Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/111

 and trained  to  war  with  wonderful  craft.

Five hundred  mounted  men  went  with  each  elephant,

and on  each  elephant  was  a  war-house  built,

and in  each  war-house  were  thirty  men,

fighting with  craft  and  going  with  eagerness.

To some  men  it  will  seem  strange  to  hear  this,

because that  elephants  have  never  come  to  England.

An elephant  is  an  immense  beast,  greater  than  a  house,

all surrounded  with  bones,  within  the  skin,

except at  the  navel,  and  he  never  lies  down.

Four and  twenty  months  goeth  the  mother  with  foal;

and three  hundred  years  they  live,  if  they  be  not  crippled;

and man  may  tame  them  wonderfully  for  battle.

The whale   is  of  all  fishes    greatest,  and   the  elephant   is   of  all  beasts  greatest,

but nevertheless  man's  skill  may  tame  them.

The heathen  then  went  to  the  battle  swiftly,

and with  mulberries  emboldened  the  elephants,

because mulberries  are  to  them  the  pleasantest  of  food.

There was  a  very  terrible  army  of  the  heathen  men,

but nevertheless  Judas  went  against  them  with  war,

and slew  there  soon  six  hundred  men;

and one  of  his  comrades,  Eleazar  he  hight,

ran to  an  elephant  that  was  the  most  excellent  there,

weened that  the  king  was  in  the  war-house  that  he  bare.

He ran  with  drawn  sword  through  the  midst  of  the  band,

and slew  ever  on  both  sides,  so  that  they  fell  dying,

until he  came  to  the  elephant,  and  went  under  him,

pricked (him)  then  at  the  navel,  so  that  they  both  lay  there,

each one  the  other's  slayer;    and  Judas  afterwards  returned