Taro

Taro was a monster who appeared in the 1958 mythological fantasy movie The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.

Description
An enormous dragonoid creature, Taro was greenish in colour and walked on all fours. It possessed a scaly, reptilian skin, a long tail, and a horned head with a mouth full of vicious teeth mounted on the end of a serpentine neck. In addition, it had a spiny, reddish sail mounted on its back and was capable of breathing a gout of intense flame from its mouth, much like many dragons of legend.

History
Taro was kept chained by the evil sorceror Sokurah to guard his cave lair on the island of Colossa when Sokurah was away, and displayed a degree of obedience to his master.

When Sinbad and Princess Parise attempted to escape the cave after refusing to hand over a magic lamp to the magician, they were confronted by a hungry Cyclops. Rather than face the Cyclops alone, Sinbad released Taro to do battle with the beast. After a lengthy fight, Taro eventually got the upper hand and killed its opponent with a powerful bite to the neck.

Emerging from his cave, the furious Sokurah commanded his pet to pursue and destroy Sinbad. However, Sinbad's crew had constructed an enormous ballista (a type of siege crossbow) with which to combat any roving Cyclopes with, and instead they used this to fire a great arrow into Taro's heart, killing the beast almost instantly. As Taro fell, he landed on Sokurah, crushing his master to death.

Trivia

 * Taro was animated by stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen