Mythical bestiary

Salamander

The second salamander I'm going to talk about is... Not me. Pls don't call me a lizard. I do not bite cows or poison fruits.

This creature, similar to the animal, and somewhat to our lizard like form, is, surprisingly, not a dragon. Considering the strange things that have been classified as dragons, I can't help but feel a little sorry for the creature that clearly wanted to be one.

The Salamandre is said to live in mountainous areas, although it has been found almost anywhere.

It is described as a reptile long like a man's forearm, colored red or orange with black spots. It is supposed to have a face reminding of a monkey or a pig, although clearly reptilian. It paws have talons that it uses to hunt.

A subspecies of the salamander, the lebraude, is yellow and black. It his a gigantic lizard, bigger by far than the salamander, who breathe a corrupted breath once by day. This poisoned air is said to corrupt anything it touches.

It is said that saying it's name attract the salamander, although it is more of a superstition. As poisonous as the lebraude, the breath of the salamander makes the skin swell until it breaks. It's bite is deadly, as it secrete a milky white poison from it's mouth, with the same effects as its breath.

In some part of France, it is because of this called enfleboeuf, or soufflet. I personally refer to it as Soufflet to avoid a mistake with the fire spirit Salamandre. It was said to kill cattles with its breath (enfle = swell, boeuf = cow), and thus was sometimes well feared by peasants.

This breath is also the downfall of the salamander, as putting it in an enclosed space will make it poison itself and die.

The poison of the salamander tends to infect everything it touches, must it be water, fruits, or any sort of edible creature. The only animal resisting the salamander poison is the pig, as it stores the poison in its fat. Due to this, a pig that has consumed a salamander will become deadly to consume.

Another capacity of the Salamandre is that it's body is so cold that it resist or even extinguish any fire it passes through. Although it body is cold, the Salamandre still has fire abilities.

They secrete boiling oil from their skin and spit hot poison with a very impressive force. The salamander only start doing those when it is in fire, or has been fighting for a while.

Some people were said to have tamed the beast, using its glowing eyes as a lamp and it's fire capacity to help with cooking, which I personally find foolish considering its tendency to poison anything it has contact with.

It's skin also makes a very beautiful fabric. Again, I personally wouldn't wear something that makes your skin swell on contact.

Tl;dr : nasty poison lizard, could possibly be useful, still hate it.