Almost every culture on Earth has legends of imaginary beasts. Some are like humans with supernatural powers; some are part human, part animal; while others are unlike anything we know.
Some of them are listed below:
Dragons
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| Dragon |
Dragons appear in the myths of many cultures, especially China, where the dragon was a symbol of the emperor. A typical dragon has a serpent-like body covered with scales, large wings, and can breathe fire. in legends, dragons often guard a cave of treasure.
Giants
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| Giant |
Giants or ogres are huge human shaped creatures. They are
usually seen as fearsome but crazy monsters that feed on human flesh. Famous giants include Goliath in the Bible, and Cyclops, Atlas and the Titans in Greek mythology.
Centaurs
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| Centaur |
A centaur is a half-horse and half-man, with the head and arms of a man and the body of a horse. It is one of the best known of all Greek mythological characters and is said to have come from Thessaly in northern Greece. The myth may have arisen because of the skillful horsemanship of the people there.
Leprechauns
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| Leprechaun |
Leprechauns are small Irish fairies who bring good luck. They are helpful creatures, usually shown wearing green clothes, with an apron, buckled shoes and a red cap. They are fun loving and are very fond of music and sports, but they are also mischievous and love practical jokes. Other "little people", including elves, gnomes, dwarfs and pixies, appear in many European fairy stories.
Fairies
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| A Fairy |
Fairies also feature in many tales. They are usually sweet and kind creatures. In the Middle Ages, however, people believed that fairies stole children and replaced them with fairy beings known as changelings.
Mermaids
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| Mermaid |
Mermaids are creatures with the head and body of a woman and the tail of a fish. The first mermaid legend is thought to have been the story of Atargatis, a Syrian moon goddess of about 1000 BC. Atargatis had a child with a human. She then killed her lover, abandoned the child and jumped into a lake, where she took the form of a mermaid.
Unicorns
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| Unicorn |
A unicorn has the body of a horse, a lion's tail, a goat's beard, an antelope's legs and a single, often twisted, horn growing from its forehead. The unicorn is a popular subject in medieval stories; it is ferocious but good, and can purify water- or neutralize poison- by dipping its horn into it. The way to catch a unicorn is to use a young girl as bait, as a unicorn will lie down peacefully next to a maiden.
Trolls
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| Troll |
Trolls are grotesque, malicious and rather dim witted creatures in Scandinavian folklore. They are said to steal sleeping children, sometimes replacing them with one of their own. Trolls have poor eyesight, and are active only at night because sunlight turns them into stone.
Vampires
Vampire are the half dead who drink the blood of the living to survive. Ideas about vampires include the belief that plunging a wooden stake through a vampire's heart can destroy it. Some people also think that you can protect yourself against vampires with garlic, holy water, crosses and bibles.
Werewolves
Werewolves or lycanthropes are mythical creatures in folk tales of many cultures. They usually appear an men by day, but may turn into wolves on the night of the full moon. The werewolf is bloodthirsty and ruthless. It devours its prey and shows none of the remorse that it might have felt in the human form.
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| Werewolf |
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