Folio 10r - animal grandius...; the elephant [part].
[Of the elephant] ... no larger animal is seen. The Persians and Indians, carried in wooden towers on their backs, fight with javelins as from a wall. Elephants have a lively intelligence and a long memory; they move around in herds; they flee from a mouse; they mate back-to-back. The female is pregnant for two years, and gives birth no more than once, and not to several offspring but to one only. Elephants live for three hundred years. If an elephant wants to father sons, it goes to the East, near Paradise; there the tree called mandragora, the mandrake, grows. The elephant goes to it with his mate, who first takes fruit from the tree and gives it to her male. And she seduces him until he eats it; then she conceives at once in her womb. When the time comes for her to give birth, she goes out into a pool, until the water comes up to her udders. The male guards her while she is in labour, because elephants have an enemy - the dragon. If the elephant finds a snake, it kills it, trampling it until it is dead. The elephant strikes fear into bulls, yet fears the mouse. The elephant has this characteristic: if it falls down, it cannot rise. But it falls when it leans on a tree in order to sleep, for it has no joints in its knees. A hunter cuts part of the way through the tree, so that when the elephant leans against it, elephant and tree will fall together. As the elephant falls, it trumpets loudly; at once a big elephant goes to it but cannot lift it. Then they both trumpet and twelve elephants come, but they cannot lift the one who has fallen. Then they all trumpet, and immediately a little elephant comes and puts its trunk under the big one and lifts it up. The little elephant has this characteristic, that when some of its hair and bones have been burnt, nothing evil approaches, not even a dragon. The big elephant and its mate represent Adam and Eve. For when they were in the flesh pleasing to God, before their sin, they did not know how to mate and had no understanding
- Commentary
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Commentary
Text
The elephant.
Comment
Small cross in right margin. Pricking and ruling are visible.
Folio Attributes
- Transcription and Translation
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Transcription
[De Elephante] animal grandius videtur. In eis enim Perse et Indi ligne\is turribus collati tanquam de muro iaculis dimicant. Intel\lectu et memoria multa vigent, gregatim incedunt, mu\rem fugiunt, aversa coheunt. Biennio autem parturiunt,\ nec amplius quam semel gignunt, nec plures sed tantum unum.\ Vivunt autem annos trescentos. Si autem voluerit facere filios, va\dit ad orientem prope Paradisum, et est ibi arbor qui vocatur\ mandragora, et vadit cum femina sua, que prius accipet\ de arbore et dat in masculo suo. Et seducit eum donec man\ducet, statimque in utero concipit. Cum vero tempus pariendi ve\nerit, exit in stagnum, et aqua venit usque ad ubera ma\tris. Elephans autem custodit eam parturientem, quia draco\ inimicus est elephanti. Si autem invenerit serpentem, occidit\ eum, quem conculcat donec moriatur. Est enim formida\ bilis tauris elephans, tamen murem timet. Hec est natura eius, si\ ceciderit non potest surgere. Cadit autem cum se inclinat in\ arborem ut dormiat. Non enim habet iuncturas geniculorum.\ Venator autem incidit arborem modicum, ut elephans eum se\ inclinaverit, similiter cum arbore cadat. Cadens autem for\titer clamat, et statim magnus elephans exit, et non potest eum\ levare. Tunc clamant ambo et veniunt duodecim ele\phantes, et non possunt levare eum qui cecidit. Deinde cla\mant omnes, et statim venit pusillus elephans, et mittit\ os suum cum permusicla subtus magnum elephantem, et e\levat eum. Habet autem pusillus elefans hanc naturam, ubi in\censum fuerit de capillis et ossibus eius, necque aliud mali acci\dit neque draco. Magnus elefans et mulier eius personam habent A\dam et Eve. Cum enim carne essent placentes deo, ante\ ipsorum privaricationem non sciebant coitum, necque intelligen\Translation
[Of the elephant] ... no larger animal is seen. The Persians and Indians, carried in wooden towers on their backs, fight with javelins as from a wall. Elephants have a lively intelligence and a long memory; they move around in herds; they flee from a mouse; they mate back-to-back. The female is pregnant for two years, and gives birth no more than once, and not to several offspring but to one only. Elephants live for three hundred years. If an elephant wants to father sons, it goes to the East, near Paradise; there the tree called mandragora, the mandrake, grows. The elephant goes to it with his mate, who first takes fruit from the tree and gives it to her male. And she seduces him until he eats it; then she conceives at once in her womb. When the time comes for her to give birth, she goes out into a pool, until the water comes up to her udders. The male guards her while she is in labour, because elephants have an enemy - the dragon. If the elephant finds a snake, it kills it, trampling it until it is dead. The elephant strikes fear into bulls, yet fears the mouse. The elephant has this characteristic: if it falls down, it cannot rise. But it falls when it leans on a tree in order to sleep, for it has no joints in its knees. A hunter cuts part of the way through the tree, so that when the elephant leans against it, elephant and tree will fall together. As the elephant falls, it trumpets loudly; at once a big elephant goes to it but cannot lift it. Then they both trumpet and twelve elephants come, but they cannot lift the one who has fallen. Then they all trumpet, and immediately a little elephant comes and puts its trunk under the big one and lifts it up. The little elephant has this characteristic, that when some of its hair and bones have been burnt, nothing evil approaches, not even a dragon. The big elephant and its mate represent Adam and Eve. For when they were in the flesh pleasing to God, before their sin, they did not know how to mate and had no understanding
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