room for others. Among these the reader will find many examples of
those legends, which made up the popular Natural History of early
days, originally imported from the East through Spain and Italy. The
memory of these survives even now in our popular locutions. "Licked
into shape" refers to the tale we give in our account of the bear. The
royal nature of the lion is a commonplace: Jonson and Spenser speak of
the sweet breath of the panther. Drayton, in his "Heroical Epistles,"
quotes the siren and the hyena as examples:
"To call for aid, and then to lie in wait,
So the hyena murthers by deceit,
By sweet enticement sudden death to bring,
So from the rocks th' alluring mermaids sing."
Trevisa has invented an adjective for us that expresses the midnight
caterwaul--"ghastful." Bartholomew probably suffered from those two
minor curses of humanity--the amorous cat and the wandering cur. But
he has preserved for us a noble eulogy of the dog, and has a reference
to the tale of the dog of Montargis, the standing example of canine
fidelity among a chivalrous folk.
It is said, that in India is a beast wonderly shapen, and is like to
the bear in body and in hair, and to a man in face. And hath a right
red head, and a full great mouth, and an horrible, and in either jaw
three rows of teeth distinguished atween. The outer limbs thereof be
as it were the outer limbs of a lion, and his tail is like to a wild
scorpion, with a sting, and smiteth with hard bristle pricks as a wild
swine, and hath an horrible voice, as the voice of a trumpet, and he
runneth full swiftly, and eateth men. And among all beasts of the
earth is none found more cruel, nor more wonderly shape, as Avicenna
saith. And this beast is called Baricos in Greek.
The boar is so fierce a beast, and also so cruel, that for his
fierceness and his cruelness, he despiseth and setteth nought by
death, and he reseth full piteously against the point of a spear of
the hunter. And though it be so that he be smitten or sticked with a
spear through the body, yet for the greater ire and cruelness in heart
that he hath, he reseth on his enemy, and taketh comfort and heart and
strength for to wreak himself on his adversary with his tusks, and
putteth himself in peril of death with a wonder fierceness against the
weapon of his enemy, and hath in his mouth two crooked tusks right
strong and sharp, and breaketh and rendeth cruelly with them those
which he withstandeth. And useth the tusks instead of a sword. And
hath a hard shield, broad and thick in the right side, and putteth
that always against his weapon that pursueth him, and useth that brawn
instead of a shield to defend himself. And when he spieth peril that
should befall, he whetteth his tusks and frotteth them, and assayeth
in that while fretting against trees, if the points of his tusks be
all blunt. And if he feel that they be blunt, he seeketh a herb which
is called Origanum, and gnaweth it and cheweth it, and cleanseth and
comforteth the roots of his teeth therewith by vertue thereof.
The ass is fair of shape and of disposition while he is young and
tender, or he pass into age. For the elder the ass is, the fouler he
waxeth from day to day, and hairy and rough, and is a melancholy
beast, that is cold and dry, and is therefore kindly heavy and slow,
and unlusty, dull and witless and forgetful. Nathless he beareth
burdens, and may away with travail and thraldom, and useth vile meat
and little, and gathereth his meat among briars and thorns and
thistles.... And the ass hath another wretched condition known to nigh
all men. For he is put to travail over-night, and is beaten with
staves, and sticked and pricked with pricks, and his mouth is wrung
with a bernacle, and is led hither and thither, and withdrawn from
leas and pasture that is in his way oft by the refraining of the
bernacle, and dieth at last after vain travails, and hath no reward
after his death for the service and travail that he had living, not so
much that his own skin is left with him, but it is taken away, and the
carrion is thrown out without sepulture or burials; but it be so much
of the carrion that by eating and devouring is sometimes buried in the
wombs of hounds and wolves.
And such [adders] lie in await for them that sleep: and if they find
the mouth open of them or of other beasts, then they creep in: for
they love heat and humour that they find here. But against such adders
a little beast fighteth that hight Saura, as it were a little ewt, and
some men mean that it is a lizard; for when this beast is aware that
this serpent is present, then he leapeth upon his face that sleepeth,
and scratcheth with his feet to wake him, and to warn him of the
serpent. And when this little beast waxeth old, his eyen wax blind,
and then he goeth into an hole of a wall against the east, and openeth
his eyen afterward when the sun is risen, and then his eyen heat and
take light.
