Mythology Info (e-w)

By Author: Sumbaz
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Mythology info (E-W):

****THE KAPPA****

What the heck is a Kappa you say? Well I'll tell you, they are Japanese water demons! Kappas are amphibious water spirits that are covered in yellow green scales, have webbed feet, a face of a monkey, and the back of a tortoise, but the feature that makes the kappa a kappa is it's bowl like depression on the top of it's head which must always be full of water to maintain its supernatural powers and super strength on land. Now Kappas may live in bodies of water but that doesn't mean a kappa won't come up on land for a snack! Kappas eat humans and animals, they really love to eat human liver. The way they eat their food is sort of gross... so that's why I'll tell you in great detail how they do it ^,^ The kappa eats the insides first, then the kappa gets a bit thirsty so then the kappa drinks the blood. Kappas where blamed when ever mutilated bodies were found near masses of water. Kappas where known to be very malicious (not to friendly), but they weren't dumb animals though. Kappas where very smart wise spirits! Mankind is said to have learned the trade of mending ...
... broken bones from a Kappa in return for his own arm that had been taken from him by a human! Now here are ways that where said to be the best ways to defeat a kappa: Bow to it, kappas being proper creatures will bow back to you spilling the water from its head, this will force the kappa to return to its watery home. Another way was by carving names (or your name) into a cucumber and throwing it into the water, now cucumbers are the Kappas favorite food and by eating the cucumbers the kappas will not eat the people whose names are on the cucumbers. This legendary association between Kappas and cucumbers has become such a part of Japan's culture that sushi stuffed with cucumber is called "Kappa maki".
**AMULETS**
Amulet: A charm worn against evil or injury.
There has been amulet use since the don of time. Egyptians would use the Eye of Horris to ward of sickness, and any kind of hex. Amulets where used in the dark ages commonly, even in gambling. Amulets could even be used to help luck, and they would even be used while gambling, thinking the amulet would be the key to their wining. Their were amulets that were said to stop fires just by throwing them into it, even though most of those kind of amulets were made of wood (odd) also a newt was thought able to put our fires if thrown into a flame (poor newt). Amulets would be carved onto doors and onto walls, so that they might ward off evil from being there.
***Werewolves***

A werewolf is a human that can change into a wolf usually on a full moon. Werewolves eat humans and livestock. You can become a werewolf unwillingly by having it in your genes, by a curse, or by a bite by another werewolf. You could also willingly become a werewolf by using special ointments like sorcerers did in many stories. Either way, if you become a werewolf it is said in folklore that you must never let even a single drop of human blood touch your lips or you'll never be able to break your werewolf curse, you'll be a werewolf forever. The only way to reverse the curse of the werewolf is to kill the original werewolf that started the chain of werewolves that lead down to your curse.
Werewolves are commonly men, but there are also a few women werewolves as well. Stories of werewolves have been around since antiquity! In Greek mythology a tyrant named Lycaon angered Zeus by feeding him the flesh of a child. Zeus punished him by turning him into a wolf man. Lycaon is where the word lycaonthrope comes from another name for werewolf. Werewolves were believed to exist for many centuries. In the middle ages werewolves weren't always seen as bad in their stories, some were seen as the hero or comical figure. Werewolves were seen as really evil things to fear by the 16th century. Many people were killed because people claimed they were werewolves, most werewolves were believed to be witches or wizards in the forms of werewolves, most accused victims were forced against there will, (under torture) to confess to being werewolves (horrible!!). Finally the werewolf uproars stopped by the end of the 16th century. Werewolf often looked just like common wolves, but were bigger and had no tail. People who become werewolves usually have slanting eye brows, hairy harms and are tall.
The ointment said to be used by witches or wizards that changed them into werewolves, was made out of belladonna root, deadly nightshade, bat's blood, cinquefoil, henbane, soot and other odd things, they would would have to brew it in a cauldron under moon light, and speak a spell while standing the a circle drawn in the sand.
I find werewolves cute, and there are a lot of different legends and stories about them, you should read some of them.
***!Unicorns & Narwalls?***

Unicorns were first mentioned more than two thousand years ago by Greek physician Ctesias. Ever since then people went nuts for unicorn in stories, they were put in art and...they were hunted for their horns, which were said to protect you against diseases and if made into a cup it would protect you from any poison that might of been slipped into your drink (Wow! I want one of those ^,^). Well unlike the sweet innocent unicorns we know today, they were first believed to be nasty, ready to charge creatures, and the way they looked was different as well. Ctesias describes : "The unicorn was native to India, the size of a donkey, with a burgundy head & white body, it had blue eyes, a single horn that was bright red at the top, black in the middle, and white at the bottom, the horn was also 18 inches long." Well later the unicorn was described by Julius Caesar as: "It had a deer's head, elephant's feet, a 3 foot long horn, and a boars tail." Unicorns were also said to have deep bellowing voices. Unicorns were getting very popular. It wasn't till the Middle Ages when the unicorn took the form of the pure beautiful creature we think of now, a single dip of a unicorns spiraling white horn into any water would make the water pure as fresh rain. It was believed that if an innocent maiden sat underneath a tree, that the unicorn with its love for all things innocent and pure would lay it's head in the maidens lap and fall asleep. Humans would use this idea to try to capture unicorns for their horns. Unicorn horns were sold all the time for 25,000 to 45,000 dollars (wow!), but it was found out that the horns were acutely Narwall horns which are whales that have large horn like tusks and swim in cold waters. In the 18th century unicorn hunting stopped, for no one had ever seen a unicorn with their own eyes or ever captured a unicorn. Also their is one mention of a unicorn like creature in the Bible "one horned creature"...the mystery of the unicorn will always insprire people.
***Witches, and the Witch persecution***

