Chichevache

Chichevache is a monster, a creature with human-like face but the body of a cow, with paws of a panther, appearing in European satirical works of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, that is fabled to feed on good women, and starved, from the scarcity of them, to skin and bone, in contrast with another called Bicorn, that fed on good men, who are more plentiful, and was fat and plump.

Geoffrey Chaucer mentions Chichevache in his Canterbury Tales in Clerk's Tale. John Lydgate's poem "Bycorne and Chychevache" also mentions them. Lydgate describes the two beasts as husband and wife.

The fable is of French origin according to D. Laing Purves. The French term "chichifache" (literally thin faced) is combined with vache (literally cow) to make the similar term chichevache, which means "thin, niggardly cow".

Nearby pages
Chickasaws, Chiclana, Chidiya Tapu, Chidiyatapu Biological Park, Chief, Chiem-See