#Tarasque

[fleshwizard]

Dragons & Folklore de France

Translation below

The Tarasque dwells in the waters of the Rhone river near the town of Tarascon, where it devours travelers and destroys dikes and dams to flood the Camargue. Saint Martha chained it, and the people of Tarascon killed it.

The ruins of the amphitheaters of Metz were infested by hundreds of snakes. The largest of them, the Graoully, had a venomous breath, a mouth bigger than its body and devoured men. Saint Clement chased it away into the Seille River.

King of serpents, the Basilisk takes many forms throughout history and appears in many tales. One of them takes place at the Gate of Saint-Eloi in Bordeaux, known today for its Big Bell, where a well was occupied by a Basilisk. It petrified with its gaze anyone who went there to fetch water. It was defeated by a man returning from the Egyptian crusade, who petrified the beast with its own gaze using a mirail (mirror).

The Cocatrix is born from a rooster's egg incubated by a toad. The egg has magical properties but must not be broken. People who cross its gaze die immediatly.

Made of wicker and covered in flowers, the Grand Bailla wanders the streets of Reims three days a year and feeds on gold and sweets. It was banished by Archbishop Charles Maurice le Tellier.

The Grand'Goule haunts the marshes of Poitou, the waters of the Clain and the flooded cellars of the abbey of Sainte Croix. It feeds on nuns and casse-museaux (snout-breakers, cakes). Saint Radegonde chased it away with holy water.

In the rivers of the Jura and the Alps there is a group of diverse dragons, the Vouivres. They are generally flying serpents covered in fire and guardians of treasures. Many have for a single eye a gigantic carbuncle with extraordinary powers, desired by those in search of wealth and power.

Hidden in the caves and cliffs of la Pointe du Roux near La Rochelle, the Rô Beast traps and devours travelers in the coastal marshes. It was impaled by seven heroic pagans from the seas.

Mythical dragon of the Basque Country, Herensuge gave birth to the Sun and the Moon, swallowed all of Creation in ten days then regurgitated it in flames. Now asleep in the mountains, it sucks up flocks and shepherds in his sleep. When it wakes up, it will destroy the world in flames and blood. (illustration)

Durandal is the mythical sword that Charlemagne gave to the knight Roland. Some claim that it was inherited from Hector, the warrior of the Trojan War. At war with the Saracens in the Pyrenées, Roland wanted to break the sword so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy but Durandal split the mountain. So he threw the sword, which went to stick miles away, in the rock of the town of Rocamadour.

The belief in the Tooth Fairy is widespread in several countries in Europe, and is sometimes amalgamated with La Petite Souris (little mouse). It exchanges baby teeth for money. No one knows what it does with all these teeth.

The Camecruse is a bogeyman that haunts the moors and marshes of Gascony. It is agile, can jump and hide in the night to better devour lost children. No one knows exactly how it feeds.

The caves under the hill of the town of Hastingues are home to Lou Carcolh, a monstrous snail, long, slimy and hairy. Its shell is as big as a house. With the help of its tentacles, it grips people to devour them.

The Questing Beast is hunted by kings and heroes in Arthurian legends. It symbolizes evil, incest, violence and chaos, and takes it name from the loud noises that come out of its stomach, similar to the barking of dozens of dogs.

The fairy Mélusine, cursed princess of Albania, was condemned to change into a snake below the waist every Saturday. She married Raymondin de Lusignan with whom they had 10 prodigious children. But Raymondin broke his promise never to see Mélusine on Saturday : he surprised her in her monstrous form, and she left her family forever.

[moldspace]

tarasque

[childofsardior]

🔥 Happy Bowser's Day!! 🔥

I litterally discovered there was a Bowser Day this EVENING and I had to SPEEDRUN-

Btw I'll drop down here some fun facts about personal headcanon for Bowser's species and why I drew him lion/cat-like :3 ↓↓↓↓

I want to make a full post abt it one day, but for now hear me out: I'm quite convinced Bowser's species maybe be based on a French Tarasque (and probably also on Alligator Snapping Turtles and I also think Kappa from Japanese Mythology?). From my limited knowledge, Tarasques are creatures from French Mythology and Folklore that resemble a mix of a lion and bear with six limbs and a spiked turtle-like shell covered in spikes; they also have a serpentine tail and a poisonous breath (I gathered these informations from my very old book How to Raise and Keep a Dragon and from the Wiki, so feel free to correct me or add details ^^')

In my personal SMB Headcanon, Bowser's species is commonly known as "Royal Koopas" or "Dragon-Turtles", but its proper name is "Tarrasquin". They are both related to Koopas and Dragons and are often considered a specific subspecies of the latter. They do mix characteristic from Koopas/Turtles and Dragons, such as the carapace and the ability to retreat inside it (but NOT to take it off, in my Headcanon at least) and fire, horns and claws. But they also have some feline-like features, being based on Tarasques, such as their cat-like muzzles, their big paws and *maybe* some occasional cat or big-cat behaveours, such as... purring!