Witches have been known through out many countries and are in many famous novels and stories. Greece and Roman stories are full with tails of witches who spent their time making potions out of gross animal parts, they were believed to go to grave yards and dig up bones or gather poisonous plants, and worshiping Artimis/Diana the goddess of the moon, hunting, and chastity. Many witches did take oaths of chastity for it was part of their religion. Witches were also believed to have the power of the "evil eye" where a witch could kill you with a mere glance, also witches had the powers to raise spirits from the grave. Witches from Greece and Thessaly were believed to have the skill of bringing the moon to earth to use its powers. Women that made herbal medicines, and amulets to ward of evil were also called witches. In the Dark ages witches were believed to have certain pets; owls, toads, and cats these pets were called the witches familiars and she treated them with great tenderness, like family. The witch's cat was really a demon in a cat form and would do the witches dirty work for here. In fact people back in the Dark ages would take their cat out of the room if they were discussing things of importance in fear the cat would tell a witch. The same goes for toads and owls. If a toad was wearing clothes, and had a bell tied to its foot it was a witch's toad. In the Middle ages, Dark ages, and even into the colonial ages, witch's were greatly feared and thousands of innocent people were killed, not just women but men as well. You could be killed for being a witch for almost any reason, like: If you wore a wig, if you wore make up, if you had a back stabbing friend who said you were a witch just so they could watch you die, if any one of a higher class said you were a witch, if some one didn't like you, if you had a cat that someone thought looked evil, and I could go on...The way they tested if you were a witch was well... stupid! One way was that they tied you to a long rope and threw you into a river if you sank you were guilty if you drowned well you drowned, if you floated you were not guilty, but the thing is they could control the rope to have you sink or not. They had a paper called "Mallevs Maleficaruvm, Hammer of Witches" that told you how to identify a witch from a non witch. For a while that book was only second to the Bible, the Mallevs Maleficaruvm helped kill thousands of innocents. Even prophets that were greatly admired were condemned of being a witch such as the story, Joan of Ark, which is a story that took place in Renaissance France. Find out more about the darkages, click here
Read about Joan of Ark, click HERE

***DEADLY FAIRIES&ELVES?****

Cute lil' magical fairies and elves deadly? Don't look at me like that, you'll find out what I mean soon ^,^. Elves, leprechauns, and pixies (yes there is a difference between pixies and fairies) are all in a group called "Fairies". Fairies are also called "wee folk", "little people", and the "Good neighbors". Fairies are immortal supernatural creatures that are rarely seen by humans. Now there are many forms that elves or "fairies" are known for, most know them in their British form; very small human looking beings, somtimes having wings on their backs.
But like in Scandinavian folklore, elves are seen as tall majestic beings...here's their info:
They were said to have been born from the earth and were mages(users of magic) they were skilled at the bow and arrow; they were also slightly taller than humans, (around 6 feet tall); elves were the point of ultimate beauty. Their were two types of elves in the Scandinavian folklore; Svarthulfur (dark elves) which had black hair, and black eyes, and some even had black skin. There were also the Liosalfar (light elves) which looked much like the Scandinavians do: blond hair blue eyes.
Now you'll find out what I meant by The deadly fairies & elves!! ^,^ in the early dark ages, if their was a problem it was blamed on fairies. Examples: Rashes were marks left by the many pinching fingers of angry invisible fairies; Snarls in the hair were caused by fairies making impossible fairy knots in your hair at night; Heart attacks were caused by being shot by an invisible elf arrow;..... ok ok I could go on forever so I'll stop there! Yeah fairies had bad reps back then. Another deadly fairy would have to be the Scottish red cap (From Scottish folklore), well red caps are ugly fairies that looked like this: long gray hair, red eyes, and bared teeth! The red cap obviously has a red cap which is kept red by its victims blood!! Red caps live in old castles where bloody battles have been, and anyone foolish enough to wonder in one of these ruins, will be stuck by the spear on top of the red cap's staff, but legend has it, that if you read aloud from the Bible before you enter, the redcap will scream, leaving behind an ugly tooth (how nice).
-Now old folklore( started from around the (dark ages till the victorians time) has it that if you wanted a fairy (brownie) to help you clean (which some fairies liked to do) you would have to keep your hearth clean so the fairy could dance on the hearth every night. Next you would leave out thick cream (which fairies were supposed to go crazy for). But if you want to get rid of a fairy you would try to reward it with more than just cream, fairies find this rude (don't know why) and would leave with everything in a shambles! You could also give it clothes, which was a polite invitation for it to leave, and the fairy would leave without causing everything to be in a shambles.
-Pixies were known as mischievous lil' pests that would live and eat all your apples off your apple trees. Pixies had red hair, turned up noses, and greenish skin, and were lanky looking. Pixies love humans...well to trick them that is. If you were out on a walk a pixie just might change things around and do mischievous things to get you really lost, but it's said if you ware your cloths inside out a pixie can't get you "pixie lead" as its called.
FIND OUT MORE about the RED CAP, click here



About the Author Mythology info (Kappa..)(E-W)