Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/465

Rh the (distinguished from the Griffin, or Gryphon), seems to be pre-eminent. In an old and very rare French romance there is a curious description of this creature, which the reader may be pleased to see. "To give you an idea of the nature of this kind of monstrous serpent, know, that its body is as strong as an enraged bull. He has a human face; but instead of a nose he has the beak of an eagle. He possesses a goose's eyes, an ass's ears, and the teeth of a dog. His tongue is long and venomous; with which, when he is chafed, he darts a prodigious number of firebrands united with a smoke so fetid, that it is enough to infect a whole city. He has the legs, feet, and claws of a lion; a dragon's tail, which is as long as a lance. His back is armed with a scale so hard, that no steel, however excellently tempered, is able to penetrate. Moreover, the shoulders are ornamented with the strong wings of a Griffin, which enable him to cleave the air even more rapidly than was possible to the cunning Dædalus, or to the horse of Pacolet ." fol. x.