medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From the Bestiary edited by Richard Barber (Boydell, 1993),
some of the main points of interest of elephants are:
no desire to mate
flee mice
live 300 years
trample snakes
no knees
represent Adam & Eve
On Thu, 15 Mar 2001 16:35:48 +0400 Angus Graham
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Dear all
>
> I apologise that I find myself some few hundred miles away from standard
> bestiaries. Can anyone, I wonder, tell me of the attributes of
> heffalumps? Cassiodorus tells us that their breath is a cure for
> headaches (X.30?) -- quite understandably so too: were I close enough to
> have one breathe on me, I'd doubtless quickly forget about head pain.
>
> I find myself, of-a-sudden, corresponding with a Norwegian novelist who
> is writing his current novel about a Norwegian chap who owns a barn in
> which a Russian circus has stabled its elephants. The circus goes bust,
> and the only clues the barn-owner has as to elephant-maintenance are
> provided in a copy of the Variae left to him by his father. Needless to
> say, the novel will end sadly.
>
> What else, pray, do we know about heffalumps? I will assure all of you
> that any offers will in no way be claimed as mine. I am cheerfully
> ignorant of such things, and am happy to bow before the
> heffalump-experts this list is doubtless populated by.
>
> Bemusedly
>
> Angus, Oman
>
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