and the earliest written reference to the beast―in Hesiod’s Theogony²⁴―makes her the sibling of two other hounds: Orthos, the two-headed Hound of the West; and Kerberos, the three-headed Hound of Hades.  Truth to tell, even these associations are somewhat wide the mark, for the real nature of the beast lies half-way between hound and serpent, and only the name itself can lead us to the truth.  The name ‘Hydra’, of course, is connected with the Greek word for water; but it is also cognate with the Greek ‘enudris’ (that is, ‘en-hydris’), a word that literally means ‘in the water’ but actually denotes an otter.  This Hydra, then, a fresh water beast (as the myth relates), was in reality a mythical giant Otter with a lair located at the base of a type of World Tree, just as with the Snake and into which reptile the image of the mammal was transformed in literature.  Herakles, accordingly, substitutes for the Bird, and although this particular association does seem quite strained, the hero is in fact aided by the Owl-like Athena, by whom the analogy is made more complete.
    What is even more significant than the nature of the Hydra, however, is the fact that the Otter―as one of two opposing combatants―has wider implications.  This creature in fact―as well as many other similar creatures (such as the marten, the ermine, the lynx, and the beaver to boot)―leads us around the world to another important pair of symbols representing opposing creative forces.  Even in Europe, the pair Otter and Beaver point to what are known as the Culture Hero Twins.²⁵  But it is in the Americas that we find the most elaborate―and thus certainly the most ancient―tales.  The Algonquin trickster figure Lox―Lynx (or variously Marten and Ermine, and even Wolf), in fact, has all the earmarks of being the younger (Twin) brother and foil of the great god Glooskap.²⁶  In the latter’s stories we learn that when this god―whose name, curiously enough, means ‘Liar’―and his twin brother Wolf were in the womb, they discussed the means of their birth.  Wolf, the evil Twin, declared that he would be born from his mother’s side.  This alone connects the American Hero Twins with the rest of the world, for even in Egypt the evil Set, twin of Osiris, performs the same hurtful natal feat.²⁷ Such analogous examples could be multiplied indefinitely, for the Culture Hero Twins constitutes one of the most pregnant subjects in mythology.  In fact, as is obvious from the Mayan version of this particular theme, the adventures of the Twins lead directly to the subject of Shamanism,²⁸ with its descent, via the serpent’s den, into the Underworld, and its magical flight on Eagle’s wings into the sky―with the World Tree thrown in for good measure.  Evidently, there is more meaning in myths like these than has been dreamt of.