I'm re-reading "Book of the New Sun," and at one point a monster is described in a dream: "a great, leather-winged being"--"her beak was the beak of an ibis, her face that of a hag; on her head was a miter (crown) of bone." I can't figure out what this thing is and IT IS AGGRAVATING ME.
I could *swear* I've seen a painting of this creature; it's looking at the viewer, and it looks--calm, kind of sad; the painting is in muddy earth tones; it might have stars in its crown. there's a Biblical association in my head, but I have no idea if it's a monster from the Bible?
I figured I'd post about it here (while also hitting Google with a stick repeatedly) in case somebody will say "oh yeah that's [thing]!" :P
@green I found a thing that suggests it might be a quetzalcoatlus northropi (pictured) in this thread here: http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2014-August/054976.html
@mawr that... makes a lot of sense, for the book, yes. and is quite possibly true! but it doesn't get me any closer to figuring out the picture in my head...
speaking of unreliable memory, I now have no idea if I ever actually saw this picture, or if I made it up or dreamed it or what. >___< if I was better at art I could draw it, it's so clearly in my mind! arrgh...