Questing Beast

 



 The questing beast is a hybrid monster from Arthurian Legend. It’s also known as the Beast Glatisant, which is related to the french word glapissant, which means yelping or barking.


In the Vulgate and earlier cycles describe a creature with the head of a lamb which is white, the legs of a dog which are black and the body of a fox which is red. In the post-Vulgate cycles the questing beast takes on a more familiar form of having the head of a snake, the front body of a leopard, the back half of its body of a lion, and the feet of a deer. The sound of barking dogs constantly issues from the questing beast’s belly, causing it to constantly flee from hunting dogs it can never escape, hence both its names. Even within this later description there’s a large amount of variation.


In the Vulgate Estoire Del Saint Graal, the questing beast appears briefly at the beginning of the story, guiding a narrating character to the book containing the story of Arthur, making this version a story within a story. In later post-Vulgate stories the questing beast is actually pursued by Arthur’s knights. It takes on a variety of different meanings.


In Suite Du Merlin the questing beast was seen by Arthur after heading home from having an affair with Morgouse. Arthur didn’t know it at the time that Morgouse was actually his half sister, and their child Mordred would end up killing Arthur. Arthur had fallen asleep off the side of the road by a pond. On waking he saw the questing beast drinking from the pond, but was frightened away by the sounds of barking dogs coming from its belly. Arthur is then asked by king Pellinore to kill a beast that is attacking his kingdom. Pellinore explained the origin of this beast, that his daughter had a perverse lust for her brother and asked a devil to bewitch him into falling in love with her. The devil demanded that she sleep with him in return, which she did and became pregnant. The princess then gave birth to a monster, which Pellinore described and Arthur realized it was the beast he had previously seen by the pond.


In Quest De Saint Grail, the Saracen knight Palamedes is obsessed with hunting down the questing beast and killing it. This obsession is contrasted with Tristan’s problematic love for Iseult. Both pursuits are futile and will eventually bring the pursuer to ruin. Here the questing beast is described in demonic terms, having glowing red eyes like brimstone, its snake head described as barbed, and flames shooting forth from its mouth. Palamedes is saved from his hunt for the questing beast by converting to Christianity and renouncing worldly desires.


In these earlier post-Vulgate stories the questing beast is portrayed as an evil monster, symbolizing adultery, incest and unchecked lust. Later stories still would take a different view on the questing beast.


In Perlesvaus the questing beast is described as small as a fox, white in colour and having emerald like eyes. It’s described as gentle and beautiful. Where as before the barking of dogs in the creature’s belly, or just constantly following it, wasn’t given an in-story reason, now the questing beast is pregnant with the hounds and they threaten to burst out and kill it. This time the questing beast is seen by Percival as it once again drinks from a pond. The questing beast flees from the inescapable sound of barking dogs and Percival takes pity on the questing beast that he can’t save it from its fate. In this version there’s exactly twelve hounds within the questing beast, symbolizing Jesus being betrayed by the followers of the Old Law. Gerbert De Montreuil similarly has a gentle and beautiful questing beast in his version of Percival and the Grail, where he compares the hounds to impious church goers who interrupt service. In his version the questing beast is once again quite large, but now its neck shimmers with every colour of the rainbow and is wondrous to behold.


Experts on Arthurian legend and medieval bestiaries think the questing beast was inspired by misinterpreted descriptions of giraffes, making this the second monster I’ve covered that was a mistaken giraffe.


Questing Beast sources

https://www.reddit.com/r/Arthurian/comments/1c2i5i2/the_many_faces_of_the_questing_beast_part_2/

https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Questing_Beast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questing_Beast



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