This slaying adder and venomous hath wit to love and affection, and
loveth his mate as it were by love of wedlock, and liveth not well
without company. Therefore if the one is slain, the other pursueth him
that slew that other with so busy wreak and vengeance, that passeth
weening. And knoweth the slayer, and reseth on him, be he in never so
great company of men and of people, and busieth to slay him, and
passeth all difficulties and spaces of ways, and with wreak of the
said death of his mate. And is not let, ne put off, but it be by swift
flight, or by waters or rivers. Marcianus saith that the asp grieveth
not men of Africa or Moors; for they take their children that they
have suspect, and put them to these adders: and if the children be of
their kind, this adder grieveth them not, and if they be of other
kind, anon they die by venom of the adder.
An oxherd hight Bubulcus, and is ordained by office to keep oxen: He
feedeth and nourisheth oxen, and bringeth them to leas and home again:
and bindeth their feet with a langhaldes and spanells and nigheth and
cloggeth them while they be in pasture and leas, and yoketh and maketh
them draw at the plough: and pricketh the slow with a goad, and maketh
them draw even. And pleaseth them with whistling and with song, to
make them bear the yoke with the better will for liking of melody of
the voice. And this herd driveth and ruleth them to draw even, and
teacheth them to make even furrows: and compelleth them not only to
ear, but also to tread and to thresh. And they lead them about upon
corn to break the straw in threshing and treading the flour. And when
the travail is done, then they unyoke them and bring them to the
stall: and tie them to the stall, and feed them thereat.
The cockatrice hight Basiliscus in Greek, and Regulus in Latin; and
hath that name Regulus of a little king, for he is king of serpents,
and they be afraid, and flee when they see him. For he slayeth them
with his smell and with his breath: and slayeth also anything that
hath life with breath and with sight. In his sight no fowl nor bird
passeth harmless, and though he be far from the fowl, yet it is burned
and devoured by his mouth. But he is overcome of the weasel; and men
bring the weasel to the cockatrice's den, where he lurketh and is hid.
For the father and maker of everything left nothing without remedy.
Among the Hisperies and Ethiopians is a well, that many men trow is
the head of Nile, and there beside is a wild beast that hight
Catoblefas, and hath a little body, and nice in all members, and a
great head hanging always toward the earth, and else it were great
noying to mankind. For all that see his eyen, should die anon, and the
same kind hath the cockatrice, and the serpent that is bred in the
province of Sirena; and hath a body in length and in breadth as the
cockatrice, and a tail of twelve inches long, and hath a speck in his
head as a precious stone, and feareth away all serpents with hissing.
And he presseth not his body with much bowing, but his course of way
is forthright, and goeth in mean. He drieth and burneth leaves and
herbs, not only with touch but also by hissing and blast he rotteth
and corrupteth all things about him. And he is of so great venom and
perilous, that he slayeth and wasteth him that nigheth him by the
length of a spear, without tarrying; and yet the weasel taketh and
overcometh him, for the biting of the weasel is death to the
cockatrice. And nevertheless the biting of the cockatrice is death to
the weasel. And that is sooth, but if the weasel eat rue before. And
though the cockatrice be venomous without remedy, while he is alive,
yet he loseth all the malice when he is burnt to ashes. His ashes be
accounted good and profitable in working of Alchemy, and namely in
turning and changing of metals.
Nothing is more busy and wittier than a hound, for he hath more wit
than other beasts. And hounds know their own names, and love their
masters, and defend the houses of their masters, and put themselves
wilfully in peril of death for their masters, and run to take prey for
their masters, and forsake not the dead bodies of their masters. We
have known that hounds fought for their lords against thieves, and
were sore wounded, and that they kept away beasts and fowls from their
masters' bodies dead. And that a hound compelled the slayer of his
master with barking and biting to acknowledge his trespass and guilt.
Also we read that Garamantus the king came out of exile, and brought
with him two hundred hounds, and fought against his enemies with
wondrous hardiness.
