FT263

France has her share of cryptozoological beasties; in the Auvergne, at the Château de Villeneuve-Lembron, there are two delightfully non-pc murals. One shows the Chiche-face, a sort of starveling she-wolf who eats only obedient wives. These are rare; thus the creature’s emaciation. Opposite is the Bigorne, a bloated, scaly monster with a triple tail that lives exclusively on husbands ruled by their wives. These are many; thus the creature’s obesity. [1]

St Martha is sometimes depicted with a dragon that she is supposed to have tamed at Tarascon on the river Rhône between Arles and Avignon. She aspersed it with holy water, tied her sash around its neck and took it to Arles where it was killed.