Dufflepuds

[elanorelle]

Well a few days ago I was looking for mythological creatures alongside my sister and I found something quite curious...

Monopod (alias sciopod): The original version of the monopod legend appears in Pliny's Natural Histories, his series of Latin books dealing with the wonders of the biological and geological world. There, he describes how travellers have told him of the monopods, which have a broad-toed foot, with the toes curled upward in a shape reminiscent of a little boat. Their extraordinary method of resting was Lying flat on their backs with the single leg straight up in the air like a parasol, protecting them from harsh sun or rain. They travelled by hopping from place to place, and they apparently lived in the antipodes (i.e., the southern hemisphere).

Most mythological critters of this sort were probably transmitted to medieval readers by Isidore of Seville, whose encyclopedic works, the Etymologiae, included a compendium of strange words, creatures, herbs, and gems, discussing their magical properties. The legend did not spread very widely, but the monopod was resurrected in literature by C. S. Lewis' Christian fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Naming the creatures Dufflepuds, he places them on the Island of the Voices, as reported in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Aside from C. S. Lewis' book in English, most of the sources are in Latin, and they are not widely available in English translation.

I don't quite remember where I found it (but I'm sure you might be able to find it), as I only saved it for future reference.

I had always thought that Dufflepuds came from the Professors own imagination, but 'tis not so. Still I give him credit for using a creature never been used before.

So what do you think?

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Huh. I'd thought they were Lewis' idea too. But it's kinda cool to see that this was something already developed but extremely obscure that he decided to use!

[elanorelle]

Huh. I'd thought they were Lewis' idea too. But it's kinda cool to see that this was something already developed but extremely obscure that he decided to use!

[HermitoftheNorthernMarch]

I had thought he invented them too, when I saw a one-legged camera holding device at Walmart labled a "monopod" instead of a modified "tripod" I thought they had taken the name from Narnia.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

lol! I don't think I've ever noticed that those two shared a name... weird, since I'm the type to connect everything back to Narnia if at all possible.

[Ajnos]

Ooh! Yes! Thanks for bringing this up.

I found out a year or so ago about the monopods as mythical creatures, I think Kristi pointed it out to me after she found the reference in a bestiary or something. One of the first talks at the CS Lewis society in Oxford was about influences from medieval bestiaries on Lewis' works where it came up again. Also, I mentioned in the other forum that I went to the exhibition on Maigical Books (i.e. fantasy literature) in Oxford where they had copies of the actual medieval bestiaries that have been in the Bodleian since those times. Although the description said that there were monopods in the book, unfortunately it was behind glass and not open to that page.

I didn't know they dated all the way back to Pliny though. That's really cool.

Good ol' Lewis for resurrecting an obscure mythical creature!

[marmota-b]

I've known for some time; I think I've seen a period picture of various weird humanoids people used to believe in several times (another one did not have a head and had their face in the belly, if I recall correctly), and they cropped up in a book of myths. But Lewis was definitely quite unique in using them.

[hansgeorg]

The one who had the face in the belly would be from the travels of Mandeville.

Linnäus divided Homo - man - into:

Homo Europäus
Homo Asiaticus
Homo Africanus
Homo Americanus
and
Homo Monstruosus.

He was obviously well aware of such, not myths, but now obscure testimonies.

How many here think that when it came to the Cyclops, Ulysses was abusing the gullibility of his subjects and his hosts among Phaeacians? He was in a position to, but it is also possible cyclopes and monopods have existed.

[marmota-b]

You are correct, Hans, although I wasn't quite - it's in their chest. And the picture does indeed include a Dufflepudy Monopod as well.