Acockatrice is amythical beast, essentially a two-leggeddragon,wyvern, orserpent-like creature with arooster's head. Described by Laurence Breiner as "an ornament in the drama and poetry of theElizabethans", it was featured prominently in English thought and myth for centuries. They are created by a chicken egg hatched by a toad or snake.
The first English mention of the cockatrice was in the 14th centuryJohn Wycliffe translation of the Bible. The word was used for the translation of various Hebrew words for asp and adder in the Book of Isaiah11,14 and59.
TheOxford English Dictionary gives a derivation from Old Frenchcocatris, from medieval Latincalcatrix, a translation of the Greekichneumon, meaning tracker. The twelfth century legend was based on a reference inPliny's Natural History[1] that the ichneumon lay in wait for the crocodile to open its jaws for thetrochilus bird to enter and pick its teeth clean.[2] An extended description of thecocatriz by the 15th-century Spanish traveller in Egypt,Pedro Tafur, makes it clear that this refers to theNile crocodile.[3]
According toAlexander Neckam'sDe naturis rerum (ca 1180), thebasilisk (basiliscus) was the product of an egg laid by arooster and incubated by atoad; asnake might be substituted in re-tellings. Cockatrice became seen as synonymous withbasilisk when thebasiliscus inBartholomeus Anglicus'sDe proprietatibus rerum (ca 1260) was translated byJohn Trevisa ascockatrice (1397).[4] This legend has a possibleEgyptian folk root; the eggs of theibis were regularly destroyed for fear that the venom of the snakes they consumed would cause a hybrid snake-bird to hatch.[5]
It is thought that acock egg would hatch a cockatrice, and this could be prevented by tossing the egg over the family house, landing on the other side of the house, without allowing the egg to hit the house.
The cockatrice has the reputed ability to kill people by either looking at them—"the death-darting eye of Cockatrice"[6][note 1]—touching them, or sometimes breathing on them.
It was repeated in the late-medievalbestiaries that theweasel is the only animal that is immune to the glance of a cockatrice.[7] It was also thought that a cockatrice would die instantly upon hearing arooster crow,[8] and according to legend, having a cockatrice look at itself in a mirror is one of the few sure-fire ways to kill it.[9]
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The first use of the word in English was inJohn Wyclif's 1382 translation of the Bible[10] to translate different Hebrew words.[11] This usage was followed by theKing James Version, the word being used several times.[12] TheRevised Version—following the tradition established byJerome'sVulgatebasiliscus—renders the word as "basilisk", and theNew International Version translates it as "viper". In Proverbs 23:32 the similar Hebrewtzeph'a is rendered "adder", both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version.
In Shakespeare's playRichard III (c. 1593), the Duchess of York compares her sonRichard to a cockatrice:
O ill-dispersing wind of misery!
O my accursed womb, the bed of death!
A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world,
Whose unavoided eye is murderous.[13]
A cockatrice is also mentioned inRomeo and Juliet (1597), in Act 3, scene 2 line 47, byJuliet.
Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'Ay,'
And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.[6]
Nathan Field, in the first scene of his playThe Honest Man's Fortune (1647), also uses the idea that a cockatrice could kill with its eyes:
... never threaten with your eyes, they are no cockatrice's ...[14]
InSecond Nephi 24:29, a Cockatrice is mentioned.
InE. R. Eddison's high fantasy novelThe Worm Ouroboros (1922), Chapter 4 has King Gorice show a cockatrice to Gro:
"Behold and see, that which sprung from the egg of a cock, hatched by the deaf adder. The glance of its eye sufficeth to turn to stone any living thing that standeth before it. Were I but for one instant to loose my spells whereby I hold it in subjection, in that moment would end my life days and thine ..."
Therewith came forth that offspring of perdition from its hole, strutting erect on its two legs that were the legs of a cock; and a cock's head it had, with rosy comb and wattles, but the face of it like no fowl's face of middle-earth but rather a gorgon's out of Hell. Black shining feathers grew on its neck, but the body of it was the body of a dragon with scales that glittered in the rays of the candles, and a scaly crest stood on its back; and its wings were like bats' wings, and its tail the tail of an aspick with a sting in the end thereof, and from its beak its forked tongue flickered venomously. And the stature of the thing was a little above a cubit.[15]
The cockatrice has also been used as a staple enemy creature in arcade combat games likeGolden Axe, in fantasy RPGs such asFighting Fantasy andDungeons and Dragons or computer RPGs likeDragon's Dogma (2012).
A cockatrice is mentioned inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) byHermione Granger in chapter fifteen. A cockatrice involved in one of the tasks of the 1792 Triwizard Tournament escaped and injured the headmasters of the three participating schools, an incident cited as the cause for the cancellation of Triwizard Tournaments until 1994. Some translations instead state the cockatrice to be abasilisk[note 2] or an "occamy",[note 3] an in-universe relative of thesnallygaster.[16] Additionally, heraldry of a white cockatrice holding a broomstick on a blue and beige background is shown to be the emblem of the French National Quidditch team in the 2003 video gameHarry Potter: Quidditch World Cup.[17]
In the video gameBoktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand (2003), cockatrices are among the enemies the player faces in Sol City.[18]
In the animated seriesMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010-2019), a cockatrice is stated to live in theEverfree Forest. In the 2011 episode "Stare Master", the cockatrice turnsTwilight Sparkle and one ofFluttershy's chickens, Elizabeak, to stone using its gaze, but reverts them back after being intimidated by Fluttershy's own stare.[19]
On theSCP Foundation collaborative writing project, cockatrices are shown in the storySCP-1013 - Cockatrice (2011). An SCP-1013 instead paralyzes its prey by staring at them, only turning their skin to stone upon biting them, after which it will peck through the calcified skin to eat their prey's fleshy innards. SCP-1013 reproduce from growths budding off of the tail of a well-fed adult.[20] The storySCP-1013 - Cockatrice won fourth place in the site's SCP-1000 Contest, a contest that prefaced the opening of the site's second series.[21]
A cockatrice is shown as the main antagonist in the first episode of Netflix's anime adaptation ofLittle Witch Academia (2017), "Starting Over".[22] The cockatrice is also a dungeon boss in the underground labyrinth gameplay section ofLittle Witch Academia: Chamber of Time (2017), a video game for PC and PS4.[23]
The Swedish Black Metal bandFuneral Mist has a song named Cockatrice, in their 2018 album Hekatomb.
The third chapter of the Japanese manga seriesDelicious in Dungeon (2014) and the second episode of the anime adaptation (2024) feature the party killing and cooking a cockatrice. The cockatrice cannot kill with a stare, but instead has a powerful venom, the antidote to which can be found by eating the meat of the creature.[24]
Arthur Fox-Davies describes the cockatrice as "comparatively rare" in heraldry, and as closely resembling awyvern outside of possessing a rooster's head rather than adragon's. The cockatrice, like the rooster, is often depicted with its comb, wattles and beak being of a different colour from the rest of its body. The cockatrice is sometimes referred to as a basilisk, but Fox-Davies distinguishes the two on the basis of the heraldic basilisk possessing a tail ending in a dragon's head, although he does not know of any arms depicting such a creature.[25]
In continental European heraldic systems, cockatrices may be simply referred to as dragons instead.[26]
The cockatrice was the heraldic beast of the Langleys ofAgecroft Hall in Lancashire, England, as far back as the 14th century.[27]
It is also the symbol of3 (Fighter) Squadron, a fighter squadron of theRoyal Air Force.
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