Other hounds flee and avoid the wood hound as pestilence and venom:
and he is always exiled as it were an outlaw, and goeth alone wagging
and rolling as a drunken beast, and runneth yawning, and his tongue
hangeth out, and his mouth drivelleth and foameth, and his eyes be
overturned and reared, and his ears lie backward, and his tail is
wrinkled by the legs and thighs; and though his eyes be open, yet he
stumbleth and spurneth against every thing. And barketh at his own
shadow.... Pliny saith that under the hound's tongue lieth a worm that
maketh the hound wood, and if this worm is taken out of the tongue,
then the evil ceaseth.... Also an hound is wrathful and malicious, so
that for to awreak himself, he biteth oft the stone that is thrown to
him: and biteth the stone with great woodness, that he breaketh his
own teeth, and grieveth not the stone, but his own teeth full sore.
Also he is guileful and deceivable, and so oft he fickleth and fawneth
with his tail on men that pass by the way, as though he were a friend,
and biteth them sore if they take none heed backward. And the hound
hateth stones and rods, and is bold and hardy among them that he
knoweth, and busieth to bite and to fear all other, and is not bold
when he passeth among strangers. Also the hound is envious, and
gathereth herbs privily, and is right sorry if any man know the virtue
of those herbs, as is also evil apaid if any strange hounds and
unknown come into the place where he dwelleth; and dreadeth lest he
should fare the worse for the other hound's presence, and fighteth
with him therefore. Also he is covetous and scarce, and busy to lay up
and to hide the relief that he leaveth. And therefore he commoneth
not, nor giveth flesh and marrow-bones that he may not devour to other
hounds: but layeth them up busily, and hideth them until he hungereth
again.... And at the last the hound is violently drawn out of the
dunghill with a rope or with a whip bound about his neck, and is
drowned in the river, or in some other water, and so he endeth his
wretched life. And his skin is not taken off, nor his flesh is not
eaten or buried, but left finally to flies, and to other divers worms.
In Pontus is a manner kind of beasts, that dwelleth now in land and
now in water, and maketh houses and dens arrayed with wonder craft in
the brinks of rivers and of waters. For these beasts live together in
flocks, and love beasts of the same kind, and come together and cut
rods and sticks with their teeth, and bring them home to their dens in
a wonder wise, for they lay one of them upright on the ground, instead
of a sled or of a dray, with his legs and feet reared upward, and lay
and load the sticks and wood between his legs and thighs, and draw him
home to their dens, and unlade and discharge him there, and make their
dwelling places right strong by great subtlety of craft. In their
houses be two chambers or three distinguished, as it were three
cellars, and they dwell in the over place when the water ariseth, and
in the nether when the water is away, and each of them hath a certain
hole properly made in the cellar, by the which hole he putteth out his
tail in the water, for the tail is of fishy kind, it may not without
water be long kept without corruption.
If the crocodile findeth a man by the brim of the water, or by the
cliff, he slayeth him if he may, and then he weepeth upon him, and
swalloweth him at the last.
The Dragon is most greatest of all serpents, and oft he is drawn out
of his den, and riseth up into the air, and the air is moved by him,
and also the sea swelleth against his venom, and he hath a crest with
a little mouth, and draweth breath at small pipes and straight, and
reareth his tongue, and hath teeth like a saw, and hath strength, and
not only in teeth, but also in his tail, and grieveth both with biting
and with stinging, and hath not so much venom as other serpents: for
to the end to slay anything, to him venom is not needful, for whom he
findeth he slayeth, and the elephant is not secure of him, for all his
greatness of body. Oft four or five of them fasten their tails
together, and rear up their heads, and sail over sea and over rivers
to get good meat. Between elephants and dragons is everlasting
fighting, for the dragon with his tail bindeth and spanneth the
elephant, and the elephant with his foot and with his nose throweth
down the dragon, and the dragon bindeth and spanneth the elephant's
legs, and maketh him fall, but the dragon buyeth it full sore: for
while he slayeth the elephant, the elephant falleth upon him and
slayeth him. Also the elephant seeing the dragon upon a tree, busieth
him to break the tree to smite the dragon, and the dragon leapeth upon
the elephant, and busieth him to bite him between the nostrils, and
assaileth the elephant's eyen, and maketh him blind sometime, and
leapeth upon him sometime behind, and biteth him and sucketh his
blood. And at the last after long fighting the elephant waxeth feeble
for great blindness, in so much that he falleth upon the dragon, and
slayeth in his dying the dragon that him slayeth. The cause why the
dragon desireth his blood, is coldness of the elephant's blood, by the
which the dragon desireth to cool himself. Jerome saith, that the
dragon is a full thirsty beast, insomuch that unneth he may have water
enough to quench his great thirst; and openeth his mouth therefore
against the wind, to quench the burning of his thirst in that wise.
