Creatures @ MindSay 
nightmare creatures
You would be a Mermaid! A protector of the sea. You love art and music. You care a lot for the sea beings. You are nothing without you friends and you would do everything to protect them!
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Find out what kind of Mystical Creature you would be....
A friend of mine brought this to my attention. Its a great link that describes in detail with neato illustrations the Japanese folk-tale creatures.
I give you: the Obakemono Project.
I rather like the Neko-mata & the Yuki-onna
My dad comes on Tuesday, and I was hoping to have finished studying for my exam by the time he arrives (I have to take it the day after he leaves, this semester has been a masterpiece of poor academic planning on my part,) but now I fear I will have to send him off to a museum while I sneak away to read Henry Fielding for a half hour here and Johnson for fifteen minutes there. Still, it’s been worth it. At my college at home, the campus is small enough that the entirety is connected by a series of underground tunnels, and during the winter months, if it is cold and wet, I have been known to go for days without seeing the sunlight, moving from class to class underground. But I’ve never felt as sun deprived as I have this semester, when I had a long walk in the open air to get to school. I’m pale normally, but I’ve now reached a state of pallor so extreme that small children run when they see me because I resemble creatures they know only from storybooks and Scooby Doo. So now the sun is irresistible to me. Slowly it’s repairing the long winter damage. The other day I noticed that my usual sickly shade of pallor had been upgraded to just plain pallor, and thought, well, it’s a start.
I’ve been using the sunshine to explore London’s park system. There are a series of beautiful parks in and around the city, which come alive in the nice weather. A typical day for me involves taking a blanket, a book, and a Diet Coke and heading West of Trafalger Square where three of the big parks are in easy walking distance. Hyde Park is the grandest, and on a Sunday people are still known to “promenade” through the park in their Sunday best, but it’s also the farthest away, so I don’t tend to spend a lot of time there. Instead, I like to go to either Green Park or St. James’ Park. Actually, Green Park and St. James Park are connected, and I’m never quite sure which one I’ve ended up in, but as I can’t make distinction between them I can say that they are equally lovely.
There are the requisite lakes and flower beds and soft ice cream vendors, along with the bird poop covered statues that seem to exist in every park in London, but I prefer to stick to the large open grassy spaces, fringed with trees that provide shade. I’ve taken to spreading out a blanket under the trees and reading the non-school books that I’ve been buying for a pound from Oxfam. I’m reading PD James right now, who I never really enjoyed before (I’m not really a huge mystery fan,) but now I love reading her work because it’s set in London. It’s great to read a scene and realize I had lunch there just the day before. Reading in the park is fun because I can look around at the other sunbathers, most of whom are couples in their twenties and thirties who seem to enjoy bringing bottles of wine and feeding each other various kinds of fruits.
There are also kids playing Frisbee or football (the British kind) while their mothers and baby sitters read or gossip nearby. These could all be terrible people, but I have no notion of it. Everybody looks kinder, gentler in the sun. I get the urge to buy strangers ice cream, and to join in the football games—we’re all emerging from the blah’s of winter together and there’s a sense of camaraderie between us.
St. James’ Park has a pond, actually all of the parks have several ponds, but there’s a particular pond in St. James’ Park that has been set aside as a bird sanctuary. For the record, I just want to state that I hate birds. I’m fine with all manners of creepy crawlies—snakes, lizards, spiders—these don’t really bother me, but birds freak me out. It’s an irrational, but strong, fear. My least favorite types of bird are waterfowl, particularly geese and swans who are both vicious and strong (not to mention disease ridden; I think flue can be passed between ducks and humans). For some reason, though, people decided that a duck and geese filled pond would be a good thing to have in the middle of a park filled with vulnerable children. I tend to avoid the pond whenever I can, but it bears mentioning because the variety of waterfowl the park has managed to acquire. I’m used to seeing the typical green-headed mallards and their brown-feathered lady friends that inhabit both the Thames and the ponds of Central Park, but there seem to be an endless variety of ducks and geese here. My favorites (from a safe distance) are the ones with bright blue bills, maybe because the vivid colors make them easy to spot if they should chose to come after you. But St. James doesn’t stop with the ducks, there are also much less exciting pigeons and sea-gulls (pond gulls?) and other city birds taking a break with their fellow human Londoners in the quiet of the park, not to mention partridges and other types of game fowl that enjoy the human free banks of the pond, and pelicans. One of my favorite signs warns park dwellers not to feed the pelicans—feeding the disease-ridden ducks and vicious swans and geese seems to be perfectly all right, but the pelicans are taboo. Go figure.
