Newborn Servants of Bokrug
“Well-equipped, I started out on a spring morning (near the end of April 1929) and after a short climb I reached the top of the Tempelmauer. After a short rest between the cliffs I started to look for the entrance to the cave. Suddenly I saw a snake-like animal sprawled on the damp rotting foliage that covered the ground. Its skin was almost white, not covered with scales but smooth. Its head was flat and two very short feet on the fore-part of the body were visible. It did not move but kept staring at me with its remarkably large eyes. I know every one of our animals at first glance and knew that I faced the one that is unknown to science, the tatzelwurm….[the] tatzelwurm did not have large claws but short and atrophied-looking feet….Most probably the tatzelwurm is a rare variety of salamander living in moist caves and coming only rarely to the light of day.” – unnamed Austrian schoolmaster, quoted in On The Track of Unknown Animals, Bernard Heuvelmans (1955)
Continue reading
