| Cockatrice | |
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Real Name |
Cockatrice |
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First Appearance |
European Myth |
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Created by |
European Myth |
Origin[]
A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon, wyvern, or serpent-like creature with a rooster's head. They are created by a toad or snake's egg hatched by a chicken.
It was also thought that a cock egg would hatch out as a cockatrice, and this could be prevented by tossing the egg over the family house, landing on the other side of the house, without allowing the egg to hit the house.
The cockatrice has the reputed ability to kill people by either looking at them—"the death-darting eye of Cockatrice" —touching them, or sometimes breathing on them.
It was repeated in the late-medieval bestiaries that the weasel is the only animal that is immune to the glance of a cockatrice. It was also thought that a cockatrice would die instantly upon hearing a rooster crow, and according to legend, having a cockatrice look at itself in a mirror is one of the few sure-fire ways to kill it.
The first English mention of the cockatrice was in the 14th century John Wycliffe translation of the Bible. The word was used for the translation of various Hebrew words for asp and adder in the Book of Isaiah 11, 14 and 59.
In Shakespeare's play Richard III (c. 1593), the Duchess of York compares her son Richard to a cockatrice. A cockatrice is also mentioned in Romeo and Juliet (1597), in Act 3, scene 2 line 47, by Juliet.
Nathan Field, in the first scene of his play The Honest Man's Fortune (1647), also uses the idea that a cockatrice could kill with its eyes.
In E. R. Eddison's high fantasy novel The Worm Ouroboros (1922), Chapter 4 has King Gorice show a cockatrice to Gro.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Cockatrice from before January 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- De naturis rerum (1180)
- De proprietatibus rerum (1260)
- Richard III (1593)
- Romeo and Juliet (1597)
- The Honest Man's Fortune (1647)
- The Worm Ouroboros (1922)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Worlds of Fear #7: In the text story entitled Haste Makes Death, The janitor Mr. Figner is experimenting with alchemy in his basement. He wants to create gold, but needs the egg of a cockatrice.
Notes[]
- The Basilisk is alleged to be hatched by a cockerel from the egg of a serpent or toad (the reverse of the cockatrice, which was hatched from a cockerel's "egg" incubated by a serpent or toad).