Flight of the Peryton

Sure, the mainstream media has been reporting about a deer being dropped by an eagle onto power lines in Montana, resulting in a power outage, but I think they are being untrustworthy and disingenuous. When I read a story about a flying deer caught in some power lines, I immediately think of a peryton. Of course, since perytons are implacable enemies of humans, I think the authorities are trying to suppress this story because it has the potential to create widespread panic. As Borges warned us:


The Perytons had their original dwelling in Atlantis and are half deer, half bird. They have the deer's head and legs. As for its body, it is perfectly avian, with corresponding wings and plumage. . . . Its strangest trait is that, when the sun strikes it, instead of casting a shadow of its own body, it casts the shadow of a man. From this, some conclude that the Perytons are the spirits of wayfarers who have died far from their homes and from the care of their gods. . . . . and have been surprised eating dry earth . . . flying in flocks and have been seen at a dizzying height above the Columns of Hercules. . . . they are mortal foes of the human race; when they succeed in killing a man, their shadow is that of their own body and they win back the favor of their gods. . . . and those who crossed the seas with Scipio to conquer Carthage came close to failure, for during the passage a formation of Perytons swooped down on the ships, killing and mangling many. . . . Although our weapons have no effect against it, the animal-if such it be-can kill no more than a single man. . . . wallowing in the gore of its victims and then fleeing upward on its powerful wings. . . . in Ravenna, where they were last seen, telling of their plumage which they described as light blue in color, which greatly suprised me for all that is known of their dark green feathers. Though these excerpts are sufficiently explicit, it is to be lamented that down to our own time no further intelligence about the Perytons has reached us.


Watch out, good people of Montana, you may be in grave danger! Of course, it could be worse- rumor has it that a couple of mad antipodean scientists are attempting to breed hypnostags with perytons, forming super hypnoperytons. I shudder just to contemplate it.