Angels & Elves
Russell Derrickson
6 December 2013
Genesis
Growing up as an American child of Irish decent; I was told and later enthusiastically read stories as a child. These stories had a particular similarity to them that can be found in many stories for children around the world. That similarity was that the tales contained “beings” or “creatures” not found in the mundane world around us. In fact they were so different than any other organisms that we knew of they were termed “other-worldly” and “super-natural”.
This did not quite make sense to me, that all these “fairy tales” were just that: a fantasy to tell children and nothing more. As I grew up I began to see the other children gravitate more and more to this approach, yet I never felt the same pull. These “flights of fancy” for those too young to know better felt too real, the descriptions just to rich and detailed. The more I questioned this, the more I felt like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, running down the rabbit hole (Carroll).
The thing that most confused me about these beings (whatever they may be called) were the sources they came from. They could be found in the Bible and the Tao te Ching, as well as Grimm's Faerie Tales and the Le Morte d'Arthur. While I was to believe that these sources were entirely credible when pertaining to things such as the kinship of English royalty, thus giving them sovereignty, to the salvation of my mortal soul; I was not to believe the credibility of the descriptions of these beings, despite being found in those very same texts.
The contradictory nature of this task became very difficult for me. I found myself again and again in life coming back to how certain things can be accepted, yet others cannot. Eventually I came to a point where I had to decide that I was not able to accept these conclusions. That a source can be credible for some of the most important and personal parts of our lives, while telling us of things that were nothing more than fancies to make children smile was no longer an acceptable way of understanding the world to me.
I decided to go with the old adage “ seeing is believing”. As it is clear that no archaeological evidence, nor any scientific evidence has as yet been brought forward; I had to spend many years looking into the source materials of the stories themselves.
What I found astonished me; from a Buddhist monk in Tibet before the Chinese Invasion, to the Qur’an, to the folklore of early China, to the Greeks, the Israelites, the Mayas, the Egyptians and nearly every other early culture on our planet all gave descriptions of super-natural beings. What is more astonishing still is that the descriptions of these beings can be incredibly similar. So similar that it makes it much hard to believe that the descriptions are not done by the same author. The trouble with that is that these books and tales come from all over the world and from all points in time.
This then begs the question: if these beings are being described by different people, in different places, and at different times, yet all describing the same phenomenon; can it really be dismissed as fantasy so easily?
I had to decide I could not agree with this sort of contradictory logic. I could not accept that so many perfectly logical people with such credibility and integrity could at the same time be associated with portraying as non-fiction something known to be imaginary in nature.
In an attempt to make my own decision on the subject, I decided to investigate the various types of beings that exist and their similarities to each other in the descriptions that have survived to this day. My criteria became very simple, I decided to trust in another old adage: there are two sides to every story, and then the truth.
By following this logic, different sources from different places would have to be describing the same thing for it to ring of truth. Any child will tell you there is something under their bed, it takes a second individual confirming the statement before it is determined true or false; the same is required of scientists reporting new findings. If it cannot be verified by a second set of individuals, independent of the original source, than it must be considered a false report. So like a diligent parent, I went to investigate the dark regions underneath the bed.
The idea of a dragon, or flying lizard permeates almost every culture on Earth, as does that of a race older and wiser than ours that helped teach us and bring us enlightenment. There are tales, equally well spread, that this other race has enemies as well. Some times they are kindred, but with different ideologies, some are of separate origins completely, but the tale and the reasons remain surprisingly similar. Many cultures have a version of a first man, weather he arises from the ground or divinely created may change, but the story remains the same.
While this type of analytical investigation does do quite a bit of damage to the sphinx and the phoenix, there are several creatures described in many mythologies and folk tales that do come down through time to us in very similar forms. As Jacob Grim said in his second volume of Teutonic Mythology “Apart from the deified and the semi-divine natures there stands a whole order of other beings...” (Grimm).
Noesis
The number of so-called “tall tales” that have been told over the millenia is quite obviously enormous, and vastly unique. There are tales that run from a little faerie that has a particular pension for children's teeth, and another of a decapitated equestrian involving pumpkins to a child-eating old woman in the middle of the woods enjoying candy coated architecture and a bearded man who has obesity issues with a history of breaking and entering that could be compared to a career criminal. With this plethora of obvious frivolities in the world, it is easy to assume that any and all tales of the sort would fall into the same category.
