As Mr. Tardieu writes, if for other animals there is "a passage from one to the other, the metamorphosis of the phoenix is realized as a passage from the same to the same. The problematic of otherness, dominating myths of metamorphosis, is replaced in the legend of the phoenix by a problematic of identity and unity". Its mode of reproduction therefore escapes common laws. In the evolution of the myth, it is reborn first from its putrefaction, either directly or through the intermediary of a worm, then from its ashes, and sometimes in both ways at the same time, in a confusion made by the ancients, but often also by the moderns. It possesses an exceptional beauty, but also offers the characteristics of a normal bird: it has nothing of these hybrid monsters such as the griffin or the chimera. If there is a difference in size or colour, it only has the limbs specific to birds: wings, legs, tail, crest or aigrette, crop. - [Author]

Language: French