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the wine cellar where he will sit in solitary drinking sessions until the casks are dry. He is known to harness sheep and ride them over the fields at his pleasure.

      COCA

      In Spanish folklore, Coca is the female fire-breathing dragon who is related to the Tarasque of French tradition. These days, she only makes her outings in the shape of a festival effigy carried about at fiesta time.

      COCKATRICE

      In the legends of medieval Europe, the Basilisk transformed into a new creature called the Cockatrice. Instead of having a serpent’s body, it had the yellow body and wings of a dragon, a cockerel’s head, neck and legs, a human face and the tail of a snake. In some descriptions, it had an additional head at the end of its tail, like the Amphisbaena. It was believed to live in the deserts of North Africa and the only antidote to its poison was to carry a cockerel with you. Even if you were successful in spearing it, the poison from its body could kill you by pouring down the spear on to you. The poison was so venomous that it could rot fruit off trees and pollute any watercourse at which the creature drank. Like the Basilisk, its look would kill all who gazed upon it, even for an instant.

      COCK-FISH

      In heraldic European lore, the Cock-Fish is a composite creature with the body and head of a cockerel and the tail of a fish.

      COCKEREL

      The cockerel’s distinctive and raucous dawn crowing has made it a symbol throughout the world of regeneration and return. In Japan, Shinto belief sees the cockerel’s call as the call to prayer. The bird is often portrayed standing upon a drum in temple architecture. It was the cockerel who called the goddess Amaterasu out of her cave, whence she retired as the world lost its light. Cockerels are given the run of Shinto temples as sacred birds because of this.

      In Islamic tradition, when Allah was creating the sky, he created a huge cockerel whose feet were upon the first sphere of heaven and whose head was in the seventh heaven where stands the Ultimate Mosque, Masjid al Aqsa, which is just below the throne of Allah. Every night, Allah creates 70,000 new angels to worship him in that mosque. One utters the call to prayer while it is still dark on Earth, and at the same moment the cockerel crows. This crowing is the call to prayer for all cockerels upon Earth who immediately call that the day is dawned. On the last day, the heavenly cockerel will crow for the last time and that will be the signal for the announcing angel to command that the dead rise up.

      In Christian iconography, the cockerel is the bird whose cry announces the betrayal of Christ by St Peter when he denied that he knew his Lord. But it has remained a symbol of vigilance against evil and is often found as a weathervane on church towers. In Indonesia, the image of a cock and his hen are found in every home for their presence will stave off marital disputes and ensure faithfulness. A similar tradition is found in Judaism where the cock and hen are emblems of the groom and bride at weddings. In Chinese religion, the cockerel’s name was a word signifying luck. The white cockerel protects the innocent against evil spirits and ensures the purity of new life overcoming death, while the red cock is a guardian against fire. In Scandinavian mythology, the gold cock Vithafmir lived at the top of the cosmic world tree Yggdrasil. In the underworld, the red cock Fralar lives in Valhalla ready to waken heroes for the last days of world or Ragnorok.

      The cockerel is commonly sacrificed, as in the rites of Rome where they were offered to the lares, the spirits of the house. In the rites of voudoun, the blood of the cockerel is used to open the way to the Otherworld in sacrifice. In Buddhism, the cockerel is a symbol of carnality and pride, and with the pig and snake, is depicted upon the mandala of samsara (the weary round of existences) as one of the passions that prevents one reaching nirvana or enlightenment. (See Sacrificial animals.)

      COCOA

      In Peruvian mythology, Cocoa is the cat god. He is of diminutive size, being only 2-ft long, with a tail twice that length. He is striped all over, and from his eyes pours continual hail. (See Ccoa.)

      COCQCIGRUES

      In the folklore of France, the Cocqcigrues are a family of unspecified monsters who are referred to in the common phrase, ‘a la venue des Coquecigrues’ (‘when the monsters come’), meaning a time unlikely to come. The word is used of a collection of fabulous or magical creatures.

      COINN IOTAIR

      In Irish legend, the Coinn Iotair (‘Raging Hounds’) are the magical hunting hounds of the legendary chieftain Crom Dubh, the ‘Black Crooked One’.

      COLO-COLO

      In the Araucanian legends of Chile, the Colo-Colo was like the Basilisk in having hatched from the egg of a cockerel. It is said to hover over sleepers and drink their saliva until, drained of moisture, they succumb to mortal fevers.

      COLUINN GUN CHEANN

      In the Highlands of Scotland, you need to walk carefully in case you meet the Coluinn Gun Cheann, the ‘Trunk without a Head’. This monster was active around the estate of the Macdonalds of Morar on the Isle of Skye. It was indifferent to women and children, allowing them to pass, but it would attack any man who travelled the ‘Smooth Mile’ to Morar House at night, killing and mutilating them. It would seem that the Headless Body was primarily following a protective duty to guard the Macdonald’s estate from strangers and invaders, but it had little discrimination. The Maccleod of Raasay eventually banished him, but we do not know where to, so it is best to beware.

      CON RIT

      In south-east Asian cryptozoology, this sea beast has been found along the seacoast of Vietnam. Its name means ‘centipede’ or ‘millipede’, but it is considerably longer – being about 60 ft. The one found by Tan Van Con in 1883 had a sectioned body, just like an insect. These segments, 3-ft wide and 2-ft long, were hexagonal in shape. The description has been thought to resemble the Chinese Dragon with its tough hide, armoured plates and whiskered face. Some have thought that it is more likely to be a living fossil invertebrate, perhaps a giant isopod or aquatic chilopoda, the prehistoric sea millipede.

      CON TRAIM NU O’C

      Among the Annamese people of Thailand, the Con Traim Nu’ O’c is a great water buffalo who can travel vast distances in the quickest time. Anyone who passes where it has been and can pick up one of its hairs will be able to cross any surface without getting wet.

      CONOPENII

      In Persian legend, the Conopenii were huge ass-headed horses who breathed fire from their mouths and nostrils.

      CORANYEIDD

      In the Welsh story of Lludd and Llefelys, we hear how King Lludd (or Lud) of Britain was troubled by Coranyeidd (or Coranians), a kind of intrusive spirit who overheard whatever was said so that no secrets could be kept. He went to sea in the English Channel and tried to talk to his brother King Llefelys of France as their two boats met. Speaking through a talking horn or speaking trumpet, neither brother could understand the other very easily because Coranyeidd kept getting in the horn, so that the brothers heard insulting things about each other. Llefelys poured wine through the speaking horn and ejected the Coranyeidd who were blocking the tube. He advised his brother to take some special insects and crush them up, putting them into the water supply and this

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