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The Cockatrice Compendium Trivia Quiz

The cockatrice may be one of the lesser-known beasts from mythology, but these 10 questions should teach you all you need to know about this fascinating mythological beast.

A multiple-choice quiz by lingophilia. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
lingophilia

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
351,135

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
225

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. According to the medieval bestiary, the cockatrice is a two-legged dragon with the head of what animal? Hint

Lion

Rooster

Dog

Hammerhead shark

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Question 2 of 10

2. In order to produce a cockatrice, a cock's egg must be incubated by which animal? Hint

A toad

A dragon

A raven

A crocodile

3. A cock egg is believed to be an egg laid by a rooster, but its most distinctive figure is that it is lacking a yolk. To avoid hatching a cockatrice, if you find a yolkless egg, what should you do? Hint

Stomp on the egg and pour salt on it.

Shake the egg ten times, drop it into a bucket of water, and cross yourself.

Bury the egg between the roots of an oak tree.

Throw it over the roof of your house, making sure it does not hit the house.

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Question 4 of 10

4. What happens when a cockatrice looks at you, touches you, or breathes on you? Hint

You go crazy

You fall asleep

You turn into a cockatrice

You die

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Question 5 of 10

5. What animal is reputedly immune to the effects of the cockatrice? Hint

A chicken

A weasel

A snake

A cat

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Question 6 of 10

6. There is an animal that can kill a cockatrice, but they have to do it indirectly. What animal's voice is instant death to a cockatrice? Hint

A nightingale's song

A rooster's crow

A wolf's howl

An owl's hoot

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Question 7 of 10

7. In Wherwell Priory in Hampshire, one man supposedly managed to kill a cockatrice using a piece of polished steel. How did he do it? Hint

The cockatrice became enamored with its reflection and the man was able to kill it while it was distracted.

The cockatrice shattered the mirror with its stare, but the shards accidentally beheaded it.

The cockatrice was turned to stone by the reflection of its petrification power.

The cockatrice fought with its reflection until it tired and the man was able to kill it.

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Question 8 of 10

8. Where in the Bible (King James Version) is a cockatrice mentioned? Hint

Neither

The New Testament

The Old Testament

Both

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Question 9 of 10

9. According to legend, Pope Leo IV killed a cockatrice in a church vault in Rome non-violently. How did he kill the beast? Hint

With incense

With holy water

With prayer

With an impression of a rooster's crow

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Question 10 of 10

10. If you manage to kill a cockatrice by whatever means, part of it can be used in alchemy, specifically in changing metals. What cockatrice ingredient is useful to alchemical studies? Hint

Its beak

Its wings

Its claws

Its ashes

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. According to the medieval bestiary, the cockatrice is a two-legged dragon with the head of what animal?

Answer: Rooster

Pliny the Elder describes them as very small, perhaps 12 inches long.

2. In order to produce a cockatrice, a cock's egg must be incubated by which animal?

Answer: A toad

More recent legends suggest that a snake will work equally well. This is a reversal of the basilisk legend, in which a basilisk hatches from a serpent or toad egg incubated by a cockerel.

Answer: Throw it over the roof of your house, making sure it does not hit the house.

It would seem that, by medieval standards, just smashing the egg was inadequate. It had to be tossed over the roof of your home so that it landed on the other side without ever touching your roof.

4. What happens when a cockatrice looks at you, touches you, or breathes on you?

Answer: You die

Like the basilisk, there are mixed accounts about whether these actions kill people or merely turn them to stone. Furthermore, it was believed that these powers did not end at death. Pliny the Elder also wrote that the cockatrice's venom was so deadly that when a man speared one, the venom traveled up the spear and killed both man and horse.

5. What animal is reputedly immune to the effects of the cockatrice?

Answer: A weasel

Apparently the weasel is immune to the cockatrice's petrification power as well as the other powers that Pliny the Elder mentions in Natural History (Book 8, 33): "Its touch and even its breath scorch grass, kill bushes and burst rocks". This means that weasels are the only animals who can kill a cockatrice directly.

6. There is an animal that can kill a cockatrice, but they have to do it indirectly. What animal's voice is instant death to a cockatrice?

Answer: A rooster's crow

Again, it is unclear why the rooster's crow can kill a cockatrice, but it probably has to do with its parentage.

7. In Wherwell Priory in Hampshire, one man supposedly managed to kill a cockatrice using a piece of polished steel. How did he do it?

Answer: The cockatrice fought with its reflection until it tired and the man was able to kill it.

Before this man, known only as "Green", succeeded in defeating the cockatrice, it purportedly grew to an enormous size and began snatching and eating people from the village. A reward of four acres of land was offered to anyone who could kill the cockatrice, and an area of the nearby Harewood Forest is known as Green's Acres to this day.

Other legends suggest that if a cockatrice sees its reflection, it will be turned into stone, much like the myth of Medusa.

8. Where in the Bible (King James Version) is a cockatrice mentioned?

Answer: The Old Testament

Cockatrices are mentioned several times in the book of Isaiah (11:8, 14:29, and 59:5) and once in Jeremiah (8:17), but only in the Wycliffe translation and the King James Version. Later translations replace cockatrice with "basilisk" (Revised Version) or "viper" (New International Version).

9. According to legend, Pope Leo IV killed a cockatrice in a church vault in Rome non-violently. How did he kill the beast?

Answer: With prayer

This 9th century legend was reported by Edward Topsell in his book "The Historie of Serpents" (1608). Before Pope Leo IV's prayers managed to kill the beast, its foul breath was the cause of many deaths in Rome.

10. If you manage to kill a cockatrice by whatever means, part of it can be used in alchemy, specifically in changing metals. What cockatrice ingredient is useful to alchemical studies?

Answer: Its ashes

This account comes from a 13th century text "De proprietatibus rerum" (Book 18) by Bartholomaeus Anglicus, in which he says that the cockatrice's "ashes be accounted good and profitable in the working of Alchemy, and namely in turning and changing of metals."

Source: Author lingophilia

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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