nathanandersonart: Name: Questing Beast, Beast Glatisant (Barking Beast)Area of Origin: Britain, Ar

nathanandersonart:

Name: Questing Beast, Beast Glatisant (Barking Beast)
Area of Origin: Britain, Arthurian Legends

The Questing Beast is the subject of numerous quests undertaken by such famous knights as King Arthur, King Pellinore, Sir Palamedes and Sir Percival. Out of these figures, Pellinore was the one known to have endlessly hunted the thing. The beast has the body of a leopard, the back end of a lion, the feet of a hart or deer, and lastly, the head and neck of a snake. Its name comes from the noise it emits, a barking likened to many hounds questing. The term ‘Glatisant’ is derived from the french word glapissant, meaning ‘yelp’ or 'bark’. The creature is a variant on the mythological medieval view of the Giraffe. It is revealed by the great wizard Merlin that the beast was born of a human woman, a princess who had lusted after her own brother. After sleeping with a devil with promises of her brother’s love, the devil manipulated her into accusing her brother of rape. The siblings’ father had the brother torn apart by dogs as punishment, but shortly before the brother’s death, he prophesied that his sister would give birth to an abomination that would make the same sounds as the dogs that were to kill him. The Questing Beast appears to King Arthur in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d'Arthur after he has an affair with his sister Morgause, though the two were unaware of their familial relation when the act occurred. The act resulted in the illegitimate birth of his son Mordred. Arthur sees the beast after waking from a disturbing dream that foretells Mordred’s destruction of the realm. The Questing Beast has been solidified as a symbol of the incest, chaos and violence that ultimately destroys Arthur’s kingdom.