effervescentaardvark:“The dragon is larger than the rest of all the serpents and than all the other
effervescentaardvark:“The dragon is larger than the rest of all the serpents and than all the other animals in the world. The Grreks call it ‘dracontam’, and from that comes its Latin name ‘draco’. It is said that it is often tempted to come out of its caves into the air, and the air is shaken by it. It has a crest and a small mouth and narrow nostrils through which it breathes, and it puts out its tongue. Its strength is not in its teeth, but its tail, and it harms more by blows than by force of impact. It has no harmful poison. But it is said that it does not need poison in order to kill, because it slays anything that it embraces. Not even the elephant, with its huge body, is safe from it. It lies concealed near the paths which elephants are in the habit of using, entangles their feet with its coils and suffocates them to death. Its homes are Ethiopia and India, where there is always heat.”Source: “Bestiary: Being an english version of the Bodleian Library, Oxfod M.S. Bodley 764 with all the original miniatures reproduced in facsimile. Translated by Richard Barber” Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1999. ISBN: 085115753X -- source link
#medieval#bestiary#dragon#elephant