughosha, as she danced to the divine music of Chitra-Ratha. He is the Hindu equivalent of Cheiron in bringing civilizing arts to humanity.
CHIVATO
Among the Araucanian people of Chile, Chivato was a cannibalistic monster. He had been a child who was abducted by witches. Over the years,