Mokèlé-Mbèmbé, Part 5: “The Real Brontosaurus of the Congo”

This very inaccurate  reconstruction of a Diplodocus is similar to what is being described from Lake Tele.

In the previous chapter, I told of the various expeditions to the Lake Tele area in search of a living brontosaurus. According to native descriptions the animal is 5-10 m (15-30 feet) long, much of which is neck and tail, with scaly reddish-brown to gray skin, a snake-like head that has a sort of fleshy frill on the back (which is often compared to a rooster’s comb in texture), and three webbed toes at the end of short legs. It may also have filaments growing on its head or neck and two pouches or pocket-like depressions near the junction of its neck and shoulders. The creature hides in the mud during the day with only its nostrils showing and travels and feeds mostly at night. It floats in the water, stretching its neck out to pluck fruit hanging from vines that lay low over the water. 

As any paleontologist will point out this description sounds nothing like a sauropod of any kind. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the older water dwelling dinosaurs of the 1020s to 1960s but in others, it is radically different than even those outdated theories.  This has caused some to dismiss the reports as either wishful thinking or accounts of a new species of lizard. However, there is a simple logical answer to the Congo sauropod reports and this answer was discovered way back in 1981.

Mokèlé-Mbèmbé, Part 4: The “Brontosaur” Reports

Typical depiction of the Mokèlé-Mbèmbé as a sauropod dinosaur

As previously mentioned the word Mokèlé-mbèmbé simply means ‘monster’. The ‘brontosaur’ that most people think of when hearing the name Mokèlé-mbèmbé is properly called the n’yamala. The n’yamala is known mainly from reports from the Lake Tele area that refers to an animal with a large body, long neck, and long tail that is intermediate in size between a hippo and a forest elephant. Most cryptozoologists are under the impression that these reports or those of a sauropod dinosaur or some unique herbivorous monitor lizard. Once the reports are fully examined however, the actual animal behind these reports is rather obvious.

Jurassic Park’s Velociraptor is NOT Deinonychus: Making Brian Switek's Fanboy Hypothesis Extinct!

I just finished reading Brian Switek's new book "My Beloved Brontosaurus"; it's a pretty good book that gives a good overview of how much dinosaur paleontology has changed in the last 40 years. Unfortunately he struck a sour note with me on page 121.

Here he claims that Michael Crichton in Jurassic Park changed the name of Deinonychus to Velociraptor because Velociraptor was too small to be threatening. He claims the name change was due to Greg Paul classified Deinonychus and Velociraptor in the same genus. 

Ugh! I have been trying to squash that fanboy rumor for years. It is simply not so and reading the book they are supposedly fans of would easily show that this idea is incorrect. Oh and Spielberg’s movie is irrelevant as it omits the very background dialog that identifies the raptors in question. And besides we are talking about Crichton not Speilberg.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Greg Paul’s classification is irrelevant. Yes Paul classified Deinonychus in the same genus as Velociraptor but they were still different species. Even worse for Switek (and the fanboys) the novel actually says the animals cloned for the Park were cloned from DNA found in Mongolia and Deinonychus is a North American genus!

But first let’s see what the novel says about Deinonychus.

Dragonets, Firelizards, and Faerie Dragons

 

Original US cover for Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong, the first of the Harper Hall trilogy

 Dragons were now in danger of becoming too familiar, even cozy. One sign the dragon was in trouble as a true monster, even threatened with terminal decline, was the appearance of the cute “shoulder dragon” – a creature with all the traditional attributes of dragonkind except size and convincing ferocity.

The following quote from the role playing game supplement Gurps Dragons is typical of the attitude modern books have towards the concept of  small dragons. If it's not a D&D super-wyrm than it's a modern fabrication of little worth. Unfortunately for the research abilities of these so called experts the tiny dragon is hardly the creation of modern fantasy, SF, and superhero stories. Anne McCaffrey did not invent the shoulder dragon, as is often claimed, such creatures have been a part of western folklore for thousands of years. And all of these real folkloric dragonets are far more interesting than tiny dragon pets with stingers or funny dog-dragon's that explode when kicked!

Paul Kidby's depiction of Terry Pratchett's swamp dragons

Tiny dragon-like creatures are commonly found in northern European folklore. These creatures (usually having a mix of the characteristics of both faeries and dragons) are known under many names including kratchens (Belgium and Holland), krats (Scandinavia), drachens (Germany), feu draks (France and Switzerland), aitvaras (Lithuania), lideric (Hungaria), pisuhand (Baltic areas), and tulihand (Estonia). The descriptions vary according to local folklore but are generally they are shapeshifters that appear as little house fairies that smell like rotten eggs, wear red caps and white tunics. They can turn into black cats or chickens in order to blend in with the household but when they fly they become winged 2-3 foot long four-legged dragons with a flaming tail. They thus are compared to a will o' wisp or tiny flaming ball.

