" "Of all
animals there is none so dangerous as the unicorn; it attacks everybody
with the horn which grows on the top of its head. But it takes such
delight in virgins that the hunters place a maiden on its trail. As soon
as the unicorn sees the maiden, it lays its head into her lap and falls
asleep, when it may easily be caught." Of the magnet we learn among
other things that it restores peace between husband and wife, softens
the heart of all men and cures dropsy. "If a magnet is made into a
powder and burnt on charcoal in the four corners of the house, the
inhabitants imagine that they cannot keep on their legs and run away,
sorely affrighted; thieves frequently profit by this fact. If a magnet
is placed under the pillow of a sleeping woman, she is compelled, if she
is virtuous, to embrace her husband in her sleep; if she has betrayed
him, she will fall out of her bed with fear."
All this information was the common property of the period; Richard of
Berbezilh, for instance, an "aesthetic" troubadour, tells us that--like
a still-born lion's cub which was only brought to life by the roaring of
its dam--he was awakened to life by his mistress.
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