Therefore when he seeth ships sail in the sea in great wind, he flieth
against the sail to take their cold wind, and overthroweth the ship
sometimes for greatness of body, and strong rese against the sail. And
when the shipmen see the dragon come nigh, and know his coming by the
water that swelleth ayenge him, they strike the sail anon, and scape
in that wise.
Horses be joyful in fields, and smell battles, and be comforted with
noise of trumpets to battle and to fighting; and be excited to run
with noise that they know, and be sorry when they be overcome, and
glad when they have the mastery. And so feeleth and knoweth their
enemies in battle so far forth that they a-rese on their enemies with
biting and smiting, and also some know their own lords, and forget
mildness, if their lords be overcome: and some horses suffer no man to
ride on their backs, but only their own lords. And many horses weep
when their lords be dead. And it is said that horses weep for sorrow,
right as a man doth, and so the kind of horse and of man is medlied.
Also oft men that shall fight take evidence and divine and guess what
shall befall, by sorrow or by the joy that the horse maketh. Old men
mean that in gentle horse, noble men take heed of four things, of
shape, and of fairness, of wilfulness, and of colour.
In his forehead when he is foaled is found Iconemor, a black skin of
the quantity of a sedge, that hight also Amor's Veneficium; and the
mother licketh it off with her tongue, and taketh it away and hideth
it or eateth it. For women that be witches use that skin in their
sayings, when they will excite a man to love.... The colt is not
littered with straw, nor curried with an horse comb, nor arrayed with
trapping and gay harness, nor smitten with spurs, nor saddled with
saddle, nor tamed with bridle, but he followeth his mother freely, and
eateth grass, and his feet be not pierced with nails, but he is
suffered to run hither and thither freely: but at the last he is set
to work and to travail, and is held and tied and led with halters and
reins, and taken from his mother, and may not suck his dam's teats;
but he is taught in many manner wise to go easily and soft. And he is
set to carts, chariots, and cars, and to travel and bearing of
horsemen in chivalry: and so the silly horse colt is foaled to divers
hap of fortune. Isidore saith, that horses were sometime hallowed in
divers usage of the gods.
Among beasts the elephant is most of virtue, so that unneth among men
is so great readiness found. For in the new moon they come together in
great companies, and bathe and wash them in a river, and lowte each to
other, and turn so again to their own places, and they make the young
go tofore in the turning again; and keep them busily and teach them to
do in the same wise: and when they be sick, they gather good herbs,
and ere they use the herbs they heave up the head, and look up toward
heaven, and pray for help of God in a certain religion. And they be
good of wit, and learn well: and are easy to teach, insomuch that they
be taught to know the king and to worship him, and busy to do him
reverence and to bend the knees in worship of him. If elephants see a
man coming against them that is out of the way in the wilderness, for
they would not affray him, they will draw themselves somewhat out of
the way, and then they stint, and pass little and little tofore him,
and teach him the way. And if a dragon come against him, they fight
with the dragon and defend the man, and put them forth to defend the
man strongly and mightily: and do so namely when they have young
foals, for they dread that the man seeketh their foals. And therefore
they purpose first to deliver them of the man, that they may more
securely feed their children and keep them the more warily....
