Nicholas Kinney

From the earliest known account in Hesiod's ' Theogony' to the present day, the gorgon Medusa has fascinated artists. I too regard her as a stunning visual creation. Here is my interpretation of her.                                      Medusa and her two sisters Sthenno & Euryale, with their hands of bronze, razor sharp teeth and hair of hissing wriggling snakes lived in a dark, gloomy place at the end of the world where they basked in their reputation of being the most savage of monsters. Far away in sunny Seriphos, king Polydectes wishing to be rid of a young man called Perseus decided to send him on a mission from which he doubted the fellow would return. "You wish to prove yourself a hero" said the king " well then, bring me back the severed head of the gorgon Medusa. She is the only mortal one of three abominable sisters. When you approach to kill her be careful to not look direc...

Some monsters enjoy enduring fame down through the ages. The Gorgon, the Minotaur, the Gryphon and numerous dragons still fascinate artists, storytellers & film makers today, but The Shaggy Beast Of La Ferte-Bernard is sadly neglected. Roaming about the river Huisne in medieval France, the beast also known as "La Velue" (the hairy one) was large as an ox, covered in green fur and had a deadly serpentine tail. Its body was armed with venomous spikes & from its reptilian mouth flames would shoot forth to burn the crops in the fields. Sometimes, rolling about in the river it caused the land  to flood.    In common with most monsters, La Velue had a taste for fair maidens; it never tired of eating them and the people seemed powerless to stop it. Eventually, a local lad who had lost his girl to the beast understood the way to destroy it. He approached it bravely and with sword in hand, he sliced off its tail, the one vulnerable part of its body. The shaggy creat...