Mythical Creatures |
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Offline Points: 40345 |
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Posted: September 18 2019 at 07:39 |
I was lying in bed listening to Wagner's "Ride of the VALKYRIES" whilst reading John Wyndham's "The KRAKEN Wakes". I needed some early morning HYDRAtion so I brewed up a cup of tea using my bedside GOBLIN Teasmade. I believe a nice cup of tea is ELEMENTAL for a perfect start to the day and a house is not a GNOME without a kettle. I heard an ambulance SIREN pass by my window and it reminded me that I had an appointment for a routine medical down at the ELF CENTAUR. I needed to SPIRIT myself up out of bed or I wouldn't stand a GHOST of a chance of making it on time for my appointment. I went into the bathroom to GARGOYLE on some mouthwash to get rid of my early morning DRAGON'S breath. Feeling SPRITEly now, I went downstairs into the kitchen for breakfast and sat down. My BLACK DOG Benny was SATYR by my side at the table and waiting for his early morning treat of GORGONzola cheese on toast. I had a few minutes to spare so I briefly logged on to the internet to view the latest PIXIE-lated images. I hadn't experienced any computer GREMLINS just lately, but I still had to be careful to avoid the usual bunch of internet TROLLS and NYMPHos. I was hoping to find long-term romance on the web and YET I knew in reality that's just a CHIMERA, because being hit by CUPID'S arrow and finding everlasting love online is about as rare as finding a UNICORN or seeing the LOCH NESS MONSTER. It was time to set off for my medical appointment so I went out the door and climbed into my Hillman IMP, feeling a bit ORKward after tripping over a ROC in the rush to get to my car. The ELF CENTAUR is located within a huge BEHEMOTH of a hospital on the outskirts of town. it's a GIANT CARBUNCLE of a building WITCH DWARFS all the other buildings surrounding it. The long hospital corridors are like a MINOTAUR'S labyrinth and trying to find your way around is a bit like trying to solve the riddle of the SPHINX. I drove alongside the river, WITCH winds like a SERPENT through the city, but I had a DEVIL of a time finding my way through the traffic on the way to the clinic and I'd now need the luck of a LEPRECHAUN to make it there on time. When I arrived 10 minutes late for my appointment, the irate receptionist greeted me with an angry MEDUSA'S stare like a BASILISK. The nurses there are real ANGELS though and NAIAD no problems at all during my routine medical. I was soon on my way and I stopped off on my way home at my favourite pub, the GRIFFIN Arms. It's a real JINN palace that rose like a PHOENIX from the ashes after a recent fire there. The landlord of the pub is a bit of an OGRE with a GHOULish sense of humour. I put my BIG FOOT in it with him by ordering the DEMON drink of SPIRITS when he knew I was driving home. By the time I left the pub it was dark outside in December and the FAIRY lights were lit up in the street with some in the shape of a MERMAID. I could briefly see the constellation of PEGASUS up in the night sky, before it disappeared behind a bank of cloud like a WILL 'O' THE WISP. My girlfriend GENIE is a GOTH who's into the music of Siouxsie and the BANSHEES. We're going to watch a MONSTER movie together later and it's a choice between "An American WEREWOLF in London" or "Interview with a VAMPIRE". We're off on our holidays together soon to Israel where we plan to visit the GOLEM Heights. |
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BaldJean
Prog Reviewer Joined: May 28 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10387 |
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nice one, though a carbuncle is not a creature but a boil caused by an infected hair follicle, which is why I am certain my wife and I won't ever have one. this actually reminds me of the giant adenoid in Thomas Pynchon's novel "Gravity's Rainbow". the character Pirate Prentice has to fight it because it threatens London. this happens in one of the dream sequences of Prentice that occasionally occur in the novel without being marked as such, which is one of the reasons the novel is difficult to read. the book starts with one of those dream sequences and then suddenly switches to Prentice being awake. since there is no such sentence like "Prentice dreamed" or "Prentice woke up" but a seamless transition between dream and reality the beginning was quite confusing for me at first until I realized what it was all about. I am, by the way, definitely not the only one with this difficulty
Edited by BaldJean - September 18 2019 at 08:59 |
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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Offline Points: 40345 |
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Thanks for pointing out the mistake over "carbuncle". I looked it up in the dictionary and it says a carbuncle is also a mythical luminous gem, but there's no mention of it being a mythical creature.
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BaldJean
Prog Reviewer Joined: May 28 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10387 |
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yep, it is a gem too; I mentioned only the boil because it is at least somewhat related to a living creature. there actually is a Sherlock Holmes story named "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" which is about the theft of an extremely valuable gem named "The Blue Carbuncle". since we have all Holmes stories and novels in a bibliophilic edition (four volumes) I have of course read it. the German word for it is "Karfunkel", sometimes also "Karfunkelstein" ("Carbuncle stone"), by the way. the word has become obsolete in German though; it is usually only used in 19th-century (or earlier) literature. there also is a German nursery rhyme called "Ein Jäger längs dem Weiher ging" ("A Hunter Went Along a Pond"), in which a fearsome hunter mistakes a harmless rabbit for a terrible monster. in one verse it says: "Das muß fürwahr ein Kobold sein! Lauf, Jäger lauf! Hat Augen wie'n Karfunkelstein!" translation: "This must forsooth be a goblin! Run, hunter, run! Has eyes like a carbuncle stone". Friede and I often sang this song for our kids at bedtime
Edited by BaldJean - September 18 2019 at 16:16 |
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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Offline Points: 40345 |
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Your mention of "karfunkel" reminded me of Art Garfunkel, who's a real gem of a singer.
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BaldJean
Prog Reviewer Joined: May 28 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10387 |
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this actually leads us back to the other meaning of carbuncle . Friede and I created a game in which we invent malapropisms for bands and artists. we came up with "Zeig mir dein' Furunkel" ("Show me your Carbuncle"; "Furunkel" has the same meaning as the medical meaning of "carbuncle" but is not obsolete. the German "dein' " is short for "deinen" meaning "your") for "Simon and Garfunkle". the "ei" in German is (almost) pronounced like the "i" in English, so the German phrase sounds almost exactly like that band
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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
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Odvin Draoi
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 01 2019 Location: X Status: Offline Points: 516 |
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How about this creature? Seems mythological enough. Let's name it. How about Helicopterus?
https://twitter.com/CGTNOfficial/status/1173910718879432704 |
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Offline Points: 40345 |
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With an eye as big as that, I wonder if the "helicopterus" sees things through a fish-eye lens.
The mention of "karfunkel" brings to mind an obscure Prog-Rock band by the name of Bachdenkel. They released an excellent album called "Lemmings" (1973) which is really worth checking out.
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BaldJean
Prog Reviewer Joined: May 28 2005 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 10387 |
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"helicopterus" would mean "spiral flyer" from the Greek "helix" for "spiral" and "pterein" for "to fly". I suggest "megalophthalmos" from the Greek "megalos" for "very large" and "ophthalmos" for "eye"
Edited by BaldJean - September 18 2019 at 12:44 |
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A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
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Odvin Draoi
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 01 2019 Location: X Status: Offline Points: 516 |
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Mine was limited to the "just for fun" nature of the sub-platform, yet yours is insightful. Edited by Odvin Draoi - September 18 2019 at 12:49 |
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