The Old English Physiologus

The Old English Physiologus, or Bestiary, is a series of three brief poems, dealing with the mythical traits of a land-animal, a sea-beast, and a bird respectively, and deducing from them certain moral or religious lessons.
The standard form of the Physiologus has 49 chapters, each dealing with a separate animal (sometimes imaginary) or other natural object, beginning with the lion, and ending with the ostrich: examples of these are the pelican, the eagle, the phoenix, the ant (cf. Prov. 6.6), the fox, the unicorn, and the salamander.

Him on fyrste gelomp ädre mid yldum, þät hit wearð eal gearo, heal-ärna mæst; scôp him Heort naman, se þe his wordes geweald wîde häfde.
So that sea-wanderers deem their gaze has found an island. Boldly then their high-prowed ships they moor with cables to that shore, a land that is no land.
About another creature have I heard a wondrous [tale.] [There is] a bird [men call the partridge. Strange is she, unlike all birds in field or wood who brood upon their eggs, Hatching their young.

Gewāt þâ neósian, syððan niht becom, heán hûses, hû hit Hring-Dene äfter beór-þege gebûn häfdon.
On þām ēalonde ǣled weccað, hēah fyr ǣlað. Hæleþ bēoþ on wynnum, rēonigmōde, ræste gel[y]ste.
Swā bið scinnena þēaw, dēofla wīse, þæt hī drohtiende þurh dyrne meaht duguðe beswīcað, and on teosu tyhtaþ tilra dǣda.

Monge sindon geond middangeard unrīmu cynn, þāra þe wē æþelu ne magon ryhte āreccan nē rīm witan; þæs wīde sind geond worul[d] innan fugla and dēora foldhrērendra wornas widsceope, swā wæter bibūgeð þisne beorhtan bōsm, brim grymetende, sealtȳpa geswing.
On þām ēalonde ǣled weccað, hēah fyr ǣlað. Hæleþ bēoþ on wynnum, rēonigmōde, ræste gel[y]ste.
Swā bið gumena gehwām se þe oftost his unwærlīce, on þās lǣnan tīd, līf biscēawað: lǣteð hine beswīcan þurh swētne stenc, lēasne willan, þæt hē biþ leahtrum fāh wið Wuldorcyning.

Symle, fylle fægen, þonne fōddor þigeð, æfter þām gereordum ræste sēceð, dȳgle stōwe under dūnscrafum; ðǣr se þēo[d]wiga þrēonihta fæc swifeð on swe[o]fote, slǣpe gebiesga[d]. Þonne ellenrōf ūp āstondeð, þrymme gewelga[d], on þone þriddan dæg, snēome of slǣpe. Swēghlēoþor cymeð, wōþa wynsumast, þurh þæs wildres mūð; æfter þære stefne stenc ūt cymeð of þām wongstede--wynsumra stēam, swēttra and swīþra, swæcca gehwylcum.
On þām ēalonde ǣled weccað, hēah fyr ǣlað.
The partridge lays no eggs, nor builds a dwelling; but instead, she steals the well-wrought nests of others. There she sits, warming a stranger brood, until at last the eggs are hatched. But when the stolen chicks are fledged, they straightway fly away to seek their proper kin, and leave the partridge there forsaken.

Monge sindon geond middangeard unrīmu cynn, þāra þe wē æþelu ne magon ryhte āreccan nē rīm witan; þæs wīde sind geond worul[d] innan fugla and dēora foldhrērendra wornas widsceope, swā wæter bibūgeð þisne beorhtan bōsm, brim grymetende, sealtȳpa geswing.

The Old English Physiologus, or Bestiary, is a series of three brief poems, dealing with the mythical traits of a land-animal, a sea-beast, and a bird respectively, and deducing from them certain moral or religious lessons. These three creatures are selected from a much larger number treated in a work of the same name which was compiled at Alexandria before 140 B.C., originally in Greek, and afterwards translated into a variety of languages--into Latin before 431. The standard form of the Physiologus has 49 chapters, each dealing with a separate animal (sometimes imaginary) or other natural object, beginning with the lion, and ending with the ostrich: examples of these are the pelican, the eagle, the phoenix, the ant (cf. Prov. 6.6), the fox, the unicorn, and the salamander. In this standard text, the Old English poems are represented by chapters 16, 17, and 18, dealing in succession with the panther, a mythical sea-monster called the asp-turtle (usually denominated the whale), and the partridge.

Refulgent, glorious, numbered with the host of heaven, and, instead of children, called Bright brethren of the Lord.
Let us by this be taught to please God better, hating sin, and strive to earn salvation from the Lord, His full deliverance, so long as day shall shine upon us, that we may at last inhabit heavenly mansions, nobler far than earthly dwellings, gloriously bright.
me as glorious and renowned, as my illustrious brethren, yea, in the place of children.'
Let us therefore propitiate God with all zeal, abhor evil, and gain forgiveness and salvation from the Lord while for us the day still shines, so that thus we may, in glorious beauty, inhabit a dwelling excellent beyond compare.