h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Entry: Mythical Creatures - A12981558
Author: Danny B. [Musicians' Guild (U150368); Science EXplained (A4108330); Curator] - U182633

8 minutes later and...

The myth of the kappa originated in Japan. Drawings of kappa were first drawn around the Edo period and is related to Shinto kami. The kappa lurked in bodies of water and looked like hairless monkeys, except that they had a crown on their head that contained a strength giving fluid. When one was encountered by a kappa, one was supposed to bow. The kappa then would bow and the fluid would leak from his crown and he would become weak. Kappa are mostly evil, but they were trustworthy. If a person was able to make a kappa promise to help them, the kappa would not break his promise. Also, the kappa loved cuccombers, even more than human children, and this was one way to keep the kappa from killing a person.

The danger of kappas is that they are extraordinarily strong and will drag people under water, where it would feast on the person's blood, or his/her liver, by pulling it out of his/her anus, or so folklore says.

The kappa may be explained by a ton of explanations.
One is that some poor Japanese families would kill their newborn children, because they couldn't feed them. The kappa story was used to keep people away from the baby-filled waters.

Another is that the story was invented to explain the enlarged anus found on many drown victims.

And kappa have been added - thanks for that!

I didn't quite understand the sentence "Drawings of kappa were first drawn around the Edo period and is related to Shinto kami." What is Shinto kami, and how is it related to drawings of Kappa?

Shinto was a religion that revolved around animism. Kami were spirits. The Edo period, was a period of time. The earliest drawings of kappa found, are believed to have been drawn during the Edo period

Perfect - I'll add a footnote

I'll go with the 'doesn't have to be all-encompassing' because making it all-encompassing is impossible. In any case, people can add to the list via the conversations attached to the entry after it goes into the Edited Guide.

BTW, there are a couple of typos hanging on in the Unicorns bit:

all though => although
Grey, quadrupedal and with a knack for stampeding and horning into things. - fragment of a sentence
unicorns horn => unicorn's horn

Do you think you should expand on the narwhal footnote a bit, maybe something like 'The real-life creature from which 'unicorn horn' was invariably obtained. The narwhal is a small whale, the males of which have a spiralled tooth up to three metres long that protrudes forward from the head like a long tusk.'?

Lbclaire

Done!

I think on the 'all-encompassing' question, I'll just leave it here, adding anything anyone wants to add, until a Scout comes along and picks it (or not, as the case may be)!

Good idea

could I suggest that after this weekend's meet that we also include The Lesser Spotted Italic under mythical beasts !!

Hmmmm - at this stage it would be best to see if there's anything missing from the creatures you've already covered, as opposed to going for quantity.

You've done a good job so far

As someone who's either written or co-written most of the EG Entries you've lkinked to I'd like to say - wow! Great stuff

You could mention in the Mothman part that it was supposedly only seen before a disaster?

Done!

Nice entry by the way Reminds me I must finish the Jersey Devil one!

A suggestion re the Taniwha:


>>
Less romantically, it is now believed that taniwha may be distorted folk memories of the crocodiles of the western Pacific or Asia.
<<

Can that become:

>>
Less romantically, some people now believe that taniwha may be distorted folk memories of the crocodiles of the western Pacific or Asia.
>>

?

The original, in context, reads as if Maori believe that, and I don't think that is something the EG can claim.

And done!

More information on the Minotaur added, from this thread: F4675931?thread=3253835

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