The ‘Donestre’

Penny recently bought a book of mythical beasts, which I temporarily stole: to look up Tibetan creatures, primarily, for novel research. Inevitably, a few others caught my eye.

This one is from legends surrounding Alexander the Great (presumably from the Medieval Romance, with its diving bells, etc), and is called the ‘Donestre’.

“It had the head of a lion, huge eyes, furry ears and a long mane that extended over the shoulders, almost to the waist. The Donestre were said to know all the languages of the human race, and would greet lone travellers in their own tongue, thus reassuring them and enabling the Donestre to lure their victims to their deaths. A Donestre kill would usually be known by the fact that the only thing left behind was the head; even more strange was the fact that after it had killed, the creature would sit by the head of its victim and weep.”

I need to write about this.