Chinese mythology merely fantastic types of the bestiary sort. Sometimes the dragon is considered part of this category, related to it, or the ruler of all the swimming and crawling folk. This may include the giant marine turtle or tortoise Ao, the Bashe snake reputed to swallow elephants, a nine-headed snake monster reminiscent of the hydra known as Xiangliu, and the White Serpent from the novel "Legend of the White Snake". Various birds are found in Chinese mythology, some of them obviously based on real birds, other ones obviously not, and some in-between. The Crane is an example of a real type
Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology abode of gods and spirits. Scholars presume that publicly revered trees such as that at the temple in Uppsala were regarded as counterparts to the mythic world tree Yggdrasil. The present section divides particularly notable examples into texts discussing the religious activities of the ancient Germanic peoples involving trees and groves ("Germanic paganism") and their appearance in the myths of the Germanic peoples, particularly the North Germanic peoples ("Germanic mythology"). Sacred trees and groves are mentioned throughout the history of the ancient Germanic peoples, from their earliest attestations among Roman scribes to references made by medieval monks. In Norse mythology,