Hoopoe, Rochester Bestiary, c.1230
Transcription
Translation
tes suos senuisse et caligasse oculos eorum;
evellit plumas eorum. et oculos eorum lingit. et
calefacit eos. et renovantur parentes eius. Quasi
dicens parentibus sius. Sicut laborastis nutrien-
tes me; similiter ego facio vobis. Si autem hoc fa-
ciunt sibi invicem irrationabiles volucres. quanto
magis rationabiles homines parentum suorum nu-
trimenta mutua reddere debent; quia lex dicit. Qui
maledixerit patri vel matri morte morietur. et est quasi
patricida et matricida dampnabitur.
The Greeks call it Huppupa, because it longs for human dung and feeds on dung when it stinks. A very filthy bird, with long crests and helmets, always dwelling in graves and human dung. Whosoever shall anoint himself with the blood of his sleep shall see the demons suffocating him. This bird signifies a contemplative, or any believer whose conversation should be in the heavens, not in the earthly, which he considers a little dung. Hence in Leviticus this is an unclean bird, whose flesh it is unlawful to eat, because the action of such a man is not to be imitated. And especially because this bird is mournful and fond of mourning. For the sadness of the age works death. But he who loves God must rejoice, pray without ceasing, in everything, give thanks.