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harm it, it squeezes itself into a kind of ball
with its feet tucked inside, and it protects itself
with its quills, which are all over its body, so
that no animal dare touch it for fear of its spiky ends.
The lamb that has never seen the wolf fears it by
its proper nature and flees it. But it does not fear
the other animals and goes bravely among them.
[rubric] Of the manner of birds in these countries. [/rubric]
The eagle by its proper nature takes its young by their
claws in its beak. And it greatly loves and protects
the ones that hold on tight.
But it lets drop the ones with a loose grip
and does not protect them. When the eagle is
very old it flies so high that it passes above the clouds
and stares at the sun so long that it loses itself
entirely in it and burns, so that its feathers become
completely scorched. Then it falls down onto a mountain
and into a pool of water that it had chosen beforehand, and in
this way its life is renewed. When its beak is too
long it rubs it against a hard stone and makes
it sharp again. When the turtledove has lost her