Later, preparing for my afternoon English classes, I needed some exercises to help my students practice making comparisons with as. I went through my files and found some suitable material I had created back in 2020. The very first exercise, meant to elicit the sentence, "A Quetzalcoatlus was as tall as a giraffe," was illustrated with this picture:
Except for the giraffe, these are extremely similar pictures. The man even has a similar hairstyle, beard, and glasses.
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Definitely interesting to see a giant bird associated directly with a giraffe... or rather a Camel Lion/ Cameleon. Both have been associated in the past with Peter, going all the way back to Willy Wonka and the giraffe scene, if not earlier.
What is really interesting here to me, though, is the name of the bird Quetzalcoatlus in conjunction with these Peter symbols. My guess has been that we may have a case of mistaken identity or attribution in at least some of our Bible tales about Jesus. Specifically, rather than it being Jesus who visited our world, it was Peter who did (with Jesus never having been here, per his words about never manifesting himself at all to Gentiles).
And here we have a clear Peter symbol being named after the Aztec feathered serpent god who quite a few Mormons mix up and mistakingly (in my opinion) view as a reference to Jesus and his visit to people in South America somewhere in trying to pin Book of Mormon events there. In my view, that is a pretty good hit/ analogy for the Peter-Jesus mistaken identity guess.
Going back to the Giraffe as Lion, I learned two things this morning:
First, Etymonline specifically uses the word "Hero" for their definition of Lion - literally in the first line, which seemed odd. Here it is.... "late 12c., from Old French lion 'lion', also figuratively 'hero' (12c.), from Latin leonem (nominative leo) "lion; the constellation Leo," from Greek leon (genitive leontos)..."
Tying this to our other Peter symbol of Shrek, we can now also imagine Shrek referring to himself as a Lion in that song we linked to ("I guess I'd be a Lion..." in addition to a Mandrill, etc.).
Second, Lions were known traditionally as guardians of gates, which gets back to those Stone Lions you wrote about outside the Library doors. Leo also referenced Lions outside entrances over on his blog a little bit ago.
Peter is traditionally known as the keeper or guardian of the pearly gates of Heaven, and their associated keys.
Shrek as a Lion: This morning, I read the story of Puss in Boots to some preschoolers. Puss meets an Ogre and asks if he can transform himself into a lion, which the Ogre proceeds to do. Shrek is an Ogre, and I believe Puss in Boots even appears as a character in the series.
Peter as a Lion: I've mentioned several times that the Gospel of Mark is traditionally symbolized as a winged lion. The traditional view is that much of the material in that gospel comes from Peter, Mark being one of that apostle's associates.
Yes, Puss in Boots is in the Shrek series as a flame-colored cat, like a feline Phoenix, if you well. A few things, including your preschool story, might point to the other symbol in Peter's story that we have explored, which is the Holy Ghost.
In John, Jesus is said to tell Peter and the disciples that the Holy Ghost will be sent to help them remember things at a future date. Here we have Puss' question to the Ogre as perhaps an implied reminder that he is, in fact, a Lion, though currently in the body/ disguise of an ogre (i.e., the ogre transformed back into his true form).
Flame, or fire, the color of Puss in Boots in Shrek, is associated with that Being, along with the footwear. Shoes have played a big part in the story so far that we have been exploring, and he we have this cat specifically known for his footwear, so much so it is in his name. Incidentally, "Puss" was used originally not only to refer to cats, but also to Rabbits.
It gets better if we look at the casting for Puss in the Shrek movies. Antonio Banderas voices the role, and his name would translate as "the highly praiseworth/ priceless banner-bearer".
In my story, one of the incarnations of the Holy Ghost is Eonwe from Tolkien's stories. Eonwe is specifically described as "the banner-bearer and herald of Manwë, whose might in arms is surpassed by none in Arda." Puss in Boots in the Shrek films as well is also noted for being a master swordsman.
Taking this thread further (because why not), prior to his role as Puss in Boots, Banderas also starred as Zorro. His Zorro role was said to be the inspiration for his portrayal of Puss. Zorro is another Masked "Man in Black" known for master swordsmanship. Zorro is a name that means "Fox", and of course that fits perfectly with some of our other Holy Ghost symbols which have incorporated the Fox.
One more comment to your Mark-Peter connection, and the use of disguises and masks (e.g., Lions appearing as Ogres...):
Interestingly enough I am sitting at my daughter's dance competition this afternoon. The name of that competition is "Masquerade", and when I looked it up this morning to get direction on now to get to the location, I noted something that jumped out. The logo of the Masquerade includes one solitary fleur-de-lis.
You had written a post a week ago, based on a comment by Debbie, explicitly linking St. Mark, and papal crowns, to the fleur-de-lis and to flying or winged lions. Like a flying or water-walking Peter, I imagine. And noting that we are dealing with a hero-lion masquerading as an Ogre, I thought the Masquerade symbol/logo made sense with all of this.
Here is the link to the website and logo for your reference:
https://www.masqueradedance.com/
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