Basilisks

I'm back after a long wait, with many exciting things happening, not the least of which is that I am now reading The Book of the Dun Cow. That is pretty much the cause of this post, so pay attention.

In The Book of the Dun Cow, the character Cockatrice is quite interesting. Wangerin writes: "Senex commanded one Toad to stay in the Coop. ... The Toad was forced to sit upon the little egg. [I]t ripped apart. ... Then... the Rooster chick began to grow... a serpent's tail. ... The Rooster chick continued to grow, ... it developed grey scales underneath its body, from the throat to the tail; and the tail itself was covered all over with scales."

Also, I will now draw from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets before I introduce my point. Rowling writes: "'Of the.. beasts... there is none more curious... than the Basilisk... [which] is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad.'"

The emphasis is mine. I believe that you realize what I am getting at, namely that Cockatrice is a Basilisk. Rowling goes on to describe the Basilisk in a manner somewhat contrary to Wangerin's description, but many are the disagreements of authors. Also, it seems that this last part will be important to the story of The Book of the Dun Cow (for I am only in chapter six): "'...the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.'"

I believe, but I am not certain, that Wangerin agrees with this statement. The whole thing fits, and I will read The Book of the Dun Cow with the assumption that Cockatrice is a Basilisk, and that Chauntecleer, the rooster, will be able to defeat Cockatrice by crowing, especially since Wangerin writes: "A third category of crows would... burst from Chauntecleer's throat with a terrible power. ... Within the year Chauntecleer would find his land under... attack; and then, in that war, this third kind of crowing would become his necessary weapon."

Good-bye for now, and I recommend The Book of the Dun Cow to all book-lovers, even though I have only read less than six chapters.

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Of Birds at Busch Gardens

Hello, all! My family and I are currently awaiting the arrival of Hanna, and so I am trying to snatch some time before the risk of power loss becomes too great.

Yesterday Dad took the day off and he and Mom whisked us off to Busch Gardens Europe. I will try to keep this post short, so only two highlights of the day. Dad and I "defied the five," as Busch Gardens advertises it, or, more commonly, we rode all five of the roller coasters, and here they are in the order we rode them: Apollo's Chariot, The Big Bad Wolf, Alpengeist, Griffon, and, finally, The Loch Ness Monster.

The other highlight of the day took place in the Aviary at Busch Gardens. We went in (I, for the first time) quite wet and tired, as it was near the end of our trip. 'ding3, encouraged by the fact that one of the men there had two or three canaries perched on him, tried, two times, to get a canary, and the canary, two times, bit her finger.
I was more successful. I got three different birds to climb on my finger, but two of them flew away when Mom tried to get a picture. The third, however, had a more ingenious way of discouraging photos, which was to climb up my arm and fasten his little beak on my ear. It hurt like crazy, and I just stood there, shouting, "What do I do? He won't get off!" A worker came to the rescue, shaking a rod at the bird. It flew off (and though the rest of my family would argue this fact, I maintain my position), taking a chunk of my ear with it. Needless to say, I cried a little.

I'm better now, with only a scar and a very good memory left from the incident.

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