Friday, October 21, 2011

An Attorcroppe in the Grass

I have been contemplating this week’s Faerie Friday since I wrote last week’s Faerie Friday.  First I was going to write about Kobolds and then I was going to write about the Nix  -- one a nasty, pickax wielding dwarf and the other a drag-you-to-the-bottom-of-the-lake-to-your-doom water faerie.  Neither was doing it for me this week.  I may revisit them on a future date.  Yesterday I came across a creature that I had never heard of before – the Attorcroppe.

The Attorcroppe hales from Saxony and its name translates into “little poison head.”  The Attorcroppe looks like a small, upright snake with arms and legs.  It is extremely malicious to humans.  It is active at night and can be found wherever you find regular snakes – near rivers, woodlands and under rocks.  It was probably a manifestation of the human fear of poisonous snakes or maybe just a salamander* performing a circus trick.

Yeah, I appreciate that the Attorcroppe isn’t a particularly fascinating creature, but on a side note, I once told a guy with a shaved head that he looked like a penis with arms and legs.  It was the midst of an argument over music at a party.  I apologized.  I was out of line, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.

I have been contemplating moving Faerie Friday to Wednesdays.  I know that doesn’t seem to make any sense, but it breaks up the week better.  I’ll have to come with a better name.  Faerie Friday on Wednesday just won’t work.  Any suggestions?

Tomorrow I will be posting Part One of my post Troll!!!  Next week I will be doing a few special Halloween posts.  Make sure to come back and check them out.  I promise they will be better than today’s.

*Not to be confused with fire elemental Salamander.  I was referring to a regular salamander.

2 comments:

  1. As usual, I laughed out loud about three times. Great post.

    And I love Faerie Fridays! Maybe you could post your weekend post on Wednesdays? Although I like having something to read on Saturdays as well...

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  2. Hi Buffy,

    I know it's a bit late in the day to be responding to a October 2011 post, and I don't know whether you're still checking this excellent blog, but I hope you get this. I was curious about your source for the attorcroppe. It came to my attention recently, and has prompted a discussion on the Fortean Times Message Board http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/fairies-pixies-elfs.33512/#post-1578887

    As you can see, neither a prominent cryptozoologist nor an expert on folklore had heard of the creature before I mentioned it, and any leads you could offer would be gratefully received. Our collective suspicion is that its origins are not in folklore at all, but in some modern source.

    Pete

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