Chapter III

The lion, king of beasts—Unbelievers in him—Aldrovandus on the
lion—The lion of the heralds—The “Blazon of Gentrie”—Guillim
as an authority—The lion’s medicine—The lion’s antipathies—Why
some lions are maneless—De Thaun’s symbolic lion—Lion’s cubs
born dead—The theory of Creation held during the Middle
Ages—Degenerate lions of Barbary—The Leontophonos—Hostility
between lion and unicorn—Literary references to the
unicorn—Martin’s “Philosophical Grammar”—How to capture
the unicorn—The value of the horn—The elephant—The capture
thereof—Feud between elephant and dragon—Use of elephant
in war—Performing elephants—Moon-worshippers—Knowledge
of the value of their tusks—The first elephant
seen in England—Sagacity of the elephant—Kindliness
to lost travellers—Ethiopian huntresses—Difference
between the creations of Fancy and of Nature—Elephants
cold-blooded—Hippopotamus prescribing himself blood-letting—The
river-horse of Munster—The panther—Powers of fascination—Beauty
of coat—Fragrance—Red panthers of Cathay—Aromatic spices
as diet—Antipathies between various animals—Antipathetic
medicines—Porta’s “Natural Magick”—The hyæna—Counterfeiting
human speech—The wolf—Producing speechlessness—The dragon’s
parentage—Enmity between wolf and sheep—Value of wolf-skin
garments—The stag-wolf—The bear—Licking cubs into shape—Bees
and honey—The hare—Cruelty of many mediæval remedies—The
hedgehog—The deer—Stories with morals—The boar—Swine-stone—The
ermine—The goat—The malevolent shrew-mouse—The horse—Why
oxen should drink before horses—The donkey—The sparrow’s
aversion—The dog—The cat—Rats and mice 115-199