The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter by Tere Stouffer Read Free Book Online Page A

friend to Achilles but suffers with blindness until Chiron, the centaur, cures him.
Salamander
    Salamanders—small four-footed reptiles—are useful as ingredients in potions; otherwise, there is little magical about them, except that they look like tiny dragons. Well, that and salamanders in Greek mythology live in fire, but only until the fire dies out—then they die as well.
Sphinx
    This mythological creature, widely considered a symbol of wisdom, is said to have the body of a lion and the head of a woman. In order to pass by her and enter the town of Thebes, she demands an answer to a riddle; legend has it the riddle was answered correctly only by Oedipus.
    MAGIC TALE
    Here’s the sphinx’s riddle: What is it that has one voice, and is four-footed in the morning, two-footed at midday, and three-footed in the evening? The answer: a man, who crawls as a baby, walks as a man, and uses a cane in old age.
Unicorn
    From the Latin unus (one) and cornu (horn), this legendary animal may actually be based on sightings of a rhinoceros in about 400 B.C.E. However, unlike the rhino, the unicorn is a svelte creature, has the body and head of a horse, and may also have the tail of a lion and the hind legs of a stag. Always, however, a unicorn has a single, sharp, cone-shaped horn growing from its forehead.
    The unicorn also has acquired a special place in the hearts of young girls, and it decorates pillows, notebooks, lunchboxes, and the like. This version of the unicorn is a silvery white horse with a horn. It’s oh-so-pretty and is the horse of choice for budding princesses. Unicorns, in nearly every culture, are extraordinary creatures to behold.
    Likewise, wizarding unicorns are highly prized for their beauty and magical power. Although some parts of the unicorn are used in special magical potions (chiefly the horn and tail), unicorn blood is verboten: drinking the silvery blood will curse you for the rest of your life, although it will save you from death even if you’re seconds away. Wizard unicorns are fully grown at about seven years old; until that time, unicorn foals are gold in color.

Creatures from Other Folkloric and Mythological Traditions
    The creatures in this section spring from a variety of other folkloric and mythological traditions, from Japan to Poland to the Middle East.
Boomslang
    A boomslang (prounounced boo-um-slung in Africa; boom-slang everywhere else) is a large, fast-moving, highly poisonous African snake that’s also called the tree snake. Boomslang is a relatively unknown snake that came to prominence in Agatha Christie’s Death in the Clouds (1935), in which a passenger is killed on a plane trip with a dart poisoned with boomslang venom. The shredded skin is an ingredient in Polyjuice Potion (see Chapter 11).
Cat
    Cats and magic have been linked for hundreds of years, in a variety of ways:
    •Cats and witches were nearly constant companions; cats were the pet of choice for single women (and, often, still are today), but a cat living with a single, older woman often led to a suspicion of witchcraft.
    •Cats were believed to have nine lives, allowing them to repeatedly escape death.
    •Cats were believed to be shapeshifters that attacked children in the night.
    •Cats were believed to be able to store disease; thus, a witch could transfer disease from a person to a cat, and vice-versa.
    •Cats were believed to have an effect on crops, either assuring a bounty or causing ruin.
    •Black cats were (and still are by some) believed to be bad luck, or even a representation of the Devil.
    In the wizarding world, cats are not exceedingly dangerous or even interesting. They are simply common pets. Two pet cats, however, are worth noting in the wizarding world:
    •Mrs. Norris, the cat that belongs to the Hogwarts caretaker, was named for a character in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, a character who was a snob of the highest order.
    •Crookshanks ( shanks meaning “legs;” therefore, “crooked