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was its enemy. Although it might be killed by hunters, it could never suffer itself to be taken alive and would die before facing captivity.

      CATERPILLAR

      According to Australian aboriginal myth, the caterpillars were the ones who volunteered to go to the skies to find out what happened after death. They made their return as butterflies. (See also Bakororo.)

      CATH PALUG

      This giant cat features in several early Welsh poems. Cath Palug’s name means ‘the cat with the sharp claws’. It is described as one of the offspring of the sow Henwen, which having been chased to the edge of the sea dropped a litter of kittens which took to the water and swam away. Henwen resembles the many monstrous Murchata or sea cats of Irish tradition. Cath Palug itself was no stranger to the sea, having swam the Menai Strait between North Wales and the island of Anglesey where it was said to continue its marauding. It was successfully slain on that island by Cei (the Sir Kay of later medieval Arthurian legend) who went against it with a shield that looked ‘a mere fragment’ next to the gigantic cat. A medieval French story tradition tells how a cat called Chapalu or Chatloup (a corruption of Cath Palug) pushed King Arthur into a bog and then overcame him in war, passing through Britain to conquer it, wearing the crown of Britain. This tale may relate to the early medieval stories of the conflict between King Arthur and Mordred (or Medrawt), in which Mordred’s symbol is the cat.

      CATH SITH

      In the Highlands of Scotland, the Cath Sith or Fairy Cat is a great black cat the size of a large dog. It has a white blaze upon its chest and its hair sticks up all over its arched back. The Cath Sith bears all the hallmarks of the existing Scottish wild cat, being both fierce and highly secretive. The Cath Sith appears as the blazon of many Highland clans which show a cat ready to strike with outstretched claws. The legend ‘touch not the cat bot [except with] a glove/targe [a small round shield]’, is the cap badge motto of the Mackintoshes, the MacPhersons and the MacBains.

      CATOBLEPAS

      According to the Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, this creature lived in the highland wastes of Ethiopia and the deserts of southern Egypt. It was described as a beast with an enormous head on a thin scrawny neck, making it droop its head downwards all the time, which was just as well since one glance from the Catoblepas meant instant death. It was said to have pink eyes set in the head of a pig and a thin black body. This description seems very much to echo that of the wildebeest or gnu. Gustave Flaubert made it one of the hellish animals that assailed poor St Anthony in his Tentation de St Antoine of 1874.

      CATTLE OF GERYONEUS

      In Greek mythology, the Cattle of Geryoneus were the purple-red cows owned by Geryoneus, a son of Chrysaor who sprang, with Pegasus, from the neck of Medusa when she was beheaded by Perseus. Hercules’ tenth labour was to capture the oxen of Geryon. He had to journey through Libya and Egypt before coming to Mount Abas where the cattle were stabled, receiving the help of the sun god Helios, who lent his golden cup, the barque in which he normally sailed each evening to reach the east in time to rise at dawn. The cattle were guarded by the dog Orthos, backed up by the centaur Eurytion. A fellow herdsman tipped off Geryoneus about the imminent theft of his herd and he fought fiercely with his six arms and three bodies, but Hercules killed him and drove the herd into the barque of the golden cup. The cattle were so attractive to others that Hercules had his work cut out trying to keep the herd together, fending off raiders all the way back. His most serious opponent was the half-human, fire-breathing Cacus who stole four bulls and four cows, pulling them by their tails into a dark cave. Hercules unroofed the cave by tearing the rocks from the hillside, rescuing his beasts and throttling Cacus to death with his famous wrestler’s grip, ‘the knot of Hercules’. The cattle were eventually driven safely to the shores of Mycenae where they were sacrificed to the goddess Hera.

      CCOA

      Among the myths of the Quechua tribes of Peru Ccoa is a cat who is the spirit of storms. It has a grey coat with darker stripes about its body. Perpetual hail streams from its eyes and ears whenever it is abroad. To avert storms, Ccoa is the subject of many offerings, especially in the time before harvest when his attentions could ruin the crops. The creature’s alternative name is Cocoa.

      CECROPS

      In Greek mythology, the Cecrops was human from the waist up but a serpent from the waist down. He came into being when his father King Erecththeus spilled a drop of sperm upon the Earth. He is credited with founding the city of Athens, dedicating it in honour of Athena. After Erecththeus died, Cecrops instituted many different customs including marriage, monogamy, burial rather than cremation of the dead, writing and bloodless sacrifices.

      CEFFYL DWR

      This water horse lives in the mountain pools and waterfalls of north Wales. Its grey body has a spectral glow that illuminates the mist around it. Its method of attack is to leap from the waters when someone is near, hooking its forelegs over the shoulders of the unfortunate wanderer. If the grip of its forelegs does not strangle him, then the Ceffyl Dwr will trample and kick the stranger to death. In south Wales, the Ceffyl Dwr is said to have wings, but these are lacking in the water horse of the north. Others say that Ceffyl Dwr takes the shape of a goat. Anyone who is courageous enough to attack and overcome the beast will be astonished to find that there is no corpse, only a viscid scum of grease upon the surface of the water. The insubstantial nature of the Ceffyl Dwr, which looks solid enough when you encounter it, changes rapidly should anyone try to ride it, for it evaporates into the swirling mists from which it emerged.

      CELAENO

      In Greek mythology, Celaeno is one of the Harpies, monsters with the bodies of birds and faces of women. She has the reputation that accompanies her name, which means ‘black’. Like all her sisters, Celaeno was fleet of foot and wing but her terrible claws made her a raptor or ‘snatcher’ of prey. She was the mother of two human sons by the god Poseidon, Eurypylus who fought in the Trojan Wars and accompanied Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece, and Lycus who became the king of the Fortunate Islands.

      CELESTIAL STAG

      In Chinese myth, the Celestial Stag is a deer capable of human speech and understanding. It lived both in the heavens and in the underworld where it wandered in mines and caverns, offering to show lost miners where rich gems were if only they would help it to the surface. The surface of the Earth was not its proper place, however, and should the Celestial Stag set foot upon it, it would become an amorphous blob of diseased jelly.

      CELPHIE

      In medieval European tradition, the Celphie was a cow-like creature with five legs, each of which was humanoid from the knee joint down to the ground where it had hands rather than hooves. It was believed to live in the unknown lands of Ethiopia.

      Celestial Creatures

      In world astronomy, the patterns that the constellations make in the heavens have most commonly been those of animals. In Sumerian mythology, the three-headed dragon, Mushussu, was the constellation of Hydra. Greek mythology provided the horse Pegasus while the Egyptians described Sirius the dog star. Half-animal and half-human fusions are represented by the centaur Cheiron who is the archer of Sagittarius.

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