There are many creatures that do not fit this category quite so easily. Before 2006, when the Discovery Channel first found a living Giant Squid, the legend of the Kraken was believed to be no more than a tale to frighten sailors and Troy was considered just a place in a myth by a blind Greek poet no more than a hundred years ago (Roper). Here are a few creatures that live in the realm between fiction and reality, just as Troy and the Kraken once did:
Faeries
The beings whose namesake still exists with the term “fairy tale” itself come from Icelandic and
Nordic traditions. They share much of the same history as elves, and are eventually transitioned to a part of the eleven race. The distinction becomes murky near the end of the Medieval Age, and they eventually become considered a feminine term for elves.
Today faeries are represented as little beings, nearly impossible to see. They are still commonly construed as female and are most often associated with two specific faeries: the tooth fairy and Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell of course comes from Jim Barrie's imaginative play, Peter Pan, and the tooth fairy is a modern construction. Beyond this, we are left with the works of linguist Jacob Grimm and his brother that have passed on to us as the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales.
Elves
Another race that has come down through the ages is that of the elves. These tales are known to come down from Icelandic lore, from tales as old as the Elder Edda, one of the earliest tales of viking mythology (Edda). The Elder Edda tells of several races intermingling with humans,amongst whom the Aelfir are listed. This race is not considered divine, yet they are attributed with super-natural powers. The most prominent of which is the ability to disappear and reappear at will.
Known almost as much for their mischievous nature as their reclusive tendencies, this race has been known to stay away from humans as much as possible. While there are a few potential candidates, it is very difficult to ascertain a single name of a single elf recorded in history. They are generally said to be reluctant to involve themselves in human affairs.
There are legends, such as the Irish Tuatha Dé Danann, of once having a friendship with early humans, teaching them of magic, language and writing (Tuatha Dé Danann). At a certain point though, things somehow go wrong. Man does what he does best, and eventually there is a wariness that then evolves nearly into a fear. Then they disappeared from our tales. Shakespeare and Tolkien both bring them briefly back into literature, but their time there is both fictional and short lived.
Actual reports of elves outside of fiction, already dwindling, began to disappear with the advent of Christianity. The beliefs of these northern tribes went through a metamorphosis as the word of Christ was spread to ever further reaches of the globe. As this change occurred, the view of elves changed as well. In Beowulf, Elves are described as fallen ones and are associated with giants (Hall, J.R.). It is said that they did not chose a side between God and Satan and so they too were sent to Earth as punishment.
Shortly after the transition to Christianity, a term “Elf Shot” came into play. It was used to refer to a sort of “shot” as if by a bow or blow gun was the cause of illnesses at the time. The prevalence of this idea grew and the view of elves began to turn to the darker side.
Today, few outside of Iceland itself believe in these creatures. In Iceland however, 3% of the population claims to have still encountered these creatures and 8% believe in them outright (Mala). This number may be relatively small, yet another 54% will not refuse their existence either (Mala).
Angels
In 2011, CBS News reported that a survey by the Associated Press found 77% of Americans believed in angels (Poll: Nearly 8 in 10 Americans Believe in Angels). This originates from a vast array of faiths, ranging from Islam to Christianity to Judaism and even some smaller groups such as the Mormons and the Zoroastrians have angels intertwined in their religion.
The Bible is littered with narrations of angels and not all of these encounters return beneficial results for the humans involved. Angels today are commonly viewed as cute and cuddly little babies with wings, or as a guiding force, invisible yet still real. The descriptions in the holy books are much different, telling of monstrous creatures.
The Bible's later and slightly more abridged version speaks of multitudes of angels singing in vast choirs. Of these vast choirs, few have ever had their names recorded by man, yet those few retain the same personage throughout the areas where they are known. Many are unnamed, leaving humans, already somewhat confused by their presence, to make assumptions. This generally leaves many acts, done anonymously, to be attested to those few whose names we do know.
While the list is short, those whose names have made it into our records have done so in both magnificent benignity or terrible malignancy. It was angels who saved Lot in Sodom, yet the same angels destroyed the rest of the city and the adjoining one as well (Gen 19:15-29). Though it is generally implied that the two are Michael and Gabriel, or Michael and another; the Torah, Bible and Qur'an all leave the beings unnamed. Some of the names that have come down still ring as names in modern times as well as mythology, a few of the best known are The Metatron, Michael, and Gabriel.
