Difference between revisions of "Peluda"

Revision as of 14:35, 1 February 2011

The Peluda, sometimes called the Shaggy Beast or La Velue, is a dragon-like beast that terrorized the city of La Ferté-Bernard, France, in medieval times.

Etymology

Peluda is Occitan for "hairy". "La Velue" means "The Hairy One" in French, a reference to the dragon's main method of defense.

Description

Depending on the account, the Peluda had either a thick porcupine-like body or a mess of hair-like projections hanging from its body, which could erect into quills. These quills were said to be so toxic that a single prick from the Peluda's back would kill instantly. Consistently, it was supposed to have possessed a snake's neck, head, and tail, large, tortoise-like feet, and a green color. It was the size of a large ox or bull.

Powers

The Peluda was a large and very powerful creature. Its body was inpenetrable by any weapon except for its weak spot, the tail. However, the tail was dangerous to approach, and could kill an adult man with a single strike. The poisonous stingers on the creature's body could be fired like arrows at victims. It could breathe fire from its mouth like a traditional dragon, most often using this ability to burn crops. It attacked prey by spewing a powerfully acidic venom or a stream of water. If pursued by the townspeople, the dragon would retreat to the waters of the Huisne, causing terrible floods.

Story

The lore proposed that the Peluda was denied or refused access to Noah's Ark, yet survived the biblical flood by seeking refuge in a cave near the Huisne River. After many years, it returned to rampage across the countryside, wilting crops with its breath and devouring both livestock and humans, causing terrible floods whenever townspeople attempted to chase it. It was finally defeated after it killed and dragged off a young man's fiancée. He tracked it down and cut off its tail, in some versions of the story learning of the beast's weak spot through the aid of a local wise woman. This was the only vulnerable point on the beast, and it died immediately.

Quote

Along the banks of the Huisne, an otherwise peaceful stream, there roamed during the Middle Ages a creature that became known as the Shaggy Beast (La Velue). This animal had somehow managed to survive the Flood despite its exclusion from the Ark. It was the size of a bull, and it had a snake's head and a round body buried under long green fur. The fur was armed with stingers whose wound was deadly. The creature also had very broad hooves that were similar to the feet of the tortoise, and its tail, shaped like a serpent, could kill men and cattle alike. When its anger was aroused, the Shaggy Beast shot out flames that withered crops. At night it raided stables. Whenever the farmers attempted to hunt it down, it hid in the waters of the Huisne, causing the river to flood its banks and drown the valley for miles.
The Shaggy Beast had a taste for innocent creatures, and devoured maidens and children. It would choose the purest of young womanhood, some Little Lamb (L'agnelle). One day, it waylaid one such Little Lamb and dragged her, mauled and bloody, to its lair in the riverbed. The victim's sweetheart tracked the monster, and with a sword sliced into the Shaggy Beast's tail, its only vulnerable spot, and cut it in two. The creature died at once. It was embalmed and its death was celebrated with fifes and drums and dancing.
-The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges

Art/Fiction

In the SNES Squaresoft RPG Chrono Trigger, the alien parasite Lavos has similar abilities and appearance to the Peluda.

The Peluda is a cryptid in the animated series The Secret Saturdays, although its quills are purple and it is much smaller in size.

References

Rose, Carol [November 2001]. Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth (in English). W. W. Norton & Company, 217, 289. ISBN 0-393-32211-4.
Shuker, Karl (1995). Dragons: A Natural History. Simon & Schuster, New York. ISBN 0-684-81443-9
The Shaggy Beast of La Ferte-Bernard, from Book of Imaginary Beings by J.L. Borges [1]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ==Etymology==
 Peluda is Occitan for "hairy". "La Velue" means "The Hairy One" in French, a reference to the dragon's main method of defense.
 ==Description==
-Depending on the account, the Peluda had either a thick porcupine-like body or a mess of hair-like projections hanging from its body, which could erect into quills. These quills were said to be so toxic that a single prick from the Peluda's back would kill instantly. Consistently, it was supposed to have possessed a snake's neck, head, and tail, large, tortoise-like feet, and a green color.
+Depending on the account, the Peluda had either a thick porcupine-like body or a mess of hair-like projections hanging from its body, which could erect into quills. These quills were said to be so toxic that a single prick from the Peluda's back would kill instantly. Consistently, it was supposed to have possessed a snake's neck, head, and tail, large, tortoise-like feet, and a green color. It was the size of a large ox or bull.
 ==Powers==
-The Peluda was said to be capable of the following feats, which vary between tales:
+The Peluda was a large and very powerful creature. Its body was inpenetrable by any weapon except for its weak spot, the tail. However, the tail was dangerous to approach, and could kill an adult man with a single strike. The poisonous stingers on the creature's body could be fired like arrows at victims. It could breathe fire from its mouth like a traditional dragon, most often using this ability to burn crops. It attacked prey by spewing a powerfully acidic venom or a stream of water. If pursued by the townspeople, the dragon would retreat to the waters of the Huisne, causing terrible floods.
-* Firing off its quills like arrows.
-* Invulnerability (except for its tail).
-* Creating floods by stepping into rivers.
-* A single strike from its tail was lethal to a full grown man.
-* Breathing out fire like a typical dragon to burn crops.
-* Spitting out a powerful stream of water or acid.
@@ Line 27: / Line 17: @@
 The lore proposed that the Peluda was denied or refused access to Noah's Ark, yet survived the biblical flood by seeking refuge in a cave near the Huisne River. After many years, it returned to rampage across the countryside, wilting crops with its breath and devouring both livestock and humans, causing terrible floods whenever townspeople attempted to chase it.
 It was finally defeated after it killed and dragged off a young man's fiancée. He tracked it down and cut off its tail, in some versions of the story learning of the beast's weak spot through the aid of a local wise woman. This was the only vulnerable point on the beast, and it died immediately.