Mythical Creatures...and Fairy Tale Beings....a short list of magical creatures and beings....please excuse some of the more frightening pics, Im sorry but it was difficult trying to find a decent picture for some of the creatures...some of these creatures are common in German Folklore, some are more common if other cultural stories.....
Gollum
first off Im so sorry that I could not find a decent picture of a gollum...this one is only a representation of what a "true" gollum is like. Generally a Gollum is a creature conjured into existence by means of witchcraft or "dark powers". These beings do not have a soul, they were merely created to serve a short purpose for the creator. Most likely they are created from a collection of one element...(earth, fire, water, air). More than most of the times, these creatures cannot venture into the opposite of what they were created, ie...An earth gollum may not enter into water because it would turn into mud...they also have a very short life span, since they can be dispelled by their creator and they would return to their original form.
Gnomes
Ahhh....the underpants gnomes...I mean...anyways...Gnomes are small men and women, that are generally industrious. Often found in small clusters in the forest, living around trees. Very small...very....like the size of a bottle of wite-out. This is a stereotypical version of a gnome, but it is still a representation. Often confused with dwarves or elves or even....smurfs...Smurfs are not in any folklore I have ever read...they were created by an evil broadcasting corporation....
Dwarves
Warlike creatures, that almost have a human-like appearance, but are in no way likes humans. They very seldom have sympathy or love-like emotions. Extremely terratorial, and grumpy.If you read "Snow-White and Rose-Red" you will remember that these creatures are also greedy. These are some of the most unpleasent creatures you could ever run into...not that you actually could run into...but you get the idea. Often live in clans, in the mountains, near rivers, or in the forrest.
Elves
Elves are more like humans than other fairy tale beings, with the exception of the whole pointy ear thing. They are more than often peaceful, and helpful. ***Please do not confuse these with santa's elves*** these elves live in the woods, and respect nature. They are more in tune with the life that exists in nature. They do hunt, but they do so in a respectful manner. They are also magical beings.
Fairies
Fairies, often thought of cute little bundles of magical joy....yeah...no...they are often very curious and mean. They live in clusters or "nests" like in the picture. Contrary to belief, there are male fairies...and they are not gay...lol...how else do you think they fairies re-populate themselves...assexuall reproduction...I don't think so. Fairies can tend to have magical powers, like in some fairytales. But do not confuse them with a **Fairy Godmother**...thats a completely different thing. I will explain those when I get to Fairy Tale Characters and Persons.
Evil Creatures...sometimes missunderstood ;)
Imps
These little hellions are often the cause of badluck just like gremlins, which I will get to next. They supposedly follow the devil around like a "demon" looking to cause trouble. Often living in caves and dark places, they tend to only come out at night, and evenings. Mean and tricky, their purpose is to cause you to injure yourself, or become lost.
Gremlins
These little beauties are serious bad luck. The old superstition of throwing salt over your shoulder to prevent bad luck, was meant to keep these away...now aren't you glad you did it...also knocking on wood is said to scare them away. Ever lose something you knew you just placed down? These creatures are like pack rats and steal things....your missing sock...yeah one of these got it. They are found in the dark forrest, or in caves and underground caverns. Hardly ever seen, but sometimes they can be caught at night.
Hexe (Witches)
In german folklore, witches are almost always depicted as having red eyes. This is how normal people can distinguish them. These older women, practice the dark magics, and often eat....children....or small animals. Like in "Haensel und Gretel" witches use trickery to draw in their victims. Of all the evil beings, witches are the most dangerous, since they can form and shape reality to trick people. They can also conjure up Gollums and Geisten(ghosts). **Geister is the german for ghost-like, which is where english gets the word Poltergeist**.
Also Male Warlocks. Same as the Hexe, except that they are less likely to confront mortals unless neccessary.
Wolves
Wolves are often viewed as predators, of any kind, including sexual. These devious tricksters are cunning, and intelligent. They often hunt in packs which makes them even more dangerous. As in "Little Red Riding Hood", the wolf lied, stole, and deceived to get what he wanted. These creatures are also considered magical, in the sense that some are intelligent enough to talk, and hide in lambs wool in order to get a meal.
And that concludes this portion. There will be more to come, but that will be later. There are many more creatures out there to discuss. Some of them are complety wacky and others are beyond evil.
So I hope that you learned something from all of this ;-)
Hows it going with everyone?
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