Brendan the Navigator, Brandán el Navegante, Brendan de Clonfert et la moins connue des îles Canaries

 

Jasconius // Aspidochelone // Aspidochélon

- Il existe dans la mer un être nommé tortue à bouclier, semblable au dragon ou à la baleine

-  There exists in the sea a creature known as the shield-turtle, resembling the dragon or the whale.

 

During Inktober of 2024,  when the prompt was "navigator" I made a little picture about Saint Brendan.

And I knew about the legend of phantom island of San Borondon for a good long while. 

Yet somewow, I've never made the connection between the two - the difference in the writing of the name was sufficient to mask it. Up till today, that is.

Now I know it all started with Saint Brendan. It was him and his companions who stopped by what they assumed was an island. They were wrong, the island was not an island, but rather a giant creature called Jasconius. They woke him up by making a campfire at his back.

I prefer to think of him as a dragon rather than a whale. He learned to hide much better since Saint Brendan's time.  Here he is, dreaming happily, undisturbed by campfires.

Of Foxes, Dogs, and French Proverbs

 

Quand le renard se met à prêcher, prends garde à ta poule // When the fox starts preaching, look out for your hen.

Today, due to a not very obvious chain of associations*, I've started to look for some proverbs related to foxes. There were quite a few, as in many cultures they are perceived as sly, clever, deceptive and ruthless at the same time. 

And here is a fox, looking rather pious with his eyes fixed on a book, but with his ears pricked, alert to any opportunity that comes his way. 

_____ 

*  Now, to the chain of assotiations. I saw a set of pics from a dog show of Pastor Garafiano, a breed of dogs from La Palma island. They are very cute looking dogs, and one of the possible coloring is a rich, fox-like orange. So, foxes sprang to mind, and here we are.