Re: USAGE: Dinos and dragons

From: "Barry Garcia"

> > Tradition has it that it's made of the feet of a chicken, the body
> >of a this, the head of a that, and so on.
> head - camel
> horns - stag
> ears - cow
> whiskers - carp
> scales - carp
> body - snake
> legs, feet, talons - eagle (from what i've heard)
> mane - lion
> face - ogre (i think)
Ooookaay, you made me look it up. According to _Outlines of Chinese
Symbolism & Art Motives_ by C.A.S. Williams:

"It has nine resemblances:"

head of a camel (check)
horns of a deer (check)
eyes of a rabbit
ears of a cow (check)
neck of a snake (check?)
belly of a frog
scales of a carp (check?)
claws of a hawk (check)
palm of a tiger

Whiskers, and a beard. Can't hear, which is why the deaf are also known as
"long2" ('dragon' character with the 'ear' radical underneath [I didn't know
that!])

Tying back in to Danny's comments about dragons and dinosaur knowledge,
there is this:
"The dragon seems to perpetuate the tradition of primæval flying saurians of
geologic times, now known only through their fossilized remains. The Lamas
and Chinese Buddhists have assimilated them with the mythical serpants
(Naga) of Indian myth."

(Quoting from the book I just mentioned quoting from 'Waddell, _Lamaism_, p.
395)

Hoping I'll be forgiven for not maintaining academic rigor on the list,

Kou