10 June 2018

Strange Creatures

There is perhaps not as many strange creatures in the woods these days as there might have once been.

But if you look hard enough with a keen eye, odd creatures are still to be found.


It reminds an Emperor of great, great, great .... Uncle Julius, who himself reported some fantastical beasties in the ancient forests of Germania ... way back in the day. 

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[VI.25] "The [Hercynian] forest is known to contain many kinds of animals not seen elsewhere, some of which seem worthy of mention because they differ greatly from those found in other countries. 

[VI.26]"There is an ox shaped like a dear, with a single horn in the middle of its forehead between the ears, which sticks up higher and straighter than those of the animals we know, and at the top branches out widely like a man's hand or a tree. The male and female are alike, and their horns are of the same shape and size." 

[Wild beast in sports wear] 

[VI.28] "A [further] species is the aurochs, an animal somewhat smaller than an elephant, with the appearance, colour, and shape of a bull. They are very strong and agile, and attack every man and beast they catch sight of. The natives take great pains to catch them in pits and then kill them."

 [This one was a killer]

"... The horns are much larger than those of our oxen and of quiet different shape and appearance. The Germans prize them greatly: they mount the rims with silver and use them as drinking cups at their grandest banquets."

[Julius Caesar, Gallic Wars, VI]



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Colinus