16 ANTS, AMPHISB^NAS, BASILISKS 



There are no basilisks nowadays, but their re- 

 membrance still lives in many of our proverbs. 



The Demon of Cathay and his proceedings recall 

 several of our old fairy tales, especially some of the 

 Arabian Nights. He could talk the language of man and 

 imitate any voice he chose, so that if he found a solitary 

 traveller walking through a forest he would call to him 

 by his name in the tones of some of his friends. The 

 traveller would leave the path and go in the direction of 

 the voice, when the Demon would spring out and devour 

 him. Or he would mimic the roll of drums, or the 

 blast of trumpets, and the poor man in surprise would 

 think he must be drawing near a city, or at any rate ap- 

 proaching an army, so he would go in search of the 

 sounds, only to find, when it was too late, that it was a 

 trick of his deadly enemy's. 



Quite as strange as the creatures on dry land were 

 those that dwelt in the sea, for every animal that lived on 

 earth had its fellow in the ocean. We read of sea-bears, 

 sea-foxes, sea-asses, even of sea-peacocks ; and now 

 and then one might be found on the beach after a great 

 storm. 



Once some Dutch women, going down to the shore 

 after a gale to see what they could pick up, were startled 

 at finding a beautiful girl, with a fish's tail, lying among 

 the shells and sea-weeds, beyond high-water mark. This 

 was a mermaid, as anybody else would have known— a 

 gentle creature, but without a soul. They took her home 

 and taught her to spin and weave, and to kneel before a 

 crucifix ; but she was not happy, and always tried to 

 escape into the sea. The Dutch women did not mean 

 to be cruel, but they liked to have her there, and she was 

 useful to them, so they kept a close watch upon her, and 

 she lingered on in their house for fifteen years, fading 

 gradually away, and dying in the year 1418. 



On the opposite side of the North Sea, in the Firth of 

 Forth, as well as in the Baltic and the Red Sea, sea-monks 



