Curious Creatures in Zoology

“Wherefore the Prince also commanded, that no man should trouble them, or doe them any harme, wisely judging, that such an accident came not but by Divine Miracle, and that also to signifie some notable event. Uppon the tenth day, these two valiant troupes joyned battell, early in the morning, before the sunne-rising, so continuing in fight untill the sunne-set, at which time the Prince, with some horsemen, went out of the Cittie to see the battell, and it appeared to him and his associates, that the Water Serpents gave place to the Land Serpents. So the Prince, and his company, returned into the Citty againe, and the next day went forth againe, but found not a Serpent alive, for there were slaine above eyght thousand: all which, he caused presently to be covered with earth in ditches, and afterwards declared the whole matter to Baiazeta by letters, after he had gotten that Cittie, whereat the great Turke rejoyced, for hee thereby interpreted happinesse to himselfe.”

Luckily, man has found out things inimical to Serpents, and they, and their use, seem to be very simple: —

“There is such vertue in the Ashe tree, that no Serpent will endure to come neere either the morning or evening shadow of it; yea, though very farre distant from them, they do so deadlie hate it. We set downe nothing but that wee have found true by experience: If a great fire be made, and the same fire encircled round with Ashen-boughes, and a serpent put betwixt the fire and the Ashen-boughes, the Serpent will sooner runne into the fire, than come neere the Ashen-boughes: thus saith Pliny. Olaus Magnus saith, that those Northern Countries which have great store of Ash-trees, doe want venemous beasts, of which opinion is also Pliny. Callimachus saith, there is a Tree growing in the Land of Trachinia, called Smilo, to which, if any Serpents doe either come neere, or touch, they foorthwith die. Democritus is of opinion, that any Serpent will die if you cast Oken-leaves upon him. Pliny is of opinion that Alcibiadum, which is a kind of wild Buglosse, is of the same use and qualitie; and further, being chewed, if it be spet upon any serpent, that it cannot possibly live. In time of those solemne Feastes which the Athenians dedicated to the Goddesse Ceres, their women did use to lay and strew their beddes, with the leaves of the Plant called Agnos, because serpents could not endure it, and because they imagined it kept them chast, Where-upon they thought the name was given it. The herbe called Rosemarie, is terrible to serpents.

“The Egyptians doe give it out, that Polydamna the wife of Thorris their King, taking pittie upon Helen, caused her to be set on shore in the Island of Pharus, and bestowed upon her an herbe (whereof there was plenty) that was a great enemy to serpents: whereof the serpents having a feeling sence (as they say) and so readily knowne of them, they straightwaies got them to their lurking holes in the earth; and Helen planted this herbe, who, coming to the knowledge thereof, she perceived that in his due time it bore a seede that was a great enemy to serpents, and thereupon was called Helenium, as they that are skilfull in Plants affirme; and it groweth plentifully in Pharus, which is a little Ile against the mouth of Nylus, joyned to Alexandria by a bridge.

“Rue, (called of some, Herbe of Grace) especially that which groweth in Lybia, is but a backe friend to Serpents, for it is most dry, and therefore causing Serpents soon to faint, and loose their courage, because (as Simocatus affirmeth) it induceth a kind of heavinesse or drunkennesse in their head, with a vertiginie, or giddines through the excesse of his drinesse, or immoderate sticcitie. Serpents cannot endure the savour of Rue, and, therefore, a Wesill, when she is to fight with any serpent, eateth Rue, as a defensative against her enemie, as Aristotle, and Pliny his Interpreter, are of opinion.

“The Country people leaving their vessels of Milke abroade in the open fieldes, doe besmeare them round about with garlick, lest some venomous serpents should creepe into them, but the smell of garlick, as Erasmus saith, driveth them away. No serpents were ever yet seene to touch the herbe Trifolie, or Three-leaved-grasse, as Ædonnus wold make us believe. And Cardan the Phisitian hath observed as much, that serpents, nor anything that is venemous will neither lodge, dwell, or lurk privily neere unto Trifolie, because that is their bane, as they are to other living creatures: and therefore it is sowne to very good purpose, and planted in very hot countries, where there is most store of such venomous creatures.

