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'A dream! I learnt something new and fascinating on every page' - Lucy Mangan'Invaluable - and hugely entertaining ... It is an absolute romp and a must-have for history and fantasy enthusiasts alike' - Eleanor Janega'Endlessly fascinating' - the SpectatorMany of the animals we encounter in everyday life, from the creatures in our fields to those in our fantasies, have remained the same since medieval times - but the words we use, and the ways we describe them, have often changed beyond recognition...Old English was spoken over a thousand years ago, when every animal was a deor. In this glittering Old English bestiary we find deors big and small, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the good, the bad and the downright baffling. From walker-weavers (spiders) and grey-cloaked ones (eagles) to moon-heads and teeth-tyrants (historians still don't know!), we discover a world both familiar and strange: where ants could be monsters and panthers could be your friend, where dog-headed men were as real as elephants and where whales were as sneaky as wolves.From the author of The Wordhord comes another delightful dive into the realm of Old English - words and creatures that will change the way you see the world.
'A dream! I learnt something new and fascinating on every page' - Lucy Mangan'Invaluable - and hugely entertaining ... It is an absolute romp and a must-have for history and fantasy enthusiasts alike' - Eleanor Janega'Endlessly fascinating' - the SpectatorMany of the animals we encounter in everyday life, from the creatures in our fields to those in our fantasies, have remained the same since medieval times - but the words we use, and the ways we describe them, have often changed beyond recognition...Old English was spoken over a thousand years ago, when every animal was a deor. In this glittering Old English bestiary we find deors big and small, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the good, the bad and the downright baffling. From walker-weavers (spiders) and grey-cloaked ones (eagles) to moon-heads and teeth-tyrants (historians still don't know!), we discover a world both familiar and strange: where ants could be monsters and panthers could be your friend, where dog-headed men were as real as elephants and where whales were as sneaky as wolves.From the author of The Wordhord comes another delightful dive into the realm of Old English - words and creatures that will change the way you see the world.