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Library/Paris Manuscript H/52

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Paris Manuscript H — 52

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Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris

Capovolto. A penna. Continuando dal f. 20 r.

una ch'avea uno putto intero in corpo, il quale avea tranghiottito1.

Macli. Pel sonno è giunta.

Questa bestia nasce in Iscandinavia, isola. Ha forma di gran cavallo, se non che la gran lunghezza dello collo e delli orecchi lo2 variano. Pasce l'erba allo 'ndirieto, perché ha sì lungo il labbro di sopra che pascendo innanzi copirebbe3 l'erba. Ha le gambe d'un pezzo, per questo, quando vol dormire, s'appoggia a uno albero; e i cacciatori antivedendo il loco usato a dormire, segan quasi tutta la pianta, e quando questo poi vi s'appoggia nel dormire, per lo sonno cade; e cacciatori così lo pigliano e ogni altro modo di pigliarlo è vano, perché è d'incredibile velocità nel correre.

Written inverted, in pen; continuing from f. 20r

…one that had a whole child in its body, which it had swallowed.

The elk (macli). It is caught through sleep.

This beast is born in Scandinavia, an island. It has the form of a great horse, except that the great length of its neck and of its ears make it differ. It grazes the grass backwards, because it has so long an upper lip that, grazing forwards, it would cover over the grass. It has legs of one piece; for this reason, when it wishes to sleep, it leans against a tree; and the hunters, foreseeing the place it is used to for sleeping, saw through almost the whole tree, and when it then leans upon it in sleeping, through its sleep it falls; and so the hunters take it, and every other way of taking it is vain, because it is of incredible speed in running.

The Boa's Swallowed Child, and the Elk (Macli)

Bestiary: a boa found with a whole child inside it, and the jointless elk trapped by cutting its sleeping-tree

Fables & Prose Horses & Animals

A page of Leonardo's bestiary in mirror-script pen, finishing the boa entry and giving over most of the page to the elk. The boa killed on the Vatican Mount is said to have held a whole swallowed child in its body. The elk (macli), 'caught through sleep,' is described as born in Scandinavia, shaped like a great horse but for its very long neck and ears; it grazes backwards because of its long upper lip, and its legs are of one piece. Because it cannot lie down, it sleeps leaning on a tree; hunters saw the tree nearly through so that it falls with the beast, the only way to take so swift a runner.

On this page

The boa with a swallowed child

The entry closes the boa note by recording that the snake killed on the Vatican Mount had a whole child in its body, which it had swallowed.

The elk (macli) and how it is trapped

The elk, born in Scandinavia, has the form of a great horse save for its long neck and ears; it grazes backwards because its upper lip is so long, and its legs are of one piece. Unable to lie down, it sleeps leaning on a tree; hunters saw the tree nearly through, so that when it leans in sleep it falls and is taken — the only way to catch so incredibly swift a runner.

Reader's Edition — described with AI from the e-Leo transcription.