The king of the serpents. The basilisk is a creature that is born from a spherical, yolkless egg, laid during the days of Sirius (the Dog Star) by a seven-year-old rooster and hatched by a toad.
The basilisk originated from the horned adder or hooded cobra from India. Plainly described simply as a snake with a golden crown. By the Middle Ages, it had become a snake with the head of a cock, and sometimes with the head a human. In art, the basilisk symbolized the devil and the antichrist. To the Protestants, it was a symbol of the papacy.
According to legend, there are two species of the creature. The first kind burns everything it approaches, and the second kind can kill every living thing with a glance. Both species are so terrible that their breath wilts vegetation and shatters stones. It was even believed that if a man on horseback should try to kill it with a spear, the power of the poison conducted through the weapon would not only kill the rider and the horse. One way to kill a basilisk is by holding a mirror in front of its eyes, while avoiding to look directly at it. The moment the creature sees itself, it will die.
However, even the basilisk has enemies. The weasel is immune to its glance and if it gets bitten it withdraws from the fight to eat some rue, the only plant that does not wither, and returns with renewed strength. A more dangerous enemy is the rooster for should the basilisk hear it crow, it would die instantly.
The carcass of a basilisk was often hung in the house to keep spiders away. It was also used in the temples to Apollo and Diana, where no swallow ever dared to enter. The basilisk is represented as an animal with the head, torso and legs of a rooster, the tongue of a snake and the wings of a bird. The snake-like ends in an arrow.