Unsurprisingly, fairy drakes are also said to guard treasures when encountered in their will o' wisp form. This description changes in Finnish folklore where the krat is always depicted as a tiny dragon, yet still is depicted as a house fairy. Other names are Rarash, Kaukas, Pūkis, Damavykas, Sparyžius, Koklikas, Gausinėlis, Žaltvikšas, and Spirukas.

Typical d&d version of a Faerie dragon courtesy of AFSA clipart

 According to legend these little dragons are very loyal and form strong bonds with families (especially man of the house) and will travel across the world doing chores for their masters, bringing them essential medicine, exotic foods, and gifts, in exchange for being taken cared of. They can also become revengeful, able to unleash powerful destructive forces. They are house fairies and move into a house and keep the firewood dry and takes care of the house, barn and stables, making sure that the pantry and money chest are well stocked. They can travel the world in a split second, and bring their masters a present back from faraway places. In return, the master keeps the drake fed and treated with respect. Should the drake be insulted it will burn the house down. If you see a drake on its travels, take shelter, for they leave behind a poisonous sulfurous fog. If you quickly shout "half and half" or throw a knife at the creature, then the drake may drop some of its booty in your lap. If two people together see a drake, they should cross their legs in silence, take the fourth wheel off the wagon and take shelter. The drake will then be compelled to leave them some of his haul. 

Another use for a small dragon, AFSA clipart again

 

Some of my favorite regional variants of the faerie dragon are the...

Aitvaras: a household spirit in Lithuanian mythology is described as having the appearance of a rooster or wet chicken while indoors and the appearance of a dragon outdoors. An Aitvaras will lodge itself in a house and will most often refuse to leave. It brings both good and bad luck to the inhabitants of the house. Aitvaras provide their adopted home with gold coins, milk and grain, often getting the household into trouble as these treasures are stolen from the neighbors. According to many, an Aitvaras can be obtained from the Devil in exchange for one's soul, but can also be found, or brooded from the eggs of a seven-year-old cock. The spirit must be fed with omelet if it is to stay in the house. If it dies it becomes a spark.

The dragon's of Oz, showing the Aitvaras-like tail light

 Lidérc: this faery dragon is from Hungarian folklore and is similar to the aitvaras in appearance except that it hatches from the first egg of a black hen kept warm in the armpit of a human or a heap of manure and attaches itself to people to become their lover in exchange for blood (it is a vampire) or their soul. If blood is given the Lidérc hoards gold and thus makes its owner rich. If your soul is given instead of blood then the person owning the Lidérc gets gold and suddenly becomes capable of extraordinary feats (super powers) from the Devil. To dispose a Lidérc, it must be persuaded to perform an impossible task, such as haul sand with rope, or water with a sieve. It can also be destroyed by locking it into a tree hollow. 

The cockatrice, yet another small dragon-chicken in myth

The Pisuhand: also known as Puuk, Tulihand, Pukys, etc. This is similar to the other faerie dragons but takes the form of a cat instead of a chicken. It guards a particular house and is about 2ft in length. In some beliefs it does not have wings and in others it does and flies around with a fiery tail. This Dragon steals treasure for its master and guards the treasure of the household and tends to play tricks on people.

The book A Wizard's Bestiary by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart also has this entry in its dragon section:

Faery Dragon: Also called fairy dragons, fey dragons, or penny dragons, this type of dragon is prevalent in South America. They range from the size of a mouse to about a foot in length. The faery dragon resembles a classical dragon of Europe in build, but there are several important differences (besides the size, that is!). Penny dragons sport two sets of dragonfly or butterfly wings. They have a longer, more tapered snout; large iridescent eyes; and are colored to blend in with their surroundings in the same manner that moths, butterflies, and other insects do. However, if the light hits them just right, the faery dragon's hide will shine with a rainbow of colors.

 I can find no folkloric origin for this type faerie dragon but I did find mention of a South American cryptid animal said to resemble a small dragon or pterodactyl with acidic saliva that burns skin. 

An acid spitting pterosaur - It doesent get much better than this! Who else would like to see some of these in a recent fantasy book or RPGs?

Council of Wyrms for D&D 3.5

Ages ago I wrote a conversion of TSR's old Council of Wyrms campaign for 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (not my favorite rules system simply because of it's complexity). I published it at my scribd site where it did very well. Then 4th edition came out and Scribd removed everything relating to 3rd edition, even it it was covered by WOTC's licence so was legal to personally publish.

Well to the underworld with scribd. Here is a fully updated version of my Council of Wyrms conversion text in PDF form. It contains a full conversion of all 15 COW dragon races, a conversion for COW style half dragons and several templates to create crawling wyrms, multi-headed dragons, wyvern dragons, and more! Here is a copy of the table of contents and a couple of the illustrations (all legally used).

Enjoy.