Old English Physiologus

Excerpt from The Old English Physiologus: Text and Prose Translation
The Old English Physiologus, or Bestiary, is a series of three brief poems, dealing with the mythical traits of a land-animal, a sea-beast, and a bird respectively, and deducing from them certain moral or religious lessons. These three creatures are selected from a much larger number treated in a work of the same name which was compiled at Alexandria before 140 B. C., originally in Greek, and afterwards translated into a variety of languages - into Latin before 431. The standard form of the Physiologus has 49 chapters, each dealing with a separate animal (sometimes imaginary) or other natural object, beginning with the lion, and ending with the ostrich; examples of these are the pelican, the eagle, the ph nix, the ant (cf. Prov. 6.6), the fox, the unicorn, and the
salamander. In this standard text, the Old English poems are represented by chapters 16, 17, and is, dealing in succession with the panther, a mythical sea-monster called the asp-turtle (usually denominated the whale), and the partridge. Of these three poems, the, third is so fragmentary that little is left except eight lives of religious application, and four of exhortation by the poet, so that the outline of the poem, and especially the part descriptive of the partridge, must be conjecturally restored by reference to the treatment in the fuller versions, which are based upon Jer. 17. 11 (the texts drawn upon for the application in lines 5-11 are 2 Cor. 6. 17, 18; Isa. 55.7; Heb. 2. 10, 11).
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Fragment din The Old English Physiologus: Text si proza Traducerea Old English Physiologus, sau bestiar, este o serie de trei scurte poezii, care trateaza trasaturile mitice ale unui animal terestru, al unei fiare marine si, respectiv, al unei pasari si deducand de la ei anumite lectii morale sau religioase. Aceste trei creaturi sunt selectate dintr-un numar mult mai mare tratat intr-o lucrare cu acelasi nume care a fost compilata la Alexandria inainte de 140 B.