Back by popular demand: Bestiary 2.

[dolorous_ett]

Now I've established that I'm not the only one who likes strange mediaeval beasts, I don't feel too bad about posting a few more for your entertainment. Though I can't promise anything quite so dramatic as the self-castrating beaver.

The weasel, 'mustela', is a sort of long mouse; 'telon' means long in Greek. It is very cunning; when it gives birth to its young in a house, it carries them from one place to another and puts them somewhere different each time. Thre are two  kinds of weasel: one lives in the woods and is rather bigger... the other lives in houses. Some people say that they concieve through their ear and give birth throught their mouth, and others that it is the other way round, that they conceive through their mouth and give birth through their ear. They are said to be skilled in healing, so that if they find that their young have been killed, they can bring them back to life again.

There is an animal called the badger which is also known as the melot. It bites and is unclean, inhabiting mountains and rocky places. It makes holes underground by scraping with its feet. Some badgers are born to be servants to the others. They lie on their backs and pile on their bellies soil whcih the others have dug out. Then they hold a piece of wood in their mouth and clutch the soil with their four feet. The others sink their teeth into the wood and drag them backwards out of the holes, to the great astonishment of anyone who sees it.

Magpies or pies might be called poets, because they can speak words with different sounds, like men. They hang in the branches of trees, calling with importunate chatterings, and even if they cannot form a language, they can imitate the sound of the human voice.... It is said that this bird has something divine about it. The proof is that if a magpie is nesting in a tree, a nail or other fastening will not sta long in it, because it falls out as soon as the bird alights in the tree, but you can think what you like of this story. The sound of its voice may mean either the loquacity of heretics or the discussion of philosophers, as we said about the crow.

The pelican is an Egyptian bird which lives in the solitary places of the River Nile; and this is where is gets its name, because Canopus is the same as Egypt. It shows exceeding love towards its young. If it has brought offspring into the world, when these grow up they strike their parents in the face. The parents strike back and kill them. After three days their mother opens her own breast, and lies on her young, pouring her blood over the dead bodies, and thus bringing them back to life.

There are plenty more of that ilk - including several birds that "so far forget themselves" as to fornicate with birds of their own sex in their vile lusts. And I do wish I could have shown you the illustration that goes with the badger, lying on its back on the ground, acting as a sort of sledge.