Lesson 5 – Runespoor, Sphinx
Available: Nov 27
Due Date: Dec 17. Please try to hand in assignments before the due date. Due to time zones, while you may think you still have an hour left, in actuality the assignment may have closed 2 hours ago.
RUNESPOOR - MOMC - XXXX
The runespoor is a three-headed serpent that originated in Burkina Faso, a small African country. It often reaches a length of 6-7 feet. It is livid orange with black stripes in colour, so it is quite easy to spot. The Ministry of Magic in Burkina Faso has certain designated forests that are unplottable for the runespoor's sole use.
The runespoor is not actually a vicious beast, but it was once a favourite pet of Dark Wizards mostly because of it's striking and intimidating appearance. Thanks to Parselmouths who have conversed with runespoors, we understand some of the interesting habits. From the records we learn that each of the runespoor's heads serves a different purpose. The left head (as seen by a wizard facing a runespoor) is the planner. It decides where the runespoor is to go and what it is to do next. The middle head is the dreamer. Runespoors have been seen at a complete standstill for days at a time, lost in wonderful visions and imaginings. The right head is the critic and will evaluate the efforts of the left and middle heads with a continual irritable hissing. The right head's fangs are extrememly venomous. The heads tend to attack each other, so runespoors don't live for very long. It is not unusual to see a runespoor with the right head missing- as sometimes the other two heads will have banded together to bite it off.
The only magical beast to do so, the runespoor produces eggs through its mouths. The eggs are of immense value in the production of potions to stimulate mental agility. A Black Market in runespoor eggs and in the serpents themselves has flourished for many centuries.
SPHINX - MOMC - XXXX
For almost a thousand years the sphinx has been used by witches and wizards to guard valuables and secret hiding spots. The sphinx has a human head on a lion's body. They are highly intelligent and delight in puzzles and riddles. The sphinx is usually only dangerous when whatever it is guarding is threatened.
Sphinxes have been seen in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology. In Egyptian mythology, it is a mythical creature that combines a lion's body with a human head- usually one of a pharaoh. Sphinxes are often depicted in one of these three forms:
*Androsphinx - body of lion with head of person;
*Criosphinx - body of lion with head of ram;
*Hierocosphinx - body of lion with head of falcon or hawk
The largest and most famous replica of a Sphinx is known as Sesheps, the Great Sphinx of Giza, where a small temple lies between its paws. The face of the Great Sphinx is believed to be the head of the pharaoh Khafra (often known by the Greek version of his name, Chephren) or possibly that of his brother, the Pharaoh Djedefra, which would date its construction from the fourth dynasty (2723 BC–2563 BC).
In Greek mythology, there was a single Sphinx, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. She was represented in vase-painting and bas-reliefs most often seated upright rather than recumbent, as a winged lion with a woman's head; or she was a woman with the paws, claws of a lion, a serpent's tail and eagle wings. Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (the Greeks remembered the Sphinx's foreign origin) to Thebes where she would ask all passersby history's most famous riddle: "Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" She strangled anyone unable to answer. The word "sphinx" comes from the Greek verb sphingo, meaning "to strangle".
Source: Wikipedia
Please be sure to complete Assignment 5 .