Tarasque

Viewed from the front.

The Tarasque or Tarrasque was a fearsome monster tamed in a legendary story about Saint Martha.

Legend

Legend has it that the creature inhabited the area of Tarascon in Provence, and devastated the landscape far and wide. The Tarasque was a sort of dragon with six short legs like a bear's, an ox-like body covered with a turtle shell, and a scaly tail that ended in a scorpion's sting. It had a lion's head, horse's ears, and the face of a bitter old man.

Photo of a fibreglass model of the Tarasque, taken in Tarascon during the June celebrations.

The king of Tarascon had attacked the Tarasque with knights and catapults to no avail. But Saint Martha found the beast and charmed it with hymns and prayers, and led back the tamed Tarasque to the city. The people, terrified by the monster, attacked it when it drew nigh. The monster offered no resistance and died there. Martha then preached a sermon to the people and converted many of them to Christianity.

Memory

The Tarasque is featured on the coat of arms of the city of Tarascon.

A festival is held every year on the last Sunday of June to remember the tarasque and Tartarin, the main character of Alphonse Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon.

The name Tarasque has been used by the French military as the common name for a towed 20 mm anti-aircraft gun.

Inspiration for modern fiction and games

The tarasque appears in the Xanth novel A Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn by Piers Anthony.

The tarrasque also featured in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, in which it is quite possibly the most powerful monster in existence. The tarrasque (usually spelt here with two rs) is a mighty creature that beheads its foes with its claws and famgs, resists almost all weapons and magical spells, and can only be permanently slain by the granting of a magical wish.

A similar monster also exists in Starcraft, the Torrasque. This version is a powered-up version of a Zerg Ultralisk, which, if slain, can be ressurrected again and again, until the Zerg Cerebrate that created it is killed.

Tarasque is also found in the MMORPG Anarchy Online, where it is actually a dragon and is probably the most famous (and hunted) boss monster in the game.

It is also a Russian RPG forum: tarrasque.net