The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts

I am reading a translation of a book called The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts which was written in the 12th century, that catalogs both real and fantastic animals, and explains where their names come from. I was not looking for such a book, it just stood out for a minute when I was walking through the library, but there are some really worthwhile things in it.

"If anybody smears himself with the blood of this bird on his way to bed, he will have nightmares about suffering devils."


And this, of course, is good to know. If you must smear yourself with the blood of a Upupa, then at least do it before dinner.

But a lot of this book deals with each beast's place within Christianity, something that I was not familiar with at all. Apparently the Panther is an animal parallel to Jesus, with their common enemy the "dragon-devil":

"When a Panther has dined and is full up, it hides away in its own den and goes to sleep. After three days it wakes up again and emits a loud belch, and there comes a very sweet smell from its mouth, like the smell of all spice. When the other animals have heard the noise the follow wherever it goes, because of the sweetness of this smell. But the Dragon only, hearing the sound, flees into the caves of the earth, being smitten with fear. There unable to bear the smell, it becomes torpid and half asleep, and remains motionless, as if dead.