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MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER The flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain. Vol. I. B.C. 4004 to A.D. 1066.

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MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER
The flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain. Vol. I. B.C. 4004 to A.D. 1066.
page 241



MATTHEW 0Γ WESTMTJrBTXB. A.D. 465. shall stones speak, and the sea hy which one sails to Gaul, shall be contracted to a short space. A man on one coast shall be heard by a man on another, and the solid space of the island shall be extended. The secrets of the depths below the sea shall be revealed, and Gaul shall tremble for fear. After these things, a heron shall proceed from the Calaterian grove, which shall fly round the island for three years. With its nightly cry it shall summon all the birds around it, and shall unite every kind of bird to itself ; then they shall descend upon the cultivated lands of man, and shall devour all the grain of the harvest. Famine shall ensue, and terrible mortality shall follow the famine. But when this great calamity has ceased, then the detestable bird will go to the valley of Galabes, and will raise it till it become a high mountain. And on its top shall it plant an oak ; and in the boughs of the oak will it build its nest, from which a fox, and a wolf, and a bear will come forth. The fox shall devour its mother, and shall wear an ass's head ; and having assumed this monstrous appearance, it shall frighten its brethren, and shall drive them to Neustria. But they shall rouse up a shaved boar there, and returning in a ship shall meet with the fox, and the fox when it begins to fight with them shall feign itself dead, and shall move the boar to pity. Presently the boar shall approach the carcase, and while standing over it, shall breathe into its eyes and on its face ; but the fox, not forgetful of its previous tricks, shall bite its left foot, and shall tear it entirely away from its body, and making a leap, shall also tear off its right ear and its tail, and then shall hide in the caverns of the mountains. Therefore, the boar having been mocked, will seek the wolf and the bear, that they may restore him the limbs which he has lost. And when they enter into the matter, they will promise him two feet, and ears, and a tail, and will make the Hmbs of a pig out of them. He will acquiesce, and look on at the promised restoration. In the meantime the fox will descend from the mountains, and will change himself into a wolf, and as if it intended to hold a colloquy with the boar, it will address him cunningly, and eat him entirely up. Then it will transform itself into a boar, and as if it were devoid of limbs, it will await the Germans, but these too, after they arrive, it will destroy with an unexpected attack, and will be covered with a lion's head. In its days will be born a serpent,


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