Basilisk, the fabled viper! "Jewish Literature and Other Essays" by Gustav Karpeles

Contemplating it, I understood indeed that, like to that of the fabled Helen, this gift of hers alone- and it was but one of many- must have caused infinite sorrows, had she ever been permitted to display it to the world. "Ayesha The Further History of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed" by H. Rider Haggard