“Arnoldus Villanonanus saith that the herb called Dracontea killeth serpents. And Florentinus affirmeth that, if you plant Woormwood, Mugwort, or Sothernwood about your dwelling, that no venomous serpents will ever come neer, or dare enterprise to invade the same. No serpent is found in Vines, when they flourish, bearing flowers or blossoms, for they abhor the smell, as Aristotle saith. Avicen, an Arabian Phisitian, saith, that Capers doe kill worms in the guts, and likewise serpents. If you make a round circle with herbe Betonie, and therein include any serpents, they will kill themselves in the place, rather than strive to get away. Galbanum killeth serpents only by touching, if oyle and the herbe called Fenell-giant be mixt withall. There is a shrubbe called Therionarca, having a flower like a Rose, which maketh serpents heavy, dull and drousie, and so killeth them, as Pliny affirmeth.”

There are more plants inimical to serpents, but enough have been given to enable the reader, if he have faith in them, to defend himself; and it is comforting to think, that although the serpent is especially noxious, when alive, he is marvellously useful, medicinally, when dead. Even now, in some country places, viper broth is used as a medicine; and, in the first half of the eighteenth century, its flesh, prepared in various ways, was thoroughly recognised in the Pharmacopœia. But Topsell, who gathered together all the wisdom of the ancients, gives so very many remedies (for all kinds of illnesses) that may be derived from different parts, and treatment, of serpents, that I can only pick out a few: —

“Pliny saith, that if you take out the right eye of a serpent, and so bind it about any part of you, that it is of great force against the watering or dropping of the eyes, by meanes of a rhume issuing out thereat, if the serpent be againe let goe alive. And so hee saith, that a serpent’s or snake’s hart, if either it be bitten or tyed to any part of you, that it is a present remedie for the toothach: and hee addeth further, that if any man doe tast of the snake’s hart, that he shall never after be hurt of any serpent… The blood of a serpent is more precious than Balsamum, and if you annoynt your lips with a little of it, they will looke passing redde: and, if the face be annoynted therewith, it will receive no spot or fleck, but causeth it to have an orient and beautiful hue. It represseth all scabbiness of the body, stinking in the teeth, and gummes, if they be therewith annointed. The fat of a serpent speedily helpeth all rednes, spots, and other infirmities of the eyes, and beeing annoynted upon the eyeliddes, it cleereth the eyes exceedingly.

“Item, put them (serpents) into a glassed pot, and fill the same with Butter in the Month of May, then lute it well with paste (that is, Meal well kneaded) so that nothing may evaporate, then sette the potte on the fire, and let it boyle wel-nigh halfe a day: after this is done, straine the Butter through a cloth, and the remainder beate in a morter, and straine it againe, and mixe them together, then put them into water to coole, and so reserve it in silver or golden boxes, that which is not evaporated, for the older, the better it is, and so much the better it will be, if you can keepe it fortie years. Let the sicke patient, who is troubled eyther with the Goute, or the Palsie, but annoynt himselfe often against the fire with this unguent, and, without doubt, he shall be freed, especially if it be the Goute.”

Of serpents in general, I shall have little to say, except those few of which the descriptions are the most outré. And first let us have out the “Boas,” which cannot mean that enormous serpent the Boa-Constrictor, which enfolds oxen, deer, &c., crushing their bones in its all-powerful fold, and which sometimes reaches the length of thirty or five-and-thirty feet – long enough, in all conscience, for a respectable serpent. But Topsell begins his account of “The Boas” far more magnificently: —

“It was well knowne among all the Romans, that when Regulus was Governour, or Generall, in the Punick warres, there was a Serpent (neere the river Bagrade) killed with slings and stones, even as a Towne or little Cittie is over-come, which Serpent was an hundred and twenty foote in length; whose skinne and cheeke bones, were reserved in a Temple at Rome, untill the Numantine warre.

“And this History is more easie to be beleeved, because of the Boas Serpent bred in Italy at this day: for we read in Solinus, that when Claudius was Emperour, there was one of them slaine in the Vatican at Rome, in whose belly was found an Infant swallowed whole, and not a bone thereof broken…

“The Latines call it Boa, and Bova, because by sucking Cowe’s milke it so encreaseth, that in the end it destroyeth all manner of herdes, Cattell, and Regions… The Italians doe usually call them, Serpeda de Aqua, a Serpent of the water, and, therefore, all the Learned expound the Greeke word Hydra, for a Boas. Cardan saith, that there are of this kind in the Kingdom of Senega, both without feet and wings, but most properly, as they are now found in Italy, according to these verses:

Boa quidem serpens quem tellus Itala nutritHunc bubulum plures lac enutrire docent.