(I know lions themeselves can't actually purr like small cats do, but shhhh-)

[mouseinsweater]

wanted to do a @moldspace animal for some fun blockbench practice and i couldnt help but make the tarasque

(apologies for the weird flickering on the gif, blockbench does that with models with a lotta color variation LOL)

[kikaruuni]

Fate Grand Order material VII [Digital]part 4

[postcard-from-the-past]

Tarasque procession in Tarascon, Provence region of France

French vintage postcard

[khanidae]

THE TARASQUE

For @ardate :>

[thecrowinggriffon]

DM's wrath! I got this "biggature" int he mail this week. It took them a couple of years but this boy is massive! should've put a banana next to it for scale, but the little speaker to it's right has a height of 10 cm.

[carpemirobolante]

French dragon

[drachenwiki]

Today, July 29th, is the feast day of Saint Martha of Bethany.

Saint Martha is known as the tamer of the dragon Tarasque, that terrorized the town of Nerluc. She found the creature in the process of swallowing a man, sprayed it with holy water and showed it a cross. Then she bound her girdle around it's neck and led it into the town, where the people promptly killed it.

[ninjartistic64]

Dusting off the fancy pencils and cooking up monster designs

[mythicmayhemcomic]

Mythic Mayhem will be a smidge delayed until Saturday, so to make up for it here's a beastie preview.

[moldspace]

another take on the tarasque - trying out the technique of using a stain over my usual underglaze to bring out texture

[talism4niac]

A closer look at the Terragon species!

They are usually docile in nature but can be outright hostile if they see flora being abused. Terragons are known for regulating crops, pollination, and maintaining an efficient agriculture. Their manes are capable of holding and spreading pollen as well as acting as temporary flower beds for plants to latch onto. Creating a symbiotic relationship. In these cases, they fashion fallen leaves into shell-like containers to collect water for any flora that may be catching a ride.

The coloration of the average Terragon's fur is completely random but it is thought that their colors are bound to their favorite flora. The keratin comes in shades of brown and bodies resemble various plantlife.

They reside in dense forests populated with a bountiful arrangement of flora and fauna. Icelandic inspired architecture.

When hatchlings are born they are gifted foliage crowns that matches their fur and are dubbed their bound-crown.

[philoursmars]

L'année du Dragon arrive !

Une longue série de dragons arrive... Ici, des dragons baroques, classiques et apparentés...

Versailles, le Bassin du Dragon

Rome, Piazza del Popolo

Marseille, MuCEM - limonaire - Paris, 1909

Tarascon - la Tarasque

Arras, musée des Beaux-Arts- expo Versailles - le Dragon du Labyrinthe

Louvre-Lens, expo "Les Tables du Pouvoir" - aiguière - Brésil, 17ème s.

idem, expo "Animaux fantastiques" - Jean Gargot - "La Grand Goule" - Abbaye Sainte-Croix de Poitiers, 1677

idem - Hendrick Goltzius, gravure d'après Cornelis Cornelisz - "Le Dragon dévorant les compagnons de Cadmos" - Haarlem, 1588

[ardate]

Since you've sent me a ranking, allow me to send you one - three favorite legendary creatures?

Oh man that's a tough one, I sure love creechur. But (mario voice) here we go!

1- The Tarasque.

Such an absurd creature, an ancient pre-christian gallic myth that survived all this time, with the story of its demise still being celebrated in the original village where it supposedly happened to this day? Very difficult for me not to be completely entranced by this strange beast and having my heart filled with affection for it.

I mean. Just look at it. ♥

2- Dragons

Though the Tarasque technically is a dragon, I do have to add them to that list, the more common ones people think of when they hear that name.

It's an undying classic, powerful and classy, and you can absolutely never go wrong with those beasts. They always slap. Never fails.

3- The Monkfish (or Sea Monk)

I'm just. I'm fucking. Biaised towards that poor pathetic creature. Like. I mean. Just look at this fucking thing.

This is a monk fish. It was supposedly found somewhere in the 1500s. Apparently it does fill some sort of ecclesiastic role to bless the mermaids down there or something. Like I'm being straight up this is what they said back then. THis is so fucking funny to me. My friends and I found out about it in a book about sea myths on a vacation and we cried laughing at him for the whole week we were there and now he's legitimately our symbol.

I'm talking 'printing a flag with this goddamn drawing on it' symbol. Taking this flag wherever we go and putting it up proudly like we're the monkfish nation.

Monkfish truthers rise up. We out there.