And here's the whole alphabet - glad you enjoyed it - need to go and make more art now! #imaginaryAnimals#mythicalBeasts#animalAlphabet#kidlit
Z is for Zouyu (last one!) - a white tiger with black spots and a vergetarian diet, that appears during the reign of a benevolent ruler (speculation on Wikipedia that this gentle spotty vegetarian cat may actually be an allusion to the giant panda) #zouyu#imaginaryAnimals#mythicalBeasts#kidlit
Y is for Yale - a heraldic beast with spots and tusks and large horns, also known as a centicore. I first encountered one as a statue at Hampton Court (back when I was hoping to marry Henry VIII) #yale#centicore#mythicalBeasts#imaginaryAnimals#kidlit
X is fo Xiuhcōātl the turquoise serpent, an Aztec god of fire. The picture's partly based on the two-headed Aztec serpent at the British Museum. Nearly at the end of the alphabet! #xiuhcoatl#mythicalBeasts#imaginaryAnimals#kidlit
V is for Valkyrie - my and S.'s favourite! Here she is singing some Wagner and looking for some corpses to drag from the battlefield to Valhalla #valkyrie#kidlit#imaginaryCreatures#mythicalBeasts
T is for Tanuki - a Japanese raccoon dog - specifically a bake-danuki - a magic tanuki with shapeshifting powers, here transforming itself into a teapot, as in the fairy tale Bunbuku Chagama #kitlit#mythicalBeasts#imaginaryAnimals#tanuki#bake-danuki#bunbukuChagama
R is for Roc - the enormous bird from the One Thousand and One Nights - here shown carrying an elephant in its talons to feed to its nestlings #roc#kidlit#mythicalBeasts#imaginaryAnimals#1001nights#arabianNights
J is for the ferocious jackalope - a jackrabbit with antelope horns that terrifies the hunters of Wyoming #jackalope#mythicalBeasts#imaginaryAnimals#kidlit
I is for Ifrit - a powerful demon in Islamic morphology. This one is from the "fisherman and the jinni" story in the 1001 Nights. The fisherman fishes up a sealed bottle containing an ifrit, and has to trick it back into the bottle. #ifrit#jinni#jinn#imaginaryCreatures#mythicalBeasts#kidlit
