Tiger skin

1 “Le Morte d’Arthur”
by Sir Thomas Malory

This immense written work was compiled by a noble man, who was put into prison for his raids on the church. He has traveled a lot and heard the legends about King Arthur on the Continent and the British Isles; he decided to put them all together and entitled his work as the last legend about King Arthur. It was written in 1470-71 and later published by William Caxton in 1485. It contains a lot of different mentioning of various animals, birds and beasts in a great variety of contexts. I would like to give here an example from this book, which is really rich in animal encounters. One of the most important meetings with the animal is that about the questing beast and King Arthur’s meeting with him in his dream. Malory, Thomas “Le Morte d’Arthur” CHAPTER XIX How King Arthur rode to Carlion, and of his dream, and how he saw the questing beast in the electronic version University of Virginia library

“And with that the king saw coming toward him the strangest beast that ever he saw or heard of; so the beast went to the well and drank, and the noise was in the beast's belly like unto the questing of thirty couple hounds; but all the while the beast drank there was no noise in the beast's belly: and there with the beast departed with a great noise, whereof the king had great marvel.”

“Him thought there was come into this land griffins and serpents, and him thought they burnt and slew all the people in the land, and then him thought he fought with them, and they did him passing great harm, and wounded him full sore, but at the last he slew them.”

“This hart will I chase, said King Arthur, and so he spurred the horse, and rode after long, and so by fine force of the was like to have smitten the hart; whereas the king had chased the hart so long, that his horse lost his breath, and fell down dead. Then a yeoman fetched the king another horse.”

References

contributor Khotskina, Olga, m04kho01@student.ceu.hu

The Georgian epic poem “The Knight in the Tiger Skin” by Shota Rustaveli (12th century)

I made a list of animals which are mentioned in poem. I included also the cases when the animals are used as a metaphor, epithet for characterization of the heroes. Hopefully these data also will be interesting for the investigation of the attitudes towards different kinds of animals in the medieval times. For instance in the above mentioned poem lion is the symbol of courage and forth, while in the Bible lion is the symbol of a devil (e.g. “You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.” Psalm 90). Here are some examples: "IN the morning I mounted, I commanded the trumpet and bugle to be sounded; I cannot tell thee of all the armies nor of their readiness to mount; I, a lion, set forth for Khataet'hi, none can accuse me of cowardice; the soldiers marched without a road, they followed no track. (http://www.nplg.gov.ge/ic/library_e/Wardrope/CHAPTERS/18.HTM )

"THEREBY shalt thou strengthen my love for thee; by delivering me from my sadness, thou shalt cripple the foul demon; plant the violet of hope in my heart, strew roses; then come, 0 lion, I shall meet thee like a sun; meet thou me. http://www.nplg.gov.ge/ic/library_e/Wardrope/CHAPTERS/5.HTM

“THEY saw a certain stranger knight; he sat weeping on the bank of the stream, he held his black horse by the rein, he looked like a lion and a hero; his bridle, armour and saddle were thickly bedight with pearls; the rose of his cheek was frozen in tears that welled up from his woe-stricken heart. ” (http://www.nplg.gov.ge/ic/library_e/Wardrope/CHAPTERS/4.HTM)

Here is the list:

Asp Beer Bullock Camels Cat Caw Crow Deer Dog Donkey Dragon (In the original text is the word which in modern Georgian means a whale. The poet uses the same word that by Georgian translators used in the Psalms, e.g. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet, Psalm90.) Durajis (This word is not translated by translator. The name of this bird sounds same in Georgian. In the English text there is note: Durajis-francolims.) Eagle Falcon Goat (she-goat, he-goat)

References

I have collected data from the Georgian epic poem “The Knight in the Tiger Skin” by Shota Rustaveli (12th century) using the translation by M. S. Wardrope. The text is available on http://www.nplg.gov.ge/ic/library_e/Wardrope/index.htm

Contributor Gabrichidze, Natia, m04gan01@student.ceu.hu, Central European University