Hi everyone and Rion,
Addition to jhereg:
>From a painting
"the dzur had scored a long scratch in the jhereg's wing. The
jhereg's jaws were going for the dzur's neck, but the dzur nearly
had its mouth around the long, snakelike neck of the jhereg. The
jhereg was of the normal breed, not one of the nonpoisonous giant
ones that dwelt above Deathsgate Falls, yet it was one of the largest
I had ever seen, and should be able to give a good fight to...I
blinked. The scene hadn't changed. The orange-red sky was right,
but I realized that I was inside, on a bed, in fact. I was looking
at a painting that filled the ceiling above me. Someone's idea of
a joke, no doubt, to have me wake up to that sight. Could I view
the painting so that it appeared the jhereg was winning? I could
and did. It was a nice painting. I took a deep breath and--I was
alive!"
Yendi, Chapter 7, Ace paperback, page 79
So jhereg:
*two legs*
two wings, batlike wings
each wing when folded forms a perfect triangle
scales
snakelike head
snakelike chin
long, snakelike neck
scales that concealed his ears
intelligence in small, beady snake eyes
forked tongue
fangs
long and sharp claws, talons
female was larger and becoming dark brown
male was smaller and lighter in color
Heh, jhereg must be snakelike...with the addition of two batlike wings and
two legs.
Bye.
Linda G.
jhereg
"Jhereg feeds on others' kills."
"It was of average size, if female, a bit large, if male. If my
spell had worked, it would be female. Its wing span was about the
distance from my shoulder to my wrist, and it was a bit less than
that from its snakelike head to the tip of its tail. The forked
tongue flicked out"
The Book of Jhereg, Prologue, page 6
"The jhereg walked up to me. Its claws were long and sharp, but
more useful for running then for fighting. After a full meal, a
jhereg will often find that it weighs too much to become airborne
and so must run to escape its enemies."
...
"It was odd to see intelligence in small, beady snake eyes, and to
have nearly human-level communication with an animal whose brain
was no larger than the first joint of my finger."
...
"And she turned and spread her batlike wings. She had to run a step
two before taking off."
The Book of Jhereg, Prologue, page 7
"this ugly little reptile was lying amid broken shell fragments. Its
wings were tightly drawn up against it, and its eyes were closed. The
wings were no larger than my thumb."
...
"The bite was too small, and the poison still too weak for it to affect
me, but he was certainly in possession of his fangs."
The Book of Jhereg, Prologue, page 11
"allowed me to scratch its snakelike chin."
The Book of Athyra, Orca, Chapter 1, page 217
Colors of the jhereg and also a guess of color change in spring.
"The female was larger and becoming dark brown as summer gave way
to autumn; the male was smaller and lighter in color. Savn
guessed that in the spring the male would be green or grey,
while the female would simply turn a lighter brown."
The Book of Athyra, Athyra, Chapter 1, page 9
"each wing when folded forms a perfect triangle"
...
"Yet seen from the front, it looked like there was a snake's head
bobbing up and down between the walls of two houses that had been
built too close together."
The Book of Athyra, Athyra, Chapter 9, page 104
"He flew over to her and wrapped his talons around her wrist. She
scratched under his chin, going with the scales."
The Book of Taltos, Yendi, Chapter 7, page 233
>From a painting
"the dzur had scored a long scratch in the jhereg's wing. The jhereg's
jaws were going for the dzur's neck, but the dzur nearly had its mouth
around the long, snakelike neck of the jhereg. The jhereg was of
the normal breed, not one of the nonpoisonous giant ones that dwelt
above Deathsgate Falls, yet it was one of the largest I had ever seen,
and should be able to give a good fight to...I blinked. The scene
hadn't changed. The orange-red sky was right, but I realized that
I was inside, on a bed, in fact. I was looking at a painting that
filled the ceiling above me. Someone's idea of a joke, no doubt,
to have me wake up to that sight. Could I view the painting so
that it appeared the jhereg was winning? I could and did. It was
a nice painting. I took a deep breath and--I was alive!"
Yendi, Chapter 7, Ace paperback, page 79
"She held out her arm, and Loiosh flew to her, allowed his chin to
be scratched, and then, just to show his high regard for her, he bent
his head to allow her to scratch the scales that concealed his ears:
a special mark of honor, because jhereg are very protective of their
ears. I don't know if Sethra appreciated the honor."
Issola, Chapter 2, paperback, page 31
jhereg have only two legs. You will not find this
in the text, but Steven Brust wrote on Wed, 29 Jan 2003 17:48:14 -0800
>Oh, and the other thing is that the jhereg does not have four legs. That's
>the cover artist's rendition. I think it's a great cover, but that doesn't
>mean it's accurate. :-)
Hi again from Linda
Spoiler space
or wild speculation space
Did you stop reading yet?
It is a very interesting painting of the dzur and the jhereg.
I always thought it was a warning to Vlad or maybe D*livar from
Tukk* or S*thra of how stupid it would be to get into a fight
with S*thra or Ic*flame or Dzur M*untain. Vlad, of course, has
to turn it around so the jhereg was winning.
But, maybe it is a prediction.
What am I talking about?
I just mean there is nearly neck biting going on in that
painting and S*thra is ...
Heh!