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

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      CHEEROONEAR

      Among the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, Cheeroonear is a dog-faced man with arms so long that his hands trail upon the ground. From chin to belly he has a drooping dewlap of many folds. He is accompanied by a pack of dogs.

      A legend from the Nullabor Plain tells how Cheeroonear turned up at a waterhole in the middle of a severe drought. He drained the very last drops of the billabong, drinking so heavily that his stomach ballooned out and he began to vomit out human bones and remains. The people gathered at the billabong were horrified to recognize the remains as those of their relatives. Cheeroonear told them that they would not live long enough to report this to others. That night the people consulted their medicine men, the Winjarning brothers. They directed them to make two lines of brushwood leading to and converging on the billabong. At dawn, Cheeroonear’s hounds approached the waterhole, they followed the line of the brushwood road, but as each leant forward to drink, one of the Winjarning brothers’ boomerangs severed its head. Finally, Cheeroonear himself came to see what was happening. As he followed the brushwood road, he too was clubbed upon the head by the waiting warriors. When he did not come home, his wife came to the billabong. Before she was chopped to pieces by the waiting warriors, her unborn child leapt from her body and slithered off into the undergrowth in the shape of a snake so that the line of Cheeroonear might continue.

      CHEIRON

      Also known as Chiron, he was the gentle centaur who acted as mentor to many heroes. Cheiron was the offspring of Cronos who visited the Oceanid nymph Philyra in the form of a stallion. Cheiron lived in a cave on the slopes of Mount Pelion. He is frequently shown draped with a robe of stars, with an uprooted tree over his shoulder on which are the spoils of the hunt, and a dog by his side. He was looked to as the arbiter and bringer of education, law, medicine and prophecy, so that many of the Greek heroes were sent to be trained by him, including Aesculapius, Jason, Peleus and Theseus.

      The gods did not disdain to consult Cheiron also. When Apollo was out hunting, he saw the virgin Kyrene guarding her father’s beasts and how she wrestled with a lion to protect them. Apollo asked Cheiron what he should do and the centaur counselled him to take her as his wife. On a swan-chariot, he bore her to Libya. Cheiron prophesied that her son would be divine. He would be raised by Hermes, the Horae and the goddess Gaia and become an immortal and perfect child who would love men. This child was the immortal Apollo made new, Apollo Aristaios or ‘the best Apollo’. His father took his namesake to Cheiron to be raised by wise centaurs. From them he learned how to keep bees, press olives and make cheese. He was the first to snare wolves and bears. The son of Apollo Aristaios was Aesculapius the great physician. Apollo took Aesculapius from his mother, Koronis’ womb, when the pregnant mother lay dead on her pyre and brought him to Cheiron, who taught him the art of healing.

      When Hercules was seeking the Erymanthean Boar, he was offered wine by the centaur Pholos. Pholos did not know that the jar, a gift from Dionysus to Hercules, contained wine. Once the jar was opened, all the centaurs from miles around were drawn by its intoxicating and alluring scent. The centaurs fell into a drinking bout, growing wilder and more intoxicated on the wine, becoming combative and dangerous. The disruptive centaurs then came to disrupt the wedding of Perithous of the Lapith Greeks. Cheiron was accidentally wounded by one of Hercules’ poisoned arrows which had the venom of the Hydra upon them. Hercules tried in vain to save the wise centaur with healing herbs but Cheiron was pierced in the knee and could neither recover nor die, and so he retired with his incurable wound to his dark cave.

      Finally, when Hercules was attempting to liberate Prometheus, who had stolen fire from heaven, from his eternal punishment, it was Cheiron who agreed to take Prometheus’ place, since he had been set there to suffer for the sake of all humanity who enjoyed the gifts of the gods. Prometheus had been bound to have his ever-regenerating liver pecked away daily by an eagle for eternity. Cheiron suffered this fate gladly since he could not die. But Zeus relented and set him in the sky as the constellation Centaurus, or Sagittarius, according to some sources.

      CHERUFE

      Among the Araucanian peoples of Argentina and Chile, the Cherufe is a monster who preys upon young women in the high Andes mountains. The sun god sent two of his warrior daughters to stand watch on the Cherufe and freeze it with their magical swords. However, the Cherufe is a crafty beast and it often escapes their watchful guardianship, sliding off to create more volcanic eruptions and chase more young women, but preferably not those with magical swords!

      CHEVAL BAYARD

      Among the waterways of Normandy, France, Cheval Bayard is a water horse which sometimes takes human shape. Like many other water horses around the world, he tempts passers-by to mount his back by appearing as an appealing pony. But as soon as someone mounts him, he tosses them into the water.

      Cheval Bayard took human form and went courting a lonely peasant woman whose husband was away. On his return, the husband was suspicious that his wife was seeing callers, so he put a bar of iron in the fire and, dressed in his wife’s clothes, he pretended to spin while awaiting the unknown caller. Finally, Cheval Bayard, looking just like a very handsome man, called by. Trying to capitalize on his last visit and win the good wife’s trust, he asked her her name. ‘Myself’, said the disguised husband, and threw the red-hot iron at the visitor. Cheval Bayard was so outraged and shocked that he called upon the help of other water horses to assist him. They gathered at the door enquiring who was attacking Cheval Bayard, to which he replied, ‘Myself is attacking me.’ ‘Then you had better stop doing it,’ was all they said.

      CH’I LIN

      This is the alternative spelling of the creature from Chinese mythology that has a deer’s body and an ox’s tail, with a single horn on its head, and the legs and hooves of a horse. (See Ki’lin)

      CHI LUNG WANG

      In Chinese folklore, Chi Lung Wang is the protector of domestic water supplies and is the one who is in charge of the pumps when it comes to putting out fires. His name means ‘Fire-Engine King Dragon’, and he is a dragon who is under obedience to the Dragon King, Lung Wang, who is the provider of water to the whole Earth.

      CHIAI TUNG

      This is an alternative spelling of the Chinese Unicorn, which is called Hai Chiai.

      CHIANG LIANG

      In Chinese mythology, Chiang Liang has the body of a panther and the head of a tiger with a human face upon it. It has huge long legs with hooves. It is frequently shown with a snake in its mouth

      CHICHELVACHE

      In medieval European folklore, the Chichelvache is the wife of Bicorne. Chichelvache takes the form of an undernourished cow who has a miserable expression on her human face. She is supposed to live on a diet of wives who were both obedient and tyrannized by their husbands. Since it was supposed that there would not be a surplus of such women, the Chichelvache СКАЧАТЬ