Mythical Creatures [EDITING]

Al-mi'raj

the Al-mi'raj or Almiraj (Arabic: المعراج) is known as a mythical beast from Arabic poetry, said to live on a mysterious island called Jezîrat al-Tennyn within the confines of the Indian Ocean.

 Al-mi'raj is a large, harmless–looking yellow rabbit with a single, 2-foot-long, black, spiraling horn protruding from its forehead, much like that of a unicorn.

Despite its docile appearance, Al-Mir'aj is actually a ferociously territorial predator known to be able to kill animals and people many times its size...with just a few stabs of its horn.

It also has an immense appetite and can devour living things several times its size without effort. Al-Mi'raj frightens other animals.

The people of the Jezîrat al-Tennyn island were so terrified of the Al-Mi'raj eating them and their livestock that they would turn to witches to ward them away as soon as they heard the Al-Mi'raj was near. It was reported that only a true witch would charm the Al-Mi'raj, rendering it harmless so the people could remove it from the area.

It is possible this myth originates from observations of the effects of any one of several diseases in rabbits that can create horn-like growths upon the bodies of animals, most commonly Fibromatosis and Papillomatosis (SPV).

Papillomatosis is the result of a virus infecting the skin, causing a large, red, swelling growth on the skin of the subject. These red marks may have appeared to be where horns broke off or were shed. Fibromatosis is a similar virus which infects the skin and causes the flesh of the rabbit to mat with hair, hardening into long, hard horn-like protrusions. Both diseases could account for the appearance of wild, fierce (with pain) rabbits with "horns" as infected specimens have been found, cataloged and are well documented.

In Pop culture, Al-Mi'raj has been occasionally featured in video and role-playing games. Al-Mi'raj has been adapted into Dungeons & Dragons, as part of the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Fiend Folio. An enemy in the Dragon Quest Series (アルミラージ ... arumirāji), first appearing in Dragon Quest III, where it is a low-level monster with a sleep attack used to render players helpless while it attacks. In U.S. it has usually been renamed to "Spiked Hare," but its name is preserved in the Game Boy Color version. Unlike the normal legendary Al-Mi'raj, this Al-Mi'raj is purple with a white horn and white cheeks. Its standard treasure is a gold and a leather hat. In Dragon Quest VIII, it carries Medicinal Herbs and Bunny Tails. According to lore, at the base of a unicorn's horn is a ruby red jewel that is the concentrated essence of its power. With this in mind, it is possible that Ryo-Ohki from Tenchi Muyo! could be a reference to Al-Mi'raj, albeit dehorned and thus not dangerous to humanity. Getting closer to the original mythology, the Devil Bunny game series by Cheapass Games is a game about horned, super-intelligent carnivorous evil rabbits that spend their time attempting world domination via an assortment of silly means and tormenting the Humans.

In Episode 10 of the anime game, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? the first floor of the mid level contains multiple white rabbits that walk on two legs. Two of the main characters Lilly and Welf claim that they are the protagonist Bell Cranel due to the matching red eyes and white hair. The rabbits are then identified as Al-mi'raj by Bell before being interrupted as the rabbits attack.

The behavior of General Woundwort, the antagonist of Watership Down, and the Killer Rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail might have been inspired by Al-mi'raj. In the animated short "Red" (2010) the little wolf-boy protects Red from an Al-Mir'aj that can grow to a monstrous size, and kills it. The Yu-Gi-Oh Breakers of Shadow booster pack has released a card based on this mythical creature called Al-Lumi'raj. The game Rage of Bahamut (and subsequently the Shadowverse CCG which is based on it) contains a character called Moon Al-Mir'aj, a humanoid rabbit with a black horn called Ramina. In the Donald Duck story Mythological Menagerie, written and drawn by Don Rosa, Donald tries to fool Huey, Dewey and Louie by painting a rabbit yellow and attaching a horn to it, but the nephews identify it as a the Al-Mi'Raj.

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Information from arjungwriter.com

Image from pinterest.com