A Jarak, or Jarack, was a type of bird found in Lether, though that may have not been exclusively so. They were short-beaked, yellow plumed and grey hooded and were the size of starlings. They spoke in guttural tones.[1]
Known as "the murderer of the forest", female Jaraks killed and ate the chicks of other birds when it found them in unguarded nests. Sometimes it replaced one of the eggs with its own to be warmed by the other bird. When the jarak egg hatched, it killed and ate its nestmates. Afterwards, it mimicked the call of its adopted parents to summon them with food. Then the two adult jaraks waiting nearby killed the adoptive parents and fed them to their hatchling.[2]
The Fent thought Jaraks were the souls of abandoned children left to die in the forest. They yearned for a family and home, but their rage drove them to destroy all they desired.[3]
In Dust of Dreams[]
Two Jarak birds were present in a cage close to where Hedge and Quick Ben were talking, and they conversed about death, and the one of the two present close to Hedge after his resurrection spoke of smelling 'death'. The other corrected him by saying he smelled 'dead', not 'death'.[1]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dust of Dreams, Chapter 1
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.460
- ↑ Reaper's Gale, Chapter 16, US HC p.462