Sigil of Malphas
At a glance
- Entry
- 39 of 72
- Rank
- President
- Legions
- 40 in the text
Description in the text
Malphas is said to build houses and towers and to reveal what enemies intend or have done. His entry also promises familiars but warns that he deceives anyone who offers him a sacrifice.
Read entry 39 on page 34 of the 1916 edition
Appearance
A crow that may become a human figure with a hoarse voice.
Topics attributed to this entry
- Building
- Enemies’ plans
- Familiars
Reading this entry
Malphas begins as a crow, then becomes human while retaining a hoarse voice. The president is credited with building houses and high towers and revealing enemies’ desires, thoughts, and past deeds. He is also said to give good familiars. These offices combine construction with intelligence about adversaries, but the source does not present a single plan connecting them.
The entry contains a pointed caution: it says Malphas will accept a sacrifice willingly yet deceive the giver. That warning should accompany any account of the offered familiars or information. Forty legions and a seal follow. Malphas is easily confused with other crow-like figures, especially Raum, but the sacrifice warning and building office mark this numbered passage apart from the next crow transformation in the list.
Read entry 39 on page 34 of the 1916 edition or compare the 1904 transcription.
A closer reading of entry 39
What the numbered text says
The crow becomes a human figure, and a hoarse voice is specified for that form. Malphas’s building office extends from houses to tall towers, then turns to what enemies desire, think, and have done. After the promise of familiars, the passage separately warns that a sacrifice will be met with deception. That warning is part of the profile, not a detachable moral appended by a modern editor.
About the printed seal
Seal 39 is printed on frontispiece 5. The entry merely points to it after the legion count, offering no account of its geometry. Reading a crow, house, or warning symbol into the lines would require evidence the source does not give.
Compare another entry
Compare entry 38: Halphas. The preceding Halphas has another bird form and a tower-building office, but his towers are equipped for war. Malphas combines construction with intelligence about opponents and an explicit deception warning. Even shared motifs produce different narrative roles.