Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. My wife recently gave me a copy of the nineteen eighty five book Magical Beasts from the Time Life Enchanted World series. This is a volume I didn't have in my childhood set of the books, and as with other volumes, this one contains a rich collection of new and classic illustrations. Flipping through it for the first time, I encountered the expected array of satyrs, harpees, and unicorns. But then on page one hundred and twenty two, I encountered a glorious illustration by none other than contemporary artist Wayne Anderson, whose book Flight of Dragon was the inspiration for the nineteen eighty two Rankin and Bass animated film of the same name, recently featured on Weird House Cinema. Anderson's interpretation of the creature is a splendid antelope like creature with a single curved horn. This horn does not spiral, but it does branch off into stunted hollow tubes. It gives the horn an appearance of both coral and a fluted musical instrument. It also reminded my wife of the Grinch's dog Max, once he was augmented with a crude antler in the cartoon. The text of Magical Beasts tells us that this is the Persian creature known as Shahdhavar, and when the wind passes over this horn and its apertures, sweet music is produced, music so sweet, in fact, that animals of the forest will draw near. It is then that Shadhavar's predatory nature is revealed, as the creature pounces on its enthralled prey, kills it, and devours its flesh. Shadhavar is discussed in the nineteen fifty text The Unicorn Studies in Muslim Iconography by the late Islamic art historian Richard Ettinghausen. He writes that, according to Zakaria al Kuzwani in his thirteenth century book The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation, the Shadhavar lives in remote regions of room, and its horn contains no less than forty two hollow branches. The fourteenth century writer al Damiri would increase that count to seventy two, and it appears that historian Hamdala Mustawafi contributed the predatory account, possibly grafting it on from another imaginary creature, the Sirranas, which was originally described as a marine animal with musical apertures on its snout and later as a land animal with musical apertures on its snout. In either case, the Sirranus was said to lure in prey with its song as well. The excellent blog A Book of Creatures features a nice illustration of what this Syranus might have been expected to look like, and mentions that the name of the creature may be a reference to a Byzantine musical instrument that was used, or said to be used to lure and capture animals. There may also be some connection here to the sirens of Greek tradition. At any rate, it's a wonderful, fantastic creature, and also a reminder that monsters of myth and legend are fluid. They may borrow their attributes from others of their kind, and of course they may lend attributes to other creatures as well. Tune in for additional episodes of the monster fact or the artifact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to blow your Mind dot com.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. My wife recently gave me a copy of the nineteen eighty five book Magical Beasts from the Time Life Enchanted World series. This is a volume I didn't have in my childhood set of the books, and as with other volumes, this one contains a rich collection of new and classic illustrations. Flipping through it for the first time, I encountered the expected array of satyrs, harpees, and unicorns. But then on page one hundred and twenty two, I encountered a glorious illustration by none other than contemporary artist Wayne Anderson, whose book Flight of Dragon was the inspiration for the nineteen eighty two Rankin and Bass animated film of the same name, recently featured on Weird House Cinema. Anderson's interpretation of the creature is a splendid antelope like creature with a single curved horn. This horn does not spiral, but it does branch off into stunted hollow tubes. It gives the horn an appearance of both coral and a fluted musical instrument. It also reminded my wife of the Grinch's dog Max, once he was augmented with a crude antler in the cartoon. The text of Magical Beasts tells us that this is the Persian creature known as Shahdhavar, and when the wind passes over this horn and its apertures, sweet music is produced, music so sweet, in fact, that animals of the forest will draw near. It is then that Shadhavar's predatory nature is revealed, as the creature pounces on its enthralled prey, kills it, and devours its flesh. Shadhavar is discussed in the nineteen fifty text The Unicorn Studies in Muslim Iconography by the late Islamic art historian Richard Ettinghausen. He writes that, according to Zakaria al Kuzwani in his thirteenth century book The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation, the Shadhavar lives in remote regions of room, and its horn contains no less than forty two hollow branches. The fourteenth century writer al Damiri would increase that count to seventy two, and it appears that historian Hamdala Mustawafi contributed the predatory account, possibly grafting it on from another imaginary creature, the Sirranas, which was originally described as a marine animal with musical apertures on its snout and later as a land animal with musical apertures on its snout. In either case, the Sirranus was said to lure in prey with its song as well. The excellent blog A Book of Creatures features a nice illustration of what this Syranus might have been expected to look like, and mentions that the name of the creature may be a reference to a Byzantine musical instrument that was used, or said to be used to lure and capture animals. There may also be some connection here to the sirens of Greek tradition. At any rate, it's a wonderful, fantastic creature, and also a reminder that monsters of myth and legend are fluid. They may borrow their attributes from others of their kind, and of course they may lend attributes to other creatures as well. Tune in for additional episodes of the monster fact or the artifact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to blow your Mind dot com.

Stuffed blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Stuffed blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.