Basic Information
Type/Species: Basilisk
Origin: French Legend
About Basilic
Around the time of the Hundred Years' War, the people who lived in some villages around Richelieu in the countryside began telling the story of the Basilic. [2] The Basilic terrorized all the town of Vienna, eating cattle and killing people. [1] The monster's rampage attracted the attention of Frétard de Turzay, a knight who had boldly defended his country in the war. [3]
Some stories have the noble knight Frétard exiting the church of Claunay and meeting the terrifying monster, while other stories claim that the knight sought out the dragon to slay it. In both cases, the knight immediately attacked the beast upon seeing it. Unable to kill it, he forced the dragon to retreat. [2]
For twelve kilometers (approx. 7.5 miles), Frétard doggedly pressed the dragon back, step by step. He only stopped when the creature fell into the well, called Coulaine. [2]
Ever since the Basilic fell into the well, the people say that every ten years, the Basilic pulls itself up to the edge of the well for just a few moments. [2] If a human spots the creature first, the Basilic will fall back into the well for another ten years. To an unlucky few, however, the monster's final revenge can condemn the unsuspecting passerby to die within the year. In 1860, there was a report of a young girl "dying of fright" after she said she saw the Basilic on the edge of the well. [2]
The Basilic is a symbol of famine and plight, a personification of war's effects on local communities. The problem goes away but rears its ugly head up every few years.
Physical Description
Farmers from the countryside described the creature has the shape of a rooster and the body scales and head of a dragon with a conical helmet atop its head. [2]
Footnotes
- Holman and Valen The Drac: French Tales of Dragons and Demons
- Seignolle 105-106
- Raymond 'Le Basilic'
For more information on footnotes and references, please see the bibliography.