Which may be englished thus:

The Boas Serpent which Italy doth breede,Men say, uppon the milke of Cowes doth feede.

“Their fashion is in seeking for their prey among the heardes, to destroy nothing that giveth suck, so long as it will live, but they reserve it alive untill the milk be dryed up, then afterwards they kill and eate it, and so they deale with whole flocks and heards.”

Whilst on the subject of Hydra, I give Topsell’s idea of the Lernean Hydra, whose story is so familiar to us. (See p. 292.) But, after presenting us with such a frightful ideal, he says: – “And some ignorant men of late daies at Venice, did picture this Hydra with wonderfull Art, and set it forth to the people to be seene, as though it had beene a true carkase, with this inscription: In the yeare of Christe’s incarnation, 550, about the Month of January, ‘this monstrous Serpent was brought out of Turky to Venice, and afterwards given to the French King: It was esteemed to be worth 600 duckats. These monsters signifie the mutation or change of worldly affaires,’ &c.” And, after giving a long-winded inscription, àpropos of nothing, he says: – “I have also heard that in Venice in the Duke’s treasury, among the rare Monuments of that Citty, there is preserved a Serpent with seaven heads, which, if it be true, it is the more probable that there is a Hydra, and that the Poets were not altogether deceived, that say Hercules killed such an one.”

Mr. Henry Lee, in his little book, “Sea Fables Explained,” says that the Lernean Hydra was neither more nor less than a huge Octopus, and gives an illustration of a marble tablet in the Vatican (also given in “Smith’s Classical Dictionary”), which does not seem unlike one.

The Wingless Dragons belong to the serpent tribe, with the exception that they are generally furnished with legs. These are “Wormes,” of several of which we, in England, were the happy possessors. Of course, in the northern parts of Europe, they survived (in story at all events) much later than with us, and Olaus Magnus gives accounts of several fights with them, notably that of Frotho and Fridlevus, two Champions, against a serpent.

“Frotho, a Danish Champion and a King, scarce being past his childhood, in a single combat killed a huge fierce great Serpent, thrusting his sword into his belly, for his hard skin would not be wounded, and all darts thrown at him, flew back again, and it was but labour lost. Fridlevus was no lesse valiant, who, both to try his valour, and to find out some hidden treasure, set upon a most formidable Serpent for his huge body and venomous teeth, and, for a long time, he cast his darts against his scaly sides, and could not hurt him, for his hard body made nothing of the weapons cast with violence against him. But this Serpent twisting his tail in many twines, by turning his tail round, he would pull up trees by the roots, and by his crawling on the ground, he had made a great hollow place, that in some places, hills seemed to be parted as if a valley were between them, wherefore Fridlevus considering that the upper parts of this beast could not be penetrated, he runs him in with his sword underneath; and, piercing into his groine, he drew forth his virulent matter, as he lay panting: when he had killed the Serpent, he dug up the money, and carried it away.”

He gives another story of a combat with “Wormes,” although in the Latin they are called Vipers: yet I leave my readers to judge whether the small snake, the viper, would require such an amount of killing as Regner had to bestow upon them: —

“Of Regnerus, called Hair-Coat. There was a King of the Sueons called Herothus, whose troubled mind was not a little urged how to preserve his Daughter’s chastity; whether he should guard her with wild beasts (as the manner of most Princes was then) or else should commit the custody of her to man’s fidelity. But he, preferring cruelty of Beasts to man’s fidelity, he soonest chose what would do most hurt. For, hunting in the woods, he brought some Snakes that his Company had found, for his Daughter to feed up. She, quickly obeying her Father’s commands, bred up a generation of vipers by her Virgin hands. And that they might want no meat, her curious Father caused the whole body of an Ox to be brought, being ignorant that, by this private food, he maintain’d a publick destruction. These, being grown up, by their venomous breath poysoned the neighbouring parts; but the King, repenting his folly, proclaimed that he who could remove this plague, should have his daughter.

