At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Friday 9 October 2015

HOMER'S FROGIAD

Homer, the supposed author of the Ancient Greek Iliad and Odyssey, had another poem ascribed to him.  It was called the Batrachomyomachia, which means the battle of the Frogs and Mice.  The story is quite amusing and may, in fact, be a parody of Homer's works.  The author may have been one Piges of Hallicarnassus, which was a Greek city in what is now Turkey.



The story is as follows.  The Frog King, enjoying a swim, saw a Mouse on the riverbank and offered to ferry him across, an offer which the Mouse was pleased to accept.  As the journey took place, a Snake, also swimming, came hurtling towards them, whereupon the Frog King, forgetting his passenger, dove and the unfortunate Mouse was drowned.  However, there had been a witness - another Mouse who informed his people of the incident.  War broke out between the two species.

Zeus, watching from Olympus, suggested to Athene that she help the Mice, but she rebuffed his overture, viewing Mice as a nuisance.  The Mice, however, without help, knocked the stuffing out of the Frogs.  Indeed, the Frogs might have been destroyed altogether had not Zeus sent in some Crabs, whose armor was impervious to the weapons of the Mice and they drove the murine army away.

So ended the war, which had lasted but a day.

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