The Torah depicts the Metatron, the only angel ever to have once been a human, as having the size of the entire planet; with 36 wings, 365 eyes and his entire body made of a burning flame (Metatron). The Metatron is also mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud three times, mainly in fear of his vast power.
Michael is known as the warrior, with a flaming sword and unyielding loyalty, he is represented as the perfect soldier and the right hand of God. In Revelations, Michael is described as fighting dragons in the end times. (Bible Rev 12:7-9). Another story has him contending with Satan over Moses (Bible Jude 1:9).
Muslims also share a belief in Michael and remember his might. The Qur'an names him and Gabriel as champions in battle (Qur'an 2:98). He is sometimes known for carrying a mighty sword and it is said in Islam that after the day he first saw Hell, he never laughed again (Jibrail). This is a very real psychological description of a warrior who has just seen too much battle. It is the kind of character that would come down through the ages and does from many different lands.
Gabriel is more known in Christianity and Judaism as a trumpeter, and a musician. He is depicted as a messenger and occasionally referred to as the Mouth of God. Most of our knowledge of him comes instead from Islam where he is known as the angel who first spoke to Muhammad and revealed Heaven to him (Jibrail). It is also said that he walked with Adam after he was kicked out of Eden and taught him language and other skills he would need to survive in the world (Jibrail). No matter how these creatures are described, one thing is clear, the idea of the cute little winged baby goes out the window pretty fast in the face of such monstrous beings. Tales involving beings such as this can be found in many other places around the world. There is always a story of an older race not quite human but akin to us that helped us move forward and progress in the world.
In moderns times, angels still receive more attention than most but they do not hold a monopoly. There are several races that share the same tales from other places and religions all over the world.
Giants
Tales of a race of beings, massive in size, cohabiting with humans at the dawn of memory and mythology exist the world over. There size is so large as to actually make describing them without using the word giant difficult. From the J?tnar of the Elder Edda, to the Nephilim of the Bible, to the statues on Easter Island, to P'an-Ku in China, images and tales of these beings can be found the world over.
The exact origin of these creatures is a bit difficult to determine, as so many legends exist about them. The Bible tells of a race of giants, known as the Nephilim, that were the offspring of humans and angels (Gen 6:4). This eventually became the reason given for the Biblical Flood (Gen 6:1-7).
The J?tnar, the Thursar and Trolls all come down from the Icelandic Elder Edda as another race that generically become referred to as giants in modern times (Edda). Many stories exist of the slaying of these creatures through out the history of Northern Europe.
China tells of a being named P'an-Ku who again reaches such humongous proportions. He is described as hairy and primitive, with horns on his head, clad in furs. P'an-Ku is considered a God and was said to have been tasked with creating the Earth.
All around the world such creatures are found, and at almost every turn, they are considered dangerous and primitive. The warnings generally advise to avoid at all cost or to kill if possible. The exact reason for this determination may vary from place to place, but the same decision is made again and again.
Modern times see giants remembered in the tales such as that of Jack and the Beanstalk. Other variations on this theme include Giant grocery stores and Green Giant Produce. Both the National Football League and Major League Baseball have a team named after these brutes as well.
Daemons
Daemons again come from European terminology, though this is generally in relation to other beings. In the loosest of definitions, daemons are any spirits or beings that have malicious intent. Daemons are most strictly considered, however, as fallen angels who swore loyalty to and fought with Satan in his war against God. When they lost; most were sent to Hell, though not all. Some never made it all the way there, and some managed to escape from Hell and come back to Earth. The chronicles of these beings can be found in all the Abrahamic religions.
As Christianity made it's way into other areas of the world, all the vast spirits and other inhabitants of the realms were thrust together into the pile. This can be seen especially well in Northern Europe with the elves and the faeries of those cultures.
Djinn
Originating out of the Arabian Dessert, Djinn again are more purely depicted as having fallen, casualties of the war in Heaven. They are more commonly known in English as genies, and most of the tales concerning them come from 1,001 Arabian nights brought to European literature by Antoine Galland. These tales have been collected, much like the Elder Edda, the Torah, and many other religious and mythological books, over millenia of folklore told in that region.
