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COCKATRICE

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 623 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COCKATRICE , a fabulous See also:

monster, the existence of which was firmly believed in throughout See also:ancient and See also:medieval times,—descriptions and figures of it appearing in the natural See also:history See also:works of such writers as See also:Pliny and Aldrovandus, those of the latter published so See also:late as the beginning of the 17th See also:century. Produced from a See also:cock's See also:egg hatched by a See also:serpent, it was believed to possess the most deadly See also:powers, See also:plants withering at its See also:touch, and men and animals dying poisoned by its look. It stood in See also:awe, however, of the cock, the See also:sound of whose crowing killed it, and consequently travelers were wont to take this See also:bird with them in travelling over regions supposed to abound in cockatrices. The See also:weasel alone among mammals was unaffected by the glance of its evil See also:eye, and attacked it at all times successfully; for when wounded by the monster's See also:teeth it found a ready remedy in rue—the only plant which the cockatrice could not See also:wither. This myth reminds one of the real contests between the weasel-like mungoos of See also:India and the deadly See also:cobra, in which the latter is generally killed. The See also:term " cockatrice " is employed on four occasions in the See also:English See also:translation of the See also:Bible, in all o1 which it denotes nothing more than an exceedingly venomous reptile; it seems also to be synonymous with " See also:basilisk," the mythical See also:king of serpents.

End of Article: COCKATRICE

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