Bestiary weirdness
Okay, bestiaries are pretty weird, in general. The Book of Beasts by T.H. White is a translation of an 11th century bestiary. This book is highly interesting to me, as I enjoy folklore and mythological creatures.
One thing has struck me as peculiar, though: in the accompanying art serpents (including dragons) are often shown to have two legs near the fronts of their bodies and wings, while salamanders and newts are shown with no legs. I've never seen this commented on, but it seems weird to me. Some of the art was added long after the text, so the two may be considered as possibly seperate from each other. Elephants and crocodiles are pretty well unrecognizable from their art for what they are. The reason for this is probably simply that the artists had never seen these animals. However, I'm sure everyone has seen a snake.
This lead me to think of a cryptid: the tatzelworm. It is said to be like a moderate-sized snake with two limbs near the front of its body. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if there's a connection, somehow...
One thing has struck me as peculiar, though: in the accompanying art serpents (including dragons) are often shown to have two legs near the fronts of their bodies and wings, while salamanders and newts are shown with no legs. I've never seen this commented on, but it seems weird to me. Some of the art was added long after the text, so the two may be considered as possibly seperate from each other. Elephants and crocodiles are pretty well unrecognizable from their art for what they are. The reason for this is probably simply that the artists had never seen these animals. However, I'm sure everyone has seen a snake.
This lead me to think of a cryptid: the tatzelworm. It is said to be like a moderate-sized snake with two limbs near the front of its body. Hmmm. Makes me wonder if there's a connection, somehow...