A guivre is a mythical creature similar to a dragon. In legend they were portrayed as serpentine creatures who possessed venomous breath and prowled the countryside of Medieval France. [1] The words "guivre" (wurm, wyvern [which is derived from it], [2] or serpent) and "givre" are spelling variations of the more common word "vouivre". Vouivre, in Franc-Comtois, is the equivalent of the old French word "guivre." All these forms are derived ultimately from Latin vīpera, as is English viper. [3]
Guivres were said to possess a long, serpentine body and a dragon's head. The guivre had horns in its forehead in some accounts, as well. [4] Locally in France it was known as an extremely aggressive creature that would sometimes attack without being provoked. [4] They were afraid of naked humans, and when saw them, blushed and looked away. [5] Documentation points to their residence as being in small bodies of water like pools and lakes, forests, and any damp place. [4] also found in Europe.
Samson of Dol was present at an encounter between a small dragon-like creature (known as "La Guivre") and a priest. Samson had come to visit Saint Suliao with an entourage of followers. Suliao was impoverished but sought to provide a meal as best as possible for the group. One priest, uneasy with the low quality of food, took a bread roll and hid it under his robe. Almost instantaneously he started convulsing and Suliao pulled apart his bosom, seeing what the man had done. He admonished the priest and removed a hideous serpentine creature from the robe. There he exorcised it and then compelled another man to throw it from the roof of a building in Garot. [6]
Guivres are also well known as vouivres, and the terms have become synonymous. For example, in The Drac: French Tales of Dragons and Demons, the vouivre is depicted as a female creature with dazzling, green scales which emanate sound as the vouivre flies. The vouivre is depicted as greedy, her head crowned with pearls and a golden ring about her tail.[ citation needed ] The beast in this story stayed in a cave for most of her time, then left to bathe only for a few minutes.[ citation needed ]
According to the Contes et légendes de Franche-Comté, the Vouivre is a unique gigantic snake like dragon, wearing a ruby on its forehead, and using it as its eye.
In Steve Alten's The Loch the Loch Ness Monster is originally thought to be a guivre which got into Loch Ness through Moray Firth. The guiuvres were said to be a species of giant eel, a predecessor to the Anguilla. In the 1989 film La Vouivre, the vouivre was a wood nymph.
A dragon is a large, serpentine, legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as winged, horned, four-legged, and capable of breathing fire. Dragons in eastern cultures are usually depicted as wingless, four-legged, serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence.
The Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.
The European dragon is a legendary creature in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.
An ogre is a legendary monster usually depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world. They appear in many classic works of literature, and are most often associated in fairy tales and legend with a taste for infants.
A wyvern is a legendary winged dragon that is bipedal and usually depicted with a tail ending in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip.
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Karl Shuker is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological consultant and writer. A columnist in Fortean Times and contributor to various magazines, Shuker is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cryptozoology, which began in November 2012.
An Amphiptere is a type of winged serpent found in European heraldry.
The Brosno dragon, also known as Brosnya, is a lake monster which in Russian folklore is said to inhabit Lake Brosno, near Andreapol in western Russia. It is described as resembling a dragon and is the subject of a number of regional legends, some which are said to date back to the 13th century.
Japanese dragons are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and the Indian subcontinent. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon. Like these other East Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. The modern Japanese language has numerous "dragon" words, including indigenous Tatsu from Old Japanese ta-tu, Sino-Japanese ryū or ryō竜 from Chinese lóng龍, nāga ナーガ from Sanskrit nāga, and doragon ドラゴン from English "dragon".
In American folklore, Champ or Champy is the name of a lake monster said to live in Lake Champlain, a 125-mile (201 km)-long body of fresh water shared by New York and Vermont, with a portion extending into Quebec, Canada. The legend of the monster is considered a draw for tourism in the Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York areas.
The legend of the Loch Ness Monster is well known throughout Scotland and the rest of the world and has entered into popular culture.
Roy P. Mackal was a University of Chicago biologist best known to the general public for his interest in cryptozoology.
A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under the horror, comedy, fantasy, or science fiction genres. Monster movies originated with adaptations of horror folklore and literature. Typically, movie monsters differ from more traditional antagonists in that many exist due to circumstances beyond their control; their actions are not entirely based on choice, potentially making them objects of sympathy to film viewers.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is a 2007 fantasy drama film directed by Jay Russell and written by Robert Nelson Jacobs, based on Dick King-Smith's children's novel The Water Horse. It stars Alex Etel as a young boy who discovers a mysterious egg and cares for what hatches out of it: a "water horse" which later becomes the fabled Loch Ness Monster. The film also stars Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and David Morrissey.
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