#2- Tyger/Tiger
The tiger begins as the most real of all fantastic beasts and ends as the most fantastic of all real beasts. How and when did this happen?
Note on tiger stripes: The full story of how the tiger regained its stripes is actually even more complicated than we let on. Tigers were sometimes illustrated with what look like stripes to us, even while the stripes are called spots (Topsell). In addition, the Latin word often employed for tigers, “macula,” can mean either spot or a more general mark. Linnaeus says the tiger is “maculis omnibus virgatis” - marked all over with stripes. Finally the “tyger” spelling was still really popular until late in the 18th century, and spelling is a weak indicator. The English word “striped” was not generally not applied outside textiles until the 1630s (OED).
Sources we mention
William Blake, “The Tyger” (Wikipedia has the image of the original page).
Richard de Fournival, Bestiare D’amour (no online version).
Oliver Goldsmith. A History of the Earth and Animated Nature (1774).
Gaius Julius Solinus, De mirabilibus mundi (no online version).
Edward Topsell, A Historie of Foure Footed Beasts. London, 1658 (first edition was 1607).