In European folklore, the creature with a rooster’s head, a dragon’s tail, and a deadly gaze is the cockatrice.
The cockatrice is a legendary monster traditionally described as a small dragon or serpent with features borrowed from a rooster. In many accounts it can kill a person or animal simply by looking at it, making its gaze its defining supernatural weapon. Some versions also give it a poisonous touch or breath.
Medieval bestiaries and later European folklore helped shape the creature’s appearance and behavior. Stories sometimes claim that a cockatrice hatches from an egg laid by a rooster and incubated by a toad or serpent, though details vary between sources and periods.
The cockatrice is often confused with the basilisk, another deadly reptilian creature whose gaze can kill. The two names were sometimes treated as synonyms in medieval and Renaissance writing, but modern fantasy commonly distinguishes them: the cockatrice has prominent rooster-like features, while the basilisk is usually represented as a serpent or dragon.