Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew AnglicusBartholomaeus, Anglicus, active 13th century
History
Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus
Bartholomaeus, Anglicus, active 13th century
Civilization, Medieval; Science, Medieval
And when he seeth that he may not
break out of the den, he is ashamed that he is beguiled, and would
enter in to the second den to lurk there, and falleth into it, and it
closeth anon as he is in, and letteth him not pass out thereof, but
keepeth him fast therein, until he be taken out and bound with chains
till he be tame.... The lion is cruel and wood when he is wroth, and
biteth and grieveth himself for indignation, and gnasheth with his
teeth, and namely when he hungreth, and spieth and lieth in wait, to
take beasts which pass by the way. He hideth himself in privy caves,
and reseth on beasts unawares, and slayeth them with his teeth and
claws, and breaketh all their members, and eateth them piecemeal: and
if he see any come against him to take away his prey, then he
beclippeth the prey, and grunteth and smiteth the earth with his tail,
and if he nigheth him he leapeth on him, and overcometh him, and
turneth to the prey. First he drinketh and licketh the blood of the
beast that he slayeth, and rendeth and haleth the other-deal limb-
meal, and devoureth and swalloweth it.
The leopard is a beast most cruel, and is gendered in spouse-breach of
a pard and of a lioness, and pursueth his prey startling and leaping
and not running, and if he taketh not his prey in the third leap, or
in the fourth, then he stinteth for indignation, and goeth backward as
though he were overcome. And he is less in body than the lion, and
therefore he dreadeth the lion, and maketh a cave under earth with
double entering, one by which he goeth in, and the other by which he
goeth out. And that cave is full wide and large in either entering,
and more narrow and straight in the middle. And so when the lion
cometh, he fleeth and falleth suddenly into the cave, and the lion
pursueth him with a great rese, and entereth also into the cave, and
weeneth there to have the mastery over the leopard, but for greatness
of his body he may not pass freely by the middle of the den which is
full straight, and when the leopard knoweth that the lion is so let
and holden in the straight place, he goeth out of the den forward, and
cometh again into the den in the other side behind the lion, and
reseth on him behindforth with biting and with claws, and so the
leopard hath often in that wise the mastery of the lion by craft and
not by strength, so the less beast hath oft the mastery of the strong
beast by deceit and guile in the den, and dare not rese on him openly
in the field, as Homer saith in the book of the battles and wiles of
beasts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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