Yeti in the House

In Mallorca, Spain, you can go to a tourist attraction called "The House of Katmandu".

Once inside, you will encounter a big statue of a yeti.

Note #1: These are the largest ears I have ever seen on a yeti (and I've seen a lot of yeti - more than most). Did anyone else think Mogwai?

Note #2: The yeti is armed with a stave. This is important.


More pictures of The House of Katmandu

Guitian Yeti

Unless I'm mistaken, Cristina Guitian is the artist responsible for this imagining.

Beast Quest

In each book of the Beast Quest series, the hero must battle a mythological beast. The beasts in question include a centaur, a dragon, a serpent man, and a flame bird.

Author Adam Blade likes the yeti, apparently.

Of the seven Beast Quest books currently published, THREE of them feature a beast that is yeti in all but name.

Observe:






And coming up in May 2008, Claw the Giant Monkey is probably a yeti in disguise as well.

Simpsons Yeti

Delores alerts me to the following:

"The Simpsons Winter Wingding # 2" features yeti on the cover. The yeti is after Bart's bag of Pork Rinds.

Thanks, Dolores!

Finally, yeti has appeared with the Simpsons (and I observe the artists took a Rankin/Bass approach).

Bigfoot's been practically the star of that show since its beginning. In the seventh episode, Homer was mistaken as a sasquatch, and the Brown Beast has been mentioned over a dozen times over the years.

But the yeti? Hardly even acknowledged.

One did manhandle Homer in the episode "King of the Hill" during a dream sequence. But that's it.

So this appearance on the cover of an official comic book is historic.

Hillgrove Yeti

For more work by this artist, check out Justin Hillgrove's Imps & Monsters

You can learn a lot from a Bumble

Tera sent me this video clip of the first appearance of Bumble, the yeti from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). If you are inclined to watch, the first 2 minutes are applicable to this blog.



Note how the strange lumberjack man cannot pronounce the word 'abominable'. Instead, he mangles it into "Bumble". Don't let his poor English fool you. He knows many things about the yeti. Listen to his old-timey wisdom and you will learn much.

What can we infer about the yeti from this video's bearded hero & friends?

Having a red nose is real drag. It will give you away to horrible snow beasts.

Very few people know of the yeti's one weakness, which is:

DIY Icebergs!

No wait, I am corrected. Yeti's one weakness actually is:

A penchant for sinking.

(Technically, the sinking isn't really a problem for the yeti as evidence clearly shows it quite capable of rising back up again to exit the water. Rather, I believe the amiable, ginger-haired lumber-fellow meant to indicate that yeti's weakness is its inability to swim.)

~~~~~~~~~~~

At the 2:30 mark of the following video clip, yeti returns to the story....



And what can we learn from the bearded man and his adventures here?

Yeti is nothing without his choppers.

It pays to have a dentist with you.


Once yeti is pushed over the cliff, fast-forward to 7:05, where we learn:

Without teeth, a yeti can be reformed by the companionship of a human, particularly if that human is bearded and jovial.

Reformation may result in a desire in the yeti to seek acceptance and possibly employment (menial chores and the like) within a community of other beings.

Step-ladders are unnecessary items to the yeti. No need to procure them in advance if you are having one over to your house.

The Abominable Snowmen are capable of surviving falls from great heights. Their bodies are apparently similar to elastic balls.


In summation, the following traits can now be applied to the yeti:

yeti cannot swim

But!

it possesses incredible resiliency

is almost impervious to any harm

can track its prey over long distances

needs no step-ladders

However, without its teeth:

it is nothing

will become docile if reformed by outdoorsy types

stops killing everything

will decorate christmas trees


Rankin/Bass, you are enlightening us all.

High-tailin' it...

This painting illustrates what one can realistically expect to see of the yeti if one is very lucky:

A blurry glimpse of it speeding away at maximum velocity.

They are incorrigibly elusive.

Image found here. Artist unknown.