Shen
From China, there comes tales of the Shen, another race of beings baring vast similarities to both angels and elves. When the first Christians came to China, this was the term they used to convey their meaning of God and angels to those they wished to convert. The word Shen, literally means spirit, but it's meaning can be just as ambiguous as spirit is in English.
Dragons
From the Great Wall of China to Hadrian's Wall to The Andes Mountains and from Ancient Sumerians and Early Egyptians, to modern times; the idea of great lizards exists in nearly every corner of the world and at almost all times.
From the Bible, John tells us in Revelations of a great dragon with seven heads (Rev 13:1-18). Chinese Folklore is riddled with dragons at every turn, as is Buddhism and Taoism (Carus, History). There depictions liter the art of the Aztecs and Mayans, Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Jews, Viking and Old English mythologies find tales of knights slaying dragons throughout their histories.
Today, dragon imagery is still abundant and can be found all over the modern world. In 2010, the movie How to Train your Dragon thrilled children and audiences all over the world.
Chronicles
The histories, cultures, religions and mythologies from almost every portion of the globe and time-line of humanity has one common element: they all contain some other co-inhabitants on our planet. All societies are great at finding the differences in one another, but to find the common ground is to find a path to understanding and one day peace. One place this where we do find equal footing is the stories we tell our children; another is our eventual disbelief with the onset of adulthood. If one were to look at the similarities between these tales, they might not be dismissed as flippantly.
Doppelgangers
As the descriptions of some of the more infamous beings to share our world begins to display, the similarities vastly outweigh the differences between them. There are differences between them, for instance the idea the genie in the tale of Aladdin hardly seams to match with the description of a biblical demon. Most of these differences come from the personal evolutions of the various tales. In the particular example of the genie and the demon. The genie was made of smoke, a demon fire, and both by God (YHWH or Allah). They both were cast from Heaven to Earth as punishment for some transgression, and it is implied that both received these punishments for actions during a war in Heaven.
The elves equally are claimed to live on Earth as a punishment for choices made during this war. This concept is visualized much later on in the evolution in more Christianized human depictions, yet the idea itself does not contradict earlier observations either. When considering elves it is easy to include faeries, who have been intermingled since medieval times.
Faeries are very similar to elves, save one detail: they are generally depicted as having wings very similar to those of angels. This is intriguing when examined in the context of the tales that some angels lost their wings when falling from Heaven and becoming demons, yet not all demons are without wings either.
An examination of these beings individually begins to become an exercise in repetition. The similarities occur so often as to make it tedious to determine exactly which one is being referred to unless they are named outright. Once beyond the simple basics of appearance and basic characteristics, the stories of these other beings continues to find synonymous tendencies.
Mythos
Jacob Grimm and his brother Wilhelm, began examining the ancient folklore of Northern Europe in the early 1800s (Ashiliman). Their work gathered a vast array of tales and is considered the definitive and certainly is the most extensive set of literature that can be found on the subject. What they discovered was that nearly all the northern tales were the same, with only minor variations (Grimm).
Dr. Paul Carus, a professor of comparative religion said in his book Chinese Thought “ Obviously the name means “aboriginal abyss,” or in the terser German, Urgrund, and we have reason to believe it to be a translation of the Babylonian Tiamat...” when investigating the Chinese giant P'an-Ku (Carus, Chinese Astrology). In another book, The history of the Devil and the Idea of Evil, Dr. Carus equates Tiamat with the Satan (Carus, History).
Nicholas Denny states in his paper Elves, Faeries and Brownies “There are some curious resemblances between Chinese and Western superstitions on the subject of storm-fiends or fairies. Thus the storm-raiser in China is not unlike his prototype in Scotland.” (Dennys). In particular he found commonality between Sir James Melville's characterization of a spirit assisting witches to raise a storm and the Chinese depictions of a demon shen called Ke-mung (Dennys).
Many have heard the story of Noah's Arc and the flood occurring within, yet few have heard the tale of Utanapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh. Utanapishtim tells Gilgamesh, a king seeking immortality, “ The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.” (Epic of Gilgamesh). Feeling pity for mankind, one of the gods came down to Utanapishtim, warning him of the imminent disaster in time to build a boat and survive the deluge (Epic of Gilgamesh). The Bhagavad Gita tells a similar tale of Manu surviving the flood in one of his incarnations as the first man at the beginning of the present Yuga or age that we live in now (Manu).