“When Regnerus of Norway, descended of the King’s race, who was the chief Suiter this Virgin had, heard this Report, he obtained from the Nurse a woollen Cassock, and hairy Breeches, whereby he might hinder the biting of the Adders. And when he came to Sweden in a ship, he purposely suffered his Clothes to grow stiff with cold, casting water upon them: and thus clothed, having onely his Sword and Dart to defend him, he went to the King. As he went forward, two huge Adders met him on the way, that would kill the young man, with the twisting of their tails, and by the venome they cast forth.

“But Regnerus confiding in the hardness of his frozen Garments, both endured and repulsed their Venome, by his clothes, and their biting his Harness, being indefatigable in pressing hard upon these Wild Beasts. Last of all he strongly casts out of his hand his Javelin that was fastened with a Hoop, and struck it into their bodies. Then, with his two-edged Sword, rending both their hearts, he obtained a happy end of an ingenious and dangerous fight. The King, looking curiously on his clothes, when he saw them so hairy on the back-side, and unpolished like ragged Frize, he spake merrily, and called him Lodbrock: that is Hair Coat; and to recreate him after his pains, he sent for him to a Banquet with his friends. He answered, That he must first go see those Companions he had left: and he brought them to the King’s Table, very brave in clothes, as he was then: and lastly, when that was done, he received the pledge of his Victory, by whom he begat many hopeful Children: and he had her true love to him the more, and the rather enjoyed his company, by how much she knew the great dangers he underwent to win her by, and the ingenious practises he used.”

We were favoured in England with several “Wormes.” Nor only in England, but in Scotland and Wales. Of course, Ireland can boast of none, as St. Patrick banished all the serpents from that island.

Of the Dragon of Wantley I say nothing; he has been reslain in modern times, and all the romance has gone out of him. Nobody wishes to know that the Dragon was Sir Francis Wortley, who was at loggerheads with his neighbours, notably one Lionel Rowlestone, whose advocate was More of More Hall. We had rather have had our dear old Dragon, and have let the champion More slay him in the orthodox manner.

But the “laidley Worme” of Lambton is still all our own, and its story is thus told by Surtees in his “History, &c., of Durham,” 1820: —

“The heir of Lambton, fishing, as was his profane custom, in the Wear, on a Sunday, hooked a small worm or eft, which he carelessly threw into a well, and thought no more of the adventure. The worm (at first neglected) grew till it was too large for its first habitation, and, issuing forth from the Worm Well, betook itself to the Wear, where it usually lay a part of the day coiled round a crag in the middle of the water; it also frequented a green mound near the well (the Worm Hill), where it lapped itself nine times round, leaving vermicular traces, of which, grave living witnesses depose that they have seen the vestiges. It now became the terror of the country, and, amongst other enormities, levied a daily contribution of nine cows’ milk, which was always placed for it at the green hill, and in default of which it devoured man and beast. Young Lambton had, it seems, meanwhile, totally repented him of his former life and conversation, had bathed himself in a bath of holy water, taken the sign of the cross, and joined the Crusaders.

“On his return home, he was extremely shocked at witnessing the effects of his youthful imprudences, and immediately undertook the adventure. After several fierce combats, in which the Crusader was foiled by his enemy’s power of self-union, he found it expedient to add policy to courage, and not, perhaps, possessing much of the former quality, he went to consult a witch or wise woman. By her judicious advice he armed himself in a coat-of-mail studded with razor blades; and, thus prepared, placed himself on the crag in the river, and awaited the monster’s arrival.

“At the usual time the worm came to the rock, and wound himself with great fury round the armed knight, who had the satisfaction to see his enemy cut in pieces by his own efforts, whilst the stream washing away the severed parts, prevented the possibility of reunion.

