Of Alexandre the conquerour,
Of Julius Caesar the Emperour, &c."

It may be doubted whether such tales as the above were ever regarded as
true, but it was not until thought became more active that the falsity
of them was fully appreciated, and "jests" gradually acquired their
present signification. The word romance has also come to be used not
only for a pleasant poetical narrative, but especially for something
utterly devoid of truth. "Story" is used in the same sense, but not
"novel," for in our present works of fiction there is seldom so much
improbability as to be offensive in our day, though it may be so to our
successors.

In the above extracts it may have been observed that there is a
prominence and importance given to the lower animals which we should not
find in writings of the present day. As civilization fell back into
barbarism, fables re-appeared, and some indifferent literature of this
kind was produced in the fourth century by Aphthonius in Greek, and
afterwards by Flavius Avianus in Latin. In the Saxon ode on the victory
of Athelstan, a very particular account is given of the beasts of prey
present at the carnage.

Theodosius, the blind Emperor, is said to have been restored to sight by
a serpent, whom he had benefited, coming in while he was asleep, and
placing a precious stone upon his eyes. In one of the early romances of
Marie, a baron is transformed into a bisclaveret,[39] or wolf, for three
days every week, much to his wife's discomfort; in another a falcon
changes into a knight, who is finally caught in a bird-trap; in another
a lady falls into a trance, and is supposed to be dead, until her rival,
seeing a weasel restore another one by placing a vermilion flower in its
mouth, she places it in the lady's mouth and thus awakens her. The same
element is largely present in the other romances.

Alexander Neckam, who lived in the latter part of the twelfth century,
shows how fond our forefathers were of animals, and how they kept them
in their houses. The castles were often full of them, some roving about,
others necessarily in confinement. Monkeys were in high favour. Some of
them were taught to fight as in a tournament, which we are told caused
great laughter. In mediaeval times there was a love of all kinds of
hybrid animals, and there was a certain amount of belief that all sorts
of monsters came from the East or North. Giraldus Cambrensis tells us
that there were in Ireland such mixtures as