Another area where differences can be set aside involve the first man. Many cultures have a version, from Hindu's Manu to Biblical Adam and Eve to Askr and Embla from Norse mythology. A common trait can be found here in the ground itself. It is interesting to note that though the cultures differ on how the first man comes forth, the story still seems to tie together. That even when he is divinely created, such as with Adam or Manu, they are created from the clay or the earth. This does fit right in with the idea of coming out of the earth, merely starting the time line of knowledge a bit further on.
Origin
The familiar theme in the narratives that are passed down to us from prehistory is that the theme continues to remain familiar. The accounts told all around the world begin to have a tendency to confirm each other more often than they contradict. Faeries and elves, angels and demons, djinn and shen, they all seem to be describing the same creatures from different contexts. The portrayals of giants and dragons permeates our society, no matter what society that may be.
The question eventually becomes: where are all these myths coming from? Where does the rabbit hole end? The commonalities of these myths make their uniqueness highly coincidental, if not completely questionable. The sources of these tales are highly respected texts, from the holy books of the main world religions to one of the founders of the English language as it is known today, Jacob Grimm.
Wordplay
The Tower of Babylon certainly did it's job; the evolution of language and the expansion of time becomes the main trouble for ascertaining the underlying logic that these stories all share a common
origin. It becomes akin to the children's game Chinese Whispers, where a group sits in a circle and whisper a message from one person to another until it has come full circle back to the original speaker. Inevitably the speaker will find the message muddled to the point of near incomprehension.
This can be seen in the name game of modern times. Consider the Spanish name Jose' whose similarities to it's Farsi companion Yusef could only be realized with the context of another companion such as the English Joseph.
The same name game is seen to become much more complicated when looking at something like the Tetragrammaton (YHYH), this Sumerian symbol, predating the Semitic language is translated in many different forms today. Hebrews themselves refuse to speak or write the Tetragrammaton, and place words that come down to us through Greek, Latin and Germanic influences to be simply known as Lord or God. Other translations lead us to modern Yahweh from which the Islamic Allah is derived and Jehovah seen in the name of the religious group known as Jehovah's Witnesses.
While the words God, Yahweh, Lord and Jehovah all seem vastly antithetical, their origin stems from four letters written in a derivative of early Sanskrit, long before the common usage of the vowel had been invented.
In an article written for Science Journal, Barbara Davis and Peter MacNeilage state that the frame work of words came first, while the evolution of the content such as vowels and particular pronunciations came much later (Davis). In this paper they referenced work by Dr. Bengston and Dr. Ruhlen who found 27 global entomological similarities or “ similar words in different languages that are presumed to derive from a common source” (Davis).
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology found that humans evolved a larynx capable of producing speech 100,000 years ago (Holden). This has left quite a bit of time for the evolution of language, and the allowance of the name game to run it's course.
The fall of the Tower of Babylon and the “confusing of the tongues” that followed can be seen in the changes of our words and the way we interpret them today. Looking back to their origins, it can be seen that the similarities are so striking as to be difficult not to imagine as originating from the same systems.
Revelation
To untie this Pythagorean knot, it is best to go back to the original source materials. The original texts must be analyzed again, this time remembering the context of those doing the writing. Attention must be paid as well to the idea that the stories being told did not actually occur at the time they are recorded. The tales are being told by those not present at the actual event, they have come after to pass on the tales of their ancients.
To obtain such a goal, the history and locations of the actual people involved must be scrutinized. A wonderful example would be Abraham the Great Patriarch, whose prodigy make up a vast majority of Islamic and Judaic populations. Though he is referenced often in both beliefs, and it is agreed that he is referring to God as we would know him, Abraham himself would not have recognized God as he is seen today by either faith.
Abraham came out of the early Sumerian city of Ur, at the behest of a wandering law-giving god of the desert (Gen 12:1). There just so happens to be a wandering law-giving god of the desert to be found in the pantheon of the people living in the town of Ur at the same time as Abraham would have lived there named EL.