“There is still a sequel to the story: the witch had promised Lambton success only on one condition, that he should slay the first living thing which met his sight after the victory. To avoid the possibility of human slaughter, Lambton had directed his father, that as soon as he heard him sound three blasts on his bugle, in token of the achievement performed, he should release his favourite greyhound, which would immediately fly to the sound of the horn, and was destined to be the sacrifice. On hearing his son’s bugle, however, the old chief was so overjoyed, that he forgot his instructions, and ran himself with open arms to meet his son. Instead of committing a parricide, the conqueror again repaired to his adviser, who pronounced, as the alternative of disobeying the original instructions, that no chief of the Lambtons should die in his bed for seven, (or as some accounts say) for nine generations – a commutation which, to a martial spirit, had nothing probably very terrible, and which was willingly complied with…

“In the garden-house at Lambton are two figures of no great antiquity. A Knight in good style, armed cap-a-pie, the back studded with razor blades, who holds the worm by one ear with his left hand, and with his right crams his sword to the hilt down his throat; and a Lady who wears a coronet, with bare breasts, &c., in the style of Charles 2nd’s Beauties, a wound on whose bosom and an accidental mutilation of the hand are said to have been the work of the worm.”

There were several other English “Wormes,” but this must suffice as a type. Also, as a typical Scotch “Worme,” the Linton Worme will serve. A writer (W. E.) tells its story so well in Notes and Queries, February 24, 1866, that I transfer it here, in preference to telling it myself. It was slain by Sir John Somerville, about the year 1174, who received the lands and barony of Linton, in Roxburghshire, as the reward of his exploit. W. E. quotes from a family history entitled a “Memorie of the Somervills,” written by James, the eleventh lord, A.D. 1679: —

“‘In the parochene of Lintoune, within the sheriffdome of Roxburghe, ther happened to breede ane hydeous monster, in the forme of a worme, soe called and esteemed by the country people (but in effecte has beene a serpente or some suche other creature), in length three Scots yards, and somewhat bigger than ane ordinarie man’s leg, &c… This creature, being a terrour to the country people, had its den in a hollow piece of ground, on the syde of a hill, south east from Lintoun Church, some more than a myle, which unto this day is knowne by the name of the Worme’s glen, where it used to rest and shelter itself; but, when it sought after prey, then would it wander a myle or two from its residence, and make prey of all sort of bestiall that came in its way, which it easily did because of its lownesse, creeping amongst the peat, heather, or grasse, wherein that place abounded much, by reasone of the meadow grounde, and a large flow moss, fit for the pasturage of many cattell… Soe that the whole country men thereabout wer forced to remove ther bestiall and transport them 3 or 4 myles from the place, leaving the country desolate, neither durst any person goe to the Church, or mercat, upon that rod, for fear of this beast.’

“Somerville happening to come to Jedburgh, on the King’s business, found the inhabitants full of stories about the wonderful beast.

“‘The people who had fled ther for shelter, told soe many lies, as first, that it increased every day, and was beginning to get wings: others pretended to have seen it in the night, and asserted it was full of fyre, and in tyme, would throw it out, &c., with a thousand other ridiculous stories.’

“Somerville determined to see the monster, and, accordingly, rode to the glen about sunrise, when he was told it generally came forth. He had not to wait long, till he perceived it crawl out of its den. When it observed him, it raised itself up, and stared at him, for some time, without venturing to approach; whereupon he drew nearer to observe it more closely, on which it turned round, and slunk into its lair.

“Satisfied that the beast was not so dangerous as reported, he resolved to destroy it, but as every one declared that neither sword nor dagger had any effect on it, and that its venom would destroy any one that came within its reach: he prepared a spear double the ordinary length, plated with iron, four feet from the point, on which he placed a slender iron wheel, turning on its centre. On this he fastened a lighted peat, and exercised his horse with it for several days, until it shewed no fear or dislike to the fire and smoke. He then repaired to the den, and, on the worme appearing, his servant set fire to the peat, and, putting spurs to his horse, he rode full at the beast. The speed at which he advanced, caused the wheel to spin round, and fanned the peat into a blaze. He drove the lance down the monster’s throat full a third part of its length, when it broke, and he left the animal writhing in the agonies of death.”

I am afraid the Welsh “Worme” is not so well authenticated as the others; but the story is, that Denbigh is so named from a Dragon slain by John Salusbury of Lleweni, who died 1289. It devastated the country far and wide, after the manner of its kind, and all the inhabitants prayed for the destruction of this bych. This the Champion effected, and in his glee, joyfully sang, Dyn bych, Dyn bych (No bych); and the country round was so named.