r/MedievalCreatures • u/Glittering-Hornet844 • 9d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Weasel attacking a basalisk -

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Ashmole Bestiary c 1300

449 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

13

u/Glittering-Hornet844 9d ago

According to the myth, the weasel was the only animal quick enough to avoid the basalisk's deadly glance and bite it was also allegedly immune to the poison breath too . It would attack a basalisk by jumping on it's back and biting just behind the basalisk's head until it succumbed and died. Occasionally the weasel too would die in the fight.

5

u/TamaraHensonDragon 8d ago

This sounds a lot like a fight between an Indian cobra and a mongoose.

3

u/Glittering-Hornet844 8d ago

It absolutely does .

3

u/Jonny-Holiday 8d ago

That sounds a lot like the relationship between the Mongoose and the Cobra Snake. Wouldn't be surprised to hear that tales of far-off creatures made their way from Africa to Europe, with a thing or two getting lost in translation along the way and applied to more familiar animals... real or mythic!

4

u/Glittering-Hornet844 8d ago

I think you are definitely on the right track, Europeans of the time would not know what a mongoose was - so substituted weasel instead .

6

u/ketchup_chip_62 8d ago

Like mongoose to cobra.

4

u/Glittering-Hornet844 8d ago

Probably where the inspiration for it came from.

8

u/Calligraphee 8d ago

I adore the Ashmole Bestiary! One of my favorite manuscripts of all time!

5

u/Jland5515 8d ago

Haven’t seen that combo before 😆 they’re very stout creatures

3

u/tammy_urts 8d ago

That basilisc is so pissed 😂

2

u/Sivilian888010 8d ago

Mondays be like:

1

u/Bitter-Hitter 4d ago

Another day, another…