Discussion 25: Questing Beast

Kit is here today to help me talk about the questing beast.

The Questing Beast is best known from stories about King Arthur. It's a pretty reoccurring theme with one knight or another on a quest to find it. The QB is usually described as sounding like "thirty hounds" with the noise coming from it's stomach. In the book Morte d'Arthur it is described as having the head of a snake, body of a leopard, a lion's back end, and a deer's feet. It's origin is supposedly from an incestuous affair that was aided by magic and produced this demon. The sound of dogs is from the curse the woman's brother placed on their child because he was sentenced to death by being torn to bits by dogs.

The QB has another incestuous affair tied to it as well (this being from Arthurian legends, of course) and that is Arthur's affair with his half sister Morgan or Morgause depending on which you believe (and don't get Kit started on that). The QB is said to be the symbol of Arthur's lust. But what really is this thing? Is it real? A lot of that could really depend on your opinion of Arthurian legends and whether or not you believe King Arthur was also a real being.

On the TV show Merlin the QB is called a creature born of old magic and "one bite, you die". What do you think the QB is? How was is created?

This discussion was brought to you by Emily and Kit.