By determining exactly who a particular being is and that being's personal characteristics it becomes possible to trace the being's path through time and geography. This can then help make sense of how a specific entity evolves over time and location, and how different interpretations can emerge over millenia.
Unum
Philologist Gallimard Dumezil stated in his book Mythe et épopée “a mode of representing the cosmos for India and the Far East, well known and long studied, also exist in America, with similarities down to the details” (Dumezil). The same has been seen with the creatures in large portions of these cultures.
Dr. Dumezil suggests there was an earlier religion that all of these others originated from, and calls this religion the Proto-Indo-European religion or PIE (Dumezil). This religion would have existed right around the same time and place as the precursor to Semitic and Sanskrit mentioned earlier would have been used.
The realization of a single unified religion encompassing all the ideologies out there is not a new concept. The mythological texts themselves even seem to agree that at one time, peace and unity did exist amongst the beings in the world.
The idea of Eden, or Shangri La, or Dilmun exists in the stories and imaginations of all mankind. This memory of a place where all was well and provided for persists through the centuries. It certainly helps to validate the logic of a single religion that fathered the faiths that followed.
Hindu in particular has a wonderful outlook on other religions, as it is not strictly a single religion itself. It instead is more a conglomeration of many religions. These religious ideas vary greatly from one another, yet there is one core that unites these vastly different points of view.
They feel that all views are nothing more than another way to see the nature of God. It is thought behind the veil of the different depictions, they are just different aspects of God (or Brahma). It can best be visualized by imagining a lantern. No matter which pane glass pane you look through, you still can see the light underneath. The light would be considered God while the panes would be the different religious views of God.
The rabbit hole seems to lead to an earlier culture, whose legacy is heavily veiled with the passage of time. It's stories come to us from all over the globe in all sorts of creative ways. It brings us images of angels, wings extended across the sky, and elves, whose magic and mischievous smiles are never quite forgotten.
The legends come in terrifying monstrosities such as the daemons of the Bible or the J?tnar of Norse mythology. Great fire breathing dragons appear in architecture the world over, where they do not fly, they swim; and everyone knows not to trust them.
What is very clear is that the more evidence comes forth and the more we learn about our past, the more clear it becomes that there must have been someone here before, helping the cultures that we consider to be the ancients today through their own infancy.
Consumo
When all the facts have been laid out on the table, and all the evidence is examined, one thing jumps up before anything else. Gravitating away from the idea that other beings might exist on this planet, besides humans, who are capable of interacting with, and mastering, the world around them with as much, if not more, ease than humans themselves becomes more difficult. To look back and find that the stories of these other beings are mirrored in different cultures across time and space makes their fictional status all the more questionable.
When I was a child, I was told, and later enthusiastically read, stories. These stories had one particular similarity to those told to children all over the world. That similarity is that they all originated from the same place and time, and so inspired those who heard, that the tales reached through the millenia to reach my ears as a child, thousands of years later. The same journey occurred for all the stories of all the other cultures and traditions as well. Almost all originating from the same place and time.
While these stories were originally told in a language that reached across the nations of the world, that language is no longer with us. Yet the memory of those words still linger, the tales are not yet forgotten.
I will tell my child these same tales as she grows up. She will hear them in the vast and complicated language known as English, and another generation will continue to pass on the secret, not even knowing or believing in it. The secret is this: despite the lack of skeletal remains and perfectly preserved fossils, the potential for the existence of these other beings is so strong as to prevail in the face of all the lacking evidence in the world.
Parents will still pass theses “fictions” off to their children and those children will, in time, do the same. The cycle will continue, until one day America might find itself the stuff of legend, every bit as fantastical as the tales of Atlantis.
A lack of existing evidence does not necessitate a lack of evidence existing. To find such a vast and rich array of depictions, and to see them last through the ages leads to it's own sort of evidence. It shows that despite the best efforts of the best skeptics the world can produce, humanity will not let loose our firm grip in the supernatural and other-worldly. There will always be a place for angels and daemons, elves and faeries, giants and dragons in the hearts and minds of humans. By existing there, in the hearts and minds, the idea that these beings could ever be easily dismissed as fantasy goes out the window. There will always be someone who believes, and the truth of the origin of these stories will always remain the same. Before the dawn of recorded history, a group of people described the world and creatures that existed around them, and the tales of these creature has stayed with us ever since.
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