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
Penta of the Chopped-off Hands Penta of the Chopped-off Hands Penta of the Chopped-off Hands or The Girl With the Maimed Hands is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the "Pentamerone". It is Aarne-Thompson type 706B, "The Girl without Hands." The Brothers Grimm cited it as an analog to "The Girl Without Hands". Other variants of this tale include "The One-Handed Girl", "The Armless Maiden", and "Biancabella and the Snake". A king lost his wife and fell in love with his sister, Penta. He implored her to marry him. When she refused and he continued to implore her,