John Matthews - The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures - The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic

In Greek mythology, Achelous was a river god who took three different shapes when he chose. He could take the form of a bull,a speckled serpentor a bull-headed man, like the Minotaur.He wrestled with Hercules for the hand of Dejanira and, while in the latter form, lost a horn. The blood that fell to the ground from the horn became the Sirens,while the horn itself was discovered by Naiadswho took and filled it with flowers and fruit. Classical myth tells us that Achelous’ horn was then presented to Plenty (Amalthea) who made it her cornucopia (the ‘horn of plenty’).

Among the Pueblo peoples of North America, stories are told of this fabulous animal – a bird with rainbow-coloured wings and feathers like knives. It is a celestial creature and may at one time have been considered responsible for the whole of creation.

The Achlis is one of a number of strange European beasts listed by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder (1st century BC). He described it as looking something like an elk, but it had a number of curious features. Its upper lip was so large that it had to graze backwards to avoid the lip falling forward and covering its mouth. A further problem was caused by the fact that its back legs had no joints – it was thus forced to sleep standing up, leaning against a tree. This enabled wily hunters to catch it by partially cutting through the tree to which the Achlis came at night. When it leaned against the tree both fell to the ground, and the Achlis could not regain its feet quickly enough to prevent itself being caught by the hunters.

In the 16th and 17th century, explorers sailing the northern seas gave this name to a giant fish whose scales were on backwards, opening towards the front instead of the rear. This caused it to swim much more slowly than other fish; yet it was so vast that no one seems to have attempted to capture one. Stories of this kind almost always seem to arise from sightings of whales or, in this case, possibly giant sturgeon, the fish from which caviar is extracted.

In Greek myth, Actaeon is one of the eight horses of the sun.Actaeon is described as pure white in colour, with flaring nostrils from which issue flame and smoke. The name Actaeon means ‘effulgence’, clearly referring to the powerful heat and light of the sun. At night, the horses browsed on magical herbs on the Islands of the Blessed; by day, the nymphsof time, the Horae,harnessed them to the chariot of the sun, which was driven by the god Helios. ( See also Horse, Acthon.)

One of the four winged horses of the sunin Roman myth. The poet Ovid (43 BC–AD 17) lists Acthon together with Eous, Phlegonand Pyrios.These four were harnessed daily to the chariot of the sun and driven across the heavens by the charioteer Phaethon. ( See also Horse.)

According to Celtic tradition, the Adar Llwch Gwin were giant birds, similar in kind to the Griffin,which were given to a warrior named Drudwas ap Tryffin by his fairywife. The name derives from the Welsh words llwch (‘dust’) and gwin (‘wine’). The birds were said to understand human speech and to obey whatever command was given to them by their master. However, on one occasion, when Drudwas was about to do battle with the hero Arthur, he commanded them to kill the first man to enter the battle. Arthur himself was delayed and the birds immediately turned on Drudwas and tore him to pieces. Later, in medieval Welsh Poetry, the phrase ‘Adar Llwch Gwin’ came to describe hawks, falcons or brave men.

This strange being appears in the myths of the Solomon Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. He is clearly related to the merman,but unlike these familiar sea creatures, the Adaro has legs, attached to which are fins; a larger fin, similar to that of a shark, sprouts from his head. He also has fish gills and a sharp horn where his nose ought to be. The Adaro commands a huge army of flying fish, which savagely rend into pieces anyone foolish enough to invade his waters. The Solomon Islanders describe him as flying through the air, carried by his fish army or riding on the back of a rainbow during storms at sea. ( See also Triton.)

In Hindu tradition, Aditi is the primordial entity from which all things come. She is shown in the form of a cowwho nourishes every living thing. She gives her milk freely to all on the condition that humans behave to her as if they are her calves, like children to their mother. The injunction ‘Do not injure Aditi the Cow,’ is a warning to protect the whole of nature and the Earth itself.

These monstrous creatures feature in the mythology of the Inuit people of Labrador and the Hudson Bay area. They are part of a curious creation myth, according to which a human woman cohabited with a red dog.Five of the children resulting from this union were dogs themselves, and these were sent across the sea to Europe where they founded the European races. Five other children were even more monstrous and turned upon the Inuit themselves, drinking their blood and rending them limb from limb. Among the neighbouring people of Baffin Island and Greenland, the same or similar creatures are know as the Erquigdlit.

One of the Harpiesof classical Greek and Roman myth.

According to the legends that surround the life and deeds of Alexander the Great, the Aeternae were encountered on the northern plains of India when his army passed that way in the 4th century BC. They were described as having bony, saw-toothed protuberances sprouting from their heads, with which they attacked and wounded their enemies. They killed several of Alexander’s soldiers who were unlucky enough to encounter them.

Also known as the Calydonian boar,this mighty beast appears in classical Greek mythology as a means of inflicting divine justice. The goddess Artemis sent the boar as a punishment to the people of the Aetolian region of Greece, who had failed to give her sufficient honour and sacrifice. After the boar had ravaged much of the country, the hero Meleager was given the task of hunting down and destroying the creature. Calling upon many of greatest heroes in the classical world, Meleager lead them on a long and savage hunt across the country. In the end, it was the huntress Atalanta who brought down the boar with an arrow, after which Meleager killed it with his spear. He then gave the prize of the carcass to Atalanta, but this caused a quarrel over the division of the spoils and in the ensuing battle Meleager himself was slain. ( See also Boar, Beigad, Boar of Ben Bulbain, Buata, Cafre, Calydonian Boar, Erymanthean Boar, Pugot, Sacrimnir, Twrch Twrch, Ysgithrwyn.)

A water monsterfound specifically in Welsh folklore tradition. Also known as the Addanc or Abhac, it preyed on unwary travellers. Early references, dating back to the Middle Ages, are vague about its shape and size, but later it came to be described as a giant beaver.The reason for this may be that the name Afanc comes from a local dialect word for beaver. On the river Conway in north Wales there is a whirlpool known as Llyn yr Afanc, and local stories tell of the capture of the monster, which was bound by iron chains and dragged from its home to a lake, Llyn Cwm Ffynnon.