Elephants be best in chivalry when they be tame: for they bear towers
of tree, and throw down sheltrons, and overturn men of arms, and that
is wonderful; for they dread not men of arms ranged in battle, and
dread and flee the voice of the least sound of a swine. When they be
taken, they be made tame and mild with barley: and a cave or a ditch
is made under the earth, as it were a pitfall in the elephant's way,
and unawares he falleth therein. And then one of the hunters cometh to
him and beateth and smiteth him, and pricketh him full sore. And then
another hunter cometh and smiteth the first hunter, and doth him away,
and defendeth the elephant, and giveth him barley to eat, and when he
hath eaten thrice or four times, then he loveth him that defended him,
and is afterward mild and obedient to him. I have read in Physiologus'
book that the elephant is a beast that passeth all other four-footed
beasts in quantity, in wit, and in mind. For among other doings
elephants lie never down in sleeping; but when they be weary they lean
to a tree and so rest somewhat. And men lie in wait to espy their
resting places privily, for to cut the tree in the other side: and the
elephant cometh and is not aware of the fraud, and leaneth to the tree
and breaketh it with the weight of his body, and falleth down with the
breaking, and lieth there. And when he seeth he may not help himself
in falling he crieth and roareth in a wonder manner: and by his noise
and crying come suddenly many young elephants, and rear up the old
little and little with all their strength and might: and while they
arear him with wonder affection and love, they bend themselves with
all their might and strength. ... Also there is another thing said
that is full wonderful: among the Ethiopians in some countries
elephants be hunted in this wise: there go in the desert two maidens
all naked and bare, with open hair of the head: and one of them
beareth a vessel, and the other a sword. And these maidens begin to
sing alone: and the beast hath liking when he heareth their song, and
cometh to them, and licketh their teats, and falleth asleep anon for
liking of the song, and then the one maid sticketh him in the throat
or in the side with a sword, and the other taketh his blood in a
vessel, and with that blood the people of the same country dye cloth,
and done colour it therewith.
Satyrs be somewhat like men, and have crooked nose and horns in the
forehead, and like to goats in their feet. Saint Anthony saw such a
one in the wilderness, as it is said, and he asked what he was, and he
answered Anthony, and said: "I am deadly, and one of them that
dwelleth in the wilderness." These wonderful beasts be divers: for
some of them be called Cyno[ce]phali, for they have heads as hounds,
and seem by the working, beasts rather than men, and some be called
Cyclops, and have that name, for one of them hath but one eye, and
that in the middle of the forehead, and some be all headless and
noseless, and their eyen be in the shoulders, and some have plain
faces without nostrils, and the nether lips of them stretch so, that
they hele therewith their faces when they be in the heat of the sun:
and some of them have closed mouths, in their breasts only one hole,
and breathe and suck as it were with pipes and veins, and these be
accounted tongueless, and use signs and becks instead of speaking.
Also in Scythia be some with so great and large ears, that they spread
their ears and cover all their bodies with them, and these be called
Panchios.... And other be in Ethiopia, and each of them have only one
foot so great and so large, that they beshadow themselves with the
foot when they lie gaping on the ground in strong heat of the sun; and
yet they be so swift, that they be likened to hounds in swiftness of
running, and therefore among the Greeks they be called Cynopodes. Also
some have the soles of their feet turned backward behind the legs, and
in each foot eight toes, and such go about and stare in the desert of
Lybia. The griffin is a beast with wings, and is four footed: and
breedeth in the mountains Hyperborean, and is like to the lion in all
the parts of the body, and to the eagle only in the head and wings.
And griffins keep the mountains in which be gems and precious stones,
and suffer them not to be taken from thence.
The hyena is a cruel beast like to the wolf in devouring and gluttony,
and reseth on dead men, and taketh their carcase out of the earth, and
devoureth them. It is his kind to change sex, for he is now found
male, and now female, and is therefore an unclean beast, and cometh to
hoveys by night, and feigneth man's voice as he may, for men should
trow that it is a man. Pliny saith: It is said he is one year male and
another female. And she bringeth forth her brood without male, as the
common people trow. But Aristotle denieth that. And hath the neck of
the adder, and the ridge of an elephant, and may not bend but if he
bear all the body about. And herds tell that among stables, he
feigneth speech of mankind, and calleth some man by his own name, and
rendeth him when he hath him without. And he feigneth oft the name of
some man, for to make hounds run out, that he may take and eat
them.... And his shadow maketh hounds leave barking and be still, if
he come near them. And if this beast hyena goeth thrice about any
beast, that beast shall stint within his steps. Pliny saith that the
hyena hateth the panther. And it is said that if both their skins be
hanged together, the hair of the panther's skin shall fall away. This
beast hyena fleeth the hunter, and draweth toward the right side, to
occupy the trace of the man that goeth before: and if he cometh not
after, he telleth that he goeth out of his wit, or else the man
falleth down off his horse. And if he turn against the hyena, the
beast is soon taken, as magicians tell. And also witches use the heart
of this beast and the liver, in many witchcrafts.