Basilisk
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The mythical king of the serpents. The basilisk, or cockatrice, is a creature that is born from a spherical, yolkless egg, laid during the days of Sirius (the Dog Star) by a seven-year-old rooster and hatched by a toad. The basilisk could have originated from the horned adder or hooded cobra from India. Pliny the Elder described it simply as a snake with a golden crown. By the Middle Ages, it had become a snake with the head of a cock, and sometimes with the head a human. In art, the basilisk symbolized the devil and the antichrist. To the Protestants, it was a symbol of the papacy. According to legend, there are two species of the creature. The first kind burns everything it approaches, and the second kind can kill every living thing with a mere glance. Both species are so dreadful that their breath wilts vegetation and shatters stones. It was even believed that if a man on horseback should try to kill it with a spear, the power of the poison conducted through the weapon would not only kill the rider, but the horse as well. The only way to kill a basilisk is by holding a mirror in front of its eyes, while avoiding to look directly at it. The moment the creature sees its own reflection, it will die of fright. However, even the basilisk has natural enemies. The weasel is immune to its glance and if it gets bitten it withdraws from the fight to eat some rue, the only plant that does not wither, and returns with renewed strength. A more dangerous enemy is the cock for should the basilisk hear it crow, it would die instantly. The carcass of a basilisk was often hung in houses to keep spiders away. It was also used in the temples of Apollo and Diana, where no swallow ever dared to enter. In heraldry the basilisk is represented as an animal with the head, torso and legs of a cock, the tongue of a snake and the wings of a bat. The snake-like rump ends in an arrowpoint. Also cockatrice. A mythical monster, sometimes used in heraldry. This fabled king of the reptiles (from Greek basileus 'little king') was said to be hatched from a cock's egg by a serpent. Of all the legendary monsters, none was deadlier. It was also said that it was the incarnation of the Death God. Part serpent, part rooster (it had the wings of a bird, the tail of a dragon or serpent and the head of a cock), it came from an egg laid in a dunghill by a seven-year-old (some say nine-year-old) cock during the time that Sirius was high in the heavens. The egg was spherical and covered by a thick membrane, and sometimes it was hatched by a toad or serpent, who sat on it for nine years. This elaborate gestation produced a creature whose breath could scorch the earth and kill plants, animals and people alike; whose skin was covered with a slimy deadly poison with the horrible property of spreading rapidly over anything it touched; and whose power of its eyes was so terrible that its glance was lethal — even to itself. Accordingly, anyone who sought to slay the basilisk was wise to carry a mirror, so that it would kill itself with its own look. The other method was to set a weasel on the monster, since it was thought to be the only creature capable of withstanding the cockatrice's deadly stare.