Among the many images of Baal, one was the form or representation of a
Fly, and hence, says Master Perkins, he is called Baalzebub the Lord
of Flies, because he was thought to be the chiefest Fly in the world.
That is he was held to be the King of the Flies. I wish the King of
the Spiders would catch him.
The King of the Peacocks may be read of in the Fairy Tales. The
Japanese name for a crane is Tsuri and the common people in that
country always give that bird the same title which is given to their
first secular Emperor, Tsiri-sama—my great Lord Crane.
The Basilisk, or crowned Cockatrice, who is the chick of a Cock's egg,
is accounted the King of Serpents. And as it has been said that there
is no Cock Eagle, so upon more probable cause it is affirmed that
there is no female Basilisk, that is no Henatrice, the Cock laying
only male eggs. But the most venomous of this kind is only an earthly
and mortal vicegerent, for the true King of Serpents is named
Sanc-ha-naga, and formerly held his court in Chacragiri, a mountain in
the remote parts of the East, where he and his serpentine subjects
were oppressed by the Rational Eagle Garuda. In the spirit of an
imperial Eagle, Garuda required from them a serpent every day for his
dinner, which was regarded by the serpents as a most unpleasant
tribute, especially by such as were full grown and in good condition;
for the Rational Eagle being large and strong enough to carry Vishnu
on his back, expected always a good substantial snake sufficient for a
meal. Sanc-ha-naga, like a Patriot King endeavoured to deliver his
liege subjects from this consuming tyranny; the attempt drew upon him
the wrath of Garuda, which would soon have been followed by his
vengeance, and the King of Serpents must have been devoured himself,
if he and all the snakes had not retired, as fast as they could
wriggle to Sanc-ha-vana, in Sanc-ha-dwip, which is between Cali and
the Sea; there they found an asylum near the palace of Carticeya, son
of the mountain goddess Parvats, and Commander of the Celestial
Armies. Carticeya is more powerful than Garuda, and therefore the
divine Eagle is too rational to invade them while they are under his
protection. It would have been more fortunate for the world if the
King of Serpents had not found any one to protect him; for whatever
his merits may be towards his subjects, he is a most pestilent
Potentate, the breath of his nostrils is a fiery wind which destroys
and consumes all creatures and all herbs within an hundred _yojanas_
of his abode, and which in fact is the Simoom, so fatal to those who
travel in the deserts. The sage Agastya for a time put a stop to this
evil, for he, by the virtue of his self-inflection, obtained such
power, that he caught Sanc-ha-naga, and carried him about in an
earthen vessel. That vessel however must have been broken in some
unhappy hour, for the fiery and poisonous wind is now as frequent as
ever in the deserts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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