Ghyll:Double Headed Glass-Eaters

Double-headed glasseaters, or just glasseaters, belong to the By-Quezlar-It's-Frightfully-Big family in standard Kmuppens' Taxonomy.

Physical characteristics

Reaching up to half a kunanit in length, these rare reptiles range in colour from dusky red to khaki. The double-headed glasseater is so named for several reasons.

Firstly, it has a ragged maw of crystalline teeth which, when it chews, resembles a mouthful of glass. Also, the glasseater is an omnivore in the strictest sense of the word. In the wild they subsist mostly on five-o-clock tea plants, fefferberry bushes and other noxious weeds. Captive specimens have been known to eat all manner of unpalatable and downright hazardous material with no apparent trouble.

Next, the glasseater has a large, lumpy protuberance at the end of its tail bearing an uncanny resemblance to its head. So striking is the similarity that it is not unknown for one glasseater to attempt conversation with another's tail, or even its own.

Glasseaters in literature and popular culture

The mysterious Alezanians are said to have ridden glasseaters into battle. Notably, glasseaters feature in the account of the Battle of Barnum Stones in Bordingbras his hatt!, but does not specify which side used them.

Once found in abundance, glasseaters have been driven to the brink of extinction. They have been hunted for centuries. The Looliers are known to have used various glasseater organs for smilching. Glasseater meat has been valued as a delicacy since ancient times, used by many a Speedish Chef. Most recently, the extremely hard teeth were used in the production of Qulirian Energy Converters.

However, in the last two decades, a stigma has grown around the killing of glasseaters. This can be attributed to a campaign by Turboduck, and their famous anthem "Gloddy the Glasseater”, incorporating a traditional Shepenorian Glasseater Dance rhythm. Glasseaters are sacred in Shepenorian folklore, and feature prominently in the town's music.

Citations: Shepenor, Kmuppens' Taxonomy, five-o-clock tea plant.

--Larj Zyquon 07:16, 12 Jun 2005 (EDT)