2. Mythical Creatures
The world is full of stories about brave heroes, magical events,
and fantastic beings. For thousands of years, humans everywhere
—sometimes inspired by living animals or even fossils—have
brought mythic creatures to life in stories, songs, and works of
art. Today these creatures, from the powerful dragon to the
soaring phoenix, continue to thrill, terrify, entertain, and inspire
us. We seem to catch glimpses of these creatures all around us:
hiding beneath the ocean waves, running silently through the
forest, and soaring among the clouds. Some symbolize danger.
Others, we think, can bring us luck or joy. Together mythic
creatures give shape to human's greatest hopes, fears, and most
passionate dreams.
3. Dragons
Of all mythic creatures that rise
from the water, prowl across land, or
fly through the air, the dragon is the
most famed. Stories of serpent like
beasts with fabulous powers inspire
awe in almost every part of the
world. Rain-bringing dragons in Asian
tales can shrink so small that they fit
in a teacup--or grow so large that
they fill the sky. Dragons in Europe
can slaughter people with their putrid
breath, or spit fire and set cities
ablaze. The earliest dragon legends
go back thousands of years ago, and
the amazing creature is still alive
and bright in our imagination today.
4. Unicorns
The unicorn is a legendary animal that is
described to be a snow-white horse with a
large spiraling horn sticking out of its
forehead. In the Middle Ages the and
Renaissance, it was was commonly
described as an extremely wild woodland
creature, a symbol of purity and grace,
which could only be captured by someone
who can overcome evil. In the
encyclopedias, its horn was said to have
the power to render poisoned water
potable and to heal sickness. In medieval
and Renaissance times, the horn of the
narwhal was sometimes sold as unicorn
horn. Capturing a unicorn was worth a lot
of money back then. A unicorn would bow
to someone if that person is special or
loyal.
5. Fairies
A fairy is a type of mythical being or
legendary creature or a form of spirit.
Although in modern culture they are
often depicted as young, sometimes
winged, they originally were depicted
quite differently: tall, radiant, angelic
beings or short, wizened. Fairies were
also noted for their mischief and
malice.
Fairies are generally described as
human in appearance and having magical
powers. They are less clear in the
folklore, being variously dead, or some
form of demon or a species completely
completely of humans or angels.
Some fairies have been described as
ranging in size from very tiny up to the
size of a human child. Even with these
small fairies, however, their small size
may be magically assumed rather than
constant.
Wings are very rare in the folklore;
even very small fairies flew with magic,
sometimes flying on ragwort stems or
the backs of birds. Nowadays, fairies
are often depicted with ordinary insect
wings or butterfly wings.
6. Fairies (Continued)
In some folklore, fairies have green
eyes and often bite. Though they can
confuse one with their words, fairies
cannot lie. They hate being told 'thank
you', as they see it as a sign of one
forgetting the good deed done, and,
instead, want something that will
guarantee remembrance.
A belief held that they were a class of
"demoted" angels. One popular story
held that when the angels revolted, God
ordered the gates shut; those still in
heaven remained angels, those in hell
became devils, and those caught in
between became fairies. Others held
that they had been thrown out of
heaven, not being good enough,
7. Mermaids
A mermaid is a legendary aquatic
creature with the upper body of a
female human and the tail of a fish.
Mermaids appear in the folklore of
many cultures worldwide, including the
Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia. In
some stories, people thought that
Mermaids are sometimes responsible
with events such as floods, storms,
shipwrecks and drownings. Mermaids
are usually quite vain creatures, and
are usually snobs. They can lure
sailors to their deaths by singing
songs. Nighttime is their most
dangerous songs. Mermaids love
playing musical instruments too.
8. Phoenix
The phoenix is a bird of fire.
In Greek mythology, a phoenix
or phenix is a long-lived bird
that is regenerated or reborn.
Associated with the sun, a
phoenix obtains new life by
arising from the ashes of its
predecessor. While the
phoenix typically dies by fire
in most versions of the
legend, there are less popular
versions of the phoenix dying
and decomposes itself to live
again.
9. Griffins
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon
is a legendary creature with
the body, tail, and back legs of
a lion; the head and wings of an
eagle; and an eagle's talons as
its front feet. Because the lion
was traditionally considered
the king of the beasts and the
eagle the king of birds, the
griffin was thought to be an
especially powerful and the
king of all creatures. Griffins
are known for guarding
treasure and priceless
possessions.
10. Self Refection
I think I did alright in this project because mythical creatures
are some of the things I want to learn more about. Although I
don't have many slides, I put a lot of information on each slide.
I think I was an explorer, because I tried to find as many wellknown mythical creatures to research on. I should have been
more balanced because I mostly did the work two days before
the due date. I should have balanced the amount of work to
the amount I have free time. I really enjoyed this subject, but
some of it confused me because of all the different religious
opinions about each mythical creature. I think I got a
Meeting/fully meeting, since this presentation is not one of my
best work. I should have tried much harder and added more
pictures. I have learned more than I expected, and I hope to
learn more about this subject soon!
11. Works Cited
"Fairy." Wikipedia. 2014. N. pag. Print. This site was also about one subject, and that subject was
the fairy. The site was also quite hard for a Grade Seven level, but again, we will understand
it well enough to fully understand fairies. Some of the information about fairies were based
on other religions and cultures, stating that fairies were "demoted angels" or "demons" It was
a bit complicated to understand fully.
"Griffin." Wikipedia. 2014. N. pag. Print. This article on Griffins had a lot of information. Although
this website had information only on the Griffin, it still helped me as much as other websites
would. I could have found another website that would be easier for me to understand. (Ar a
Grade Seven Level) Other than complicated words, this article had plenty of information.
"Legendary Creature." Wikipedia. 2013. Wikipedia. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_creature>. This site helped me find a few of the
examples of the creatures I was looking for. It had the links to the other creatures such as
dragons and griffins. This site isn't really at a grade seven level, but it allows us to
understand most of the words written on the site.
12. Works Cited Continued
"Mermaid." Wikipedia. 2014. N. pag. Print. This article of Wikipedia is all about mermaids and
about other cultures ideas about them. This article was alright for a grade seven level and
I learned a lot about the subject of mermaids. One thing I found interesting about
mermaids was that people pretended to be a mermaid on shows. They would preform in
a large see-through glass tank and preform dances while wearing mermaid tails and
holding their breaths. After the show, children would sometimes ask if the mermaids are
real, but like Santa Claus or the tooth fairy, they would always say yes. I thought this was
strange.
"Phoenix (Mythology)." Wikipedia. 2014. N. pag. Print. This article of Wikipedia was all about
the phoenix, which is one of the mythical creatures that I am doing research on. This
website was very complicated for a Grade Seven level, although I think we can
understand most of the information written on this site. This website gave me plenty of
information about the phoenix, which is a bird of fire.
