Description
The Questing Beast is described as having the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion, and the feet of a hart [1].
The name of the beast comes from the sound it emits described as being like "thirty couple hounds questing".
It has its origins in Arthurian legend where Merlin reveals that it is born from a princess who lusted for her brother and was subsequently seduced by the devil who promised to make the brother love her in return. He manipulated her into accusing her brother of rape and for that their father had the boy torn apart by dogs. Before the brother died he prophesized that she would bare a monster as offspring who would make a noise of the pack of dogs who tore him apart [2].
Sources:
[1]: "Arthurian Legend - Monsters". Uiweb.uidaho.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
[2]: Malory, Thomas. Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table. Race Point Publishing, 2017.
