Monday, March 03, 2008

fauna of the United States

“The Roperite, an animal the size of a pony, has a ropelike beak that it ropes the swiftest of rabbits with.

“The head of the Axehandle Hound is shaped like an axe and its body like an axehandle. It has stubby little legs and all it will eat is axehandles.

“Among the fish of the region is the Upland Trout, which builds its nests in trees, flies pretty well, and is afraid of water.

“Then there is the Goofang, which swims backward so water won’t get in its eyes. It’s exactly the same size as the sunfish, only larger.

“The Pinnacle Grouse had just one wing, so it could only fly in one direction, and it flew around one particular mountain day and night. The color of its plumage would change with the season and the condition of the observer.”

from The Book of Imaginary Beings
Jorge Luis Borges

2 comments:

T.R. said...

what are guerfantes? (and don't anyone tell me to just google it. I did and this is the only website on the entire internet that comes up.)

english said...

yeah. so now you know, right? usually they don't travel in herds and gams like this. but I can furnish more examples.